Legion1979 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:15 pm
Heh. For a lot of people the only films that matter are the Godzilla movies, which is really sad because there's so much else out there. When I pick my favorite era, i tend to factor in everything else Toho was doing during those times. There is absolutely nothing topping the classic period in terms of volume and creativity. What did we really get in the 90s aside from the Godzilla films? Yamato Takeru and a Mothra trilogy for 5 year-olds? And the "Millennium Era" is literally just 6 Godzilla films.
I get what you're saying, but you can't really fault a Godzilla fan for only really caring about the non-Godzilla films, especially if they're not a hardcore fan like a lot of us here. I've known a few that have zero interest in Gamera and only watched Rodan and Mothra because of their eventual inclusion into Godzilla. Myself, for example, didn't get into Toho's non-kaiju offerings (except Matango...) until about 10 years ago, and even then, I've only seen a handful of their horror and pre-Star Wars era sci-fi films. I still wave the flag of H-Man being the best Toho horror film around. And I really have no interest in any of Toho's other genre films. I'm not into samurai movies, WW2 films, dramas nor old comedies.
Back to Varan, I 100% agree the film takes a nose dive once Varan takes to the sky and heads for a city for a reason never really explained. If it stuck to the mountains where the SDF had to contain him, I think it would have been so much better. Some of the scenes of Varan on all fours in the village and climbing the mountain look great and is clearly Tsuburaya at his top. One thing I also LOVE about Varan (both the monster and the movie), is that he is worshipped in the same style as Kong and Mothra would be later. However, he clearly has no interest/care in it and crushes his followers upon his awakening. He was just a big, dumb monster confused to be a God by scared humans. When he crushes that village elder preying for him to forgive everyone, that scene is just so well done.