Godzilla Minus Zero was just released this weekend, but its already making huge waves en route to becoming one of the biggest openings in the franchise’s long history. Expected to earn over $32 million during its first weekend in North American theaters, this number places it among the highest-grossing live-action foreign-language opening behind epics like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle. It’s also causing a new era of Godzillamania to run wild for newcomers to the franchise, becoming a gateway for audiences trying to figure out how to catch up with a daunting 70 years of history.
If you enjoyed Godzilla Minus Zero like so many others have and want to give past iterations of the King of Monsters a try, here are five films we recommend watching. Past knowledge of the franchise isn’t a requirement, and much of what is referenced in previous films can be quickly inferred (and will usually be recapped with flashbacks before moving the story forward). Sometimes, Godzilla is a good guy and other times – not so much. One thing is always certain, and that’s obligatory kaiju calamity with a whole lot of property damage. This selection of movies represents the different periods of Godzilla’s evolution as a character while also providing a few different ways to enjoy them beyond the deluxe kaiju-sized throwdowns.
Godzilla’s archnemesis King Ghidorah is never far from Godzilla, most recently being reintroduced for a new generation in the aforementioned Godzilla Minus Zero. Every time this three-headed beast appears, an epic battle is guaranteed. There are plenty of classic bouts between these two starting with their first meeting in 1964, but their overall most fun film together is arguably 1991’s match-up. Time-travel, throwbacks to the original movie, and new parts of Godzilla’s origin story all converge on a series of showdowns with the titular antagonist.
This version stands out because not only does it introduce Ghidorah to the Heisei era, it also gives us our first taste of something even more fearsome — Mecha King Ghidorah. It’s a massive upgrade that made a nearly unstoppable foe even more difficult, a creature that was overpowered it has yet to reappear in any of the later films. Big battles aside, the movie is fast-paced, exciting, and highly entertaining. It’s a very easy watch that hits many high points and is easily one of King Ghidorah’s best outings – although its most recent appearance might dethrone them all.
Mechagodzilla debuted in 1974 towards the end of the Showa run, a cheesy film that is known for its silly ape aliens called Simeons and an increased level of blood and guts that hadn’t been seen as much in earlier films. The robotic kaiju returned in a major way during the Heisei era but its his run in the Millennium series that we recommend watching. A direct sequel to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla from one year prior, this edition adds Mothra into the mix for some enormous clashes.
The Millennium run is notable because it returned Godzilla to his roots as a villain, whereas the Showa era transformed him into a protector of the planet and the Heisei era had him more akin to an anti-hero. Mechagodzilla, or Kiryu in these films, and its pilot is who we are rooting for to save humanity from the mindless destructor that is Godzilla. This movie is filled with intense action made more enjoyable by the great combination of practical effects and CGI, and is another very easy watch with a solid story. It’s also notable for being a movie where Godzilla is seemingly defeated once and for all… until he returned in Godzilla: Final Wars one year later to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise with a non-canonical epic with nearly every monster ever, but that’s a different story entirely (and another movie we recommend).
We mentioned Godzilla: Final Wars above, and absolutely suggest giving that a watch, but Destroy All Monsters walked so Final Wars could run. Set in the futuristic year of 1999 (in retrospect maybe the franchise should have aimed for a later date), humankind has achieved peace but relocating the world’s kaiju to a solitary island where they can do no harm. Nobody told the Kilaaks about this, who use mind control powers to manipulate the monsters and send them all over the world to wreak havoc. With the help of a special human task force, the Kilaaks lose their grip over the kaiju, culminating in a huge rumble against the alien’s trump card and final boss, King Ghidorah.
The ninth film in the franchise, Destroy All Monsters was meant to be the final film for Godzilla and his kaiju friends and foes. Toho was worried that Godzilla’s popularity was waning and they were out of ideas for how to use the big guy, so the studio decided to go out with a bang by having 11 of their creatures in one movie. This monster mash proved so popular that the franchise had no choice but to continue making more, so Godzilla fans are in debt to this movie. It’s also one of the first times that many of these kaiju ventured beyond the Pacific, heading across the sea to smash buildings on other continents. Destroy All Monsters was ahead of its time in many ways, using its expanded universe of diverse monsters to their full devastating potential.
Much of this list has focused on big action as most newcomers to the franchise fall asleep during the frequently dull human plots that plod the movies narrative ahead slower than most kaiju walk. Godzilla vs. Biollante is one of those exceptions where the monsters are still very important but feel secondary to a more grounded story that shows the way mankind is involved in these monsters. The movie picks up immediately after the first Heisei period film that reintroduced Godzilla for a new generation, and concerns the fight between people over his cells that were splattered all over Tokyo after his first attack. Like the original film from the 50’s, it explores the morality and responsibility science plays in our lives, as some want to use these regenerative cells for good to create while others want to weaponize it to cause more destruction.
Godzilla vs. Biollante is not just remembered for its unexpectedly soulful final fight, but is considered an underrated masterpiece because of how thought-provoking and serious it is. Many later movies struggled with finding that balance between its kaiju clashes and the message it wanted to make, but this film is a perfect example that proves you can have the best of both worlds in one monster-sized package. There is a lot to unpack in this particular film if you really want to dive into it, but it’s still filled with thrills and battles galore to keep everyone entertained and invested.
If the Godzilla Minus series is your entry point into the franchise, the only place to go now is back to the beginning. Not just any origin though, because there are two versions of the same tale with one being much better than the other. We’re talking about the original Japanese version of Godzilla from 1954, and not the Americanized one that arrived two years later. The kaiju as a destructive force remains unchanged in both, but the American version removed some major elements of the story that remove a lot of its true impact, while also shooting new scenes with Raymond Burr playing a reporter so Western audiences had someone “familiar” to look at in this foreign film (if you get my drift).
Godzilla is a post-World War II film that uses the radioactive monster as a response and reaction to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that devastated the country in countless ways. The story is filled with political and cultural themes that American producers felt wouldn’t translate well when the movie came to this side of the globe. There’s a lot to dig into as far as subtext, but even the writing and acting is superior with more emotional gravitas. Every new era of Godzilla that followed always went back to this as its North Star, ignoring decades of other movies and returning to Odo Island to honor the first emergence of the kaiju that changed the world. On its own merits, it’s an excellent standalone film, but when viewed through the lens of this lofty franchise, it holds up as a masterpiece whose influence is bigger than the monster it created.
It wasn’t easy to narrow this list down to just five, so let us know what your favorite Godzilla movies are that we didn’t mention here. Keep the conversation alive in the comments below!
