Godzilla (2014) Review

or -

The Wrath of Godzilla, Part 21:  The One True Godzilla


Godzilla is my superhero.

Captain America?  Fah!  Spider-Man?  What a rube.  The X-Men?  Puh-leeze.  While the other kids were wasting their time reading comic books and dreaming of fights between moustache-twirling supervillains and dudes in tights, I was wasting my time watching Godzilla beat the snot out of any nasty giant monster who dared to intrude upon his turf.  Godzilla movies from the sixties and seventies were my bread and butter back then, and during that era Godzilla was a superhero, the protector of Earth.  Since that time, Godzilla has continued to exist and evolve and change allegiances, and with 29 starring roles under his belt, nearly a dozen tie-in movies, two television shows, numerous appearances and tie-in products, videos games and, yes, comic books, it looks like his rampage won't be stopping anytime soon.

[Beware - Massive Spoilers Ahead]

Which brings us to the new megabudget Godzilla movie from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.  I've seen this movie three times (so far), and now that the opening weekend has passed, I feel it's time to review this beast.

The #1 most important aspect of the movie is this:  Did they get the character right?  The answer is a resounding YES.  Unlike the crappy 1998 "Godzilla", this one is the real deal.  The visual effects that are used to bring him to life (courtesy of Weta Digital) are top notch, and the character's performance is both surprisingly subtle and gratifyingly bad ass.  His design, while largely similar to past designs, is altered in some interesting, though not unwelcome, ways.  His original name, Gojira, is a hybrid of the Japanese words for "whale" and "gorilla", and his designers have incorporated elements of both animals into his look.  His face, though, is far more bear-like than gorilla-like.  He's also quite old and battle-scarred.  In this movie's mythology, Godzilla's origin pre-dates the prehistoric era, so he's appropriately wizened and a bit of a belligerent old fart.  He's also been hit with a couple of atomic bombs, which, as we all know, does wonders for your complexion.

Plus he has atomic breath.  Hell.  Yeah.

Before I get into the story of the movie, I have to address something first -


Godzilla: Awakening Mini-Review

Every movie these days needs a comic book prequel, why should Godzilla be any different?

The American bombing of Hiroshima has let loose a couple of ancient beasts called Shinomura (flying stingray-type creatures) who proceed to terrorize the Pacific Islands.  A mixed Japanese-American military unit named Monarch is formed to study, contain, and keep these monsters a secret from the rest of the world.  The comic's main character is the grandfather of the Dr. Serizawa character from the new movie (played by Ken Watanabe).  A survivor of Hiroshima, elder Serizawa is recruited into Monarch early on and becomes obsessed with a third monster, a creature which the Islanders call Gojira, whom they worship as a monstrous god of the sea.  Gojira (Godzilla) appears to be hunting the Shinomura.

The mythology for the monsters is pretty cool in this iteration.  Millions of years before the dinosaurs existed, the world was a hotbed of radiation and was apparently populated by animals who thrived in radioactive environments.  These beasties, referred to as "kingdom problematica" or MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms), mostly died off when the Earth's radioactivity subsided, but some adapted themselves to live deep underground or under the sea, where radioactivity from the Earth's core was more abundant.  Some, like the Shinomura, merely went into hibernation on the Earth's surface.  Now, with humanity entering the Atomic Age and bringing radiation back into style, it appears that the MUTO threat has returned.

Godzilla kills one of the Shinomura.  The American government, intimidated by Godzilla, decides to hit him with an atomic bomb in order to curb any threat he might pose.  Serizawa disagrees - he believes that Godzilla represents the "balance of nature" or something (I'm not so sure if that's the case, but okay) and believes that he should be left alone.  Naturally, Serizawa is ignored.  The government bombs both the G-Man and the Shinomura at Bikini Atoll.  Obviously, Godzilla survives.  He will not appear again until 60 years later - but until then Monarch will be keeping watch.

"Awakening" is a handsome, well-drawn prequel.  It nicely fills out the story of Monarch and Godzilla's first appearance, all of which is conveyed in the movie in a rather cursory, but clear, fashion, and helps to provide a little more weight to the big screen character of Dr. Serizawa.  It's well worth your time.

Now back to the movie -

Miners in the Philippines unleash a couple of MUTOs when they accidentally fall into a massive underground cavern.  After one of the MUTOs sucks up radiation from a nuclear power plant in Japan (and causing a massive disaster in the process), the Monarch organization is unceremoniously re-integrated into the U.S. military, who continues to track the two MUTOs as well as a third creature (Godzilla, of course), all of whom are converging on the city of San Francisco.  The MUTOs intend to spawn, threatening all life on Earth as we know it.  Godzilla arrives, kills them both in spectacular fashion, and swims into the sea, victorious.

Very simple.  Very satisfying.

There are also humans in this movie, as you may have heard.  The biggest criticisms of "Godzilla" tend to revolve around the human characters and their generous amount of screen time.  I, too, was initially taken aback by how much running time the human beings gobble up.  Heck, even the MUTO's get more screen time than Godzilla.  In the end, and especially after three viewings, it's really not a big deal.  The characters are kind of one-dimensional and a little bit bland, and they don't have very complex character arcs, but they're more than enough - for now.  I, too, wish the movie had succeeded in its ambition and become not just a great monster movie, but a great drama, something that transcends the genre.  That doesn't happen here, but after sitting through 40-plus Godzilla-verse movies and the many one-dimensional characters therein, the characters in this movie aren't bad at all.  Don't even mention the annoying caricatures that were passed off as characters in the '98 version.

Maybe it's the potential.  There's so much potential here, especially with the characters, and this film is a great baseline establishing point.  The actors are certainly talented enough, so why not?  Juliette Binoche and Bryan Cranston don't last very long in the movie, but it's great to see them.  Cranston at least gets a couple of great scenes early on (one of which includes a nice Mothra reference).  Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the white bread, stoic soldier main character.  He's getting a lot of flak from critics for being too flat, but I totally believe him as a professional, no-nonsense military man, even if he's not very dynamic.  On subsequent viewings, I've grown to quite enjoy his relationship with Godzilla - there seems to be a strange Zen attachment between him and the monster which I find to be a fascinating story detail.  He lost both of his parents to the MUTOs, and it's suggested that Godzilla may have lost someone to them too - in the cave in the Philippines, there are the remains of a Godzilla-like creature with the MUTO eggs, suggesting (to me, at least) that it may possibly have been a relative/mate/old College buddy.  While Brody (Taylor-Johnson) fights to save his family from the MUTOs, Godzilla may be, too.  Kindred souls, noble warriors.  Samurai brothers from another mother.

Elizabeth Olsen, who is a fantastic actress (she's great at playing crazy, can't wait to see her in "Avengers 2"), is wasted here as the concerned-wife-in-danger.  She's the motivation for Taylor-Johnson's character, nothing more.  Ken Watanabe is the new Dr. Serizawa (a character from the original 1954 "Gojira"), and he's the requisite foreboding scientist character.  It's too bad he disappears during the climax, but at least he gets to utter the movie's most memorable one-liner ("Let them fight.").  Finally, there's David Strathairn as the "head military guy".  He's alright.

Like I said earlier, there's so much potential here.  At the end of the movie, the world knows that ancient, giant monsters exist and that Godzilla is the King of the Monsters and a protector of sorts (even though he kills lots of people along the way).  It would be great to see Monarch get reinstated and awarded generous government backing.  Put Strathairn in charge, make Serizawa (and his assistant played by Sally Hawkins) the brains of the operation, and recruit Olsen's character, give her something meaningful to do (they'll need medical personnel).  Then make Brody the point man.  Continue to explore his Zen connection with Godzilla.  Heck, have them build a new Mechagodzilla and have Brody pilot it, then he can fight side-by-side with Godzilla.  That would be sweet! 

Okay, I'm getting too overexcited now.

Gareth Edwards, overall, did a fantastic job directing this film.  There are some sequences in particular, usually involving the monsters, where he knocks it completely out of the park.  He does go a little overboard with "the teasing of the monsters and then not paying it off right away" aspects of the movie, but I prefer this to the 20 minute-long repetitive CG bore-fest action sequences that are staples of "Transformers" movies or in "Man of Steel".  The action scenes that Edwards devises are short but hit the sweet spot perfectly.  They leave you wanting more.  They don't drain your energy (or patience).

The MUTOs themselves are completely original to this movie.  Actually, "original" may not be the right word.  They're very reminiscent of other multi-limbed modern American monsters like the ones in "Cloverfield" or "Super 8".  There are a couple of differences - one of the MUTOs can fly, and both of them can emit technology-killing EMP pulses.  Perhaps when Godzilla is destroying them, he's really destroying the image of the American Movie Monster.  Now that this new movie is a box-office success, it's highly likely that Toho will grant the filmmakers the rights to one or more of the other classic monsters.  I vote for Gigan.  Or King Ghidorah.

Plus, it's a shame that the new monsters are merely referred to as MUTOs.  The ones in the comic at least had a name - Shinomura.

Edwards also shoots much of the movie from the perspective of us lowly humans.  I first noticed this style of monster movie filmmaking in Shusuke Kaneko's mid-'90s "Gamera" trilogy.  Some feel that it detracts from the monster action, but I quite like it - as long as it isn't overused.  Edwards sometimes comes close.  After Godzilla makes his first full-on appearance in the movie, it cuts away to a television screen, where his subsequent (brief) battle with a MUTO is shown.  When I first saw this, it disappointed me.  When I saw it again, I realized that it was meant to be funny - and it is!  It's actually one of the few laughs in the movie.  My own expectations tripped me up.

The visual effects are awesome (Andy Serkis was a performance consultant for Godzilla).  The sound effects are fantastic (I love Godzilla's tweaked signature roar).  The characters (and the overall story) show a lot of potential.  The tone of the movie is excellent - it's not as bleak or scary as the trailers make it out to be.  They kept the fantasy aspect of Godzilla, and I love that - I hate when they try to ground fantasy to the point where it becomes uninteresting.  I've been listening to the score by Alexandre Desplat non-stop, and it's both surprisingly subtle and rousingly heroic at the same time.  I love the Japanese instruments in the score, and the fact that Godzilla's atomic breath has its own musical accompaniment.

This is one of those movies where the flaws in the film wash away more each time I see it, unlike the '98 remake, where the flaws get glaringly more aggravating with each and every viewing.  That's because the new movie's high points are truly fantastic and pitch perfect - the '98 movie no longer exists in this dojo.  There are more "perfect moments" here than in any other film I've seen so far this year, despite its shortcomings.  It's lucky if a film has even one "perfect moment", and this has multiple.  It will doubtlessly end up as one of my favorites of the year.

Welcome back, Godzilla!

The Wrath of Godzilla, Part 20: End of Days

Godzilla:  Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)

"Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla:  Tokyo S.O.S." is the original Japanese title for this, the 27th Godzilla film from Toho Studios.  This is also the first direct sequel in the Millenium series; it's predecessor is 2002's "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla", a movie which I really dug.

As Mechagodzilla, also known as "Kiryu", is getting repaired from its last battle against Godzilla (and getting its Absolute Zero freezing weapon replaced with a new Tri-Maser cannon), the Shobijin (Twin Beauties) arrive to warn Japan that the Big G will continue to attack them unless they give the original Godzilla's bones (the basis of Kiryu's structure) a proper burial at sea.  Japanese officials say "heck nope", prompting the Shobijin to threaten bringing down Mothra on their asses if they don't comply immediately.  Godzilla suddenly arrives on the scene to crush things prompting both Kiryu and Mothra to rush in as defenders.  The monster proves to be too much to handle - Kiryu is damaged and Mothra is killed.

Back on Mothra Island, two larval Mothra emerge from a giant egg and head off to the mainland to take on the big lizard.  In a pitched battle (and with aid from the Japanese military), the larvae encase Godzilla in a cocoon of silk.  Kiryu's chief engineer Yoshito Chujo, who's extremely desperate to repair Mechagodzilla in order to defend his endangered relatives in the city, awakens the soul of the original Godzilla through his highly emotional pleading and kicking of electronic equipment (that never works for me).  Kiryu "comes to life" on its own, grabs Godzilla, jumps into the sea and pins him to the ocean floor for all eternity.

This is the third Godzilla film from Masaaki Tezuka and his team, and it's just as good as his other entries.  This one has a slightly different structure, however.  The first half of the movie is largely actionless and mostly character and story-driven.  The back half is one long action scene sprinkled with some breathing moments for good measure.  It's a formula which works well in this case.  Anticipation tends to work far better than non-stop instant gratification.

Speaking of characters, I suppose I should discuss them a little bit more in detail.  The human characters in these movies have always been second fiddle to the titanic forces around them, used mostly as reference points for the audience's point of view, but I rather enjoy the characters in Tezuka's movies more than in the usual Godzilla flick.  The main character this time around is not a kick-ass female, as in the previous two, but is Kiryu's brilliant young engineer Chujo, played well by Noboru Kaneko.  His character is the grandson of Shinichi Chujo, the main character from 1961's "Mothra".  Hiroshi Koizumi reprises his role as the elder Chujo and is a full-on supporting player in the story.  Being a direct sequel to the original "Mothra" adds a layer of nostalgic warmth that the previous movie lacked (and was all the more colder for it).

A couple of other characters from "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" also reprise their roles in "Tokyo S.O.S.".  Most notable among these is the return of the main character Akane, who passes the torch to engineer Chujo in a very sweet-natured scene set in Kiryu's engineering bay.  To make up for the lack of butt-kicking female warriors, there's the character of Kisaragi, a lady pilot who doesn't have much screen time but gets a "save the day" moment in the action-packed climax.

Two interesting things of note:  Tezuka's fondness for mid and end-credit bonus scenes is still present in "S.O.S".  One of these particular scenes, set in an unknown lab location, indicates that DNA from Godzilla and various other monsters from past Godzilla flicks is being used to create clones for some shady, obscure purpose.  This is never followed up on, however.  Also, the body of a Kamoebas (giant rock turtle) washes up on shore early on in "S.O.S.".  Kamoebas was a monster previously seen in 1971's "Space Amoeba".

Overall, it's an entertaining film.  The presence of Mothra and Mechagodzilla is a little, shall we say, time-worn at this point (new monsters, please), but the movie's infusion of both nostalgic resonance and themes of spiritual bonding between souls adds a bit more dimension to "Tokyo S.O.S." than the previous installment, even though is the action isn't quite as good.

Godzilla:  Final Wars (2004)

This movie is freakin' insane.  And I love it.

Godzilla's fiftieth birthday had arrived, and producer Shogo Tomiyama wanted to throw the biggest monster party of all time.  With a large budget at his disposal (the largest for any Japanese Godzilla film), Tomiyama set out to produce a sort of "Greatest Hits" compilation for his monstrous star.  Hired to direct was Ryuhei Kitamura, the young dynamo director of such cult flicks as "Versus", "Azumi" and "The Midnight Meat Train".  His adrenaline-charged style, combined with his love for 1970's-era Godzilla films, would result in a movie so whacked-out and unfettered that it would split the Godzilla fan community right down the middle.  But you gotta admit, it's a helluva party flick!

Here's the plot:  In the late 60's, Godzilla was buried beneath the ice of Antarctica while doing battle with the flying battleship called Gotengo (from the 1963 movie "Atragon").  Since that time, other monsters have continued to hassle the human race, but a new super-powered race of human beings began to emerge - mutants.  The Earth Defense Force (EDF) recruited some of these mutants to form the M-Organization, a task force dedicated to taking out giant rampaging monsters with surgical accuracy.

When a dozen giant monsters begin crushing cities all over the world simultaneously, salvation arrives in the form of the Xiliens, humanoid aliens who stop the monsters and promise World Peace in exchange for an alliance with the human race.  This, of course, is bullshit, and when their plans are exposed for all the world to see, the Xiliens show their true colors.  It turns out that members of their race interbred with humans thousands of years ago, leading to the birth of the mutant sub-race, a sub-race which the Xiliens can control telepathically.  After gaining a private army by taking over the minds of all mutantkind, the alien jerks send release all of the monsters they've captured and force humanity to become nothing more than slaves.

There is resistance.  A ragtag group of uncontrolled mutants and humans steal the Gotengo in order to enact the ultimate Hail Mary plan - to free Godzilla from the ice and kick some alien butt.  Which they do.  Godzilla plows his way through all enemy monsters, the crew of the Gotengo take out the aliens and their mother ship, and Godzilla swims off into the sunset, victorious.

Gone are the serious, heavy themes of previous installments, gone is the lumbering dread - "Final Wars" is all about turbocharged monster-on-monster action coupled with Anime-styled comic book shenanigans.  It's a nice change of pace, honestly.

Monster Roll Call!!!

There's Godzilla (of course), Minilla, Mothra, Gigan (finally!), Hedorah the Smog Monster, Ebirah the Big-Ass Lobster, Manda the Serpent, Zilla (the American Godzilla), Kamacuras the Mantis, Anguirus, Rodan, King Caesar, Kumonga the Spider, and the mysterious Monster X who, at the climactic confrontation, transforms into (who else?) King Ghidorah.  Many other monsters show up in the opening montage.  The only monsters missing from the lineup are King Kong, Gorosaurus and Mechagodzilla (those last two were meant to appear in the film, but didn't make it for budgetary reasons).  This ensures a non-stop final hour of beast-on-beast carnage.  There are many highlights among the parade of battles, but one of my favorites is the long-awaited fight between the Japanese man-in-suit Godzilla and the American CG'ed Zilla.  The battle only lasts about a minute.

There sure is a long period of time before the monster melee begins, however, so Kitamura fills it with as much human-based shenanigans as possible.  Most of it is ripped off from "The Matrix", which was in vogue at the time, but it's still fun to watch.  There is some monster mayhem to be had, though.  One particular sequence featuring a team of mutants bringing down Ebirah is particularly cool, as is a montage of all of the monsters rampaging throughout cities all across the world.

Rodan goes to New York City and kills a pimp.

The human cast is peppered with familiar actors from across the entire Godzilla series.  The main actors are all fresh faces, however.  The lead character, played by Shinichi Ozaki, is a capable actor and action hero, even if his character isn't all that original.  The main villain (Kazuki Kitamura) is your classic moustache-twirling eeeevildoer, but is fun to watch, in a campy sort of way.  There's an American face in the cast, as well - mixed martial arts fighter Don "The Predator" Frye as Gordon, Captain of the Gotengo.  He's a terrible actor, but is oddly likable and has a distinctive look.  Sadly, the women are mostly relegated to forgettable supporting characters this time.  Alas.

It's a crazy fun movie with a lot of heart, and it's never boring.  I enjoyed Kitamura's rock-n'-roll style and campy, 1970's-Godzilla-inspired milieu, which has earned this particular Godzilla movie a cult following of its very own.  When it was originally released in Japan, however, reviews were highly mixed and it became a box office disappointment.  Unfortunate.  I think it's a nice finale for the Millennium series.

For the past ten years, Godzilla has remained fairly dormant.  His only onscreen appearance was in a dream sequence in the Japanese comedy "Always 2" (2008).  It's pretty cool.

The CGI isn't the greatest, but it's neat to see any Godzilla product coming out of Japan.  His design (particularly the blank white eyes) recalls his design in "GMK".  Freaky.

In the summer of 2013, Guillermo Del Toro's "Pacific Rim" was released in theaters.  While not part of the Godzilla series, it nonetheless owed much to the Japanese icon.  Though the story and characters were quite rote and clichéd, the effects and action sequences were fantastically well done and there are some cool ideas sprinkled here and there in the story.  Here's a cool trailer for the movie, done in the style of an old school Toho Studios classic.  It's a perfect fit!

Well, that's it for now!  If only someone would make a new Godzilla film. . .

The Wrath of Godzilla, Part 19: Immortal Souls

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah:  Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

Sheesh, what a title.  Just call it "GMK" - that's what all the cool kids (a.k.a. Godzilla Fans) call it.

In the mid-1990s, director Shusuke Kaneko gave us the fantastic and financially successful Gamera trilogy.  While doing promotional interviews for the press, Kaneko mentioned more than once how it had always been his lifelong dream to direct a Godzilla movie.  It wasn't long before Toho gave him a chance to fulfill that dream, and "GMK" was born.

Co-written and directed by Kaneko, "GMK", like most Millennium Series entries, is primarily a standalone film.  The only other Godzilla  movies it acknowledges are the 1954 original and the 1998 American remake, which it references only so it can be ridiculed.  In this story, Godzilla is the living embodiment of all of the people killed by the Japanese during World War II.  While he also represents the destructive folly of man, this spiritual conception of the Big G (and the other creatures, too) is something unique to "GMK".  It's a welcome, nightmarish take on the character, and it's reflected in the creature's design aesthetic as well.  He's once again a giant, gray behemoth, much like the Heisei incarnation, but his eyes are completely white and lifeless.  Damn, it's creepy.

The story is simple.  Godzilla returns to punish the people of Japan.  In response, three ancient guardian monsters, the Holy Beasts of Yamato (Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Baragon), return to protect the Earth via the kicking of some giant ghost lizard ass.  On the human side of things, the story focuses on a father/daughter duo:  Ryudo Uzaki plays the dad, an experienced military man with a heart of Zen, whose parents were killed by Godzilla's first rampage in '54.  He's awesome.  His daughter, played Chiharu Niiyama, is an ambitious reporter for a hack paranormal investigation program.  She's primarily the conveyor of the plot information, but gets caught up in some of the action, too.  She's pretty good.

After plowing his way through all of the guardian monsters (this Godzilla is a real beast), Military Zen Dad pilots a submersible down Godzilla's throat and detonates a specially designed drill bomb within the creature, piercing its hide.  He escapes from the monsters body just as Godzilla tries to use his atomic breath, which somehow short circuits due to the open wound, causing the monster to explode.  In a final shot ripped right from the "Friday the 13th" playbook, Godzilla's heart is shown lying on the ocean floor - and it's still beating.

This is a good one.  It's got an old school Godzilla movie feel to it, which is retro-cool.  The spiritual aspects of the plot adds freshness and emotional weight to the proceedings.  It's fun to see Baragon from "Frankenstein Conquers the World" (apparently Kaneko's original idea was to pit Godzilla against B-list monsters Baragon, Varan and Angilus, but Toho made him add more big-name beasties), but it's too bad the little purple dog wasn't famous enough to get his name listed in the title.  Plus, King Ghidorah as a good guy?  Weird, but not unwelcome.

Kaneko felt a bit disappointed with how the movie turned out, due to the massive production rush to get it into theaters, but he may be the only one.  While some of those production woes did indeed show up onscreen, "GMK" still managed to be the biggest box office hit of the Millennium Series, and is considered by many to be the best.  Its old school charm, emotionally charged plot, and non-stop monster mayhem made this one a real winner with daikaiju fans worldwide.  It's not my favorite Millennium installment, though.  I will discuss that one in Part 20.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

Technically, the title of the movie is "Godzilla X Mechagodzilla", but the Japanese are so much better at math than Americans, so all mathematical symbols were removed for the Stateside release.

Masaaki Tezuka, director of "Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus", was brought back to craft the latest chapter in the Millennium Series, and he brought his entire creative team with him.  This means that the emotionally heavy themes of the previous Godzilla movie have been jettisoned in favor of techno-action and a Hollywood-style roller coaster of frothy emotion.  This is not a bad thing, just different.  I happen to enjoy this particular entry quite a bit.

As explained by a handy opening montage, there are only four previous Toho movies which exist in this movie's timeline:  "Gojira"(1954), "Mothra"(1961), "War of the Gargantuas" (1966), and "Space Amoeba"(1971).  Talented young soldier Akane, played wonderfully by Yumiko Shaku, is responsible for accidentally causing the deaths of fellow soldiers during an anti-Godzilla Op - an Op involving MASERs, mind you (that's Mobile Lasers, for the uninitiated).  Following that failure, the government turns to a team of brilliant scientists to bring to life a very wacky idea.  Get this:  After recovering the skeleton of the original Godzilla from 1954, they decide that it's a good idea to build a robotic exoskeleton around it and fuse it all together using a DNA-based operating system.  The result:  Mechagodzilla, whom the team dubs "Kiryu", a new pilotable anti-Godzilla super weapon.

Akane, damaged both emotionally and career-wise, still has her supporters, and it's not long before they offer her the opportunity to pilot Kiryu and redeem her honor.  The other pilots object to her presence, and things are further complicated when, during Kiryu's first confrontation with Godzilla, the Big G's roar activates Kiryu's skeleton DNA.  Kiryu then goes on a rampage reminiscent of the original 1954 Godzilla until its power runs down.

Akane, through the connections she makes with the people in her life, slowly begins to heal, but it's through her emerging bond with Kiryu that true daikaiju healing begins to take hold.  She pilots Kiryu into battle with Godzilla one last time and manages to wound him with Kiryu's Absolute Zero freezing weapon, causing the monster to retreat.  And all is well.

"GXM" has the same feel as Tezuka's previous movie, "Megaguirus".  He sure loves tough female main characters.  I know I do.  Heck, the main actress from "Megaguirus" even comes back, in a bit role as a different character.  I like that his movies aren't morality plays, just simple emotional stories featuring noble soldiers in giant robots fighting giant monsters.  The action is explosive, the special effects are well done, the characters are distinct and fun, the music is great, and the pacing is peppy and tight.  It's a fun, pulpy ride.  Plus, this is the only film in the Millennium Series to have a direct sequel - the following year's "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S."

A Tip:  Be sure to watch through the credits.  There are some great scenes to be had.  Well, one great scene.  It's worth it.

Only two more movies to go in the Millennium series.  And after that. . .