Godzilla: Monster War (Gojira kaijudaisenso) is a 2024 kaiju film. Directed and written by Shusuke Kaneko, it is the 40th Godzilla film and the 35th Japanese film. It is a sequel to Godzilla: Monster Warrior and Godzilla: Rise of King Ghidorah. In the film the Xilliens lead their armies including several kaiju into Earth. The film stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Nao Omori, Scott Foley (all
returning from the first movie) and Masato Sakai. The film was released on April 23rd 2024 and was a commercial success grossing 555 billion yen against a budget of 200 billion yen though received mixed reviews praising the visual effects and performances but criticizing the story.
Plot[]
A month after the events of the last movie, two new kaiju are discovered. The first is Varan a member of the Baradagi Varanapodes. The other is Kumonga an irradiated spider. Prime Minister Akira Hiyota sends Shinji Nakamura and Ren Mazaki to transport all monsters to Monster Island. With Jet Jaguar and the warship Super X they transport all the monsters to the island. James Hawking is sent to supervise a joint Japanese-American project Mechagodzilla. Suddenly a tv broadcasts the Xilliens new leader Kazuki. He reveals that Planet X later exploded due to harvesting the core for energy supplies. He then sends the monster Gigan to attack Wyoming in the US as a show of force. Gigan is confronted by a new monster who resembles Godzilla. Gigan manages to injure the monster and before he kills him the monster rips out his buzzsaw. Gigan blasts him with his visor beam before leaving. The monster is dubbed Zilla and his corpse his taken away. Zilla is dubbed a hero by the people of Wyoming and is demanded to save him. Zilla is converted into a cyborg and is dubbed Cyber Zilla. The Xilliens launches an all out assault on various cities. The monsters, Jet Jaguar, Mechagodzilla and Cyber Zilla are released. In Yokohama Nakamura, Mazaki and Hawking infiltrate the UFO Y and tries to use it as a battering ram but is stopped by Spacegodzilla, Destoroyah, Gigan and Monster X. The monsters knock down the UFO and destroys a remote controlled Jaguar. The trio escape and pilots Mechagodzilla after the pilots disappeared. Mechagodzilla tricks Monster X into firing his beams at the mothership destroying it. The other monsters arrive. Godzilla and Cyber Zilla destroy Gigan and Spacegodzilla is killed after his crystals which is his source of energy are destroyed by Baragon and Mothra. Destoroyah is knocked down by Gorosaurus and is killed off-screen. Monster X transforms into Keizer Ghidorah and kills Mothra. He tries to destroy Mechagodzilla but is knocked by Anguirus who ends being killed. An enraged Godzilla, Manda and Baragon try to fight him but Keizer is too powerful. Kumonga trap him in webbing and Varan destroys his wings. Rodan then severs his middle head leaving him vulnerable allowing Godzilla to kill him. All the monsters then return back to Monster Island.
Crew[]
- Directed by Shusuke Kaneko
- Written by Shusuke Kaneko
- Produced by Minami Ichikawa
- Photography by Kosuke Yamada
- Music by Takeshi Kitano
- Production Company: Toho
- Distributed by Toho (Japan) and Funimation (worldwide)
Cast[]
- Hiroyuki Sanada as Shinji Nakamura
- Nao Omari as Ren Mazaki
- Scott Foley as James Hawking
- Masato Sakai as Kazuki
- Eiji Akaso as Akira Hiyota
Production[]
After the cancellation of The Rise Of Mothra, production on the film began. Zilla was added to the film after Kaneko noticed the cult status of the character. Gigan, Varan and Kumonga were put in the film lately after. Filming started in 2nd January and ended in March.
Reception[]
Box office[]
The film grossed 555 billion yen against a budget of 200 billion yen.
Critical reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received the score of 78% based on 233 reviews. On Metacritic it gained the score of 61 indicating generally favourable reviews.
Trivia[]
- Kazuki is a reference to Kazuki Kitamura who portrayed the Controller of Planet X in Godzilla: Final Wars.
- Kaneko originally disliked the 1998 Godzilla saying " It is interesting [that] the US version of Godzilla runs about trying to escape missiles... Americans seem unable to accept a creature that cannot be put down by their arms."
- Sam Liu who directed the episode Monster Wars: Part 2 of Godzilla: The Series which featured Cyber Zilla stated that seeing the character appear in a live action Toho film was the greatest thing which happened to him.
- This is the 2nd film where Kumonga is portrayed as a heroic character. The first is Destroy all Monsters.
- Rumours of a spinoff film about Baragon were proven to be false.[1]