All 38 ‘Godzilla’ Movies Ranked from Worst to Best

38. ‘Godzilla: The Planet Eater’ (Reiwa Era, 2018)

Directed by: Kōbun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita

On paper, the anime trilogy of ‘Godzilla’ films from Kōbun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita has a fascinating premise, focusing on a far-flung future where the remnants of humanity have fled Earth for the stars after Godzilla and other monsters conquered the planet, and return to try and take back their home. In practice, it’s a total franchise low point, boasting ugly CGI animation, flat and unlikable characters, and a plot that warrants two hours stretched painfully to four and a half. But even the rough first two entries can’t prepare you for just how bad the last one is. The film brings Godzilla’s archenemy Ghidorah into the plot for an epic battle…which consists of Ghidorah biting Godzilla in the same spot for an hour and 20 minutes, while a bunch of anime characters ramble about utterly nonsensical science fiction mythology. If that set-up, which lasts the entire film, doesn’t feel like a deliberate f-you, the ending, which renders the trilogy’s events completely pointless, definitely does. Some of the best entries of the ‘Godzilla’ canon are its darkest, but ‘The Planet Eater’ feels like the work of a depressed teenage edgelord more than anything genuinely adult.  

37. ‘All Monsters Attack’ (Showa Era, 1969)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

The best thing you can say about ‘All Monsters Attack’ is that, should you choose to watch it, you’re only wasting a single hour of your life. A bizarro child-focused Showa era entry, ‘All Monsters Attack’ throws out the continuity of the series up to that point to depict a world where Godzilla is a fictional character and follows the life of Ichiro, a bullied and very annoying kid who daydreams about visiting Monster Island and befriending Godzilla’s son, the ugly and irritating Minilla. Almost all of the footage of Godzilla and the rest of the monsters is blatantly recycled from past films, which the film doesn’t bother to hide at all. With a real world plot too obnoxious and underwhelming to appeal to even children and monster footage made from the leftovers of better movies, ‘All Monsters Attack’ offers absolutely nothing to anybody. 

36. ‘Godzilla’ (1998)

Directed by: Roland Emmerich 

Faithfulness is an overrated quality in adaptations; some of the best movies throw out everything about their source material beyond the bare bones and create something new. At the same time, it is truly astonishing to watch the 1998 American ‘Godzilla’ film and see how little interest anyone involved in the production — from director Roland Emmerich to leading man Matthew Broderick, who acts like he’s being held in front of the camera at gunpoint — had in making a ‘Godzilla’ film. The film makes so many changes to the central Kaiju, here depicted as the result of the French government mutating an ordinary lizard, that Toho introduced the version as a separate character in crossovers. He’s small, cowardly, ugly, and doesn’t even have his iconic atomic breath. The film he’s in is, essentially, less a ‘Godzilla’ picture and more a very obvious ‘Jurassic Park’ rip-off. But even if you put your expectations for ‘Godzilla’ movies to the side and judge the 1998 film on its own merits, it’s still a dull, badly made, and not particularly memorable disaster flick with irritating human characters and a runtime that’s about 40 minutes too long. It’s no surprise, with a start as bad as this, that America waited 16 years before touching ‘Godzilla’ again. 

35. ‘Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle’ (Reiwa Era, 2018)

Directed by: Kōbun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita

The second film in the anime trilogy, ‘City on the Edge of Battle’ is when things really start to go downhill. Following almost the same exact storyline of the first film, the installment sidelines Godzilla and some interesting concepts like their version of Mechagodzilla for turgid character drama that doesn’t add up to much. The sheer lack of any plot development in this movie makes it painfully clear how stretched out and overextended this trilogy is, leaving you with nothing but some of the least likable ‘Godzilla’ humans in series history. 

34. ‘Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters’ (Reiwa Era, 2017)

Directed by: Kōbun Shizuno, Hiroyuki Seshita

The first anime film, ‘Planet of the Monsters’ is still quite bad, but it is significantly superior to any of the other films. That’s mainly because the story hasn’t quite begun burying itself in its lore and lame philosophical ambitions, and tells a relatively straightforward story about humanity taking on Godzilla as it returns to Earth. The animation is ugly, and Godzilla looks like garbage and is completely underused, but it’s easily the most competently made of the anime trilogy. In retrospect, everybody involved probably should have just called it a day here. 

33. ‘Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla’ (Heisei Era, 1994)

Directed by: Kenshō Yamashita

The penultimate Heisei film, ‘Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla’ shows all the signs of a series running out of juice. After fighting ‘MechaGodzilla’ in the last film, Godzilla now fights SpaceGodzilla, a clone created by pieces of the big guy’s DNA flying into outer space…or something. The plot is a mess and oddly edited, SpaceGodzilla is a truly underwhelming antagonist, the special effects flubs are more noticeable than ever, and the whole thing is presented with an oddly self-serious tone for how ridiculous it really is. The Heisei films ended up going out with a bang, but ‘Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla’ is easily the era’s biggest dud. 

32. ‘Godzilla 2000: Millennium’ (Millennium Era, 1999)

Directed by: Takao Ōkawara

Famously, Toho made ‘Godzilla 2000’ entirely because of fan outcry over the 1998 American ‘Godzilla,’ as a way of reminding general audiences how badass the King of the Monsters really is. Unfortunately, the fact that it was somewhat rushed into theaters shows. A dull affair that pits Godzilla against an ugly, charisma-free alien invader Orga, ‘Godzilla 2000’ is possibly the single most forgettable movie in the entire franchise, with barely anything unique or interesting to it beyond its backstory as a “screw you” to the 1998 film. The fights are boring and uninspired, the CGI looks primitive even for the time, and the human characters are utterly charmless. You know things are rough when fans frequently consider the English dub — an intentional throwback to the poor quality Hong Kong dubs of the ’60s and ’70s — to be better than the actual film. 

31. ‘Godzilla Raids Again’ (Showa Era, 1955)

Directed by: Motoyoshi Oda

A quickie sequel to the groundbreaking 1954 original film, ‘Godzilla Raids Again’ feels like a downgrade in every possible way. Pitting Godzilla against quadrupedal dino kaiju Anguirus, the film establishes the formula of throwing two monsters into the same movie and seeing who’ll win, but renders their battle with cheap effects and setpieces that feel like the leftovers from the groundbreaking original. The non-Godzilla parts of the film don’t quite land either; a lot of time is spent with the human cast this time around, all of whom feel like poor substitutes for the iconic cast of the original. In retrospect, ‘Godzilla Raids Again’ feels like the awkward middle child of the Showa years, caught between the grandiose tragedy of the original and the goofy fun of the later sequels to mixed and mostly boring effect. 

30. ‘Godzilla vs. Gigan’ (Showa Era, 1972)

Directed by: Jun Fukuda

The later stretch of the Showa era is a pretty rough time for ‘Godzilla,’ between declining budgets and stale creative direction. ‘Godzilla vs. Gigan,’ in particular, feels like utter filler, between poor special effects, copious use of stock footage (the film that follows it would be worse about it, but balanced it out by being a lot more fun), and generally uninteresting fights. It doesn’t help that the once badass King Ghidorah has long lost his intimidation factor and ends up a bit of a joke. Points though for the titular Gigan, a finned, hook-handed alien invader that ranks among the most purely cool villains Godzilla has ever battled. Also historical note: this is the last film to feature the original ‘Godzilla’ suit actor Haruo Nakajima, who retired from the business with this project. 

29. ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ (Monsterverse, 2019)

Directed by: Michael Dougherty

After the ambitious 2014 ‘Godzilla’ film ended up somewhat divisive among the fanbase, ‘King of the Monsters’ tried to go all in on giving fans what they want with a plot that’s essentially a remix of ‘Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster,’ pitting the big guy and Mothra against his most famous enemy and Rodan. There are the bones of a solid kaiju film there. The problem is that we still spend about as much time with the humans as we do in the first Monsterverse movie, and their plot is among the worst in any ‘Godzilla’ film, an incoherent family melodrama that’s genuinely painful to sit through. And the actual Godzilla fights, although theoretically fanservice, feel incoherent thanks to sloppy CGI and the buckets of fog and debris that obscure the landscape and the monsters everyone is here for. It’s a studio course-correction that doesn’t actually fix anything, and just adds a bunch of new issues on top of the old problems. 

28. ‘Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth’ (Heisei Era, 1992)

Directed by: Takao Okawara

Everybody loves Mothra, the benevolent protector of Earth who alternatively teams up with and battles with Godzilla to protect humanity. And she’s been central to many of the big guy’s very best films. But ‘Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth’ suffers from making her possibly too central to the plot; it’s pretty much a straight rehash of the first ‘Mothra vs. Godzilla,’ bringing all the same beats back mixed with less likable characters and a decidedly less fun tone. The big difference is the inclusion of a rather basic environmentalism moral and the intro of ‘Battra,’ an ‘evil’ version of Mothra that ends up not being all that evil. Godzilla himself just feels entirely irrelevant to the proceedings — he’s pretty much just there so Mothra has a baddie to do some clumsy battles with at the end. Overall, it’s a fine Mothra movie but a subpar Godzilla one — and if you want a good Mothra movie from the ’90s, she has a solo trilogy from the period that’s way better. 

27. ‘Godzilla: Final Wars’ (Millennium Era, 2004)

Directed by: Ryūhei Kitamura

Some fans rank the 50th-anniversary film ‘Final Wars’ as one of their favorites, and it’s easy to see why. For this milestone celebration of ‘Godzilla,’ Toho went all out on a balls-to-the-wall monster fight, pitting Godzilla against an army of kaiju controlled by the iconic Xillians from ‘Invasion of Astro-Monster’ (a film much further up on this list). Tons of fan favorites like Gigan, Mothra, Ghidorah, Rodan, Anguirus, and the like make appearances, and even the infamous 1998 American version of Godzilla gets a very brief fight scene. But the parade of references can’t make up for all the things that ‘Final Wars’ gets wrong. Despite its ‘all monsters’ premise, so much of the film is devoted to the human forces fighting against the Xilians, and their action scenes and plotlines are so painfully early ’00s ‘Matrix’ and ‘X-Men’ ripoffs that it proves difficult to sit through. Even when you get to the giant monsters, the atrocious CGI, overly long runtime, and underwhelming score make the film a lot less fun in action than it is in theory. It’s totally fine for a ‘Godzilla’ movie to have no ambitions beyond some great big monster action — it just needs to handle it better than ‘Godzilla: Final Wars.’ 

26. ‘Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.’ (Millennium Era, 2003)

Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka

The only direct sequel of the entire Millennium Era, ‘Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.’ throws out almost everything that made its predecessor ‘Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla’ actually work. Most notably, it relegates the hero of that movie, Akane, to a walk-in cameo at the beginning before she gets sent out the door, leaving us to follow a much weaker human cast than the first. The lack of real human stakes to connect with leads the film to bring Mothra back, overcrowding the mecha action that made ‘Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla’ such a blast. Everything about the film basically winds up in the realm of ‘fine,’ but the obvious wasted potential leaves a sour taste in the mouth. 

25. ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ (Monsterverse, 2021)

Directed by: Adam Wingard

After ‘King of the Monsters’ sputtered around trying to bridge the gap between 2014’s ‘Godzilla’ and the more actiony kaiju brawl movies fans wanted, ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ finds the Monsterverse settling into a more even groove, if not exactly a great one. The plot here is almost entirely unimportant, as are the human characters (never have actors as great as Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree-Henry felt so bland). All that matters is that Godzilla eventually fights King Kong for the first time since the ’70s in this movie, and all the screentime is poured into making that duel as epic as it can possibly be. There’s fun to be had, but again, the CGI isn’t as great as it could be, and the whole thing feels a bit like fleeting fun rather than anything that sticks with you. 

24. ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ (Monsterverse, 2024)

Directed by: Adam Wingard

The King of the Monsters is standing taller than ever since he became a surprise Oscar-winner earlier this month, but filmdom’s most famous kaiju isn’t about to let his newfound prestige get the better of him. Anyone worried that Godzilla might pull an Adam McKay and make a sudden pivot towards self-importance will be delighted to find that “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” eagerly strips both of its namesakes of whatever seriousness they might have accrued over the years, even if that means stripping them of their souls along with it.

Don’t be confused by the multiplication suggested by the silent “x” in its title: This goofy-ass, clumsily assembled Saturday morning cartoon of a movie might as well be called “Godzilla Minus Everything,” if only because the more accurate “Godzilla Minus Everything Plus Dan Stevens in a Hawaiian Shirt” wouldn’t fit on a marquee.

The King of the Monsters is standing taller than ever since he became a surprise Oscar-winner earlier this month, but filmdom’s most famous kaiju isn’t about to let his newfound prestige get the better of him. Anyone worried that Godzilla might pull an Adam McKay and make a sudden pivot towards self-importance will be delighted to find that “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” eagerly strips both of its namesakes of whatever seriousness they might have accrued over the years, even if that means stripping them of their souls along with it.

Don’t be confused by the multiplication suggested by the silent “x” in its title: This goofy-ass, clumsily assembled Saturday morning cartoon of a movie might as well be called “Godzilla Minus Everything,” if only because the more accurate “Godzilla Minus Everything Plus Dan Stevens in a Hawaiian Shirt” wouldn’t fit on a marquee. 

Then again, there’s something all too right about the ridiculousness of the title that director Adam Wingard and his trio of credited screenwriters — Simon Barrett, Terry Rossio, and Jeremy Slater — ultimately landed upon for the latest installment of Warner Bros.’ MonsterVerse, a movie so explicitly designed for overstimulated 10-year-olds that it makes 2021’s dreadful “Godzilla vs. Kong” feel like a Merchant Ivory period drama by comparison (“Mechagodzilla x Maurice”).

Sure, the math of it all doesn’t really add up (Godzilla and Kong don’t multiply so much as they join forces against a common enemy), and sure, “Godzilla x Kong” sounds less like the name of a film than it does the name of an unimaginably foul perfume, but maybe that’s what makes it such a fitting sobriquet for the first sequel to “Godzilla” (2014) that doesn’t stink quite as badly as it could have. —DE

Read IndieWire’s Complete Review of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” 

23. ‘Godzilla vs. Megaguirus’ (Millennium Era, 2000)

Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka

‘Megaguirus’ is a brain-rottingly dumb movie, even by the standards of ‘Godzilla’ films. This is a movie where the human characters build a ray gun capable of creating a black hole in an attempt to kill Godzilla, which opens a portal to another dimension that brings alien dragonflies to Earth, and then the alien dragonflies combine into a big dragonfly and fight Godzilla. But the film at least doesn’t really try to be smart, and instead just tells a straightforward story about Godzilla fighting a mutant dragonfly. There are worse case scenarios for a Godzilla film than being dumb.

22. ‘Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II’ (Heisei Era, 1993)

Directed by: Takao Ōkawara

The Heisei Era film’s biggest virtue and biggest vice are its more serialized story, which rewards long-term investment but can lead to certain entries getting a little…busy. Take ‘Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II,’ which juggles the titular mech, a bunch of human plotlines, Rodan, and a new son for Godzilla. Some of this (particularly Godzilla Jr.’s presence) will pay off in later films, but things are just a little too crowded in the movie for anyone to get too much time to shine. It doesn’t help that there just isn’t a lot new here, compared to other MechaGodzilla films, although there’s some solid battles to keep your interest afloat. 

21. ‘Son of Godzilla’ (Showa Era, 1967)

Directed by: Jun Fukuda

The worst thing about ‘Son of Godzilla’ is the actual son of Godzilla. Minilla is an absolute failure of a kid-appeal character, both incredibly unfunny and utterly hideous to look at. His introduction coincides with a more comedic and lighthearted tone for the already goofy franchise, which proves more grating than enjoyable. Still, the film’s story arc of Godzilla learning to care for his disappointment of a son is a decent one, and seeing him battle giant spider Kumonga makes for some okay action. The best parts of ‘Son of Godzilla’ end up being the more technical aspects, including Sadamasa Arikawa’s impressive wirework for the monsters and the snazzy tropical score from Masaru Sato. 

20. ‘Ebirah, the Creature of the Deep’ (Showa Era, 1966)

Directed by: Jun Fukuda

Easily the most average ‘Godzilla’ film of all time, ‘Ebirah, the Creature of the Deep’ doesn’t inspire a particularly strong reaction, but it gets the job done. Moving away from the space opera of the last two movies, the film places Godzilla in a tropical island adventure reminiscent of a King Kong movie (probably because this film was originally supposed to star King Kong instead). He’s found halfway through slumbering in the caves of a lost island that the protagonist Ryoma (Toru Watanabe) and his friends stumble upon while searching for his lost brother. The island is also the base for Red Bamboo, a terrorist syndicate controlling the giant lobster-like kaiju Ebirah. The film follows this sea-fairing adventure at a steady, swift pace, which is enough to offset the somewhat underwhelming foe Godzilla is paired with. It’s not a memorable adventure, but it’s a decently fun time. 

19. ‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ (Showa Era, 1964)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

The first ‘Godzilla’ movie in nine years after ‘Godzilla Raids Again,’ as well as the first color film in the franchise, ‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ feels like the unofficial second start for the Showa Era, bringing it into the ’60s and reestablishing the template for the series going forward. And for his first big movie in years, Godzilla got a chance to battle it out with the film star that inspired him in the first place, King Kong. It’s an early example of the type of ‘who would win in a fight’ crossover that would power the likes of Marvel films and ‘Super Smash Bros.’ But what’s most interesting about ‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ is how its plot is basically just one giant self-parody of itself, focusing on a pharmaceutical head who forces his employees to capture King Kong and bring him to Japan, putting millions of people’s lives in danger, so he can force the ape to fight Godzilla and broadcast the footage as promo. The film has its flaws — Kong’s suit is famously hideous, and the actual fight is sort of forgettable — but the ambitious weirdness of the film makes it a surprisingly hilarious watch. 

18. ‘Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah’ (Heisei Era, 1991)

Directed by: Kazuki Ōmori

After two relatively grounded, serious films, ‘Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah’ is where the Heisei series started to introduce more of the wild wackiness of the Showa Era, albeit tempered down a little to fit the overarching story. There’s a lot of time travel shenanigans going on that make this film…complicated to explain, but essentially, a bunch of time travelers come to Earth from a future where Japan has eclipsed all other countries as a global superpower, and plant the seeds for Ghidorah to rise and destroy it (they also erase Godzilla from existence by stealing the dinosaur that would become him from World War II era Japan). It’s goofy, but the time travel plot adds some new wrinkles to the formula and gives the human characters some interesting things to do beyond standing around and commenting on what the giant monsters are doing. And the eventual showdown between Ghidorah and Godzilla is great, especially when Ghidroah is resurrected as Mecha-King Ghidorah. Points off though for some messy portrayals of World War II Japanese forces that tiptoes into the realm of whitewashing. Points added for the hilariously terrible acting of American actors playing World War II forces, which creates some of the best comedy of any Heisei film. 

17. ‘Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla’ (Showa Era, 1974)

Directed by: Jun Fukuda

The only thing better than Godzilla? Mechagodzilla. The robot version of the King of the Monsters is one of the most iconic foes for the hero, and his debut film in 1974 did a lot to liven up the Showa era as it was reaching its end. The monster’s entrance, as a disguised form of Godzilla whose ‘skin’ is chipped away to reveal his metallic shell, is terrific, and the scene where he unleashes his full firepower is an incredible pyrokinetic treat. The actual plot of the film — involving conquering aliens, espionage action, an ancient prophecy, and a dorky and forgettable fuzzy lion creature named King Caesar — is a bit of a mess, but the monster brawls are terrific fun. 

16. ‘Destroy All Monsters’ (Showa Era, 1968)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

Plenty of ‘Godzilla’ films try to recreate the experience of being a kid and mashing a bunch of your action figures together in an epic battle. ‘Destroy All Monsters’ did it first, and arguably did it best. Set in the then-future of 1999, the film explores a world where humanity has solved the whole ‘giant monster’ crisis by containing Godzilla and his pals in the secluded Monsterland. But when an alien race named the Kilaaks attack, they mind control the beasts and unleash them upon Japan — then, when they lose control, throw Ghidorah into the mix. ‘Destroy All Monsters’ suffers from a slightly slow pace, but its heights — the all-out attack on Tokyo, the final battle that brings almost every kaiju from Toho at the time together — are some of the biggest heights of the entire Showa era.

15. ‘Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster’ (Showa Era, 1964)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

The titular King Ghidorah has appeared in tons of ‘Godzilla’ films, and his strength as an opponent has fluctuated wildly. But he’s never been more intimidating than his first go around, when his presence is so ominous and dangerous that it turns the previously entirely villainous Godzilla into a hero by default. Yes, this was the film where Godzilla switched from baddie to superhero, a change that lasted for basically the entire Showa Era and helped keep the franchise alive for as long as it has. Of course, it helps that the film itself is just a blast: a truly wacky espionage/fantasy/space opera plot that brings Godzilla together with Mothra and Rodan for the first real all-star monster team-up. The fights are epic, the tone is appropriately never too serious, and the fun to be had is abundant. 

14. ‘Godzilla’ (Monsterverse, 2014)

Directed by: Gareth Edwards 

The much-debated 2014 ‘Godzilla’ is maybe the single most divisive film in the entire franchise, and it’s not hard to see why. Edwards, in his transition from indie filmmaking with kaiju ‘Monsters’ to directing the cinematic kaiju, made the deliberate choice to limit Godzilla’s screentime and focus on the story from a human point of view. But the gambit pays off, fully conveying the sheer insignificance of the human cast in the face of an incredible power like ‘Godzilla.’ And when Godzilla does screentime, Edwards’ carefully composed direction and the tremendous special effects work captures him in all his magnificent glory. The film doesn’t really ever live up to its first third (Bryan Cranston is a much better lead than Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who would have guessed?) but it’s the only American ‘Godzilla’ film that does full justice to what makes the character special. 

13. ‘Invasion of Astro-Monster’ (Showa Era, 1965)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

A superior and wackier sequel to ‘Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster,’ ‘Invasion of Astro-Monster’ introduces fans to the Xilians, a bizarre alien race most notable for their extremely weird sunglasses-visor things. Encountered by astronauts Fuji (Akira Takarada) and Glenn (American actor Nick Adams, very obviously dubbed over) on the mysterious Planet X, the Xilians offer a cure for cancer to humanity, in exchange for control over Godzilla and Rodan. But, in a twist you can see coming, they instead use these monsters (along with Ghidorah) in an attempt to conquer Earth. Boasting improved visual effects, more memorable human characters (including an excellent performance from Kumi Mizuno as a Xilian in a doomed star-crossed romance), and better fights, this is pretty much ‘Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster’ but polished to its full potential. Plus, Godzilla dances.

12. ‘Terror of Mechagodzilla’ (Showa Era, 1975)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

In a fitting (if unintentional) bookend for the Showa Era, ‘Terror of Mechagodzilla’ saw Ishirō Honda return to the franchise for his final film. The result is a tonal whiplash from the goofy previous movies, telling a darker story of mad scientist Akira Ichinose (a scene-stealing Katsuhiko Sasaki) who resurrects Mechagodzilla after the last film as revenge against the scientific community for dismissing him as a crackpot for his discovery of the aquatic Titanosaurus. His actions only lead him and his daughter, who gets involved with an Interpol agent, to ruin, making for one of the bleakest and most tragic human stories of the series. That — combined with typically solid fights and a wave goodbye from Godzilla that’s more poignant than expected — ends the Showa films on a bitter, but high quality, note. 

11. ‘The Return of Godzilla’ (Heisei Era, 1984)

Directed by: Koji Hashimoto

For Godzilla’s 30th anniversary, the King of the Monsters got brought back to screen with the first Heisei Era film, which wiped the slate clean to tell a ‘Godzilla rampages in Tokyo’ tale similar to the first film. All of the Showa movies except for the first are ignored, and the nuclear warfare allegory is smartly updated to the Cold War-era politics of the ’80s. The ’80s recut of the film in America changed the tone to make the Soviets the villains, but the original Japanese version smartly makes the conflict morally neutral, focusing on Japan’s government’s efforts to get the two sides to cooperate in the face of a major threat. The darker tone and more impressive special effects make for one of the more serious films in the franchise, and the classic monster disaster film plot might be simple, but it’s very well told. Godzilla needed a great film to prove that he could exist beyond the limits of the Showa Era, and ‘The Return of Godzilla’ did the job needed to bring the big guy back to life. 

10. ‘Godzilla vs. Megalon’ (Showa Era, 1973)

Directed by: Jun Fukuda

Hear us out. Is ‘Godzilla vs. Megalon’ a good film? Not really. It’s cheesy, it’s cheap, it’s rather shoddily assembled, it uses a ton of stock footage. But in terms of pure fun you can have with a ‘Godzilla’ film, it’s hard to deny that ‘Megalon’ is absolutely top tier. This is a film where Godzilla fights a giant beetle summoned by a vengeful sea people with a shapeshifting robot named Jet Jaguar, who has one of the most kickass theme songs in the entire franchise. You can hem and haw about its issues, but ask yourself this: would you rather watch a ‘Godzilla’ movie where Godzilla performs a flying dropkick on its opponent not just once, but twice, or a ‘Godzilla’ movie where Godzilla doesn’t perform a flying dropkick on its opponent not just once, but twice? We thought so. ‘Godzilla vs. Megalon’ might be called a guilty pleasure, but who could ever feel guilty about loving Jet Jaguar? 

9. ‘Godzilla vs. Biollante’ (Heisei Era, 1989)

Directed by: Kazuki Ōmori

Sometimes, a great antagonist is all a ‘Godzilla’ movie needs to be a classic. After the straightforward ‘The Return of Godzilla,’ ‘Godzilla vs. Biollante’ tells a much more complex and convoluted story, introducing mad scientists, a Middle Eastern terrorist group, and a psychic medium Miki (Megumi Odaka), who appeared in every ‘Godzilla’ movie of the Heisei era afterward. It’s a lot, but it hangs together thanks to the central theme of the futility of meddling with nature. More importantly, it’s lifted by the genuinely unique and impressive kaiju villain Biollante, an eldritch plant monster formed from the DNA of Godzilla, plants, and the deceased daughter of her scientist creator. The thorny, weird creature shapeshifts and terrifies, and although her fight with Godzilla at the end is brief, it’s inventiveness and suspense more than make up for the lack of screentime. 

8. ‘Godzilla vs. Mothra’ (Showa Era, 1964)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

The first film to pit Mothra against Godzilla was vital in really establishing the direction of the Showa era, after the first two films featured a completely different tone and ‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ proved interesting but rickety. The story of Mothra, an insect god and protector of humanity seeking to stop Godzilla from destroying Japan, is a classic fight between good and evil that’s the last chance for Showa Godzilla to flex his stuff as a terrifying antagonist. The fight between the two is one of special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya’s shining achievements in the series, and Honda loads the film with memorable imagery that makes for one of the most beautiful films in the entire franchise. And really, isn’t Mothra just too adorable not to love? 

7. ‘Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla’ (Millennium Era, 2002)

Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka

A lot of ‘Godzilla’ films have human characters that are at best forgettable, and on paper, an entry that foregrounds its human lead as much as ‘Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla’ does seems like a recipe for a misfire. But instead, Masaaki Tezuka’s film achieves stellar results thanks to the badass, compassionate performance of Yumiko Shaku as Akane Yashiro, a Lieutenant who ends up the only surviving member of her squad when she’s unable to kill Godzilla. She winds up demoted and devastated, but gets a chance to prove herself again when she’s selected as the main pilot for Kiryu, the movie’s version of Mechagodzilla made by excavating the skeleton of the original 1954 monster. It’s essentially a mecha anime in the ‘Godzilla’ world, which works fantastically because it brings Akane closer to the action than other human protagonists in these films typically manage. It helps that this is by far the best Mechagodzilla has ever been on screen; Kiryu looks incredible with his shoulder canons and sleek silver look, and the bond Akane forms with him will have you cheering for them to take Godzilla down. 

6. ‘Godzilla Minus One’ (Reiwa Era, 2023)

Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki

The most recent ‘Godzilla’ film seems destined to spark a major boom in fandom for the character stateside, where it became the highest-grossing live-action Japanese film and earned scores of praise from critics. And deservedly so, because it’s one of the character’s best films. Setting the clock back to before the era of the first film, the movie sees ‘Godzilla’ hit 1945 Japan as the country, already on its knees after the war and nuclear bombs brought them to a standstill, is completely unequipped to handle another major disaster. At the film’s center is one of the franchise’s better human protagonists, ex-kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (played by Ryunosuke Kamiki), who fled his post and earns himself a shot at redemption by going up against the monster. The film manages to avoid ever feeling like an apologia for Japan’s World War II actions, instead focusing on how the citizens of Japan can pick themselves up after the tragedies they’ve experienced. The melodrama of the human storyline doesn’t always scan perfectly with the Godzilla action, but ‘Godzilla Minus One’ and its optimistic outlook on recovering from the scars of the past makes for the franchise’s most touching and human entry. 

5. ‘Godzilla vs. Hedorah’ (Showa Era, 1971)

Directed by: Yoshimitsu Banno

Straight up the weirdest movie of the entire ‘Godzilla’ canon, ‘Godzilla vs. Hedorah’ pits the kaiju against a monstrous, shape-shifting tadpole alien that grows into a strange pile of sludge thanks to pollution in Japan’s water. Their fights are interspersed with odd psychedelic storytelling touches including cartoon interludes and hallucinogenic sequences that make the entire film genuinely trippy to experience. It’s a weird art piece curio just as much as it is a ‘Godzilla’ movie, and it makes the giant monster battles — some of the best in the Showa Era, as Hedorah is a unique and genuinely dangerous opponent — all the more intriguing. And although people nowadays might find the ecological message of the film eye-rolling, at the time — when Japan was going through a major pollution crisis — it showed how Godzilla can stay relevant a good decade past its debut. 

4. ‘Godzilla vs. Destroyah’ (Heisei Era, 1995)

Directed by: Takao Ōkawara

With the Heisei Era developing a decently complicated mythology over the course of its seven film run, ‘Godzilla vs. Destroyah’ had the difficult task of wrapping everything up in a satisfying package to make way for the first American attempt at the character (one wonders if they would have kept it going had they known how bad the 1998 film would be). To do so, Takao Ōkawara’s film ties itself more strongly than almost any movie in the franchise to the original. Momoko Kōchi makes a poignant cameo as the heroine from the 1954 film, while the plot sees Godzilla battle Destroyah, a monster born from the Oxygen Destroyer that killed his predecessor. It’s a thrilling setup, especially since Destroyah has a sleek and incredibly cool design, while Godzilla — here on the verge of a ‘nuclear meltdown’ from his radiation levels that threatens Japan — gets a new, gorgeous burning look. Their fights are some of the best in series history, especially set to Akira Ifukube’s brilliant score. But what makes ‘Godzilla vs. Destroyah’ so good is how it manages to bring the Heisei Era story to a satisfactory end, wringing genuine emotions out of Godzilla Jr. and recurring characters like Miki, while ending with a somber, beautiful finale that assures fans the adventure will still continue — just without us watching. 

3. ‘Shin Godzilla’ (Reiwa Era, 2016)

Directed by: Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi

“Shin Godzilla” co-directer Hideko Anno is famous for his anime series “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” a dark psychological take on the mecha genre that takes many of its tropes and carries them to their most horrifying conclusion. “Shin Godzilla” operates similarly, examining what would happen to a modern-day Japan that is suddenly confronted with a fantasy monster like Godzilla. To answer that question, the film embeds itself in the political world of Japan as it responds to the crisis, and pits main character Rando Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa) against a mountain of bureaucratic red tape, foreign interference, and conflicting party interests he needs to deal with to get anything done about the incredibly deadly force in danger of destroying the country. It’s a cynical and scathing look at the stodgy, ineffective government of Japan that truly finds a way to make the human side of the film as compelling as the Godzilla side. And the Godzilla side is truly compelling. Inspired by the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan, Godzilla in this film is a shape-shifting, deeply disturbing creature rendered in impressive CGI, a first for the Japanese franchise. He’s never been less human or unknowable than he is in his final, heavily scarred, and fleshy form, a disaster that humans are helpless in the face of. It’s truly inventive and new, a movie that shows the boundless ways Godzilla can be rendered. 

2. ‘Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack’ (Millennium Era, 2001)

Directed by: Shūsuke Kaneko

Even at his most destructive, Godzilla is rarely treated as genuinely evil, more an animal struggling to survive. This makes the cruel, sadistic, and legitimately terrifying version seen in ‘Giant Monsters All-Out Attack’ so effective. Dead-eyed and demonic, this Godzilla is the original from 1954, set out to attack modern Japan after the spirits of those who perished due to Japan’s Pacific War era crimes possess it as a giant reminder to the country to never forget its past. The film has a lot of fun twisting the Godzilla formula on its head — King Ghidorah and Mothra unite as the guardian spirits of Earth to defend humanity from this beast — while the anti-war message gives the film’s destruction much more weight than usual. But even if the film doesn’t have the novelty factor in its favor, the monster battles of the franchise have never been as thrilling as the ones that Kaneko expertly stages in the film’s jaw-dropping climax. It’s one of the darkest Godzilla films, but also one of the most thrilling. 

1. ‘Godzilla’ (Showa Era, 1954)

Directed by: Ishirō Honda

70 years later, Ishirō Honda’s original 1954 ‘Godzilla’ remains the definitive ‘Godzilla’ film of all time. And yet, the qualities that make ‘Godzilla’ so great are things that almost none of its sequels have ever had any interest in recapturing. Rendered in stark black and white, the original ‘Godzilla’ is an achingly sad film about the consequences of nuclear warfare, and the trauma that was still fresh in the Japanese consciousness at the time of its release. None of ‘Godzilla’s’ rampages are exciting like they are in the sequels; they’re horrifying and upsetting, with a focus on the human casualties of his actions. Even the King of the Monsters is a more tragic monster than he typically is, an animal that’s just as much a victim of nuclear warfare as the populace seeking to stop him. The human cast has never been more iconic than they are here, particularly Akira Kurosawa collaborator Takashi Shimura as the kindly Dr. Yamane and Akihiko Hirata as morally conflicted Dr. Serizawa, whose final sacrifice is the most emotionally affecting moment in any ‘Godzilla’ film. ‘Godzilla’ films come in many shapes and forms — from crossover monster fights or disaster movies, lighthearted or deadly serious — but it’s the first film and its somber message against war that will stick with you.