Godzilla’ Anime Debut: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!  With the end of the Halloween festivities and November in full swing, we can kick off Hanime on Anime’s second annual Novembflix.  And starting off this week’s reviews on Netflix exclusive anime is a film that I’m honestly not sure what to think.  Though meant to be the first part of a film trilogy, after watching this, I’m not sure if I’d pick up the next two parts.  But I’ll get into that when I get to it.  For now, let’s talk about this week’s first Novembflix pick for reviewing, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters.

Set in a futuristic setting with the opening set on a spaceship, the film starts off with something a hostage situation in which the film’s main character, Captain Haruo Sasaki, attempts to hold the ship hostage just as it’s about to release a group of willing participants in a recolonization project.  As he’s arrested, the project fails miserably.  He then goes into more detail via narration about the film’s current setting and predicament.  In modern day Earth, giant monsters began to pop up and attack the planet with the most prominent and deadliest being Godzilla.  It is also at this time that Earth receives intergalactic visitors.  Offering something of salvation for the residence of Earth, these aliens (if you could call them that considering they look as human as anyone else on Earth) state that they themselves have faced similar destruction on their homeworld and give the option of combating the monster, but it unfortunately backfires, resulting in retreat for the remainder of humanity from Earth.  After spending twenty years in space, much of mankind’s population has dwindled and many find themselves starving and lacking resources.  Bringing the audience back to the beginning of film, an alien priest named Metphies visits Haruo and discloses information regarding Godzilla.  Haruo anonymously publishes the information which later grabs the attention of the commanding forces of the ship.  This eventually leads them to start a campaign to recolonize Earth.  However, investigation into the surface of Earth shows that Godzilla is still alive.  Metphies states that killing it is the best option if the campaign is to be successful.  On top of that, he also mentions that the recently published article contains vital information that can defeat the monster, and is willing to discuss that information and reveal the identity of the author if Haruo is released on bail.  Haruo is released and explains that Godzilla is able to generate a protective shield that can withstand significant damage except for a brief moment when it’s shield organ is powered down.  This prompts for destroying the organ in that downtime.  The commanding forces agree to the plan and a group of 600 personnel is organized for the mission, leaving one of the commanders, Eliott Leland in charge. 

Once on Earth, the crew learns that 20,000 years have passed since humanity’s exodus and that much of life has been seriously been impacted by Godzilla.  Things turn especially bleak when the camp is attacked by unknown creatures while a group of scouts are sent to investigate the terrain on foot.  Ultimately, Leland orders a retreat.  As the company moves out, they run into Godzilla himself and suffer massive casualties.  However, thanks to Leland (who dies in the process) and Haruo, the group learns that Godzilla’s weak spot is its dorsal fin.  Metphies is made commander of the company, but passes his authority to Haruo feeling that he is better suited for the situation.  Haruo orders an attack on Godzilla using what information they have.  The group is able to take down Godzilla, but the celebration is short-lived; the Godzilla that they defeated was supposedly an offspring to the original Godzilla and that the real one had been underground the whole time.  The original Godzilla emerges and attacks the group, leading to a crushing defeat, leaving Haruo the only survivor.  The credits roll after Haruo swears vengeance, and the film closes on a post credit scene with him being cared for by a mysterious girl.

Like I said earlier, I’m not sure what to really think of this film.  But given that it’s meant to be a Godzilla film, I expected a lot out of it.  And, well, I was a little disappointed.  Overall, I give Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters a 7 out of 10.  While I’ve clearly expressed some disappointment in the film, there were a couple of elements to the film that I think were good.  For one, I thought the massive time jump was impressive and seems to stay relatively true to, well, relativity.  I’m not a scientist by any means and I can’t vouch for the legitimacy of the gap, but it seemed make sense that the time spent  space would vastly differ from that on Earth.  Then again, the ship where humanity is left on is about 12 light years away from Earth, so that definitely plays into it.  And while we’re on the subject of space, I actually liked that the film was a sci-fi film.  I’m not savvy on Godzilla films, but this is the first time that I’ve heard of a sci-fi Godzilla film.  The overall concept was pretty neat given that it’s meant to be a kaiju film.  And I have to give Polygon Pictures the benefit of the doubt when I say that they do exceptionally well with sci-fi films.  Granted, I feel like that’s the studio’s forte.  So overall, the world building was what really shown through here.  And then there are the downsides.

Admittedly, I found the film hard to follow, but I felt like a lot of that contributed to two thirds of the film being nothing but strategic planning and talking about Godzilla himself.  In fact, Godzilla doesn’t show up until an hour into the film.  Even for a run of the mill kaiju film, you’d expect to actually see the monster thirty minutes in at least.  Hearing about him isn’t that bad, but I felt like because this is one of the most famous movie monsters of all time, the information on him seems almost redundant.  Godzilla is such a famous icon you’d much rather see him than hear about him, and that was probably one of the biggest problems that I had.  That aside, and like I said earlier, the movie seemed really boring, especially the first act before they arrive on Earth.  Again, it’s mostly discussing the campaign or possibility of there being one, and Godzilla himself.  Like I said, it was a little disappointing for a Godzilla movie, but it’s worth seeing if you’re a Godzilla fan.  It’s Godzilla, how can you not go wrong…well, ok, besides this movie, anyways?

So while Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters was not a monster hit in my book, it’s still a Godzilla movie that I think any Godzilla or kaiju movie fan will enjoy.  And so that wraps up part one of Novembflix!  Stay tuned next Sunday when I take a gamble on a show with show a girl who really has a thing for high stakes!

-Hanime on Anime

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters Trailer