Cinematic Point Of View

Last night my youngest son asked to watch Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. It was one of the first Godzilla movies he watched when he was little. We watch it probably once a year.

I recently bought it on Blu ray because it has a subtitled version versus the comedically dubbed English version we usually watch. It was like seeing the movie for the first time and we had a blast noticing the difference in dialogue and tone of the film.

I’ll always remember these little moments together.

Godzilla means so many things to me, always has since I first ran across a Godzilla movie playing on Channel 39 on a Saturday as a kid. I can’t be certain but I feel like that first movie was Destroy All Monsters. As a kid, it was a nice sampling of so many monsters. I remember getting ready to go outside and practice kicking the soccer ball, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the TV. All these monsters were unliie anything I’d ever seen!

What he means to me has changed over the years. Every film, even the least of the lot, carries a deeper message with a different Godzilla character. He is a warning. A destroyer. A bridge between cultures. A victim. A savior. A friend.

This past year I was floored by the beautiful and powerful Godzilla Minus One, changing my perception of the Godzilla universe once again. The elements of the story such as PTSD and family, the perfection casting, it all just hit me right in the heart at the right time. It still gets me.

From a film birthed from a nation’s pain to even the over the top antics of the most recent American film, GODZILLA continues to change and grow just as the world does. I seem to find something within every film that speaks to some part of me. I am thankful.

Long live the King.

What does Godzilla mean to you?