Godzilla vs. Destoroyah Gojira tai
Desutoroia?), is a 1995 Japanese science fiction kaiju film produced by Toho
Co., Ltd.. Directed by Takao Okawara, with special effects by Koichi Kawakita,
the film starred Takuro Tatsumi, Yasufumi Hayashi and Megumi Odaka. The film
also featured a cameo by Momoko Kōchi, reprising her role from the original
Godzilla (1954). This twenty-second installment in the Godzilla franchise was
the final film in the Heisei, or second, series of films. The film received
publicity around the world for Toho's announcement that they would kill
Godzilla.
Toho ended the series to make way for an American Godzilla film,
which was ultimately produced in 1998. Toho would begin a new series of Godzilla
films in 1999 with the film Godzilla 2000, which began the Millennium series.
<
Story:
In 1996, after the death of SpaceGodzilla, Miki Saegusa
travels to Birth Island to check on Godzilla and his adopted son. However, she
finds the entire island destroyed. In Hong Kong, Godzilla appears covered in
glowing lava-like rashes. He goes on a rampage, causing major collateral damage
and killing thousands of civilians. A group of representatives from the Japan
Self Defense Forces hire college student Kenichi Yamane, the grandson of Dr.
Kyohei Yamane, to come work at the center in an attempt to unravel the mystery
of Godzilla's condition. Yamane suspects that Godzilla's heart, which acts as a
nuclear reactor, is going through a nuclear meltdown. When Godzilla reaches
1,200 degrees Celsius, he will explode with more force a supernova, taking the
world with him.
The JSDF deploys a flying combat vehicle outfitted with
anti-nuclear cold weapons to forestall this; the Super-X III. Meanwhile,
scientists create a new formula for the Oxygen Destroyer that was created by
Dr. Serizawa in 1954. This does not sit well with the JSDF, who fear that the
Oxygen Destroyer, which was used to kill the original Godzilla, may have
disastrous side effects. This belief is proven when a colony of Precambrian
organisms are discovered to have been mutated by the formula. The creatures
infest a sewer network and eventually make their way into an aquarium, killing
all the sea life inside. They rapidly evolve into monstrous crab-like creatures
and begin wreaking havoc. After several deadly skirmishes with the JSDF, the
creatures, dubbed "Destoroyah", evolve beyond the military's
containment abilities.
Little Godzilla reappears as Godzilla Junior, having mutated
further and now closely resembling his father, heads for the island where he
was born. Godzilla, who is searching for his son, follows him, but
complications arise. Due to his encounter with the Super-X III, Godzilla will
not explode but will instead suffer a bodily meltdown. After dying from the
meltdown, Godzilla's superheated remains will bore into the planet's core,
destroying the Earth. Desperate, the JSDF decide to lure Godzilla into a confrontation
with the evolving Destoroyah by hiring Miki and another psychic named Meru
Ozawa into telepathically instructing Junior to travel to Tokyo, which
Destoroyah is currently invading. Godzilla will no doubt follow, and since
Destoroyah was born from the same weapon that destroyed the first Godzilla, he
will surely lose the battle, preventing the meltdown.
The psychics successfully lure Godzilla Junior to Tokyo,
where he is attacked by Destoroyah, who has now increased in size and sprouted
a pair of bat-like wings. In the ensuing brawl, Destoroyah is seemingly killed
after being blown into an electrical plant. By nightfall, Godzilla and Junior
meet near Haneda Airport. Their reunion is cut short when Destoroyah, having
once again evolved and now outmatching Godzilla in height, flies in for another
attack. Destoroyah knocks down Godzilla and grabs Junior, dropping him from an
extreme altitude that brings the young dinosaur close to death. Godzilla,
enraged, attacks Destoroyah and a brutal battle erupts. The two creatures
inflict serious wounds upon each other, each calling upon their own unique
abilities to destroy the other. Eventually, Godzilla sends Destoroyah spewing
up vital fluids, forcing the creature to retreat.
Alone at last, Godzilla tries to revive his son but fails.
Overcome by grief, Godzilla's heart continues to fail, accelerating the
meltdown. Destoroyah, having recovered from its previous injuries, once again
appears. In a fury of rage, Godzilla bombards Destoroyah with a number of
supercharged atomic blasts, blowing the creature to pieces. Overcome by the
attack and the extreme heat from Godzilla's meltdown, Destoroyah tries to fly
away, but the JSDF shoots it down with a number of freeze weapons designed to
work against Godzilla. Upon hitting the ground, Destoroyah disintegrates from
thermal shock.
Moments later, Godzilla starts to die from the meltdown, but
the JSDF are able to sustain him momentarily with the freeze weapons.
Ultimately, they are unable to rescue Godzilla and he gives out one last weak
roar before he tragically suffers his meltdown. While they succeeded in
preventing Earth's destruction, the JSDF have been unable to stop the massive
nuclear fallout from rendering Tokyo uninhabitable. All of a sudden, the
radiation levels plummet and something can be seen stirring in the mist:
Godzilla Junior is apparently revived due to his father's power being channeled
into his body and he is now a full-grown adult, ready to take on his father's
title of King of the Monsters.