Tuesday, February 12, 2019

'Godzilla: The Planet Eater' Brings a Mediocre Trilogy to a Close

Godzilla: The Planet Eater is the culmination of Netflix’s Godzilla anime film trilogy.   After the Bilusaludo revealed their cards in the previous movie, it’s now the Exifs’ turn to do the same.  And it involves bringing their god – Ghidorah – to Earth to defeat Godzilla.  However, the destruction that Ghidorah brings is much worse than Godzilla’s.  Betrayed by both their alien allies, Captain Haruo Sakaki and a handful of human survivors must make the hard choice to determine humanity’s future.

When I first saw the first film of this series, I immediately appreciated that its premise diverted from the standard “Godzilla attacking a metropolitan city” formula.  The futuristic setting and new look of the “fighting Godzilla” dynamic upheld a sense of freshness for a while.  But as the trilogy progressed, it gradually lost steam.  And I eventually realized why the standard formula had been used over and over again.  It’s because it works!  It is where Godzilla is at its most exciting.

In short, this Godzilla anime trilogy’s vision was initially intriguing, but it progressively became boring.
So, by virtue of being the last, The Planet Eater is my least favorite.  For at this point, whatever appreciation I had for its unique premise was exhausted.

Moreover, it didn’t surprise much; the story generally played out as I had pictured it.  On the other hand, flawed its predecessors may be, but they at least had twists that I didn’t predict (especially the first one).

I also didn’t like its depiction of Ghidorah.  Pretty stupid and lackluster.  In turn, the Godzilla-Ghidorah battle – if one can call that a battle – was underwhelming.  Look.  To be honest, going in, it didn’t really matter to me if the movie sucked, as long as there was an epic kaiju throwdown.  But it didn’t even have that as redeeming factor.

Thus, all in all, The Planet Eater settles it: the Godzilla anime film trilogy is a disappointment.  It has its moments, but it’s just mediocre at best.

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