Is the Millennium Series Underrated?

SchizoidHorse9
MemberBaragonApr-05-2017 2:20 AMSo I'm currently wrapping up my most recent Godzilla marathon, and I just have Tokyo SOS and Final Wars left, and honestly, I feel like the Millennium Series gets a lot more hate than it deserves. It's not that most of the movies in it are Top 5 quality, but they always seem to get picked out as the worst bunch. For example, maybe I'm biased, as Godzilla 2000 was my first G-movie, but I feel like it's a really solid Godzilla film. I like the characters, everyone is interesting and has a little backstory. Katagiri, the human antagonist, is the kind of character I'm okay with disliking. He's very anti-Godzilla, and his methods are extreme, but he's so obsessed with killing Godzilla that it makes him interesting to watch.
I really liked the redesign for Godzilla, since it was the beginning of a new era. It wasn't his best look, for sure, but he is certainly fierce looking, and really embodies the cold fury that I always liked about Godzilla. The look gave him the feeling of a fighter, but at the same time, an omnipotent god who had come to bring reckoning. His dorsal plates are honestly my favorite of any Godzilla. As much as I love the classic softer look to them, these massive, jagged, almost blade like plates really made Godzilla seem like he was not to be taken lightly. I could have done without his atomic breath being orange, but whatever.
Orga was an awesome villain, in my opinion. A challenging one, too. The ship alone was a threat to Godzilla through a good portion of the film, but when Orga materialized, man, he was imposing. That wicked snake-like appearance and shoulder cannon were cool. He nearly became Godzilla, and just by scanning him was able to gain his Regenerator G-1. I thought it was a well done fight, and honestly, a super enjoyable movie.
A surprise for me on this viewing was how much I actually enjoyed Godzilla vs Megaguirus, though I can definitely attest to part of it being because I was a little buzzed. But seriously, it was actually pretty fun. The human characters dragged on a bit for me and bored me, but whenever we got to the Meganula, Megaguirus, and Godzilla related scenes, that movie was pretty all right. It is probably still my least favorite Millennium movie, but I am surprised how much I liked it on this viewing.
The Godzilla suit for vs Megaguirus was probably my second least favorite in Millennium, (Final Wars is one of my least favorite suits in Godzilla history) but I still liked the suit more than some. Megaguirus was an interesting villain, notably for piercing Godzilla's skin multiple times, shutting down his Atomic Breath, and also being surprisingly intelligent (dropping that weird diamond-building thing on him right after she smiles wickedly). Also, she is super fast, which I always liked.
As far as I'm concerned, Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack was by far the best of Millennium, but I'm sure many of you feel otherwise. I just loved the premise in general. I particularly enjoyed seeing Godzilla be the bad guy again. I do wish we could have gotten the original cast of monsters planned for this film, before Toho intervened to put King Ghidorah and Mothra in the movie instead of Varan and Anguirus. But I suppose the end result was still amazing, so I can't complain. Overall, I loved this movie.
Godzilla was truly evil looking in this. He had the look of a mad tyrant finding his kingdom full of interlopers, and determined to remove them himself. Just a great interpretation.
I enjoyed the design for all the monsters in the film, though none are my favorite interpretations. I did think Mothra looked very nice, though.
Overall, the Kiryu saga didn't particularly suit my interests, oddly enough, being as I'm a pretty big fan of all versions of Mechagodzilla (or functionally similar characters, ala Kiryu) That being said, both Against Mechagodzilla and Tokyo SOS were good enough movies that, again, I feel the hate is too strong. The design of Godzilla is again nothing to write home about, but still enjoyable to see bash in heads, and still lands in the positive side of the Millennium era for me.
If there is one stand out moment for me from the Kiryu saga, it is Kiryu's design. I freaking love how cool Kiryu looks through both movies. He is just beastly. I would have to say that Kiryu's design is one of my favorite designs, period, of any kaiju related thing. He looks so fast and lethal. I also liked the idea of him rampaging and thought that his "soul" still fighting was cool.
I don't have anything I particularly like or dislike about Final Wars, aside from Godzilla's design, so this might be the weakest portion of this topic. As previously mentioned, I really hate the design of Godzilla in this movie.. I hate his cat ears and just how generally feline he looks. (also one of my gripes about certain Heisei suits, but I like those ones much better) I'm also not a huge Keizer Ghidorah fan. Aside from that, I enjoy the crazy melee and the assortment of monster cameos. I can only really say that watching this movie is what I imagine doing acid to be like. It's absolutely wild and all over the place, and the camera work makes me a little dizzy, but it's so stylized I can't knock it for that alone.
Overall, I just feel that while the Millenium series isn't the brightest star in the history of Godzilla, it has just as many bad movies, and just as many good movies (in terms of percentage, seeing as how there are only six movies) as there are in any era (Showa and Heisei definitely both had really bad G-Movies, like vs Megalon or vs Spacegodzilla)
Let me know what your thoughts are about it....
Thanks again!
After getting that Slurpee at 7/11