Godzilla: King of Kaiju
Screening Dates
  • October 30, 2023 6:30

“One of the most beloved films in the entire franchise … [Fukuda] ended his tenure with the kaiju on a high note.”

Graham Skipper, Godzilla: The Official Guide

To mark the franchise’s 20th anniversary, Toho delivered this brash (and uncharacteristically bloody) kaiju cage match, which pits Godzilla against a mecha doppelgänger and a race of black-hole aliens hell-bent on world domination. ​“Godzilla’s evil twin Mechagodzilla first reared its head in this Fukuda Jun-directed film. A robot designed by aliens to conquer Earth, the enduringly popular villain has since been resurrected by Toho Studios several times. With the help of earnest direction, spectacular pyrotechnics, and guest appearances by veteran genre actors, this film recaptures the feel of the sixties Godzilla movies” (Janus Films). Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla would be Fukuda’s farewell film of the franchise, leaving the door open for original helmer Honda Ishiro—who, until Miyazaki Hayao, was responsible for more internationally distributed pictures than any other Japanese director—to return for one last hurrah.

In Japanese with English subtitles

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