Godzilla vs. Kong (HBO Max)
Godzilla is an icon.
Over 65 years and through 33 movies, the creature has come to define the kaiju subgenre, while mining potent metaphors from rubber-suited destruction. The big guy even earned himself a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along the way.
From his origins as a specter of the atom bomb to the lovable defender of Tokyo from hosts of malevolent monsters and everything in between, Godzilla is almost always at his most entertaining when the destruction ramps up and the fighting begins.
As Godzilla vs. Kong roars into theaters and living rooms to reunite the legend with his famous friends and foes, here’s how all of the live-action films stack up against one another.
33. All Monsters Attack (1969)
It turns out even Godzilla is not immune to the preposterous filler usually offered by the clip show episode of your favorite television sitcom. Ichiro is a young boy who’s frequently bullied by his classmates. To escape from this, he frequently imagines what life would be like hanging out on Monster Island with Godzilla’s son, Minilla, who also suffers from bullying from some of the island’s inhabitants. All Monsters Attack was made for the children, and for those who love stock footage.
32. Godzilla (1998)
How bad does your Godzilla movie have to be that even Toho has to turn its back on it? This bad. A Godzilla* surfaces from deep in the ocean before heading to New York to cause utter destruction. Lackluster performances from Ferris Bueller and Leon the Professional do nothing to aide this dumpster fire, which killed any notion of an American franchise until 2014. Try the animated TV series that spawned from it instead, and thank me later.
*It’s a T-Rex.
31. Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
When will humans learn? Nuclear testing near Monster Island causes problems when two of Godzilla’s friends, Anguirus and Rodan, tumble into a fissure caused by the blast. The bomb also razes the capital of Seatopia, an underground civilization which sends the drillbit arm-bearing giant cockroach that is Megalon in retaliation to destroy those responsible. Jet Jaguar also appears. It speaks to a film’s quality when it makes an appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000 like this one did.
