Giant monster (or kaiju) movies never seem to go out of style, simply because every generation of filmgoers seems to find the idea of big monsters, special effects, and scenes of intense destruction cool. It’s fun to watch the older ones while it’s similarly entertaining to marvel at what the newer ones are capable of showing, with such movies varying in tone, from being goofy escapism to somber disaster films.
There are ahandful of giant monster movies that are arguably perfect, and a decent number more that are at least pretty close to being masterful. The following titles fit into one of these camps, being either fantastic from start to finish or near-perfect, and are easy to recommend to both passionate kaiju fans and more casual viewers alike.
10’Godzilla: Final Wars' (2004)
Director: Ryûhei Kitamura
To get a hot take out of the way first, yes,Godzilla: Final Warsis pretty much perfect for what it is, even if some people aren’t huge fans of what it’s trying to do in the first place. It isone of the silliest kaiju movies ever made,and probably the most over-the-top, serving as a 50-year-anniversary celebration ofGodzillaand telling a ridiculously simple story that sees the monster having a series of rematches with old foes.
Godzilla: Final Warsis a movie that’s self-aware enough to know how silly it is, but there’s also a sincerity towardGodzillaas a series, making it a well-earned and highly entertaining celebration of the iconic monster. Also, it’s hard not to celebrate a movie that sees an overpowered version of Godzillafight the less-popular take on the characterfrom the 1998 American film, the former absolutely decimating the latter in “combat.”
Godzilla: Final Wars
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9’Gamera 2: Attack of Legion' (1996)
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
1995 sawthe release ofGamera: Guardian of the Universe, which was arguably the first movie to properly do the character of Gamera justice, or at least showcase the purportedGodzillarip-off in a way that rivaled films from that more well-known kaiju series. That film kicked off a trilogy that then had two even better films, the second overall,Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, coming out in 1996.
Building on the first movie,Gamera 2: Attack of Legionis about an alien threat too powerful for humanity to contain, leading to Gamera once more being the planet’s only hope.It focuses on monster action far more than most kaiju movies, and sets up some interesting threads that are further explored in an even better third installment to this 1990sGameratrilogy (so, more on that in a bit).
Gamera 2: Attack of Legion
A strange meteor lands in Japan and unleashes hundreds of insect-like “Legion” creatures bent on colonizing the Earth. When the military fails to control the situation, Gamera shows up to deal with the ever-evolving space adversary. However the battle may result in Gamera losing his bond with both Asagi and humanity.
8’The Super Inframan' (1975)
Director: Hua Shan
The Super Inframancan be placed in the same camp asGodzilla: Final Warstonally, as it features a wild blend of genres and a very simple story that’s both stupid and kind of endearing. Put simply, it’san underappreciated sci-fi flickthat’salso a martial arts movie, and then also qualifies as something of a superhero movie while, furthermore, being a creature feature.
The titular Inframan is aman given great powers to battle numerous foeslooking to conquer Earth, withThe Super Inframanbeingjust about non-stop in terms of action, once the minimal setup required is complete. Some monsters are giant, and thankfully, Inframan can also grow in size. So, while there aren’t as many giant monster sequences as more traditional kaiju movies, those bigger ones do play a role, while the fight scenes with less gigantic monsters still prove just as entertaining.
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7’Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack' (2001)
The title ofGodzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attackmight be a bit much, but thisGodzillafilm is one of thebest in the entire series, being expertly written, creative, technically dazzling, and even a bit emotional. Also, Godzilla is at his most malicious here, being pretty much possessed by tormented spirits from around World War II all using the creature to enact vengeance on modern-day Japan.
The fantastical spin extends to how iconicGodzilla foes like Mothra and King Ghidorahare brought into the story, being mythical beings that are summoned toprotect humanity from a vengeful, outright villainous Godzilla.Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attackcould sound unwieldy and silly on paper, but the execution is phenomenal, and any flaws are overall negligible.
6’Pacific Rim' (2013)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Torohas made hisfair share of disturbing fantasy and horror movies, withPacific Rimfeeling like a change of pace, in a way, being his biggest blockbuster-type film to date.Like a good many giant monster movies, the plot is nice and simple, with giant monsters trying to take over the world, encouraging all Earth’s nations to come together in building equally giant, pilotable robots to fight back.
It’s certainly not a complex sci-fi romp, but it’s one ofthe most outright entertaining in recent memory.Pacific Rimfeels a bit like watching a kid play with massive toys on a massive scale, proving endearing, simple, and wholly bombastic. It’s a rather joyous and giddy sort of film, and so long as you’re able to give yourself over to it in some capacity, you’ll have a blast.
Pacific Rim
5’Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris' (1999)
So, as mentioned before, the threeGameramovies that came out in the 1990s were all awesome, and the best of the bunch was the third, 1999’sGamera 3: Revenge of Iris. Despite being as good as the bestGodzillamovies coming out around the same time,theseGameramovies remain somewhat underrated; popular among kaiju fans, perhaps, but not particularly well-known outside such circles.
That should change, though, becauseGamera 3: Revenge of Irisexcels as both a giant monster movie and as a genuinely compelling sci-fi/horror/action film with genuine dramatic weight and interesting characters.It delivers spectacle, sure, but it’s the other things that make it something more entirely, with all the things set up in the previous two movies getting further explored/paid off in spades here.
4’Godzilla Minus One' (2023)
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
There was a decent amount of excitement aroundGodzilla Minus Onein the lead-up to its release, but once it actually hit theaters,the hype around it basically exploded(as seen in both Japan and later in other territories). It was heralded as a return-to-basics sort of thing for theGodzillaseries as a whole, admittedly going a step further than expected by doing more than just returning to the 1950s, when the original took place.
Godzilla Minus Onequite radically took place immediately after World War II,placing the population of Japan in more desperate and trying times than usual right before an extra-malicious form of Godzilla started rampaging. Its approach to Godzilla as an outright villain is similar to the aforementionedGodzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, though there are no monsters to help out humanity here.It’s all about a desperate fight against Godzilla, andGodzilla Minus Onemakes that fight intense, exciting, spectacular, and surprisingly moving.
Godzilla Minus One
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3’The Host' (2006)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Bong Joon-ho’sno stranger to making borderline-perfect movies, given he’s mastered the crime genre (Memories of Murder), the action genre (Snowpiercer), and the thriller genre (Parasite, which is also something of a dark comedy).As such, it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that his 2006 monster movie,The Host, is also of impeccable quality.
The monster might not be quite as big as the likes of Godzilla or Gamera, but it’s still imposing and more than threatening enough, and makes an enemy of a determined yet dysfunctional family after taking their daughter in an attack.The Hostexcites in its more action-packed moments, and then proves to be quite touching when it wants to get more dramatic. At other times, it has a wonderfully absurd sense of humor. It delivers everything you could want and more, andwas one of the best movies of 2006, itself a very strong year for cinema.
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2’King Kong' (1933)
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Long before he was an iconic Godzilla foe, Kong was his own, well, king. Kong might not have as many movies as Godzilla or even Gamera, and another King, Ghidorah, might’ve also appeared in more films… but 1933’sKing Kongcame first. It’s responsible for making Kong one of the most recognizable monsters in the history of fiction, and if you count it as a kaiju/giant monster movie, it’s one of the very best.
The narrative’s familiar at this point, owing tohow many timesKing Konghas been remade: a film crew discovers a giant ape, they bring it back to New York City, and chaos ensues. The special effects used throughout hold up better than you might expect,and it has a sense of adventure that’s never quite been equaled in any other giant monster movie. It’s well-paced and quite dazzling, even more than nine decades on from its release.
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1’Godzilla' (1954)
Director: Ishirō Honda
To the surprise of no one, yes, 1954’sGodzillais obviously excellent and perhaps the gold standard for the entire kaiju genre for numerous reasons. It kicked off themost well-regarded and enduring giant monster series to date, and is also an effectively eerie, emotionally tense, and thought-provoking piece of science fiction in its own right, certainly being a good deal more somber than its sequels tend to be.
The originalGodzillais one ofthe most significant films of the 1950s, anda classic of Japanese cinemafor the way it unpacks and explores issues surrounding atomic weapons in the years following World War II. Much of it still resonates, and the depiction of the titular character here is still tragic, scary, and impactful.It’s about as classic as kaiju movies get, and is, of course, near-perfect a movie as a result.
