A UFO appears over Japan. The military is on alert. When it lands three people appear in hologram form. They identify themselves as Wilson, Grenchiko and Emmy Kano. They tell the military that they are from the year 2204 in the future. They explain that in the future Godzilla has destroyed Japan. They have come to the year 1992 to get help from the Japanese to change the future.
They want to go back to 1944 when they believe Godzilla was created. During the war some Japanese soldiers were saved by a mysterious dinosaur on Lagos Island. They were being attacked by American soldiers when the dinosaur arrived and chased the Americans away. After the war the area became a testing site for Nuclear bombs. The future people, “Futurians”, believe that radioactivity from this testing changed the dinosaur into Godzilla.
The Futurians request the assistant of three people to go back to 1944 with them. Kenichiro Terasawa is a writer who is writing a book about Godzilla. He is well versed on the story of the dinosaur from one of the surviving soldiers that was stationed on the island. Professor Mazaki is an expert in dinosaurs and Miki Saegusa is a psychic with the ESP institute.
The Futurians, Terasawa, Miki Saegusa, Professor Mazaki, and an android named M-11 travel back in time to 1944. They witness the dinosaur attack the Americans. The dinosaur sustains a serious wound. M-11 teleports the dying dinosaur to the Bering Strait. They all then return to 1992. Before they leave the year 1944, the Futurians leave behind three small genetically created creatures called Dorats. Normally they are harmless little pets but now they have been exposed to the radiation from the bomb testing. The radiation causes them to meld together and grow. They turn into King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah appears in 1992 Japan and begins destroying everything. The Futurians use the newly minted Ghidorah as a weapon. They want Japan to surrender to them. Japan refuses to surrender.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the spot where Godzilla was place in the Bering Strait happens to be where a Russian nuclear sub sank in the 1970’s. It released enough radiation to mutate the dinosaur into Godzilla. A nuclear sub is sent to that spot to energize the dormant Godzilla. Godzilla destroys the sub and sucks up the radiation. Godzilla is born, only he is bigger and stronger than the original one from 1954. Time for Godzilla and Ghidorah to dust it up.
“Godzilla vs King Ghidorah” was released in 1991 and was directed by Kazuki Omori. I was pleased with this movie. The plot was unexpected. Usually it is aliens from outer space but when we find out it’s people from the future and their space ship is really a time machine it added an extra curiosity factor that kept me watching.
At first I thought it was an enemy faction trying to hood wink the Japanese government, then I thought it might actually be aliens trying to trick everybody since that happens a lot. But no, they are from the future and they go further in the past and find a dinosaur. Cool. Godzilla is usually created via radiation from a nuclear bomb. Whether it’s an iguana or a dinosaur doesn’t really matter since the fun begins when the mutation commences.
Granted the plot is a bit involved and the special effects are a little iffy in spots but it’s still a really enjoyable movie. The little Dorats were weird and campy but when they turned into the actually Ghidorah all was forgiven.
There was a lot of controversy about how the Americans are portrayed in the film. Whether the sentiments were meant to be a critical view on American actions in WWII or not I don’t know. What I do know is that America dropped two nuclear bombs on two major cities in Japan. On August 6, 1945 a bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. 90% of the city was destroyed and 80,000 people died immediately. Tens of thousands died in the coming weeks from radiation poisoning. Three days later another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing at least 40,000 people instantly. Again thousands died in the weeks to come from radiation sickness. Thousands of regular Japanese people were scarred for life from the effects of the two bombs.
English dubbed
Japanese subtitled