I'm watching Godzilla v Destroyah which I hadn't seen in a while. Spoilers to follow for a nearly 30 year old movie.
This was the end of one of the Godzilla eras. Released in 1995 it was to be the final ToHo for a bit, as the US version would be coming out in 1998. We all know how that went, as the US Godzilla was followed by Godzilla 2000 by ToHo, easily my favorite, and I'd argue the best of the Godzilla movies.
But this ramble isn't about Godzilla 2000, rather Destroyah. While the movies in this era are sorta linked by characters and events, this is still a loose sequel to v Space Godzilla.
Godzilla's heart, which is basically a nuclear reactor, is breaking, melting down, and if he goes, because of all the energy he absorbed from Space Godzilla, he's going to take all of us with him.
We've, at this point through three movies, followed the growth of Baby, or Junior depending on the speaker. Baby is the first to get to Destroyah, a plot helped by the psychics to lure Godzilla to where Destroyah is.
But Baby is no match for the much, much larger beast, and the fight is brutal and one sided.
In his final act, Godzilla gives his life energy to Baby, and the final meltdown happens. Not before the appropriate level of beat-down happens on Destroyah for what they have done.
There is a notable amount of tenderness and emotion in this scene, which is a fight between giant monsters. Seeing Godzilla literaly cracking at the seams as his body temperature rises, knowing what is to come. When he bends down to be close to Baby, who is laying broken in a pile of rubble.
When the music takes over, and we, humanity, do what we must with the ice lasers to control the fallout as he begins to melt, first the spikes on his back, and eventually his whole frame.
The whole movie is a dark emotional ride, meant to be the end of an era, it feels like it. And while Godzilla is portrayed as a monster in most of these films, we have in these final moments, tenderness and salvation.
The final scene leaves us with fog and the rise of a new Godzilla. Baby has absorbed all the radiation and will now take the place as the monster.
And I know that Godzilla 2000 is unrelated, but I like to think that is who we see coming ashore, Baby, now grown, ready to be the kaiju we need.