Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2019) - Movie Review

With the destruction of Mechagodzilla City, and the original Godzilla dormant but still alive, Haruo and the remains of humanity once again find themselves against the forces of the monsters. While the Bilusaludos try to gain the upper hand, the Exifs have begun amassing followers. They are preparing for the arrival of a being ever greater than Godzilla, one with the power to destroy not only all monsters, but all living things and the entire planet along with them. A being that the Exifs call Ghidorah.

After the action-packed trappings of the previous two instalments, this finale goes for a decidedly wordier route to deliver its biggest impacts. Hell, those who check this out primarily to see a golden three-headed dragon throw down with a giant electrically-charged lizard will likely be disappointed at how static said confrontation turns out to be. While the animation and voice acting maintain the series’ standard up to this point, they aren’t being used to bring bombastic grandeur to the screen. Instead, they are all turned towards bringing Gen Urobuchi’s writing over these films to a spectacular conclusion.

This is precisely the kind of film I wanted to see following from the last two, as not only does it bring things to a highly satisfying end but that end comes about through tying all the metaphysical and philosophical musings up to this point together to hit the nail on some very big and very unsettling ideas. It continues the fascination with man’s relationship with nature, science and faith, only the latter is given the bulk of the focus through the Exifs, in particular Metphies, and their plan to bring the might of Ghidorah to their plane of existence.

As I delved into a while ago when looking at The Children Act, the facticity behind what people believe falls into irrelevance in comparison to the very real and very devastating results that can come out of that belief being turned into action. And here, that action is embracing the void, acknowledging the perpetual pain of existence and casting it away through some eerily cultish framing of how the Exifs manipulate the humans.

And at the centre of it all is Haruo, the little boy who saw first-hand the destruction Godzilla reigned down on his world, whose hatred for the monster has fuelled his every action since, and whose dilemma would end up being the tipping point between survival and extinction for his kind. While the environmental message at the story’s core can feel a bit orthodox in the strictest sense, but because the story keeps the human element in focus, it becomes a lot more complex than just lecturing the audience to treat the Earth right.

Instead, it becomes quite cautionary about not leaning into either extreme, whether it’s the transformative hubris of the sciences or the dangerous manipulation of faith. It’s like an even more downbeat version of Princess Mononoke in how it examines the effects of science, nature and faith on both our species and our surroundings. What it lacks in outright viscera, it more than makes up for with exceptionally heady writing, making for the kind of film specially made to be pondered over once it’s all said and done. And as a conclusion to a trilogy, it marks the wrap-up for a truly impressive set of films that the upcoming Godzilla: King Of The Monsters will have to measure up to.