10 Best Godzilla Movies, Ranked by Action (original) (raw)
Published Apr 5, 2024, 6:01 PM EDT
Jeremy has more than 2500 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
His favorite directors include Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, John Woo, Bob Fosse, Fritz Lang, Guillermo del Toro, and Yoji Yamada. He's also very proud of the fact that he's seen every single Nicolas Cage movie released before 2022, even though doing so often felt like a tremendous waste of time. He's plagued by the question of whether or not The Room is genuinely terrible or some kind of accidental masterpiece, and has been for more than 12 years (and a similar number of viewings).
When he's not writing lists - and the occasional feature article - for Collider, he also likes to upload film reviews to his Letterboxd profile (username: Jeremy Urquhart) and Instagram account.
He has achieved his 2025 goal of reading all 13,467 novels written by Stephen King, and plans to spend the next year or two getting through the author's 82,756 short stories and 105,433 novellas.
Even though many of the most highly acclaimed Godzilla movies feature compelling human characters and drama not directly involving giant monsters (see 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, for example), no one’s going to argue the giant monster fights aren’t tons of fun. Sequences of massive destruction and massive foes clashing violently aren’t the only reasons to watch kaiju movies, but they can be key to such a film’s entertainment value.
What follows isn’t necessarily a rundown of the very best Godzilla movies, but rather the ones that contain the most action, proving enjoyable in large part because of the spectacle and over-the-top smackdowns they depict. Naturally, this prioritizes those Godzilla films that feature more than one monster, and while not all are definable as clever or thought-provoking works of art (though some arguably are), every single one of the following movies prove hugely entertaining.
10 'Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla' (1974)
Director: Jun Fukuda
Image via Toho
Mechagodzilla made one hell of a debut in 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, quickly establishing itself as one of Godzilla’s strongest and most iconic foes. Mechagodzilla is exactly what you’d expect him to be: a gigantic robot that has the appearance of Godzilla but is entirely metallic, and therefore has a certain durability that makes it extra intimidating. It doesn’t hurt that Mechagodzilla also has some pretty devastating weapons, too.
The two monsters clash pretty frequently throughout Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, at least by the standards of older Godzilla movies. The brief runtime that clocks in at under 90 minutes also adds to the feeling that there’s very little downtime – or time to waste – here, and there are two other monsters featured here that get in on the action: Anguirus and King Caesar.
Release Date
March 21, 1974
Runtime
84 minutes
Director
Jun Fukuda
Main Genre
Sci-Fi
9 'Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack' (2001)
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
The Godzilla series has been chugging along pretty strong overall since the start of the 21st century, with the second release of said century, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, being one of the very best Godzilla movies. Godzilla himself has been villainous in other movies, but rarely is depicted as being as malicious as he is within this film.
Tying many of the monsters to fantastical/mythological ideas rather than sci-fi concepts, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack delivers on the bombast and action suggested by its title (there’s a fourth monster here, too, the underappreciated Baragon). It’s not just about the “all-out attacking,” given there are interesting non-action scenes and compelling human characters here, but those mostly after destruction and monster fights will come away undoubtedly satisfied, too.
8 'Godzilla vs. Destoroyah' (1995)
Director: Takao Okawara
Godzilla nearing meltdown in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
Image via Toho
Like Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah isn’t just about explosions, violence, and destruction, having a ton more to offer. If anything, it’s just icing on the cake that this concluding entry of Godzilla’s Heisei era does deliver some monumental and tense action set pieces, with the stakes being just about as high as they’ve ever been for the series.
Godzilla is at risk of melting down and effectively exploding in a way that will cause untold devastation, all the while the other titular monster, Destoroyah, proves just as much of a threat, being born from the weapon that originally destroyed Godzilla back in 1954. It’s a dark, sad, and particularly death-filled Godzilla movie, with action that’s exciting to watch, sure, but that also proves to be unexpectedly stirring on an emotional level.
Release Date
December 9, 1995
Runtime
103 Minutes
Director
Takao Okawara, Ishirô Honda
7 'King Kong vs. Godzilla' (1962)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Godzilla and King Kong go mano-a-mano in 'King Kong vs. Godzilla'
Image via Toho
Standing as one of the goofiest of all Godzilla movies, King Kong vs. Godzilla marked the first (but certainly not the last) time Japan’s most famous giant monster was featured in a film alongside the most famous from the U.S. It sees Kong being exploited as per usual, only those wanting to capture him do so at the same time that Godzilla emerges again, leading to both monsters battling each other to determine which one’s the true king.
King Kong vs. Godzilla doubles down on silliness and cheese, which could make it something of an acquired taste, and perhaps not the most appealing for those who prefer their Godzilla movies to have stronger messages or thematic content. But anyone who wants to see the battle promised by the title will certainly find it here, and then some, with this being one of the most entertaining early Godzilla movies viewed from the perspective of an action movie fan.
Release Date
August 11, 1962
Runtime
97 Minutes
Director
Ishirô Honda, Norman Tokar
6 'Destroy All Monsters' (1968)
Director: Ishirō Honda
Godzilla and Rodan at Mt. Fuji
Image via Toho
If you want to judge a kaiju movie based on how many recognizable monsters appeared in it, 1968’s Destroy All Monsters would be a candidate for the best of all time. And, honestly, if you want to judge it as a regular Godzilla movie, it’s also pretty awesome, depicting the chaos that unfolds when an alien race decides to unleash numerous monsters on the world, all of whom had previously been living peacefully on the island known as Monsterland.
It's a real go-for-broke type movie, feeling like it could well have been a strong finale for the Godzilla series as a whole, given just how many familiar faces show up and take part in some ridiculous fight sequences. Destroy All Monsters is simply very charming and trumps even Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and King Kong vs. Godzilla when it comes to selecting which Showa era Godzilla movie has the most action.
Runtime
89 minutes
Director
Ishirō Honda
5 'Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah' (1991)
Director: Kazuki Ōmori
An honestly underrated film in the series, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is best known as the Godzilla movie that has the brazen confidence to introduce time travel to the franchise. It does so in a way that’s honestly a ton of fun, even if it does also result in a supremely silly movie that features dinosaurs, World War II, aliens, and not one, but two versions of the iconic King Ghidorah.
Given it’s a movie that goes to some wild places and is willing to tackle some outlandish concepts, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is naturally a great deal of fun, and keeps the amount of action on-screen high throughout. By featuring aliens with uncanny abilities, the action isn’t just limited to the giant monsters, either, making it the rare Godzilla movie where the characters who aren’t gigantic are also allowed to get in on the action.
4 'Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla' (2002)
Director: Masaaki Tezuka
The Godzilla series had fallen on somewhat hard times financially during the early 2000s, leading to something of a return to basics approach with Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla. It didn’t really pay off as far as the box office was concerned, but the resulting movie was a hugely entertaining and overall solid entry in the series, bringing back – as the title implied – Mechagodzilla.
Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla also brings back the sort of runtime that was more common during the series’ Showa era, given the whole thing clocks in at just 88 minutes. This results in a film that feels non-stop, pitting (a technically new version of) Godzilla against a new version of Mechagodzilla that’s been constructed from the remains of the original Godzilla. There’s not a ton to it besides constant action and excitement, but that’s one of the reasons the film works as well as it does.
3 'Godzilla vs. Kong' (2021)
Director: Adam Wingard
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
A modern sci-fi movie that proves easy to rewatch, Godzilla vs. Kong was a cinematic rematch almost 60 years in the making. When judged as a Godzilla or King Kong movie, it might not be the greatest, but it’s certainly one of the most purely enjoyable, because the inevitable titan smackdown here is even bigger and more explosive than it was back in 1962.
No one’s life will change for the better after watching Godzilla vs. Kong. There’s no message here or anything particularly clever/eye-opening. It's a big dumb monster movie about a big lizard/dinosaur punching a big ape, and the big ape also punches the big lizard/dinosaur. They destroy quite a few buildings. Also, another version of Mechagodzilla shows up, this one constructed from the remains of King Ghidorah. It’s exactly what cinema was invented for, really.
2 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' (2024)
Director: Adam Wingard
Godzilla and Kong in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Image via Warner Bros.
The wonderful, giddy stupidity continues in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which sees Adam Wingard returning to the director’s chair after being behind the relatively successful Godzilla vs. Kong. The two titular monsters aren’t quite friends at the start of the movie, with a mutual understanding that each will stick to their own territory… but things change when new monsters emerge that will need the two working together to stand a chance of being defeated.
It's a movie that de-emphasizes human characters more than ever, and is all the better for it. While it might be even goofier than Godzilla vs. Kong, it’s arguably even more explosive and action-packed, thanks to the doubling down on the stuff that worked in that movie. It does stand in stark contrast to 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, sure, but Godzilla movies being this varied in tone is ultimately a good thing for the series in the long run.
Release Date
March 29, 2024
Runtime
115 Minutes
Director
1 'Godzilla: Final Wars' (2004)
Director: Ryûhei Kitamura
Given it contains both the most memorable fight in the entire series and the most action out of any individual Godzilla movie, Godzilla Final Wars is a no-brainer when it comes to ranking Godzilla movies by the quantity and/or quality of their action. It’s a movie that says, “Hold my beer” to Destroy All Monsters, featuring even more chaos and ridiculousness with so many giant monsters, and a similar premise to that 1968 movie.
Also, the human storyline here is just as action-packed as the scenes that focus on the monsters, feeling like it takes inspiration from the aforementioned Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah in that regard, and going even further. Godzilla Final Wars is supremely stupid, but in such a wonderful and charming way, and few movies ever made – be they Godzilla movies or otherwise – can claim to be this non-stop when it comes to over-the-top action and excitement.
NEXT: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’s Best Scenes All Have One Thing in Common