Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah is a 1991 Godzilla film made in the Heisei era. It is the third film of the series, coming after The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Biollante. It is arguably the most controversial film in the series, criticized in the United States for its plot featuring evil Westerners and American soldiers being eaten by a Godzillasaurus. Godzilla does not appear for the first 62 minutes of the film.

Plot Summary
At the start of the movie a futuristic submarine from the year 2204 examines the body of King Ghidorah, a kaiju which was said to have fought Godzilla in the twentith century. Then the movie flashbacks to modern day Tokyo, where an unidenitified flying object (UFO) is seen flying rapidly with flashing lights in the night sky. The next morning, the general media attempts to make sense of the situation, which seems that this UFO may not have been a hoax.

Terasawa, a young Japanese reporter is covering a story of a dinosaur sighted during Pacific War. Then a spaceship appears in Japan, coinciding with Godzilla's awakening in the ocean. The ship lands, and three humans--Two western men Wilson and Grenchiko and one Japanese young woman Emi--come out of the ship and reveal themselves as delegates of nations from the year 2204. They make a time travel to warn Japan of the grave future; due to industrialization and nuclear power, Godzilla will reappear and destroy Japan for good, or so the Futurians say. They also present books that Terasawa would write in the future, which say the dinosaur he is covering is Godzillasaurus, the dinosaur that would become Godzilla after radiation exposure of a American nuclear testing after World War Two.

Terasawa and several Japanese civilians and military personnel are selected by the Futurians to go back to 1944 and erase Godzilla from history, thus preventing Japan's bleak future. Futurians have Emi and an android named M11 to pilot a time traveling shuttle to complete the mission.

Futurians and Japanese of 1990s come to a Pacific Island named Lagos in 1944. Amid the final stage of Pacific War, a Japanese unit was opposing an US amphibious landing of the island. The time travel group secretly observe the battle. The Japanese unit was almost eliminated by the US landing unit, but the Godzillasaurus, a T-Rex-like ordinary animal, came and killed American soldiers. US ship fired, heavily injured the Godzillasaurus and left. The remaining Japanese unit saluted to the injured Godzillasaurus and left, too. Then Futurians teleport Godzillasaurus to the Bering Sea and go back to the future.

Unbeknownst to the Japanese, however, the Futurians replace Godzillasaurus with three genetically engineered creatures called Dorats, who then were exposed to radiation of the nuclear test and mutated into the three-headed, dragon-like King Ghidorah, who appears in present Japan. It is then that the Futurians' true malevolent intentions are exposed: The story they tell Japanese of 1990s is a lie. The true history of the future is that despite damages by Godzilla, Japan with her giant corporations would grow into a super power that affect the future world greatly; King Ghidorah is a controlled weapon Futurians made to damage Japan further, in order to keep her from becoming a super power. However Wilson and Grenchiko are more ambitious. They want to use King Ghidorah to delete Japan from history completely. Emi disagrees with that. She reprogrammed M11 and leaves the mother ship to tell Terasawa the truth.

Terasawa and others then seek out Godzillasaurus to create a new Godzilla, who is the only force powerful enough to defeat King Ghidorah and the Futurians. They borrow a nuclear submarine from Shindo Heavy Industry, a successful giant corporation established in post War Japan by Shindo, a former officer who was saved by and saluted to then injured Godzillasaurus on Lagos Island.

Unbeknownst to the Japanese or Futurians however, is that the past had not been changed at all, but fulfilled. The Godzillasaurus they had transported in the Bering sea was not the same that mutated into the Godzilla that attacked Japan in 1954 because the original Godzilla was later killed by Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer. An old newspaper article recounting an accident in the Bering sea involving a nuclear submarine explains the origins of the second Godzilla. The Japanese realise this too late, as the sub they sent encounters an already mutated Godzilla, still recovering from the Anti Nuclear Energy Bacteria he was exposed to in Godzilla vs. Biollante. Godzilla attacks the sub and absorbs its power, purging his system of the bacteria and becoming even larger than before.

Wilson and Grenchiko sent Ghidorah to combat it ashore in Hokkaidō. Ghidorah almost strangles Godzilla to death, but at mean time Emi, Terasawa and the android sabotage the mother ship. Ghidorah's motion is affected and then it is defeated by Godzilla. Godzilla decapitates its middle head, and has it sink into bottom of the sea. Emi and others teleport the mother ship in front of Godzilla and leave. Godzilla destroys the ship along with Wilson and Grenchiko onboard.

Godzilla then sets out to ravage Japan. Emi and M11 go back to future with the time travelling shuttle for help. Godzilla enters Tokyo city and stands before the headquarter of Shindo Heavy Industry, where Shindo himself stays to wait for Godzilla. Shindo and Godzilla look into each other's eyes for a moment and Godzilla destroys the Shindo headquarter completely. Then Emi comes back from future with resurrected King Ghidorah. King Ghidorah is cryopreserved in the sea to 2204, when Emi and Futurians make it a cyborg under Emi's command: Mecha-King Ghidorah. Emi uses it to subdue Godzilla and sinks them both into the sea. Then Emi says goodbye to Terasawa, one of her ancestor, and goes back to future. In the end on the bottom of the sea, Godzilla awakens and roars again.

Characters
Kenichiro Teresawa: The protagonist of the film; a biographer of Godzilla who aids Emmy, the female lead of this Godzilla film to stop Futurians.

Emmy Kano: A Futurian-human who is a descendant of Teresawa 200 years apart, who realizes that her boss is a villain to destroy Japan.

Chuck Wilson: A villainous robot who is faster than a car, wants to bring advanced technology after controlling Ghidorah to destroy Japan.

Miki Saegusa: A woman who does not hate Godzilla for unknown reasons, but studies in interest about Biollante from the last 1989 film.

The Prime Minister: Somehow like a normal Japanese man, he realizes the nuclear weapon banning,he had a pretty garden which Ghidorah destroyed.

Daniel: A Futurian-robot, who, first worked with Chuck Wilson, later became a good person, stopping the Futurians from going to their own time.

Godzilla: A powerful feared-reptile, who was born in 1954, and was first considered a threat, later was the only Defender to stop King Ghidorah.

King Ghidorah: A villain with three-heads forming a dragon that obeys any alien race to destroy the Earth, the film's main antagonist.

Mecha-King Ghidorah: A robot controlled by Emmy for good reasons to bring Godzilla off rampaging Japan, and stands as the best weapon of mankind.

Box Office
The film sold approximately 2,700,000 tickets in Japan, and grossed around $11,000,000.