10 Movies That Had The Balls To Do It Better (AND WANTED YOU TO KNOW)
7. Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!
It's not exactly a secret that Toho, the Japanese studio behind Godzilla, has a strained-at-best relationship with Hollywood and its handling of the property, especially Roland Emmerich's widely-panned 1998 blockbuster adaptation.
And so, 2001's Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack decided to take an hilarious swipe at Emmerich's movie in its first 90 seconds.
In the opening scene, two Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) cadets discuss "the attack in New York City" - that is, the events of Godzilla '98 - and one informs the other that the monster involved wasn't Godzilla, despite what the American experts believe.
This was the movie very bluntly elbowing Emmerich's film out of the Godzilla canon, while still allowing it to exist as a monster movie on its own - just not a Godzilla one.
Given that the dinosaur-like design of "Godzilla" from the '98 movie was one of its most contentious aspects, this was a fun way to toss it aside while basically telling the audience, "This is the real s**t right here."
And that confidence was certainly well-earned, given that this remains one of the most-acclaimed Godzilla movies to date.