Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Starring: Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, Reiko Tajima, Akihiko Hirata
Directed by: Jun Fukuda
Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror
1974

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Aliens build a mechanical godzilla to attack the Earth and only the real Godzilla can stop him.

Review:

Tim: The last film, Godzilla vs. Megalon was an absolute mess of a movie. So, in the greater context of this franchise, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is a welcome entry- it certainly marks a big improvement from the last film. That being said, this still feels like yet another entry in a franchise that has grown stale. This isn't the worst of the many sequels, but it's not near the top, either. The 14th entry into this franchise may be slightly better than the average, but not by much.

There's actually a lot happening in this film. The movie starts out with Godzilla going on a rampage, before being attacked by his friend, Anguirus. It's then revealed that this isn't Godzilla, but Mechagodzilla, a robot created by these apelike aliens. There's a whole subplot about humans trying to stop the aliens, King Caesar makes his first appearance, and we have the typical giant monster battles. It's fun to see so many different elements all thrown into the mix, but it also makes your head spin. This isn't a film with much focus- it feels like so many elements were thrown together and halfheartedly attempted to turn it into a logical story. It doesn't exactly work out. The best sequences involve Godzilla fighting Mechagodzilla- this is actually the biggest strength of the film. In 14 films, Godzilla has fought all kinds of creatures. I liked the idea of him facing off against a robotic version of himself (I mean, I don't really like that idea because it's terrible, but in the context of all these absurd movies, it's clearly something different). That match-up is a fun one. However, in all these Godzilla movies, you need vastly underdeveloped human characters. So, we get this whole subplot about the apelike aliens and a small number of human characters trying to unravel the mystery. These scenes are okay- we've certainly had far worse human-focused stories in this franchise. Unfortunately, it's really hard to care about any of the characters or their weak stories. Every time they show up, it feels like it's an necessary distraction from the monster battles. That's one of the fatal flaws of all these films. Success would mean we care about the human characters, so we're invested in their story and feel tension when they are put in harm's way. When we end up not caring about them, they detract from the story, rather than add to it.

Now, if this all wasn't enough, there's the whole subplot about King Caesar. I've heard he is one of the more popular monsters in this franchise, but I was underwhelmed by him. Apparently he's some kind of lion deity. I thought he looked pretty silly and didn't really make much of an impact on me. Maybe he gets cooler in future films, but I wasn't overly impressed with this first outing. I guess Godzilla needed some help, though.

This franchise hasn't produced a legitimately good movie since the original, Gojira. This is now 13 straight films that were below where they needed to be. That's very discouraging and it makes you wonder if this franchise could ever turn it around. Given these low expectations, however, this movie is at least watchable. I give it credit for improving on the disaster of the last film, but it's still so hard to feel good about these movies.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Gojira, Godzilla Raids Again, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, San of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla's Revenge, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Megalon