This was the last of the original Japanese Godzilla movies that I ever saw. By the time I bought this movie on DVD to complete my collection during my third (and final) year of college, I had already seen this film's sequel, Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S., which came in a three-pack of Godzilla movies that I had bought at the beginning of that year, and the (at this time) final film in the entire series, Godzilla: Final Wars. So, even though it's not the case chronologically, this is where Godzilla ended for me in terms of films that I had not yet seen. The reason that it took me a long time to see all of the Millennium films is because I had completely lost track of the series for a while. As I've mentioned before, when I really got into high school, I had entered a phase where was I moving beyond Godzilla and was not keeping up with it at all. It was only due to visits that I had with a friend who, at the time, was more interested in it than I was, that I was aware that Toho was continuing to make new movies at all. Through him, I learned of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus and also that they were doing another film with Mechagodzilla but that was about as far as my knowledge went at that point. As the years went on, I wasn't sure exactly how many had been made or what their plots entailed. I did know a fair bit about Final Wars since that movie got some hoopla over here for being the 50th anniversary film but otherwise, I was completely in the dark (I only knew of Tokyo S.O.S. because a Japanese teaser for it was one of the previous on the Godzilla vs. Hedorah Sony DVD that I bought in 2004). And as I mentioned in the previous two reviews, I only bought those respective movies because the opportunity presented itself one day and I simply figured, "Why not?" Once I really got back into Godzilla during my second year of college, I, of course, became determined to complete my collection and seek out those films that had been made in the past few years, which I knew were all available on DVD over here. I soon figured out that there weren't as many as I thought there were and then, once I really put my mind to it, it wasn't too difficult to accumulate them all. Through a number of circumstances, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla became the last hole in my collection, which I filled in 2007. So, how did it stack up when all was said and done?First off, I must say that I wasn't all that impressed with Tokyo S.O.S. when I saw it first months before (not to jump the gun but it's still not one that I think that much of) and so, knowing that it acted as a sequel to this film, I was interested in seeing how this one was in comparison. It would have been very interesting if I had come out of it feeling that Tokyo S.O.S. was actually an improvement but, instead, my feeling was, "This movie is... better?" I did not know how to put my opinion on the film into concrete words. On the whole, I thought it moved at a better pace than Tokyo S.O.S. and I didn't think the plot was as overly complicated, melodramatic, and pretentious as that film as well. Still, I couldn't, and still can't, call this an excellent Godzilla film. That's not to say it's absolutely awful either. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is one of those movies that falls into that weird area of criticism where a film is ultimately just adequate. In comparison to something like Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, which is a film that I'm going to keep referring to throughout this review because there are a lot elements this flick shares with that one, including the director, it is a step up, albeit not by much. As I'll expand upon presently, this film is like if you take the same basic story as Megaguirus and improve upon it but only slightly. It still shares some of the same issues, like fairly bland, archetypal characters and Godzilla being reduced to a typical rampaging monster rather than a creature with any type of character or real presence and menace to him. At the same time, though, the film doesn't feel as cheap or as confined as that one did, the special effects are improved, the climactic battle is much better structured, Godzilla's opponent is integral to the plot this time, and the film, despite having some slow moments, doesn't drag as much as Megaguirus did (although, that could be due to its running time only being 88 minutes, as opposed to Megaguirus' 105). But, the reason I think this movie is ultimately a disappointment is because it has some interesting ideas that could make for a compelling story but they're not developed or employed nearly enough as they could be. It's as if they thought the mere suggestion of them was enough, which it isn't; if you're not going to go all the way with them, you shouldn't even bother. But boy, this is turning into a rambling, conflicted introduction, so let's get into the actual review now, shall we?
1999. A powerful typhoon hits a prefecture of Japan and brings with it something much more dangerous than strong winds and storm surge. A second member of the Godzilla species, with the first one having attacked Tokyo in 1954, comes ashore during the storm and wreaks havoc, with the military, including a special division whose purpose it is to protect Japan from monsters, the Anti-Megalosaurus Force, unable to stop him. During the ill-fated battle, maser-cannon technician Lieutenant Akane Yashiro accidentally knocks a vehicle of soldiers into Godzilla's path, with the monster crushing it and killing everyone inside. In the aftermath of the attack, Yashiro is demoted to a desk job, while the government tries to figure out what to do since the second Godzilla is still out there and their ultimate weapon, the maser cannon, which has worked against monsters in the past, proved useless against him. The decision is eventually to made to use the recently discovered skeletal remains of the first Godzilla to create a bio-mechanical robot powered by cutting-edge DNA computers to battle the current Godzilla and the country's most skilled scientists are brought in to work on the project. Within four years, Japan not only has a new prime minister (the former minister of science and technology, Hayato Igarashi) but the robot, Mechagodzilla, or Kiryu as it's more commonly known, is completed as well. A squadron of pilots is formed to operate and control the robot, with Yashiro being given a chance at redemption by being made the main pilot. Kiryu is so unveiled to the world, with its many weapons, including its ultimate one, the Absolute Zero freezer cannon, being put through an awe-inspiring demonstration. Things are cut short, however, when Godzilla is spotted heading towards Tokyo and Kiryu is deployed to intercept him. The two titans face off in the port and it briefly seems like the robot will be able to defeat its flesh-and-blood counterpart. However, just when they're about to fire the Absolute Zero cannon, Kiryu suddenly becomes self-aware and goes berserk, embarking on a rampage where it utilizes its many weapons to cause a massive amount of property damage. Godzilla escapes into the bay during the commotion while the Kiryu Force and the technicians, unable to shut Kiryu down, can only wait until it runs out of energy, which takes a full hour. After the robot is brought back to headquarters for repairs, it's discovered that the sound of Godzilla's roar triggered something deep within Kiryu and it appears that the original Godzilla's memories and soul are part of the robot as well as its bones. While the technicians are confident that they can rebuild the robot, Minister Igarashi is now unsure of whether it can be trustworthy or not, and with no other plan to defeat Godzilla, Japan is now a sitting duck should he return... which he soon does. Now, they must decide to either deploy Kiryu and risk its soul being awakened again or allow Godzilla to completely decimate the country.
I'm often baffled by the decisions that studios sometimes make, decisions that appear to go against total common sense and, when viewed in hindsight, are ultimately ill-advised and disastrous. Case in point: while the box-office returns of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack were far beyond those of Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Toho was not happy about the darker edge the film had to it and how it did not shy away from actually showing people getting killed (albeit not in a graphic or gory). This was not the kind of film they felt was appropriate to show around Christmastime, paired up with Hamtaro movies (although I would think they'd realize that upon seeing the movie themselves before sending it out), and so, even though he had been brought on to save their sinking flagship franchise and had succeeded, Shusuke Kaneko was not allowed to do a follow-up to his film. It seems as though Toho's attitude was, "Okay, that movie brought in the returns we needed to keep the series going but now, we have to get back to making these movies family-friendly." That's a disconcerting decision in and of itself but what's even more ludicrous is that they brought back Masaaki Tezuka, who had directed Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, the film that had produced the worst box-office results since the end of the Showa era! I'm sure that just made your jaw drop. Why on Earth would they bring back the man who had made such an unpopular film to replace a much more talented filmmaker whose radically different movie had been a pretty big hit? The reason seems to be disappointingly simple: Tezuka was seen by Shogo Tomiyama as, among other things, a reliable company man who didn't have any ego to him: i.e. someone who wouldn't make a fuss over turning the series back towards a more family-friendly tone, which Kaneko would. I don't want to call Tezuka a lackey or a "brown-noser" but he wasn't the type of person who was going to question Tomiyama's decisions because he had his own clear, artistic vision for the film either. In fact, when he began developing the script with writer Wataru Mimura, his original decision was to make a film that was even more downbeat and violent than GMK, saying that he wanted it to be so intense that people would cry. Tomiyama, of course, nixed that idea as soon as he heard about it and, again, Tezuka wasn't inclined to argue with him and just did as he was told. It's a disappointing set of circumstances but that's ultimately what led to the conception of this film and this mindset would carry over into the next one too.
Although he may not have been in the director's chair for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, Masaaki Tezuka had not been away from the series during the time period between Godzilla vs. Megaguirus and this film. He had actually worked under Shusuke Kaneko on that film in the visual effects department, directing the composite footage (he also has a cameo in the movie as a JSDF officer). He'd also directed an episode of a drama-thriller TV series called Tobo within that time as well and so, even though Megaguirus was an embarrassing flop, he had managed to stay in the studio's employment and good graces. What's more, Tezuka apparently knew that he hadn't done the best job with his first Godzilla outing and voluntarily demoted himself to the position he held on GMK. This does show that he's not all egocentric and was humble enough to realize that he had a lot to learn before tackling another film. Along with what I mentioned up above, this undoubtedly endeared him to Shogo Tomiyama and prompted the producer to give the guy another shot at directing after GMK, feeling that he now knew how to correct the mistakes he had made on Megaguirus (that much darker original idea he had for the film shows that he did have a strong intent to improve himself and do something much more hardcore going into the film but it was Tomiyama who prevented him from doing so). And in some respects, Tomiyama was right. Like I said in the introduction, if you compare that film to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, it's clear that Tezuka had gotten better as a director by this point. Not only are the technical aspects better but the story doesn't drag as much as it did before and the characters have a little more meat to them... not much, mind you, but more. This film was also meant to be the first in a trilogy, which could mean that Tomiyama may have felt that Tezuka would improve even more so over the course of three films rather than just one. But, while I do think it would have been interesting to see how things would have played out had that trilogy been completed (the third film was to have pitted Godzilla against a clone of himself), on the other hand I'm glad that this concept didn't go farther than two films because, while Tezuka had improved by this point, it wasn't by nearly enough. This may be a better film than Megaguirus but it's still merely adequate as opposed to contrived, plodding, and tired, as that one was. That's not sufficient for me to say that this film redeemed Tezuka as a director, and as Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. will show, his abilities clearly weren't going to improve that much over the course of an entire trilogy either. I've mentioned Godzilla vs. Megaguirus many times by this point and the biggest reason for that, aside from this film sharing the same director, is something else I mentioned in the introduction: the story of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is a virtual retelling of that of Megaguirus. The two films share so many story elements that it's like, once his darker idea was squashed, Tezuka's only other idea was to literally improve what he had done before. You have an opening where a female JSDF officer sees some of her comrades get killed by Godzilla, which is a major influence on her motivation and characterization throughout the film; a scientist who is brought in by the military because his expertise is necessary to create an anti-Godzilla weapon and has a flirty relationship with the aforementioned female officer; a division of the military dedicated to combating Godzilla, which is called the Anti-Megalosaurus Force in this instance as opposed to the G-Graspers; said division also has a series of advanced flying vehicles that are very similar to the Super-X; and the anti-Godzilla weapon's first deployment against him doesn't go well at all. In fact, staying on this idea, one of the people behind the weapon's development is played by a female actor from the series' golden age: in Megaguirus, it was Yuriko Hoshi, who had been in Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, and here, it's Kumi Mizuno from Godzilla vs. Monster Zero and Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster. Hell, Misato Tanaka, the star of Megaguirus, has a small role here as a nurse! Kind of a lack of originality, don't you think? I guess Tezuka's hands were tied since Tomiyama wanted a more family-oriented film and wanted to bring back Mechagodzilla, who would fit in nicely with the idea of the development of an anti-Godzilla weapon (it works better here than it did in Megaguirus because this time, said weapon is Godzilla's opponent) but I really wish they had done more than just rehash the story elements of a past film. As I've said too many times by this point, they managed to improve on it but not enough to call this a truly excellent film.
Even though she's a very generic and archetypal character, I do like Lt. Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku) more than the similar character of Kiriko Tsujimori back in Megaguirus, mainly because her sole motivation isn't executed in as over done a way. She doesn't come across as embittered or hot-headed as Tsujimori, which makes her scenes easier to take, and what's more, while she does want to defeat Godzilla, her reason behind it is to make up for getting that group of her comrades killed, which she feels a great amount of guilt for. After that disaster, she willingly takes the punishment that's placed upon her in order to atone for what she did but when she's brought on as the main pilot of Kiryu Squadron, she sees it as a way to both redeem herself and avenge their deaths. To me, the way the motivation is handled here makes it easier to relate to and sympathize with her and her loner type of attitude than if all she could think and talk about was killing Godzilla because he killed a dear friend of hers that we hardly knew, as was the case before. That said, though, she's still not that deep of a character overall. Like Tsujimori, what I just described is virtually her entire personality trait. It's pretty much all she thinks about and the only other insight we get into her is that she's always been an "isolated" type of person her whole life due to the unhappy circumstances of her birth (which they don't elaborate on), that she has no family, and that she feels a kinship with Mechagodzilla because, in her mind, both of their lives are worthless. By the end of the movie, she comes to realize that no life is worthless, mainly thanks to little Sara and everyone else that she's met throughout the story, but it's not that profound or engaging a revelation because she's not a character that you can really connect with. Again, it's easier to do so with her than it was with Tsujimori but still, since we don't get any insight into her character except what we're told by herself and others, her change of heart doesn't carry much impact. We see that she's a very skilled pilot and is willing to do what it takes to defeat Godzilla for those she put in harm's way, going as far as to put herself in serious danger and pilot Mechagodzilla manually when they have no other choice, which is great, but it would have had more resonance if we had really gotten to know her as a person rather than simply the sole thing that drives her, as nice as it was. 
On the flip side, I think I liked the character of Hajime Kudo in Megaguirus more than the similar character of Dr. Tokumitsu Yuhara (Shin Takuma) here. While not an unlikable character at all, Yuhara doesn't come across as much other than the typical bland nice guy while to me, Kudo had a little more to him since he was a very young genius who had a personal connection to the head scientist behind the project he joined up with and his interactions and flirting with Tsujimori was a little more fun there. Yuhara just decides that he wants to date Lt. Yashiro as soon as he sees her and even though he's not aggressive in her pursuits, his nervous smiling and laughing as he tries to impress her doesn't do much for me and neither does his bet about who will treat who to dinner if Mechagodzilla succeeds or fails in defeating Godzilla (despite the outcome, he's treating her). I do appreciate that they try to give him something of a character with how he lost both his wife and their unborn child when his daughter, Sara, was only four and how he has to deal with Sara's sensitive nature towards life and death but, like so much in this movie, it's not delved into enough. We do see how much her mother's death affected Sara but it would be nice if Yuhara talked about how much he missed his wife and really wished that Sara had a mother, which would be a nice way to justify why he's so determined to begin a relationship with Yashiro in addition to the idea that he just thinks she's good-looking. On that note, I will say that I do think his scenes with Sara work well in how he wants to do what's best for her but he sometimes isn't quite sure what that is, leading to him going about it the wrong way in some instances. It's also made clear that he's very skilled in his field of expertise, bio-technology, making it easy to understand why they wanted him to work on Mechagodzilla, and after the machine goes berserk, we see how he about drives himself crazy trying to figure out what went wrong and assures Yashiro that he can fix it so it won't happen again (although, half of that comes from also wanting to impress her as much as he can). All in all, Yuhara is just a very bland character who doesn't enough to him to make him all that memorable or enjoyable.
As mentioned up above, Yuhara's young daughter Sara (Kana Onodera) is very sensitive when it comes to life and death because of the death of her mother and her unborn sibling back when she was four years old. We get a sense of this early on when Sara wonders why they couldn't bring her mother back to life rather than create another Godzilla but it's a little over halfway into the film when we get the details of it. Her mother got sick while pregnant with her second child and the doctor could only save either the mother or the unborn baby; Sara wanted both to live and ended up losing both instead. That scene where Yuhara tells the story (we even get some flashback footage of Sara talking with her mother and putting her ear to her stomach) works well and upon re-watching the movie for this review, it actually made me kind of sad. You can already feel a little bit for Sara before this scene but it really helps drive it home and make you understand why she is the way she is. If we had something like that for both Yashiro and Yuhara, it would have helped a lot more. In any case, Sara values life so much that she comes to realize that Mechagodzilla, or I guess I should say Kiryu, has a life all its own and feels that it shouldn't be forced to fight Godzilla, the only other of its kind, when they should be friends. She even goes as far as to say that the whole thing is mankind's fault. Unfortunately, that gets into a theme of the film that I don't think is played out as well as it could be and, among other things, undermines this aspect of Sara's character. I'll go into more detail when I talk about Kiryu itself but for now, I'll say that I find it kind of hard to take her feelings seriously when all we see of both of the monsters is them attacking and blowing stuff up. It's like, "Sorry, kid, but you can't expect them to build this thing and then have it be friends with a creature that all it does when it appears is cause a lot of death and destruction, which Kiryu may very well join it in if they do become friends!" That idea needed to be elaborated on much, much more than it was before Sara's feeling came across as her being wise beyond her years, as I'm sure it was meant to, rather than as the naïve, black and white view of a child. Again, I understand why she feels the way she does about life but it's like she forgets that Godzilla himself seems to go out of his way endanger human life and that Kiryu, when it went berserk, acted pretty much the same way. This leaves me very conflicted about Sara. She often comes across as charming and cute enough, despite how she gets it in her mind that she doesn't like Yashiro because she's the main pilot behind Kiryu, and I feel bad for her in regards to her mother, who is symbolized in a pot of sleeping grass that she carries around (and gets rid of by the end of the movie, meaning that she's learned to move on beyond her mother), but the undeveloped script makes it hard to take her seriously when she says that they should let Godzilla and Kiryu be friends. Very poor writing in that regard. 
Of the other members of Kiryu Squadron, there are two that really stand out. One is Colonel Togashi (Kou Takasugi), the leader of the group and a former comrade of Yashiro's who was part of the disastrous operation at the beginning of the film. Understanding that what happened wasn't her fault and that she feels a lot guilt over it, when he's appointed as leader of the squad, he personally makes her a part of the team as Kiryu's main pilot. While he comes across as a very stern leader (the guy never smiles until at the end of the movie), you can tell that he trusts Yashiro and his faith in her never falters, even when she loses control of Kiryu during the first confrontation with Godzilla. During the latter part of the final battle when Yashiro is forced to go down and pilot Kiryu manually, Togashi at first orders her to stop but when he realizes that she's determined to do this no matter what, has the other troops draw Godzilla's attention while she tries to start the cyborg up again. By the end of the film, even though they haven't defeated Godzilla, Togashi is still very proud of Yashiro for driving him away and stopping him from causing more damage than he already had. The other notable member of the Kiryu Squadron is 2nd Lieutenant Hayama (Yusuke Tomoi), a guy whose opinion of Yashiro couldn't be more different from Togashi's. Turns out that his brother was in the vehicle that got crushed by Godzilla and, as you can probably guess, he blames her for knocking it into the monster's path. Every time that he's onscreen, it's to remind Yashiro of what she did and treat her like absolute crap. He doesn't stop even after he gets reprimanded by Togashi when he first does it in the locker room when she's officially part of the force, going as far as to say that she has some "old" admirers when he sees her and Yuhara having lunch together, asking her if she's emitting pheromones, and then shove Yuhara when he calls him out on his dickery, prompting Yashiro to put him in an arm-lock. It doesn't even matter to him that Yashiro saves his and everyone else's lives when Kiryu goes berserk; he says that he finds it disgusting that he owes her his life and when the rest of the squad applauds her for saving them, Hayama angrily says, "So you're all with her too?" and attempts to storm out. That's when someone asks him, "Who is your enemy? Godzilla or her?" During the final battle with Godzilla, after he's been acting like a complete asshole to her for the whole film, Hayama suddenly puts himself in danger and uses his aircraft as a way to block Godzilla's atomic blast so Yashiro can defeat the monster. This act of heroism comes completely out of the blue and for me, it's not enough to redeem this guy at all, even though, to be fair, I didn't absolutely hate him during the rest of the movie simply because I've seen characters who are much more loathsome than him. I can understand why he did it, because he wanted Godzilla to be defeated, but in the end, Hayama comes across as a generic jerk for the most of the movie and his decision to sacrifice himself for the greater good (it's not even a sacrifice since he ejects before his ship is destroyed) just comes across as the filmmakers saying, "See? He's not so bad. You should like him now."
The lovely Kumi Mizuno makes a brief return to the franchise at the beginning of the film as Prime Minister Machiko Tsuge. Despite the small size of her role, she does what she can with it and manages to pull it off with grace, coming across as a concerned leader who realizes that her nation is completely defenseless against this second Godzilla, who could very well stomp it into dust if he does return again. With that, she initiates the idea that a powerful weapon must be built to kill Godzilla if he shows up again, with her Minister of Science and Technology, Hayato Igarashi (Akira Nakao), being the one who pushes for the bones of the original Godzilla to be used to create a Mechagodzilla. Igarashi eventually becomes the new prime minister and when he does take over, he's confident that the cyborg will work in defeating Godzilla. Nakao doesn't come across as hot-headed and volatile as he did when he played Commander Aso in the Heisei films but, instead, makes Igarashi a stern and serious but, at the same time, fair and reasonable leader who has the country's best interests very much in mind. When Kiryu goes berserk and causes a lot of damage, he says that he'll take responsibility for it since he's the one who pushed for the project and becomes unsure about whether or not they should launch the robot against Godzilla again. But, when Godzilla does come back and it's clear that the military's other weapons can't stop him, Igarashi orders Colonel Togashi to launch Kiryu since it's their only chance. During the battle, Igarashi continues to make wise decisions about how best to aid the fight against Godzilla, including using Tokyo's energy to give Kiryu power when it's about to run out one point, and at the end of the film, he says that the even though they didn't kill Godzilla, they managed to repel him, which is a victory in and of itself. What's more, he says that what's really important is knowing that they have a weapon that is effective against him. And while we're on the subject of the government leaders, I think this would be a good idea to mention Koichi Ueda's ubiquitous role in the movie as Dobashi, who I think is Igarashi's personal secretary, although IMDB lists him as a general. His doesn't do much in the film except give the prime minister advice and information but, if you're a fan of the Heisei films, I'm sure you'll find it nice to see them together again as superior and subordinate. 
There are a few other people in the film I'd like to mention. One of them is Hishinuma(Yoshikazu Kano), one of the people who brings in Yuhara to help work on the Mechagodzilla project. None of the other scientists who Yuhara works with are worth mentioning and the same goes for the other guys in the control room but this guy I just have to mention, even if it's for a very childish reason. When Kiryu malfunctions just as it's about to hit Godzilla with the Absolute Zero cannon and Godzilla takes the opportunity to escape, Hishinuma notes, "Godzilla is leaving." However, when you listen to that in the original Japanese dialogue, it really does sound like he says, "Gojira suck dick." I'm not the first person to mention this either. Watch the episode of Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Godzillathon on this film to see it for yourself. It's childish but it is really funny. Takehiro Murata pops up again in a cameo at the beginning of the movie where he plays a bystander who picks up some cans that get knocked over during the panic caused by Godzilla's first appearance. And famous Japanese baseball player Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui also has a cameo as himself hitting an incredible homerun when Godzilla comes ashore in Tokyo for the first time and Kiryu is being flown out to fight him. 
The continuity established in this film is the one that follows the events of the original Godzilla the closest, not only showing us actual footage from that film (they did that before in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus but they edited the Millennium-designed Godzilla into it) but also firmly acknowledging how Dr. Serizawa destroyed the first Godzilla with the Oxygen Destroyer and took his own life to ensure that it wouldn't be used as a weapon. The only thing they change is that they have the first Godzilla's skeleton remain intact instead of being disintegrated along with the flesh as it was originally so they can use it as the basis for Mechagodzilla and they even put in a rather interesting shot of the monster being killed by the device that makes this valid (I don't know if it was CGI or a model of the original Godzilla's design but it's pretty cool to see). Interestingly, this is also the first Millennium film to state that over the years, Japan has been attacked by other monsters besides Godzilla. During this scene where Prime Minister Tsuge and Igarashi reminisce about what's happened and how the original Godzilla attack in 1954 seems to have put a curse on Japan, we see footage from both the original Mothra and War of the Gargantuas, meaning that the events of those two movies happened in this continuity... at least, to a point. As was the case with the last few films in regards to the original Godzilla, this film seems to acknowledge only certain points of those films. With Mothra, Tsuge mentions how they invented a heat ray gun to use against her, even though that's hardly all that happened in that film and she never mentions the climax that took place in the fictional country of Rolisica. And yet, the next film actually brings back one of the lead characters from Mothra, so this continuity is obviously counting that film as a whole, but it's still odd how Tsuge appears to be selective in what she remembers about these past events (of course, the real answer is that they probably hadn't planned on that yet when they made this film). As for War of the Gargantuas, they acknowledge the evil green one, Gaira (whom they refer to as Bigfoot Gaira), but they never mention Sanda or how their battle ultimately ended in both of them getting killed. Instead, all she says is that their battle with Gaira enabled them to make use of the maser cannon, as if that's what ultimately killed him. Nothing else is said of War of the Gargantuas in either of the films, so it's not known if this continuity completely acknowledges the entirety of that film's events as it does with Mothra. And if it does, then you have to ask whether or not it also acknowledges Frankenstein Conquers the World, which Gargantuas acts as a pseudo-sequel to. But then again, this is ultimately just a case of me being Toho monster movie geek who's overanalyzing more than it needs to be so we'd best move on.  |
| Oh, cry me a river, Sara. |
David Kalat mentions this in the very short chapter on Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla in his book and it's something that I agree with too, which is that the biggest disappointment about this movie is not what it is but what it could have been. As the first Godzilla movie made after the September 11th attacks, this could have been one of the most socially and politically relevant entries of its time, just as the original Godzilla was for the era it was made in. Who knows if it would have made for a good movie or not but it still would have been interesting if Toho had actually attempted it, which they never even thought about doing. Instead, Shogo Tomiyama's insistence on keeping the movies as family-friendly, holiday entertainment not only made for some mediocre movies on the whole but it also really limited the filmmakers as to what they could do with a character who had been around for almost 50 years by that point and, ultimately, made the franchise feel dusty and outdated. The Godzilla series had managed to stay relevant throughout most of its run but this decision to basically bury their heads in the sand and ignore current events made the franchise seem out of place in a world that was no longer as innocent as it once was. As I mentioned in the previous review, after 9/11, it was kind of hard to take seriously the idea that the populations of entire cities could be evacuated and moved out of harm's way and what's more, the very sight of Godzilla decimating buildings and blowing stuff up no longer held the connotations of outrageous fantasy that it had for a long time. The grimness and reality with which Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah depicted its monster attacks was what the series needed to build on in order to stay relevant. I don't think it was necessary to go as downbeat and bloody as Masaaki Tezuka originally had in mind for this film but I still think it was necessary for them to acknowledge that the world around them had changed, just like how the original Godzilla acknowledged that Japan itself hadn't been the same in the nine years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact, other monster movies like The Host and Cloverfield managed to do that very effectively, especially the latter, and they were made many years after 9/11, so why couldn't Godzilla do the same right after it, especially since they had unknowingly hinted at it in the film made prior to the terrorist attacks? (You could say that the 2014 film finally did that but, without getting off-topic, I'll just say that I don't think it was done as effectively as it could have been.) To sum up, it would have been nice if Toho had decided to make Godzilla a part of the post-9/11 world before many other major franchises and movies had the opportunity to do so but, unfortunately, they didn't and we can only attempt to imagine what could have been.
As it was back in Megaguirus, we once again have the problem of Godzilla being portrayed as an uninteresting, generic monster whose only purpose is to attack Japan and give the humans something to deal with. He has absolutely no personality to him save for the basic emotions of being angry and confused given the situation and he doesn't have the presence to him that the filmmakers would like him to have. They do try to make him come across as more than just a dangerous, huge animal, with Igarashi stating that the first attack in 1954 put a curse on the country and with a scene of a shelter overflowing with homeless and injured people after his first appearance in the film, in an attempt to harken back to him being a force of nature, but that doesn't work when all he does whenever he appears is indifferently walk around and crush and blow stuff up or, even more embarrassing, just stand around and do virtually nothing when he's fired on! You need to make Godzilla come across as more than just a big animal that just does what it does and only gets angry and fights back when it gets attacked in order for him to have a bigger presence to him. They also try to give Godzilla some dramatic weight by having his roar be what awakens the soul of the 50's Godzilla within Kiryu but, as we've discussed, that concept is so underdeveloped that they might as well have not even put it in here. I just feel so bad for Tsutomu Kitagawa, who returns to the role after having been absent in the previous film, because he seems like a nice guy in interviews but he often got stuck with having to portray Godzilla as a blank slate and was unable to do anything more than go through the motions in terms of his performance. Maybe that was better for him since it was hard enough just walking around in the suit but I find it sad that he wasn't able to carve out a distinct personality for his Godzilla like Haruo Nakajima and Kenpachiro Satsuma before him. In Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla: Final Wars, he got to create a distinct personality and attitude specific to those films, especially the latter, but he didn't get to develop one that was uniquely his which held over the course of a period of films due to the anthology nature of this cycle, and that's a shame. 
Lack of character aside, I really like the suit they created for both this film and Tokyo S.O.S. It's a beauty. As you can see, they decided to go back to the general look that he had in the first two Millennium films but they made some notable changes to it as well. The most obvious one is the head, which looks more like that of the Heisei suit, specifically from Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth on. While the first Millennium suit had that notable feline aspect from the Heisei era to its face too, this one has it the most of any of them and it makes for a very appealing look for Godzilla. It's also the most expressive face I think he's ever had, allowing you to really read his emotions in a given scene (again, I just wish they had done more with him than the basic emotions of anger and surprise). The spines are not as large as they were in the first Millennium films and they're not purple anymore (which I'm glad because I always thought that didn't look right), having gone back to the traditional white color, but they're still very, very jagged. I find the chest and neck to be much broader than the original Millennium suit as well, with the neck now having prominent ridges on either side of it. His skin has gone back to the original grayish-black look, although you can still see some green in there when Godzilla's lit a certain way. His roar is the same as it's always been throughout the Millennium series and, after watching the film again, I must note that I did hear that groaning sound at the end of the classic 60's roar that he does here, which I previously attributed to the tortured souls that were within him in the last movie. So, I was wrong in that regard, although I still think it works for that previous characterization of him. And they retained the original blue color of his atomic blast that they brought back in the previous film, although it's not nearly as powerful and destructive as it was there, nor do you get the massive buildup to him firing it that was there as well. 
I've already gone into nauseating detail as to why their attempt to give Mechagodzilla (Hirofumi Ishigaki) a distinct personality failed miserably: you don't get enough of a sense of any inner turmoil that's going on within the cyborg, despite what Sara says is there, it does nothing but go on a destructive rampage like Godzilla himself the one time it comes alive, and after that, nothing more is done with it, including the robot coming back to life during the final battle, so they might as well have not even bothered with it. That sucks because it seems like they really wanted to make this Mechagodzilla stand out from the previous two incarnations, which were just weapons that were wielded by either evil aliens or the JSDF in an attempt to defeat Godzilla (although the original Showa one was sadistic and cruel in how it fought). They gave it the actual name of "Kiryu," which roughly translates to, "machine dragon," specifying that "Mechagodzilla" is simply a term to describe what kind of creature it is, and they had the bones from the original 1954 Godzilla be recovered to act as the machine's skeletal framework, as well as using cloned DNA from the skeleton to work the DNA-Computers built within it. I like that latter idea not only because of the potential it has but also because it makes Kiryu a true cyborg, unlike the original Mechagodzilla, which they often called as such and really got on my nerves as a result. But, as I described earlier, they did not run with the idea of Kiryu having the soul of the original Godzilla as well as his skeleton and DNA as much as they could have, making for a major missed opportunity and one that they didn't build upon that much in the following movie either. As for Kiryu's look, I think it's okay. It's not a design that I've ever been all that crazy about, although I did think it looked cool when I saw the poster and DVD cover of Kiryu jumping up and trying to whack Godzilla with its tail, but it's certainly not bad either. I do like that it looks a lot more like Godzilla than the previous two versions of Mechagodzilla did and it looks really nice when viewed directly from the front, although I'm not too keen on the bright purple aspects of its armor, especially that backpack, which they call a "flight-pack," that it wears for most of the film (they corrected that in the next film). I still like the look of the Showa Mechagodzilla the best, although I'm not sure whether or not like Kiryu or the Heisei one more. While the Heisei Mechagodzilla felt more powerful, Kiryu is much more agile than either of its predecessors (it can also move its tail around, something else that the others couldn't do), giving it a distinct advantage in physical combat. On the other hand, I don't like that Kiryu's energy capacity is so limited that it has to be air-lifted to battle sites in order to save power, which makes it feel very weak. Couldn't they have just given it bigger fuel cells? I never thought Kiryu's weapons were that awesome either. The dual laser cannons it has on each arm and the rocket launchers and missile batteries on its flight-pack don't seem to do much more than frazzle Godzilla a little bit and neither does the flight-pack itself when it's fired at him and shoves him backwards. Even its ultimate weapon, the Absolute Zero cannon, which is said to be able to freeze its target and cause it to disintegrate shortly afterward, doesn't kill Godzilla; it just leaves him with a nasty scar on his chest that carries over into the next film. The maser it fires from its mouth does seem to cause Godzilla pain, however, as does a sharp blade from Kiryu's wrist that conducts electricity through his body upon penetration..Kiryu's vocalizations are really forgettable, sounding like screeching and groaning metal with an occasional Godzilla roar behind them. 
The special effects in this film, created by Yuichi Kikuchi, are much improved from the very hackneyed stuff that we saw in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. For one, the suits for both Godzilla and Kiryu look great, especially Godzilla, whose head has animatronics built into it that allow for a lot of expression, and both monsters are lit much better than those in Megaguirus were and don't come off as fake and rubbery this time. The building models and miniature sets look top notch and don't come of as fake, confined, and small as those in Megaguirus did (the underwater shots of the original Godzilla's skeleton are particularly breathtaking), the pyrotechnics look nice, and the matting effects are also very well done for the most part, even though there are still ones that look more than a little wonky and come across as cheap as those we saw back in Megaguirus. However, where the movie's effects start to get shaky is when it comes to the CGI. As usual, the computer-generated imagery used for the monsters', as well as the military's, beam weapons are awesome and they also manage to create some great shots using the CGI, most notably the nighttime shot of Godzilla silhouetted against the sky as lightning strikes his spines at the beginning of the movie and the recreation of the original Godzilla's demise, but there are many computer-generated effects that look very cheap, like something out of an early 2000's video game. The cables that attach themselves to Kiryu so it can be flown to battle sites look very hokey and the fact that they're shot in major close-up makes it even worse. The same goes for shots of the Kiryu Squadron's White Heron aircrafts: they sometimes look okay but there's no denying that they also look really bad, particularly in a shot during Kiryu's rampage where they have to quickly dodge the maser beams it shoots from its mouth. And while the effects for Kiryu's Absolute Zero cannon when it fires look fine, the shots of the beam freezing something and then causing it to crumble... not so much, particularly the big pillar of ice that's created when Yashiro attempts to use it to kill Godzilla at the end of the film. All in all, there are some hits and misses in the effects here but they're a vast improvement over those in the first two Millennium films, especially Megaguirus. Before we get to the breakdown of the monster action, I think it's necessary to comment on the sparseness of it this time around. There are only three major sequences involving the monsters, which come at the beginning, middle, and end of the movie, and only the last one, which makes up the entirety of the third act, is anything major, while the rest of the movie is made up mainly of character and dialogue scenes. After the opening where Godzilla first appears, most of the movie's first act consists of them planning and then building Kiryu and the movie doesn't give us much of the latter, showing us what's going on with the other characters and the country as well. And after the first fight between Godzilla and Kiryu and the latter's subsequent rampage, neither of which last for very long, there's another period made up of nothing but scenes with the characters that lasts until Godzilla reappears and begins heading back for Tokyo. Basically, I'm saying this because this breakdown is going to jump around a lot and I'm going to try (try being the key word) not to go into much detail about the character scenes as I have before since I don't want this to be too long. I'm kind of glad about this sparseness of monster action, though, because I'm really not looking forward to Godzilla: Final Wars, which is an over two-hour movie and is like 90% action! But that's neither here nor there, so let's get on with it.
The film begins in the year 1999 in Tateyama of the Chiba Prefecture, where a number of troops are preparing for deployment from the port. As everyone gets ready, you hear of a strong storm that's heading that way over a jeep radio, suggesting that these troops are getting ready to help those who are going to get caught up in the storm (at least, I think that's what they're doing; either that or they know that a monster is heading that way as well and they're preparing to meet it). The troops then move out and Yashiro and Togashi, who are driving in a jeep amongst the larger vehicles, note the dark clouds gathering above them, with the latter saying that the storm is indeed coming. A cut shows that the typhoon has arrived and is bearing down on the area, continuing to gather strength as it heads north towards the Boso Peninsula, according to a very foolish reporter who's out there in the midst of it. The guy tries to stand there and continue his report amidst the pouring rain and violent winds but he's just about blown off his feet, while the camera crew try to do the same as well as keep the camera lens clear. The reporter continues talking as a huge swell of water rises out of the sea behind him, followed immediately by an enormous, black figure. He's at first completely oblivious to this but when his camera crew suddenly gasps in fear, he turns around and sees Godzilla towering over him, groaning lowly as he does. The reporter immediately panics and heads for the hills along with his cameramen. Elsewhere, a guy spills a number of soda cans he's carrying in a plastic garbage can on the sidewalk and grumbles to himself as he has to pick them up. As he does so, a number of police and military vehicles, including tanks and a large maser cannon, pass by him. While the vehicles race to the site in Tateyama where Godzilla was reported, some helpful subtitles inform us that this the Anti-Megalosaurus Force, that it was established in Chiba in 1966 for the purpose of defending the nation from giant monsters, and that it has 4,072 members. Meanwhile, a small town is being evacuated just as Godzilla appears on the outskirts, looming over houses. Amidst the panicked people is one guy who has to be held back by a policeman because he's frantic that Godzilla's approaching his house. Sure enough, Godzilla steps right on the house and demolishes it as he heads on through the town, leaving a trail of explosions in his wake. While the troops are ordered to head for Route 89, Godzilla heads on through the forest, knocking over trees as he approaches a closed-off mountain road, where a squadron of military vehicles intercept him. Tanks and missile batteries begin firing at Godzilla, who at first simply stands there but then proceeds to approach the road, forcing them to pull back. However, some of them aren't quick enough in doing so and Godzilla kicks a tank that crashes on the road in front of another retreating vehicle, with the explosion engulfing it as well. 
As Godzilla moves on, Maser Gun Units 3 and 4, one of which Yashiro is a part of, move into position. They head along another mountain road and stop there, with some troops turning on spotlights to illuminate Godzilla as he comes stomping out of the trees. The maser turrets are quickly turned around and aimed straight at him, with Yashiro proceeding to fire on Godzilla as he continues heading through the forest. This catches his attention and as he turns around the face the maser, tanks on the road begin firing at him as well. Despite being hit point blank by the maser, Godzilla doesn't even flinch and Yashiro learns that the rain has drained the maser's power by 70%. Nevertheless, Yashiro refuses to give up and aims the turret up to lock onto Godzilla's right eye. When she fires, she first zaps him along the side of the face but when Godzilla recoils from that, she then manages to get him in the eye. Visibly angered by this, Godzilla powers up and fires his atomic blast, hitting the side of the mountain in front of Yashiro's vehicle and causing a small landslide in the process. A van of troops in front of them attempts to avoid the slide by going in reverse and in the confusion, Yashiro swings her vehicle around in an apparent attempt to do the same. However, disaster strikes when the front of her vehicle smacks into the van and knocks it backwards through the guardrail, causing it to tumble down the side of the mountain. It comes to rest at the bottom of the valley and it first, it seems like the men inside are okay, if a little banged up. But, things turn tragic as Godzilla comes stomping through and Yashiro watches in horror as he crushes the van with his foot, which is followed up by it exploding. Yashiro tries to come to grips with what just happened but she barely has enough time to do so before Godzilla swings his tail around and smacks her vehicle, knocking it towards the edge and causing the front section to hang perilously over the side while the back stays on the road. Yashiro isn't hurt by this but is really shaken nonetheless and as she looks up, she sees Godzilla silhouetted against the sky while lightning strikes his spines and illuminates him as he lets out a mighty roar, as we go into the film's main title. 
Things slow down to a leisurely pace afterward. First, we get a scene in a shelter that's bursting at the seams with injured and homeless people, some of whom are listening to a news report about the aftermath of the disaster and the continued rescue operations. Amidst this information, the reporter informs the viewers that the monster that appeared with the storm has been identified by Prime Minister Tsuge as a second Godzilla. While those watching gasp when they hear this, the reporter informs that Godzilla returned to the Pacific after destroying Tateyama and is more than likely waiting to strike again nearby. Following that, we're introduced to Minister Machiko Tsuge and her Minister of Science and Technology, Hayato Igarashi, at her office. This leads into the recap of the monster attacks that have hit Japan in this continuity, starting with footage from the original Godzilla and leading into an interesting recreation of the first monster's disintegration via the Oxygen Destroyer. We see him writhing back and forth and screeching in pain as the weapon's bubbles engulf him before he's reduced to nothing but a skeleton in a bright flash of light. Following that, Igarashi notes how after that first Godzilla, Japan has been repeatedly invaded by giant monsters, and that leads us into footage from the original Mothra, where we see Mothra in her caterpillar form create a large cocoon on Tokyo Tower, by some heat rays firing upon the cocoon in an attempt to kill her. The next shot is of the adult Mothra hatching from the cocoon and flying off before we cut to footage from War of the Gargantuas of Gaira attacking an airport. He smashes his hand through a window in one of the buildings there before it cuts to that footage we've seen reused so many times in Toho kaiju flicks, which is of Gaira being fired upon by maser cannons while he tries to escape through the thick underbrush of a forest. After that little recap, Tsuge mentions how, after each attack, Tokyo has been rebuilt thanks to the efforts of their diligent citizens, but Godzilla is like no other monster and they don't have anything they can use against him. Following a scene at the AMF Narashino Command Post where Yashiro is questioned about what happened and she simply says that she's ready for any punishment, as well as a solemn moment where she sits alone in a room and stares at the pictures of the men she got killed, overcome with grief, while Togashi looks on, we get into the development of Mechagodzilla. We're introduced to Dr. Tokumitsu Yuhara as he shows off a bio-mechanical trilobite he's created and in the next scene, he's approached by two representatives from the government and taken to the Science and Technology section of the Defense Agency. He's led into a room where he meets up with the other scientists who've been called in and shortly afterward, Igarashi and Dobashi enter the room to tell them why they're there. Igarashi says he has something to show them and then the lights are dimmed and the section of wall behind him raises up to reveal a large window that allows them to see into an enormous, underwater area. They then realize that they're looking at the skeleton of a huge monster, which Igarashi confirms to be the remains of the original Godzilla. Everyone walks over the window to get a closer look, while the room is revealed to be an elevator as it rises up and offers them a better vantage point of the skeleton. Yuhara is then asked if he can recover an inter-spinal cell from the skeleton, prompting him to ask if they intend to create a Godzilla clone. Igarashi then clarifies that they actually intend to create a bio-robot to use as a weapon to defeat the current Godzilla and tells them they have all been gathered to work on this important project.
Following the passing of the bill to create Mechagodzilla, some public controversy over how they'll pay for it and if it'll be used for some other purposes (i.e. war), and Dr. Yuhara finally agreeing to work on the project, we cut to a month later where work on the cyborg has officially begun, with the Godzilla cells now dividing. A montage of what happens over the next four years follows, which is Yashiro keeping herself in shape (which includes, among other things, jogging when it's bitterly cold and snowing outside), Igarashi succeeds Tsuge as prime minister, and Mechagodzilla continues undergoes construction. Come 2003, the Kiryu Squadron is formed and Togashi, as squad leader, asks Yashiro to join them, an offer she gladly takes. The following scene, she's seen as part of the squadron during a formation in front of their official model of airship, the AC-3 White Heron, as they report to begin operational training. After that is when we're introduced to Hayama and why he despises Yashiro. He calls her out in the locker room and warns everyone to be careful because she might get them killed as well. He's immediately reprimanded by Togashi, though. Following a training scene where Yashiro and the others are put through an obstacle course, we get a scene in the mess hall where Yuhara introduces himself to her and she is subsequently insulted by Hayama, who says he can't understand why Togashi made her the main pilot of Kiryu. When he goes as far as to suggest that the reason Yuhara is interested in here is because she's sending out pheromones, Yuhara jumps to her defense but gets shoved away, prompting her to grab Hayama's arm and jerk it around his back in a strong lock. She lets him go after warning him that he's going too far with this. 
Kiryu is now complete and ready to be unveiled to both the public and the world at large. At a special conference that's being broadcast to people in other countries as well as Japan, Igarashi first thanks those who've contributed to the project and then hands it over to the chief scientists behind it to explain how Kiryu works. As they describe Kiryu's combat effectiveness, the DNA computers that run it, and how it's remote operated from its transport, a female radar operator at the AMF Analysis Company Headquarters who's watching the demonstration with her colleagues spots a large blip on her monitor. Upon analyzing the image, which is swimming towards the mainland, and realizing that it's a monster, all AMF aircrafts are scrambled to intercept it. The Kiryu presentation continues on with a description of how long the cyborg can remain in combat and, most impressively, to a recorded test of the Absolute Zero Cannon. The recording shows Kiryu fire the cannon at a large structure, instantaneously freezing it to the point where it crumbles apart when Kiryu smacks the ground with its tail. This footage absolutely astonishes everyone that sees it. Out at sea, one of the helicopters that was scrambled to intercept the monster comes across it and manages to get a good look at the spines that are breaking the surface as it swims. Shortly afterward, Igarashi is informed that the monster has been identified as Godzilla and that he's heading right for Tokyo Bay. Igarashi then orders the Defense Forces and Kiryu to be deployed immediately. Kiryu Squadron is then scrambled by the AMF and prepares for departure. Everyone else is informed of Godzilla's appearance as the squadron members run for their respective White Heron aircrafts. As they prepare for lift off, Kiryu is also prepared for deployment, with some of its body locks being removed. The White Herons then lift off into the air as the bay doors above Kiryu are opened and it's lifted up to the surface. The rest of the body locks are moved away from the cyborg and White Herons 2 and 3 get in position above it to lower and hook the transport wires to into it (again, the CGI of those cables hooking into Kiryu's sides is really bad). After White Heron 3 gets ahold of Kiryu's tail, the cyborg is lifted up and carried off to face Godzilla, who has entered Tokyo Bay. Evacuations of Yokosuka, Yokohama, and Kawasaki are now underway, with a cut to one of those areas showing people running for it as a couple in a van learns that due to congestion of the main roads, anyone attempting to flee in their vehicles should abandon them. With the evacuation continuing, an announcement about Godzilla's approach is made at a nearby baseball stadium, prompting Hideki Matsui to tell the kids he's playing baseball with to gather around. However, one kid doesn't hear this in time and throws a pitch, which Matsui sends flying towards the horizon. They then see the Kiryu transport team fly past the stadium, which prompts the kids to cheer, but Matsui tells them that they need to get out of there and they proceed to do so. The Hakkeijima Sea Paradise park on the bay is also evacuated and that's a good thing, too, because that's where Godzilla breaks the surface with a big explosion of water. 
Godzilla's appearance sparks even more panic as he quickly comes ashore and lets out a loud roar while thrashing his tail. The soldiers that were helping with the evacuation there quickly retreat as Godzilla plows through the park's main building, completely demolishing it (and as you can see from the first image here, he suddenly makes a face like somebody yanked his tail). The nearby Defense Forces prepare to attack as Godzilla marches through the port and industrial area, while Kiryu is flown towards his position. Upon spotting him, the White Herons begin their descent and lower Kiryu to the ground, while Godzilla looks up at them in curiosity. He watches as Kiryu is set down not too far in front of him and the transport wires are retracted. White Heron 3 pulls out while the two monsters face each other, with Godzilla letting out a bellow. Togashi in White Heron 1 orders Yashiro to begin the attack, which she does by firing a number of Kiryu's rockets at Godzilla, which explode across his torso as he just stands there and stares at Kiryu. Yashiro follows that up with some missiles from Kiryu's flight-pack batteries, which also explode against Godzilla's torso as he continues to stand there completely still. Togashi orders Kiryu's maser gun to be fired, which Yashiro does. This has enough force to make Godzilla walk backwards, with Kiryu then advancing toward him as it continues firing. Godzilla does seem frazzled by this as he lets out a short bellow while backing up. He continues backing away after Kiryu stops firing but continues advancing on him. Realizing that he's actually retreating, Togashi orders Yashiro to finish Godzilla off with the Absolute Zero Cannon. She puts the weapon on stand by as Kiryu stops its advance. That's when Godzilla lifts his head up and lets out a very loud roar, awakening the soul of the original '54 Godzilla within Kiryu (did it not hear him the other times he roared?) At that moment, Yashiro attempts to fire the Absolute Zero Cannon but suddenly finds herself unable to do so. Looking at her data screen, the words OUT OF CONTROL begin flashing across it. When asked what's wrong, Yashiro says that she can't get a response. Back at HQ, Dr. Yuhara also sees that there's something wrong with the system. Unfortunately for them, Godzilla takes the opportunity to escape back into the bay, disappearing beneath the waves with a big splash, as everyone at HQ tries to get Kiryu back under control.
Back at the battle site, Yashiro is still unable to get Kiryu to respond, prompting Togashi to order it to be taken back to base. However, as White Herons 2 and 3 move in to attach the transport wires, we get an ominous shot of Kiryu's hand moving by itself as the cyborg suddenly swings around and fires the dual-laser cannons on its right arm at White Heron 3, which the aircraft just barely manages to avoid. Hayama angrily asks Yashiro if she's trying to kill them. Togashi then asks her what's wrong and she says that Kiryu did that itself. Kiryu then puts its arm down and lets out a Godzilla-like, mechanical roar before unleashing a volley of laser beams, missiles, and rockets towards its surroundings. A factory gets blown to bits by the missiles while Kiryu turns around and fires its rockets on some small buildings before proceeding on into the city and firing its laser cannons at everything in front of it. As everyone at HQ realizes that it's gone crazy, Kiryu continues marching amongst the buildings, blowing up everything in its path, with Yuhara noting that it's acting as if it actually were Godzilla. While the Defense Forces are ordered to remain in their positions and prepare for attack, Hayama decides to try to distract Kiryu and lead it to the sea. He then pilots White Heron 3 towards Kiryu and swings around in front of the cyborg. This does get its attention but instead of following, it swings around and fires the maser in its mouth. Hayama manages to dodge this but as Kiryu turns back around, he flies back around to try to make it follow him again. This time, Kiryu sends out a battery of missiles and while Hayama does get to show off his flying skills by dodging most of them, one manages to clip his left wing and send him crashing down on a raised walkway, with the aircraft bouncing up in the air before it finally comes to rest. Both Hayama and his co-pilot are knocked unconscious but Yashiro and hers manage to land nearby, break into the smoldering craft, and pull both of them out before the fuel tanks explode. Yashiro and Hayama have to dive down to avoid the blast and after it subsides, Hayama asks her why she saved him. Yashiro doesn't answer as White Heron 1 comes in to pick them up. Kiryu, meanwhile, is still destroying everything in its path, with the technicians at HQ realizing that there's no error in its system and that it recognizes its enemy: them. With everyone fearful that it might use the Absolute Zero Cannon, Igarashi asks them if they can stop it. He's told that they'll have to wait until it runs out of power, which won't be for another hour. The film then cuts to about an hour, with the sun setting as Kiryu goes on destroying the port, slowing down gradually as it begins to lose power. It manages to smash its way through an abandoned office building, going right through the center but leaving the rest of the building intact as it exits out the other side. Kiryu takes a few more steps before it finally runs out of juice and powers down, with the final shot of the sequence being the cyborg silhouetted against the setting sun. 
Following the public outcry over Kiryu's rampage, which includes speculation over whether Igarashi will resign as a result, the minister takes full responsibility for the disaster. When Togashi asks him, he admits that he's not certain what will become of the Kiryu Squadron or the cyborg itself, even if Godzilla, who is currently missing, does return. Cutting to HQ, we see technicians looking Kiryu over while Yuhara is driving himself mad trying to figure out what went wrong by looking at the data recorded that day. But, then just when he's about to give up in frustration, he hits upon something and analyzes his data along with the video footage Kiryu itself recorded. When he sees that both the video footage and Kiryu's power wavelengths abrupt cut off when Godzilla roars, he quickly realizes that the roar triggered something within the cyborg. After a scene where Yuhara explains to Yashiro how he intends to fix Kiryu to make sure it won't go berserk again and to make sure that it'll be able to defeat Godzilla next time, as well as Hayama being criticized for continuing to give Yashiro shit even though she saved his and everyone else's lives, we get into all crap about Sara wishing that Kiryu and Godzilla could be friends rather than enemies, as well as the explanation about what happened to her mother. After all of that, we get a cut to the bottom of the ocean where Godzilla is resting. As the camera zooms into him, he stirs awake, thrashing his tail before lifting his head and opening his eyes. A battleship on the surface soon picks him up on sonar as he begins swimming off and in another cut, troops begin moving in as we hear from a radio report that he's appeared in Tokyo Bay and is heading for Shinagawa. He's expected to arrive at 1:00 AM. The Defense Forces begin heading to their positions, bringing in every weapon and vehicle they can, such as tanks, missiles batteries, and masers, while Shinagawa is evacuated. Once they get into position, it doesn't take long for Godzilla to erupt out of the water and the attack is begun. A squadron of fighter jets is deployed and fires missiles at him as he sits there in the bay, to which he responds by prompting blasting them to bits. The evacuation in Shinagawa continues as the fighter jets explode up in the sky, which is followed by Godzilla wading to the shore. Nearby tanks and maser cannons begin firing on him but this doesn't do much more than annoy him and the vehicles quickly fallback as he continues wading to shore. Godzilla then charges up and fires back, melting a tank before creating a line of explosions across the shoreline, similar to what he did back in The Return of Godzilla. 
After a quick glimpse back at headquarters to learn that Kiryu's maintenance is now complete, we cut back to see Godzilla create another line of explosions in Shinagawa before he lifts his head up and roars loudly. Those at HQ watch the attack on the big screen and although Yuhara runs in to tell them that Kiryu is ready, Togashi is reluctant to give the scramble order due to what Igarashi told him earlier. Upon realizing how desperate the situation is, though, he leaves to talk with the minister himself. At his office, Togashi meets up with Igarashi to ask for permission to launch Kiryu. Igarashi is at first reluctant to give the order, despite Togashi's assurances that it won't run wild again, but as he departs, he gives permission, knowing that Kiryu is their only chance to defeat Godzilla. Togashi then salutes him in gratitude and in the next cut, the captain at HQ is informed of the permission grant and orders Kiryu launched. Everyone then heads out, with Yashiro having an unspoken moment with Sara before she leaves, and Kiryu is promptly lifted off to intercept Godzilla while Togashi boards White Heron 1 at the Prime Minister's office. Back in Shinagawa, the hospital is being evacuated when everyone there spots Godzilla marching down the street towards them. Everyone immediately panics and attempts to speed up the evacuation, while he quickly approaches the site. As they head into the area, the Kiryu Squadron is informed of Godzilla's advance on the hospital and Yashiro decides to release Kiryu in the air rather than set it down. She then activates Kiryu's booster rockets and releases it from the transport cables. It drops a little bit before taking off towards the battle-zone, where Godzilla is being fired upon by a missile battery. Upon getting hit, Godzilla turns and effortlessly blows the vehicle up in a large explosion before turning his attention back to the hospital. As Kiryu comes in for a landing and begins skidding across the water in a narrow canal, those at the hospital continue the evacuation, with a nurse running back inside to grab a small child who'd been left behind. Godzilla begins charging up to blast the hospital and just as it builds up in his mouth and he's about to let it loose, Kiryu slams into him on his left, sending him flying down the nearby street before he crashes into a parking lot. Kiryu straightens itself up and begins walking towards Godzilla, while that nurse and child are evacuated from the spot. Godzilla gets back up and roars a challenge at Kiryu, which slowly approaches him and then stops across from him.
After locking onto Godzilla and hearing that the evacuation is complete, Yashiro commences the attack, firing rockets at Godzilla, which angers him enough to where he starts stomping towards Kiryu. That's then followed up by repeated blasts from Kiryu's dual laser cannons, which don't do anything to slow Godzilla down. Both monsters then stomp towards and slam into each other, which leads into a tug-o-war as they begin pushing on each other. Kiryu manages to push Godzilla back a little bit but then Godzilla is able to do the same to his mechanical double. The two of them send fragments of concrete up into the air as they battle. Kiryu then swings around and punches Godzilla in the chest, putting some space between the two of them, before firing its missiles batteries on him. Kiryu's rocket jets are activated and the cyborg flies back, putting some great distance between it and Godzilla, before firing its maser cannon at him in a long, continuous blast. This manages to get Godzilla to hunker down and groan in apparent pain but then, he fires back. Kiryu attempts to block the atomic blast but is unable to keep from being sent flying backwards, crashing into a construction site in the process. Kiryu manages to get back up and Yashiro reports that it didn't take much damage, although one of its rocket launchers got blown off. Kiryu then turns to face Godzilla as he comes stomping towards it and after he delivers a smack to the side, Kiryu gives him another punch to the chest. Godzilla then swings around and tears off Kiryu's other rocket launcher, which prompts the cyborg to back up and then charge at Godzilla, with the latter doing the same. They collide into each other, grab each other's hands, and begin that power struggle again. After a little bit of a dance, Kiryu deploys a sharp blade from its right wrist that jabs into the flesh of Godzilla's left arm, causing him to screech in pain, before delivering a long, steady zap of electricity as a follow-up. After reeling from the attack for some time, Godzilla blasts off the section the blade is protruding from and then kicks it backwards, causing it to crash into a building behind it. Godzilla throws away the blade and begins stomping towards Kiryu, which Yashiro is having trouble getting on its feet. Godzilla puts his foot on Kiryu's center and is about to unleash another atomic blast when his left shoulder gets tagged from behind by White Heron 1, which flies past him. This distraction causes him to step off of Kiryu, giving Yashiro an opportunity to get the robot back up. The two monsters face each other and as Godzilla approaches, Yashiro bends Kiryu over and fires its flight pack, which slams into Godzilla and uses the power of its boosters to force him backwards down the street. After struggling for a bit, Godzilla manages to regain his footing and throw the flight pack off to the side, which explodes amongst the buildings. However, Yashiro is not done yet and has Kiryu charge at Godzilla, who does the same. Godzilla fires but Kiryu quickly ducks and when Godzilla attempts to swing around his tail, Kiryu jumps clear over him and lands on the other side of the street from him. Kiryu quickly turns around and hits Godzilla right in the face with the maser, which makes him recoil and gives the cyborg an opportunity to give him a shoulder-smash to the chest and then smack him on his right side. Kiryu whacks Godzilla on the other side of his face before smacking in the gut with its head, causing him to stumble back. He then gets a tail-whip across the chest, which Kiryu follows up with a couple of more punches before grabbing his head and forcing him backwards down the street, sending concrete and pieces of building flying in the process. As everyone at HQ watches in satisfaction, Godzilla is shoved down to the ground and then Kiryu grabs his tail, lifts him up into the air, and swings him around and around before sending him flying across the city, smashing into the concrete face-first. Godzilla gets back up and shakes the concrete off of him as Kiryu approaches from behind. Godzilla turns around and looks like he's about to attack again but then, he collapses from exhaustion. 
With only 45% of Kiryu's energy supply left, Togashi is told by HQ that they need to finish the battle quickly. He then orders Yashiro to prepare the Absolute Zero Cannon. She puts the weapon on stand by and it begins charging up but, just as she's about to push the fire button, Godzilla regains consciousness and, quickly realizing what's about to happen, fires at Kiryu right when Yashiro hits the button. The atomic blast travels up the street and hits Kiryu below the middle, causing it turn upside down as its blown back through the air. The Absolute Zero Cannon then fires and ends up freezing and disintegrating three buildings near the bay. Kiryu is now lying flat on the ground and, try as she might, Yashiro can't get the cyborg back on its feet. The captain at HQ is then told that Godzilla's blast damaged Kiryu's control system. Yashiro, however, refuses to give up and decides to operate Kiryu manually by getting inside it through one of the maintenance booths on the outside. Ignoring warnings from everyone that what she's doing is extremely dangerous due to Godzilla, Yashiro pilots White Heron 2 down close to the ground and jumps out while it's hovering. Knowing that she can't be stopped, the captain orders all of the Maser Gun units to distract Godzilla. With Kiryu's energy supply draining quickly, Igarashi decides to draw energy from the power companies, even though it will probably cause Tokyo to have a blackout. Meanwhile, Yashiro manages to reach Kiryu but the hatch of the first maintenance booth she finds is jammed. She then runs on up its side and is forced to use a grappling gun to reach the next one that she comes across. Upon hoisting herself up there, and after straining herself to reach the lock, which is difficult due to the position that Kiryu is lying in, she manages to get the hatch open and climb down inside. The power supply for the entire city is soon suspended, with the place being turned into a dark ghost town as a result. The maser units then move in and begin firing on Godzilla, who again just stands there and allows them to blast him. Inside Kiryu, Yashiro manages to decontaminate herself of any radiation before entering one of the manual control rooms. She's able to switch everything on but then sees that there's no power left. HQ informs her that they're sending her power, which is when a microwave transmitter sends the energy from the city to White Heron 2, which then sends it to Kiryu. The cyborg's dorsal plates begin to glow as it absorbs the energy and once its fuel supply is completely recharged, Yashiro manages to reactivate its operating system and get it back on its feet... only for it to get blasted from behind by Godzilla. Kiryu stumbles forward from the blast and although Yashiro tries as best as she can to keep it stable, it eventually goes back down, smashing through an overpass as it does so. Godzilla lets out a satisfied roar, while Yashiro struggles to regain consciousness.
In her subconscious, she remembers the horrible mistake she made and, as Godzilla's footsteps grow increasingly louder, she slowly regains her senses and thinks back to all the friends she has and has made. Getting an urge to go on living, Yashiro screams for Kiryu and then attempts to get it back upright again, which she succeeds in slowly doing so. Outside, Hayama flies his White Heron past Godzilla and sees his spines beginning to spark. He decides to take matters into his own hands and angles his craft around towards Godzilla, deploying his co-pilot's ejector seat as he does so. He flies at Godzilla, shooting at him while doing so, prompting the Big G to turn and aim his atomic blast at the craft, blowing off its left wing. Hayama, however, refuses to give up and continues aiming his jet at Godzilla, who catches him in his mouth. Godzilla then severs the nose of the jet from the body, keeping it in his mouth. Hayama then tells Yashiro that Godzilla can't fire with his mouth and that she must use the Absolute Zero Cannon. She immediately puts the weapon on stand by but when she hesitates to push the button, Hayama tells her to forget about him and to fire. She activates Kiryu's booster rockets as the Absolute Zero Cannon continues to charge and heads straight at Godzilla, slamming into him and quickly wrenching the nose from his mouth, giving Hayama the opportunity to eject. Before Godzilla can react, Kiryu grabs his snout, squeezing it shut, and takes off towards the ocean while holding onto him. They soon reach the water, with Godzilla struggling to get free as Yashiro maneuvers Kiryu around so it's the one on top. They both crash into the water, which is when Yashiro finally fires the Absolute Zero Cannon, turning the geyser of water that results from the blast into a huge, jagged pillar of ice. Everyone at HQ and in the battlefield then waits to see what the outcome of that crazy maneuver was. They don't have to wait long. The ice pillar cracks and then explodes, revealing Godzilla, who unearths himself from the sheet of ice lying atop the surface of the water. After growling lowly, Godzilla, his chest scarred and clearly having had enough, turns and begins heading out to sea, as Kiryu emerges from the water on the other side of the ice. With the Absolute Zero Cannon damaged and the power cells completely drained, Yashiro has no choice but to let Godzilla go. Everyone, however, is simply glad that she's alive, and Togashi orders a rescue unit dispatched to pick her up. As Igarashi and the others at HQ watch Godzilla swim off, they note that they at least managed to drive him away and that, along with the simple fact that they have such a powerful weapon to defend themselves against him, represents a major victory in its own right. As everyone else celebrates, Yashiro walks outside of the maintenance booth onto Kiryu's shoulder and watches Godzilla swim off into the sunrise. As it was in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, and as it will be in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., there's a small scene following the end credits that has Yashiro meeting up with Yuhara and Sara on the catwalk in front of Kiryu. She says that everyone gave her the strength she needed to complete the battle, tells Sara that she now knows that no life is worthless, Sara reveals that she got rid of her sleeping grass, and Yashiro decides to treat Yuhara to dinner since the outcome of the battle was a draw. As Yashiro walks away, Yuhara and Sara give each other a high-five for his having finally broken the ice with her, while the movie ends on the lieutenant giving Kiryu one last salute.If you're a big Akira Ifukube fan, you're probably not going to like the score here because Michiru Oshima, who also did the music for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, does not use a single one of the legendary composer's familiar cues in the score, not even the Godzilla March, making this the first film since The Return of Godzilla to do so. Now, of course, the score for the previous film didn't make use of Ifukube's themes until the ending credits but the difference was that the original music Ko Otani created there was striking and memorable in its own right, whereas the music for Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is pretty forgettable. Oshima reuses the new theme for Godzilla that she introduced in Megaguirus but, fortunately, she doesn't beat it to death as she did there, resulting in it being the best part of the score here. I do think it's a pretty catchy and memorable piece of music in its own right (I've found myself humming it at times), giving Godzilla a sense of power and drive, and it's also orchestrated better here than it was before, sounding much bigger and more immense, so I can praise Oshima in that regard. The rest of the music, however, is pretty generic. In fact, it's so generic and unoriginal that I can't remember a single cue from the other themes, be it those for Kiryu, the Kiryu Squadron, or the softer, more dramatic moments, and I just went through the movie again to do that breakdown so I did hear them many times over! The majority of it just isn't that striking and what I can remember I'm pretty sure was other stuff recycled from the Megaguirus soundtrack, which wasn't all that memorable as a whole either. It's simply not a memorable score and, unfortunately, Oshima also did the music for the next film, which I don't remember being all that special either, so be prepared for that.
In talking about the English dub for the film, I feel I also have to comment that the DVD that Sony put out in 2004 is lousy all-around. First off, I'm pretty sure that the subtitles have some errors in them, with the most notable one to me being at the beginning of the movie when Yashiro is being grilled about what caused the awful accident. In the English dub, they ask her how she could miss a target as big as Godzilla, which is what she was firing at, but in the subtitles on this DVD, she's asked how she could miss a target as big as a 73-type vehicle or something of that nature. Um, did I miss something? They were fighting Godzilla, not another military group! Why would she have been aiming for some type of large vehicle? I don't know if the person who wrote the subtitles miss read the Japanese-to-English translation or what but that really confused me when I watched the movie again. There were a couple of other errors in the subtitles as well but that was the one that really stuck out to me. As for the dubbing, while it does fix some of the mistakes the subtitles make it, it's hardly the best way to watch this movie, the major reason being that it just plain sucks. The dialogue doesn't match the lip movements at all, which is how it's the way it's been for a while so I really shouldn't complain about that but, regardless, it really bothered me here for some reason. Some of the voices are okay, like the ones given to Yashiro, Dr. Yuhara, and Igarashi (you've heard these voices in many of the past dubs, with the guy who did Commander Aso in the Heisei films apparently being contracted to dub Akira Nakao in everything because he does Igarashi), but a lot of them suck, especially those given to the children. Sara's dubbed voice is simply cringe-inducing and is clearly not that of a child. Even worse is the dubbing done for some friends of hers whom we, thankfully, only see in a couple of scenes at the beginning. If the boys in that group were in the rest of the movie, I wouldn't be able to watch the entire dub because they are unbearable. Some of the voices also just don't match the character they're attached to, particularly if you've watched the Japanese version. The guy who dubs Kou Takasugi as Togashi is especially odd because he has a typical, baritone voice while Takasugi speaks in a very deep, bass voice in the Japanese version, and while the guy who dubs Hayama isn't bad, the voice doesn't quite sound right coming out of that person's mouth. And as before, there simply aren't enough actors present here, causing a lot of characters to have the same voice. While you can't do a literal translation from Japanese to English, the English dialogue here is so changed from what was originally said that it's almost like each individual version is a different movie (watch the English version with the subtitles on to see what I mean). The previous film had a bit of the same issue but it's much more pronounced and noticeable here. And finally, the English dub makes its own mistakes in the dialogue. The one that stands out the most to me regards the bet that Yuhara makes about treating Yashiro to dinner depending on who wins the ultimate battle. In the original dialogue, he says that if Kiryu defeats Godzilla, he'll treat her to a celebratory dinner, but if Godzilla wins, he'll treat her to dinner as an apology; in the English dub, though, I swear I heard him mention Kiryu winning both times! I even rewound the film a couple of times to make sure I heard it right and I'm pretty sure that's what he said! Did they really give that little of a crap when recording this dub? That's just shameful. As you can see, you're getting something of a raw deal when you buy Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla on an official DVD over here. I think buying a DVD-R of the actual Japanese version with better subtitles from a site like sumogorilla.com might be the better way to go. If you're one of those people who really doesn't care, though, then I guess all I can say is help yourself to that Sony DVD (and now Blu-Ray).
At the end of the day, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is not a great film, even though it is a step-up from Masaaki Tezuka's first film, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, in many regards. On the plus side, you have a lead character who's easier to like, some mostly improved special effects, one of the best Godzilla designs ever, a much bigger scope to the film, making it come across as much less cheap than Megaguirus, an opponent for Godzilla that's actually a part of the main plot, and a pretty entertaining climactic monster battle that's better structured and has much more dramatic weight to it. However, I'm afraid that there's still quite a bit of bad here too. The story is very tired and has a major feeling of "been there, done that," the characters, despite my previous compliment as well as some nice but, ultimately, insufficient insight to some of them, are once again just archetypes, the film spends too much time with said bland characters, Godzilla is nothing more than a generic, rampaging monster with no character to him other than the basics of an animal, the climax aside, the monster action isn't that impressive, the music score is bland, and, finally, the biggest failing of the film is how they attempt to give Mechagodzilla more of a character and personality than it's ever had before, as well as explore a theme concerning the preciousness of life with it, but don't do much more than that just put out there and not delve into it. All of this, in addition to the lackluster quality of the official Sony release, makes for a movie that leaves me rather unsatisfied. While it's certainly not a chore to watch due to its short, 88-minute running time, a story that doesn't drag that much, and a final battle that is quite entertaining, it's not a movie I go back to that often because, on the whole, it's nothing more than just competent. It's one that I only recommend if you need a way to kill an hour and a half and just want some monster action, which the final battle will give you plenty of; otherwise, I wouldn't really bother.
This movie though it was somewhat tedious isn't bad considering that it introduces Kiryu aka Mechagodzilla 3. Add to the fact that it's got some cool fight scenes makes this one okay in a way.
ReplyDeleteWhile this movie's got its problems (i.e. slow runtime and the boring human characters) despite that it wasn't a bad movie considering that it was the first appearance of Mechagodzilla 3 aka Kiryu. Add to the fact that the fight scenes make up this movie's flaws makes this one not half bad.
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