TALKBACK #26: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

[MekaGojira3k]

Just re-watched this yesterday and it jumped like 10 spots or so on my rankings list. It's weird, when it came out I think it was overshadowed by Tokyo S.O.S. (which I saw like 4 months later at G-Fest). It fell a few notches, and suddenly on this viewing it jumped up a few notches. It's a pretty good movie. Seriously, I'm kind of surprised by it. I feel like things like GMK may have made Tezuka and company feel as though they needed to up their ante. The unmoving Godzilla isn't even as bad as I remembered. It's just that first scene with Kiryu and even then it works in terms of making Kiryu and the masers, to a lesser extent, seem like a potent weapon against Godzilla.

Now to find out if S.O.S. holds up or slides further down (as it has been doing since I first saw it).

[Jorzilla]

10+ years later, I still can't decide if it's offensive to the original film makers intent, or cool, that Kiryu was built on the ones of the original Godzilla.

[MouthForWar]

I just rewatched this the other night and enjoyed it more than I have in the past. Probably my 5th or so viewing and I'm finally starting to come around more on this one and see why people like it so much. It probably keeps its same ranking in my overall ranking of the series, but like I said, I'm finally "getting" it as far as this film goes.

I still think I prefer Tokyo SOS more just because of the monster stuff in that film. This movie has excellent human drama, while Tokyo SOS has excellent monster action. Unfortunately, neither film share both of those elements.

I think a lot of Tokyo SOS' problems could have been solved by carrying over the lead characters from this film... their decision not to do that was a huge mistake, IMO.

[Psycho Soldier]

[Hybrid Gojira]

It's been awhile since I've seen this, but I do like it. It has a cool opening sequence (although it feels like Tezuka's just ripping off his own movie Megaguirus at the beginning) and I love Kiryu's rampage. It's certainly a flawed movie but one I can enjoy none the less.

[MekaGojira3k]

It's definitely rehashing Megaguirus (which is rehashing elements from vs. SpaceGodzilla), but Tezuka rehashes himself.
At least x MechaGodzilla does a better job of things.

[goji4ever]

The intro sequence had better ideas in G vs Megs but the execution in goji x mecha is leagues better.. Plus the upgraded Godzilla march helps as well.

[Rodanex]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Giganfan]

The thing I like the most about Godzilla X Mechagodzilla is that it gets right to the business of being a Godzilla movie. Sure, the characters are thinly-drawn, and the story is somewhat under-developed, but when considered within the proper context (that is to say, almost 80% of the movies in the series are plagued with similar problems, and a good deal of them follow a pre-set "corporate Toho-approved" formula), I was thoroughly impressed with how director, Tezuka handles the material. The whole thing is kept fast-paced and light, and unlike his predecessor, Takao Okawara, the minute you begin to feel bogged down by a boring plot element or an annoying character, he's real good at getting you in-and-out, without breaking the flow of the action. Tezuka is, by no means, as competent a filmmaker as, say, Shusuke Kaneko or Jun Fukuda or even Kazuki Omori. And he sure-as-sh*t is no Ishiro Honda. However, his passion for Godzilla movies is undeniable, and I think that is what gives his three contributions to the Godzilla legacy a special kind of luster.

Make no mistake, if I were to be totally objective on the matter, I'd say that Godzilla X Mechagodzilla is no better, or no worse than anything else that Toho has been churning out over the past few decades. But I think the blame for that has much more to do with the company's stinginess with time, budgetary constraints and an unwillingness to go out and find some really talented filmmakers, or at least give the ones they have the freedom to develop their projects as they see fit. In a vacuum, I'd say that at the very least, Tezuka's three Godzilla films are the best of the "meh" films in the series, which when you really think about it, isn't so bad. I certainly rank this one among my personal favorites (though my most recent listings in the "Godzilla In General" forum have yet to reflect that, damn it!).

[Hybrid Gojira]

Going back through this thread out of boredom...it's odd how my opinion changed on this film. I'm planning to rewatch this with SOS (and Megaguirus) soon.

[Hybrid Gojira]

Watched this tonight (my wife and I are actually watching the whole series) and it was better than I remembered.

The score is great. The Godzilla theme is big and powerful, but the other themes in this film drive it home for me. The characters are better done in this than they were in Tezuka's previous outing. Our main heroine is an improved version of Tsujimori named Akane, who is responsible for the deaths (albeit somewhat indirectly) of her comrades during Godzilla's first appearance. She crashes into them, knocking them into the path of Goji, who then promptly stomps on their vehicle. Akane wrestles with this throughout the film and must deal with the backlash of Hayama, the brother of one of the men she killed. Overall, though Akane is very quiet and reserved throughout the film, but her reclusion is basically the one thing she knows. Her character is nothing earth shattering, but I enjoyed it enough to keep interested throughout.

Godzilla's design is (IMO) much improved from the two earlier millennium films. This time his look is more traditional and toned down. While his dorsal plates are still spikey, they aren't quite the exaggerated design we had before plus we see the return of the blue beam. What does big me is the unevenness Godzilla is portrayed with in this film. In his first encounter with the JSDF, Goji stands around and is happy to get blasted, at least until the masers are fired. He looks lifeless at times, and this is true of his first encounter with Kiryu. Later on, G is blasting everything in sight and even does a 180 to blast a jet out of the sky. Godzilla is too stagnant and frankly not very animated.

The effects in this movie are also better than they were in G2K or GXM. The miniatures look great at times, especially the first scene where Godzilla treks through the countryside in the rain. Though there are some bad CGI shots, the majority aren't terrible and the mattes work much better than some of the embarrassing stuff in the previous 2 films. A negative note here are some of edits and physics shown in Kiryu's fight when G. Yes it's a Godzilla film, but Kiryu is often sent flying in an odd direction considering where the attack came from. It's distracting.

Kiryu is an improvement on Heisei MG. I like all the new weapons and the rampage scene is very cool and a nice plot idea...but then it suddenly vanishes during the second fight. Yes, they supposedly fix Kiryu, but it would have been good to revisit that later in the film.

One note I'd like to make - the Showa films did a great job of blending the color matte of the SPFX shots with the real life shots. The millennium films to this point struggle to bring that same vibrant color scheme into the daytime shots, especially the city miniatures (although as mentioned, the rain scene in this film is wonderfully done).

Overall, I liked this movie more than G2K or GXM. It's not perfect, but it's a fun movie that plays well into the next entry which I hope to rewatch soon.

[KingKaiju]

I've always wondered something: why did Toho decide to call MechaGodzilla Kiryu?? I personally never understood it, and it always sounded kind of dumb to me. Just one of those things I never understood.

[DannyBeane]

I think it had to do with the fact that Kiryu was more of a character and because there was more interaction between Akane and Kiryu. Having Akane scream out MECHAGODZILLA! would have been awkward.

[Mexigojira]

Am I the only one that noticed the Hamtaro reference?

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

[Mexigojira]

[klen7]

Wasn't this film released as a double feature with Hamtaro in Japan?

[MekaGojira3k]

[Mexigojira]

[Hybrid Gojira]

I like GXMG and SOS. They're probably my favorite two movies out of the Millenium series. GMK is probably better in some respects, but I like these more.

[Dr Kain]

[kiryugoji04]

Kiryugoji is the best suit. Fact.

[lhb412]

I think it's kind of a bland design. It's slightly less artificial and awkward than G2K, but now lacks the weird extreme-ness that made the earlier design work (even though that design looked really bad from some angles). This design has this weird, hooked muzzle shape which I don't care for. A bit of a beak. I feel the Legendary Godzilla did a much better job of incorporating bird features into Godzilla's face.

I do like the scarring on Godzilla in Tokyo SOS.


... Jeez, I'm becoming a real fuddy duddy!

[Dr Kain]

Every Godzilla design looks bad from certain angles though. That is just how it is. The Heisei designs have thunder thighs. The GMK one has a beer gut. The original has that weird squish in his head. The 64 one has the loose snout. The 73 suit has that smile. The 68 those eyes. The 67 one has that entire head and neck. Final Wars has the spines.