TALKBACK #24: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

[MekaGojira3k]

It used to be my number one most reviled, but I think it's 2nd after Godzilla vs. Mothra. I think my problem is, that even if it doesn't elicit crazy rage from me, I just don't enjoy it all that much. The first time I watched this, I was pretty meh about the whole thing, and I just kept enjoying it less and less. ESPECIALLY when I know a lot of this stuff was done MUCH better in Godzilla X MechaGodzilla.

[jellydonut25]

^I think there's just a lot of unintentional enjoyment I got out of it the last time I watched it. I remember some of the lines just being bizarre and so weird I couldn't do anything but laugh:
"You're gonna make Godzilla disappear up his own butthole."

"You can't fight Godzilla, you're a girl!!!"
I mean, it's just so bafflingly stupid that it starts to turn around and become enjoyable again...STARTS TO...doesn't quite get there like Megalon does.

[davezilla]

Now I know I might get a lot of flack for this but....I actually really like Godzilla vs Megaguirus. Yes it has some terrible effects, yes the plot seems way out there after G2K (black hole...really?), and yes it does kind of drag but I don't know why I still like it.

I usually watch this in the original Japanese which I much prefer to watch all of my G flicks, but tonight I decided to watch it dubbed. Oh my how atrocious the dubbing is. It's not even some of the language used (still adds the campy feel like they did in G2K just not as well), it's just the dubbing doesn't blend well with the sound effects and score. It stands out like a sore thumb. Oh well.

Sometimes I think Tezuka was strictly going for a 70s Showa era G-flick with this film. Does anyone know the budget of this one versus say G2k? I do admit it did need some tightening up. But I have to be honest, I love Megaguirus. I'm crazy about the big bug. Sure it ends up looking bad in quite a few scenes but I like the idea of this giant dragonfly beast and I think the final fight while not perfect is highly entertaining. I like Megaguirus actually having an evil smirk on it's face and the fight does feel more like a later Showa era fight. I think people are awfully hard on Tezuka unfairly. This was after all his first time in the director's chair and he only got better with his next two G-flicks (well in my eyes anyway)...sure it's not perfect but it's nowhere near Godzilla's Revenge level bad.

*hides from tomatoes being thrown at him*

[klen7]

My BIGGEST issue by a long shot with this movie is the "flooding" subplot. a Meganuron infestation would have been more than exciting enough, but the flood made no sense

[H-Man]

My BIGGEST issue by a long shot with this movie is the "flooding" subplot. a Meganuron infestation would have been more than exciting enough, but the flood made no sense

The flooded Tokyo would have made a great location for at least part of the final monster battle, but instead, Godzilla and Megaguirus fight on a dry sound stage. The flooded city is just a bad SFX setpiece that's almost totally disconnected from the main narrative.

As I've said before, take Megaguirus and the Meganula out of the plot and the movie would still work with minor changes. In fact, I think it would be better. (For one thing, it would be a lot shorter...) The movie isn't about Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, it's about Godzilla vs. Tsujimori. Megaguirus just happens to be the other monster and she's irrelevant to the real conflict.

[davezilla]

You have to admit though it's kind of nice to see a final Godzilla fight take place in the day time. Prior to this film wasn't the loggest Godzilla battle during the day way back in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. Sure he had day time skirmishes in vs MechaGodzilla and SpaceGodzilla....but the real final fight after King Ghidorah was always at night.

[jellydonut25]

There are plenty of daytime fight scenes in the Showa series:
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Ghidrah
Monster Zero
Ebirah
Son of Godzilla
Destroy All Monsters
Mechagodzilla
Terror of Mechagodzilla

all have significant daytime fights.

[daikaijusaurus]

While Godzilla Vs. Megaguiras is not among my personal favorites, I do have a soft spot for this movie.

Here are what I do like about this movie:

1. The intro with the soldiers running around the streets while fighting Godzilla is done very nicely. True, there is no way in heck a bunch of puny humans and their weapons can ever harm Godzilla, but still it's a very cool sequence and the music fits it perfectly.
2. Even though Megaguiras is not one of my favorite monsters, the battle between her and Godzilla is actually quite fun. I love it how she quickly disappears and Godzilla is all frustrated trying to find her LOL!
3. I actually like the Kudo character. He's annoying at times yes, but I especially enjoyed the scene where he installs his operating system and uses his little cartoon character of Tsujimori to fix the DT. I also think that he and Tsujimori have a little spark of attraction for each other
4. Oh and I also quite enjoyed the flashback sequence in the beginning, and how they inserted the millenium suit into the '54 sequences. Very well done.
5. And the music is quite awesome! Love Godzilla's new theme. I think Oshima's music on par with Ifukube's music. Very powerful and fun to listen to.

Here are what I don't like:

1. I'm a little tired of these revenge driven characters who hate and want to kill Godzilla because he/she lost a friend or loved one to him. I mean we already had this in: Godzilla Vs Biollante, Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla and also a similar situation in Gamera 3. Enough is enough .
2. I never cared for Megaguiras as an opponent for Godzilla. She's just a flying bug like Mothra and Battra and I am so burned out on flying kaiju bugs.
3. I also didn't care too much for the scene where one of the Meganulon slaughters the two couple who wanted to buy beer. I mean what was the point? And the two security guards ( who I believe are famous comedians in Japan ) who kept popping up every now and then were not funny and quite annoying.

Anyway, like I said I still enjoyed this movie and do watch it every few months or so.

[Legion]

Easily my third least favorite Godzilla movie. The two that come before it are also from the Millennium series.

[planetxleader]

In the wake of G2014 (and since I'm watching it again tomorrow, ever-insistent on evaluating its second act), I decided to pop this in. I was going to watch something more celebrated, but I decided I'd pick what I've always thought was the lesser of the Millennium films, and one that had a heroic Godzilla of sorts, to prep me again for G2014.

Surprisingly, I liked it alright. I remember being so underwhelmed by it when I first saw it (I had ordered Gamera 3 and got this in the mail instead), but I had still enjoyed its high points. I guess it feels about the same now, except for I really can't discourage anybody from watching it.

Starts out with a bang. The first half of the movie moves real swiftly and is somewhat exciting. I like Kudo. I remember August saying long ago that the film falls apart in the third act, and... it kind of does, but it still is somewhat entertaining. I think the buildup of the first act kind of plateaus and after that the film kind of feels... "even." Megaguirus's flying effects SUCK, and, lessee....

I always remembered loving the climax (same with all of Tezuka's films, I like the way they all have a rousing final action scene), but at the same time Megaguirus is kind of pointless. And with Godzilla still the villain at the end of the day.. it's like, they could have done something along the lines of "look at these two monsters we have created, all because of our recklessness," but they never really go there that much. And while the battle is zany and fast-paced (and filled with bad Megaguirus effects), it doesn't have much weight because, well, there's really nobody to root for. Which really makes Godzilla 2014's hero Godzilla all that more welcome. I think the idea of a "let's find a way to eliminate Godzilla" type of plot has grown tired. It's pretty much a Heisei film but not as boring.

So I guess.... not that bad? Couldn't say it's an awful film? But it is kind of flat, like the other Tezuka films (Godzilla X Mechagodzilla excluded, because of its break-neck pacing and more likable characters).

[MouthForWar]

Watching this again now and it's already as monumentally stupid as I remember.
After two previous attacks on Japan, these idiots try to take Godzilla out with bazookas?

What's with this movie?

[MekaGojira3k]

Watching this again now and it's already as monumentally stupid as I remember.
After two previous attacks on Japan, these idiots try to take Godzilla out with bazookas?

What's with this movie?

Hiroshi Kashiwabara wanted to recreate the ANEB delivery sequence from vs. Biollante so he could have another go at what he tried in vs. SpaceGodzilla.

[kiryugoji04]

Watching this again now and it's already as monumentally stupid as I remember.
After two previous attacks on Japan, these idiots try to take Godzilla out with bazookas?

What's with this movie?

It's one of those rare instances where I love the execution of a scene even though the concept is monumentally terribly.

[goji4ever]

Just watched again today...the stock keeps dropping..
The score is still standout though..
I used to love the final battle but it just hasn't aged to well...it shows great energy and a pair of really good ideas (love the goji to megs tail grab)..
It just seems that Toho hurt their own end product by not allowing enough time in post production

[Legion]

I don't detest this the way I do GFW and it doesn't bore the crap out of me like G2K does, but it's still a terrible movie that I never have any desire to revisit. It's right there in my bottom three. I honestly don't care for it.

[jellydonut25]

G2K, boring? Never!

[Legion]

G2K, boring? Never!

Yup, boring. Bored the hell out of me when I saw it theatrically. I rarely have any desire to watch it. Did absolutely nothing for me.

[jellydonut25]

I wonder what it's like to be dead inside...

[Alpha OTS]

Watched the new bluray recently, and I really like the movie up until Megaguirus shows up. At that point it really reminds me of the Mothra/Battra/G heisei finale, and that's not a good thing to replicate in any form. It feels really lazy. Thankfully later Millenium movies did the "flying" bits exponentially better.

And G2K is not boring!

[jellydonut25]

I sorta kinda watched this the other day whilst doing something completely different and just had it on Crackle in the background.

How hilarious is it that the kids all are SUPER interested in the curried rice trick, then when they find out that it's a BILLION times MORE interesting than some slight-of-hand (ie, imagine if the guy was just slipping a prepared spoonful underneath very quickly), they just walk away angrily.

Are kids crazy?!?! Little tiny machines that can prepare curried rice and put it on a spoon in FIVE SECONDS?! That's incredible!!!

"Nah, it's stupid". This movie is chock-full of stupidity like that, and for that, it's been getting a minor boost into the realm of "enjoyably stupid" for me lately, similar to Megalon.

[Jorzilla]

Watched the new bluray recently, and I really like the movie up until Megaguirus shows up. At that point it really reminds me of the Mothra/Battra/G heisei finale, and that's not a good thing to replicate in any form. It feels really lazy. Thankfully later Millenium movies did the "flying" bits exponentially better.

And G2K is not boring!

This is pretty much how I feel. This movie had some GREAT world building at the start of the film. It really started out quite strong and very "Showa" esque or Sentai oriented. G-Graspers reminded me a lot more of a Saturday Morning Ultraman G-Force. The film didn't take itself too seriously. A kid is the focal point of the movie, but does a pretty good job. They bring back a classic, obscure monster for fans.

I really like what Tezuka was trying to do, and I think he's pretty under-rated. You can tell that he's a fan. He's rough around the edges, but he really "gets" Godzilla. It's easy to harp on him for being derivative, but Godzilla x Mechagodzilla improves on this film immensely.

That being said, this film REALLY falls apart at the Meganulan attack on Godzilla, and later when Megaguirus shows up. The special effects are really quite weak, they really on bad matte shots instead of miniatures. The fighting choreography is abysmal, so is the pacing. With that in mind, I found myself actually liking some of the goofy elements more, particularly the 'big leap' which I absolutely hated.

This film still sucks, but I can see that Toho saw Tezuka had potential, and gave him another shot

[Legion]

I wonder what it's like to be dead inside...

....really...? I'm dead inside because I dislike this boring Godzilla movie? Come on, Jelly.

[MekaGojira3k]

I wonder what it's like to be dead inside...

....really...? I'm dead inside because I dislike this boring Godzilla movie? Come on, Jelly.

If that's what it takes then I'm so dead that I couldn't be any more dead inside and suddenly was bursting with life.

[jellydonut25]

I wonder what it's like to be dead inside...

....really...? I'm dead inside because I dislike this boring Godzilla movie? Come on, Jelly.

If that's what it takes then I'm so dead that I couldn't be any more dead inside and suddenly was bursting with life.

we were talking about G2K...not GxM

[MechaMinya]

Please forgive me in advance if this has been addressed earlier or elsewhere but...

I was re-visiting Megaguirus tonight via the recent Sony BluRay release and at the 1 hour and 29 minute mark (when Godzilla blasts Megaguirus from the sky and Megaguirus' flaming bulk is falling earthbound) I faintly hear King Ghidorah! I love this oddity! I know it cannot just be me!

For me this little detail is a nod to the Showa era which I feel this film is an homage to. This is certainly not a step forward into the Millennium film. This is, as many have stated, a step backwards. That is because it is a bit of a pastiche.

I am going to go ahead and say it...

This is my FAVORITE Millennium film!

It is fun. It has GREAT spirit!

Cheers to you all on this Friday night!