by Giganfan » Sun Aug 27, 2017 2:29 pm
Terror of Mechagodzilla has always been one of my very favorites out of all the Godzilla movies, for a number of reasons I won't go into here. What I do want to discuss is how, whenever discussing this film, or it's predecessor, it's hard not to draw comparisons between the two. Teruyoshi Nakano got the opportunity to bring to life his greatest creation, Mechagodzilla, with the help of both, the first string (Honda and Ifukube) and second string (Fukuda and Sato) of Godzilla filmmakers. So naturally, with both teams getting a crack at the same subject matter, comparisons are unavoidable. Over the years, I've bounced back and forth with regards to Jun Fukuda's Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster. Honda's movie is better on almost every level, however, the production values are much richer in style, and in color for Fukuda's film. He and Nakano were very economic when it came to the limited budget they had to work with, which makes for a long, somewhat boring mid-section of human drama. However, the effects sequences benefited enormously from this decision, as this is the first Godzilla movie in two years that didn't incorporate tons of stock-footage to pad out the running time. And though I feel Terror of Mechagodzilla is the better film, Honda's particular style of shooting seems completely oblivious to how cheap and flimsy the sets and costumes look. Both films look cheap, but while Fukuda's film looks much more solid and refined, Honda's grittiness makes for a much gloomier experience. As I sit here today, Terror of Mechagodzilla is still a top-fiver, while Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster is hovering around the top-ten spot. I really got a kick out of it the last time I watched it (this morning).
"EVERYONE FORGET YOUR TROUBLES! ENJOY YOURSELVES!THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!" - Gigantis The Fire Monster
"It was HUGE...It was...IT WAS LIKE A MONSTER!!! Suddenly the rocks rose...ALIVE!" - Godzilla 1985