TALKBACK #21: Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla

[Jorzilla]

Watched this for the first time in YEARS on Saturday. A couple of thoughts:

The special effects/matte work was actually pretty good, especially when compared to the Destroyah (this comment does not apply to the Asteroid scene).

I kind of like some of the more original elements in this film, especially the one man trying to kill Godzilla sub plot.

The attack on the Yakuza base was pretty entertaining.

There are some gorgeous shots of Space Godzilla in Fukuoka.

Neither Little Godzilla or the Asteroid Scene bothered me as much as I remembered they did. I guess I've resolved myself to their existence.

How the hell did guys who were sent on assignment to Birth/Bass Island also know how to pilot a giant mech? That being said, when Yuri casually asks if they want to do it, I thought that was kind of a cool scene.

The writing is still terrible.

This movie actually made me like the rest of the Heisei series a little less. What I mean is that almost all of the criticisms that I have left to levy at this film can easily be applied to all of the 90s Godzilla's films. It makes me wonder why THIS film in particular is singled out as being the worst of the 90s films in general, when it's really comparable to all of the other films.

I still don't like this movie, but in terms of pure distaste I think Godzilla vs. Mothra is a lot worse. I'm seriously hard pressed to say anything positive about that film.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[XvGojira]

I'm waiting to get the blu-ray to really rewatch SpaceGodzilla, but I remember being sort of disappointed by it from the get go. I think I picked it up at the first G-Con I went to back in '95. Maybe it was the second on in '96 but either way I accidentally got a unsubbed copy of the movie. So after watching my subbed copy of MechaGodzilla '93 and loving every moment of that first viewing, I was very let down to find out I wouldn't know what the plot for the movie was until a year or two later when I got a subbed copy. And even then it just seem all that great. Also Miki's haircut was stupid.

SpaceGodzilla always felt a little off compared to the rest of the series to me. Maybe it's because it was the first really NEW enemy kaiju to my eyes at the time. With Ghidorah, Mothra, and MecahGodzilla there was some sort of history or reference point but SpaceGodzilla was just wild and new.

[DannyBeane]

I'm almost tempted to watch this film because I've had the theme song from the never ending beach scene stuck in my head for the past couple hours. I'm slowly losing my mind and can't take it anymore. I don't think I have it in me to watch SpaceGodzilla though.

[lhb412]

[DannyBeane]

[Jorzilla]

Godzilla emerging from Fuji would have been 10x better if they had not done a 100x better job in Biollante. It looks like Godzilla is walking out of an exploding fireworks stand.

[lhb412]

[Psycho Soldier]

So I have a problem with this movie. Actually, I have many problems with it, but there's one I don't see mentioned too often. It has the audacity to end with a warning against space pollution - and (if the Blu-Ray subs are to be believed) plagiarizes Dr. Yamane's ending speech from the original in the process. Come on, now. This is the movie where people try to control Godzilla with psychic powers and build a gigantic penguin robot, and, of course, where SpaceGodzilla is a thing. Amid all this stupid BS, plagiarizing G54 just drives the nail in the coffin.

It's barely even humanity's fault that SpaceGodzilla exists anyway. It's not like humans fired a capsule full of G Cells into the outer reaches for aliens to find. Nobody was predicting that Biollante or Mothra would go into space after beating Godzilla, as I recall, and I doubt any sane person was thinking, "I hope those monsters don't get G Cells on the good space carpet."

I guess you could argue that our inability to predict the consequences of Godzilla's existence helped pave the way for SpaceGodzilla. I just feel there's not much hubris involved with SpaceGodzilla's creation, not enough to justify quoting G54 back at the audience.

[Rodanex]

That tacked-on bit about humanity polluting the atmosphere (or is it space?) is one of the biggest WTF moments of the entire movie.

[Legion]

I think the only reason we kept getting tacked on message crap in the Heisei movies was because it was something Honda did in the older films.

[Rodanex]

I honestly never really noticed that in the Honda films. Whenever there was a message, it seemed a lot more subtle and more thoroughly embedded in the story.

[jellydonut25]

[Rodanex]

Ah. Good point.

[Legion]

Honda's messages in movies like Godzilla '54 and Mothra vs Godzilla are very important to the stories and are not pounded into the viewer at every opportunity. Most fans of Honda's monster films know there's usually a theme or message in there somewhere, but they're always well integrated into the films. The Heisei films try to do the same thing, but are the incompetence in the way the messages are present is staggering. This is especially true in Godzilla VS Mothra where every other line seems to about nature getting it's revenge. I'd love to blame bad dubbing or weak subtitles, but it's clear that this was how the movie was written. Then there's the "real life vs artificial life" nonsense from GvsMG and the space pollution crap from GvsSG. None of it makes sense,

[XvGojira]

[Benjamin Haines]

[H-Man]

Okawara filmed the scene in which Aoki learns Sweeney's character is an android but it didn't make it to the final cut. I think it was removed because it was part of a bigger sequence that was edited into the early training montage. IIRC, the G-Force drill was supposed to be played up as a real attack to better prepare Aoki. He's embarrassed to change in front of Sweeney until one of the other G-Force members tells him she's actually an android. He feels her hair and she punches him.

[Rodanex]

[lhb412]

[Jorzilla]

Looking at the Heisei series, I think the last movie to actually have something interesting to say was Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. While the overall film is kind of a mess of hacked together ideas, it did stem from a core idea of Japan coming to terms with how the rest of the world was viewing it at the height of it's economic power. It also addressed Japanese nationalism/war heroes and hit on a nuclear non-proliferation theme.

I couldn't tell you what Destroyah was trying to say...maybe the sins of our fathers coming back to haunt us? It could have been used as a study on coming to terms with mortality and death, but instead Godzilla's end kind of seems nothing more than a glorified gimmick to end the series. This trend following what was already set with the Death and Return of Superman just 3 years prior.

[Psycho Soldier]

I can get behind that. While I think the messages and morals of the later Heisei movies are interesting in theory (how many movies, in any genre, make reference to space pollution?), the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I might be putting that mildly.

You're probably right about Destoroyah dealing with the past come back to haunt us. There's Destoroyah's origin; there's the potential replication of the Oxygen Destroyer; there's a reference near the end to humanity's use of nuclear energy, tying back to Godzilla's origin and meltdown. It's not very well conveyed, for sure, but I think that's the gist of it.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Jorzilla]

I'm going to flat out say this. After reading extensively about the ways Honda, Sekizawa and Tanaka added personal touches to Godzilla (especially Honda), the Heisei series is borderline parody. I know that Tanaka was still producing the 90s films, but wasn't Tomiyama basically the one in charge after 1984? I cannot believe Kawakita seriously considered at one point to create a Mecha-Mothra.

Talk about missing the point of the films entirely.

[Legion]