Recently, in theaters, we've witnessed the new chapter of Leggendary's Godzilla franchise, Godzilla vs Kong, with the introduction to this continuity's Mechagodzilla. The giant robot, actually, first appeared way back in 1974, and it had nothing to do with Ghidorah. Or with human technology.
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, Jun Fukuda's last Godzilla movie is, hands down, the best 70s Godzilla's movie, one of the most influential and well regarded, being the introduction of the iconic Mechagodzilla, probably the most known Godzilla's villain after King Ghidorah. The movie also introduces another A-lister kaiju, King Caesar, while being the last movie for nearly 30 years for one of the staples of the franchise, Anguirus. The movies had a higher budget than most of the previous flicks due to it being a sort of 20th Anniversary celebration for the King of the Monsters and the efforts are really clear.
A prophecy in Okinawa tells the tale of a vicious monster that will try to destroy the planet Earth, but will be stopped by two heroic monsters. Everything seems to be true when Godzilla attacks Japan and even his friend and ally Anguirus, beginning a seemingly unstoppable march to destroy everything he ecounters. Who can possibly stop him this around? Will the two heroes rise up? Is Godzilla really evil?
Unexpectedly, the plot in this movie is pretty complex and well elaborated, with various little details and elements that return later on, giving a sense of completeness. If a Godzilla's movie even remotely resembles Kaufman, you know it's a hell of a good Godzilla's movie. The prophecy is cool, the mystery is there, the tension as well. Every major character is, more or less, likeable and some of them are even fleshed out pretty well. Probably, the most intriguing character of them all is the one portrayed by Shin Kishida, the mysterious and elusive Nanbara.
So, the human part is intriguing and well written, with a solid premise and high stakes. But is the monster part any good? Of course! Every suit is arguably better than the ones seen before, with Mechagodzilla’s metallic-like suit being the main spotlight: it looks bloody badass and not too unrealistic, and its movements based upon the formal ones of Kabuki.
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| Original art by Mars |
The fights are brutal, sometimes even hard to watch: Anguirus's jaw is broken in a King Kong-esque way and it’is pretty gorey and disturbing, but the highest point in gore is when Godzilla gets hit by Mechagodzilla's fingers-missiles after being already pouring blood from his neck. Hella horrifying.
The aliens' makeup and costumes, arguably based upon "Planet of the Apes", aren’t the best, but not the worst you can get in the 70s so, in retrospect, it's forgivable even if at times it looks silly.
The soundtrack is pretty good while the cinematography is very colorful and can adapt to the scenes. Some transitions are remakarble as well: both the smooth ones and the more complicated ones.
The only thing that keeps buzzing me is why, in the beginning prophecy, you can see (and hear) King Ghidorah even if he's not part of the movie at all. It was a way to screen the viewers or a simple and lazy error due to them wanting to use stock footages instead of shooting new ones? We'll probably never know.
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