Another entry into the Millennium series of Godzilla movies and yet another reboot…
While the previous era of Godzilla movies (the Heisei Era, if anyone’s asking) took the form of one continuous story thread that played out over the span of seven movies, the fourth film in Toho’s Millenium Era of Godzilla movies continued its habit of constantly restarting with every new installment. No, this wouldn’t be much of an issue if we’re talking a new Godzilla film every five years or so, but this new period of movies were being released at a rate of roughly once a year, so you could imagine it was sometimes tough staying invested while everything was reset back to factory settings with every new release.
However, this proved to be extra annoying when it came to the release of 2002s Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla as it came on the heels of Shusuke Kaneko’s excellent (and extravagantly titled) Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack, arguably the most interesting Kaiju movie of the decade. Could the return of metallic fan favorite, MechaGodzilla manage to uphold the quality of one of the best Godzilla movies ever made when it had a new creative team and an entirely new plot.
Back in 1954, the assault of the original Godzilla on Japan heralded a string of infrequent yet devastating monster attacks that plagued the beleaguered nation by such creatures as Mothra and – most curiously as they’ve never been mentioned in a Godzilla movie before – one of the brawling brothers from War Of The Gargantuas. However, it’s a particularly violent raid by a second Godzilla in 1999 that proves to be the last straw and the Japanese government – puts an audacious plan in place to combat these towering invaders once and for all, but the tool for Japan’s salvation may just come from the most unlikely source imaginable.
Ghoulishly harvesting the picked clean bones from the original 1954 Godzilla, various boffins fuse them with bleeding edge robotics to become the formidable MechaGodzilla who comes armed with rockets, lasers, masers and a genetic memory from it’s DNA powered robo-brain – or something…
Training like a beast in order to make the cut for the MechaGodzilla piloting Kiryu Squadron is Akane Yashiro, who has had a vendetta against Godzilla since her days as a Maser-Cannon technician when she inadvertently caused a bunch of soldiers and a commanding officer to be smushed underfoot by the giant monster. Being cheering on from the sidelines by single father scientist Tokumitsu Yuhara and his sensitive daughter Sara, Akane manages to struggle against adversity and hustle teammates to become Kiryu’s pilot, but after an early bout with Godzilla sees the bones that make up MechaGodzilla’s frame rebel violently against it’s new function.
Watching Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla is almost kind of like being flashed by the invisible man – you know something is happening on account of all the noise but you’ll be damned if you can see what any of the fuss is about. After the big, risk taking narrative swings of GMK, there seems to be precious little substance in comparison and if it wasn’t for its genuinely cool premise of utilizing the remains of the 1954 Godzilla, it would have many original ideas either.
I guess the best way to describe the film is as if Top Gun took place in the Godzilla universe as Yumiko Shaku’s gutsy pilot climbs the ranks to be the best of the best and strives to show Godzilla that his radioactive breath is writing checks his ego can’t cash. As concepts go, it’s actually a damn intriguing one, but weirdly enough, it’s precisely the fact that this is a Godzilla movie that throws things a little off as this central plot has to share important runtime with the arcs of both the King of the Monsters and the titular robot double itself.
Returning after the fun but forgettable Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus, director Masaaki Tezuka seems unwilling to rock the boat in the same way the previous movie did and presents a Godzilla who’s reverted back to his Godzilla 2000 look and acting very much in character. MechaGodzilla, on the other hand, is presented with a bold new backstory and with it comes the more fascinating aspects of the film in general. Ditching the alien dreadnaught days of the Showa Era and keeping the mecha more in line with the battle platform stylings of Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla II, Kiryu proves to be something of a stirring upgrade with the lingering DNA of the previous Godzilla causing it to strain against its programming while Akane wrestles for control. Frustratingly, however, there’s no real payoff to Kiryu arc until the next movie, Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, and the result is a movie that sometimes feels so slight, it feels more like the pilot to a TV show than the 26th entry to one of cinema’s most long running film series – surely audiences at the time must have felt profoundly ripped off.
Maybe it was the time period. Maybe Toho Studios were treading carefully so soon after 9/11 seeing as Kaiju movies are genre usually renowned for casually pushing over skyscrapers; but when you take look at where Godzilla originally came from (e.g. a world shattering event that changed the course of history) you can’t help but feel that it was maybe a missed opportunity for some of that overdue social commentary that Cloverfield and Korean cult movie The Host scored years later. Instead we got a vanilla plot involving the same old story of a soldier vowing revenge after a previous Godzilla attack killed her unit, a trope used repeatedly throughout the series and as recently as only two films prior.
So is Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla due for the scrap heap then?
Well, as derivative as the film often is, it’s kind of like hearing a cute child tell a joke you’ve already heard a thousand times before: you know exactly how it’s going to end but the result is still oddly sweet. It also helps that the epic fights between Big G and his Mecha twin are limber and imaginative, with plenty of satisfying, physical blows landed along with the usual blasts of missiles and atomic breath and while effects often can’t keep up with the scale of the action, its genuinely great to see yet another classic Kaiju get such a cool update.
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla isn’t anything new or even remotely ground breaking but it nicely achieves the low standards it sets itself; but just like Kiryu itself, this is one Godzilla that really could use a bit more meat on its bones.
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