Godzilla Vs. Spacegodzilla (1994) – Review

After a nearly unbroken string of movies ranging from good to very good, the Heisei series of Godzilla films had but up quite a head of steam, chiefly thanks to some outrageous plots and some timely reboots of Toho’s Kaiju clique. However, with its sixth installment, the era finally crashed back to earth at the hands of a villain who, rather fittingly, hailed from space.
While the 90s series had introduced a few new faces here and there, it hadn’t showcased a brand new, leading villain since 1989’s Godzilla Vs. Biollante, but with Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla, it debuted Spacegodzilla, a cosmic marauder created when some of the Big Gs DNA managed to find itself blasted through a black hole. However, the result was nowhere near as epic as the set up made it sound and Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla ended up being such a nothing film it’s actually tough to think about what to write. As a result of this blandness, the movie stands out as the only real blemish on the Heisei era’s impressive record.

Thanks to the various, space faring journeys of Mothra and Biollante spores, cells from the body of the King of the Monsters have undergone a cosmic mutation and become a a vicious, Godzilla, doppelganger that’s making a beeline for earth as we speak.
Alerted to his presence when psychic JSDF agent, Miki Saegusa is contacted by the Cosmos, Mothra’s tiny priestesses, the forces of earth prepare to combat this threat by unleashing MechaGodzilla’s replacement, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., to have a decisive rumble among the stars.
While all this is going on, Major Akira Yuki and Lt. Kojima Shinjo, two agents from the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Centre, have arrived on Birth Island on order to carry out an audacious plan. They plan to use Little Godzilla to draw the big guy in to try and implant a mind control device on him in the hoe to make him more docile, however, they find that living on the island us the vengeful Lt. Kiyoshi Sato who has a personal vendetta to  settle with Godzilla.
However, everyone soon has to duck and cover when SpaceGodzilla make earthfall and lands at Birth Island spoiling for a fight and after spiriting Little Godzilla away with its funky telekinesis powers, the intergalactic invader soundly trounces his earthly double with an array of energy attacks from its crystal-like protuberances.
Sodding off to central Fukuoka to form a fortress of giant crystals around the Fukuoka Tower, M.O.G.U.E.R.A. and Godzilla are both readied for a rematch, but when Miki is kidnapped by the Yakuza in a random ploy to gain control of the King of the Monsters, it throws the entire fate of the earth into a state of flux.

The biggest problem with Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla is that, compared to all the other entries of this particular era, it panders way too much to a younger audience which leaves it feeling a bit too fluffy to really grab you. It doesn’t look particularly different to the the previous five movies that it’s linked to and the stakes, both global and personal, are suitably huge – and yet the movie noticably feels trite, nonessential and- worst of all – cheap.
It’s a shame because, on paper, the movie, sounds like it should have been a cracker. We’re treated to a bunch of monster action that features an array of Kaiju both new and old with Godzilla looking as imposing as ever and the creepy-ass, dead-eyed, Baby Godzilla now grown into the ridiculously cute, Disney-eyed, Little Godzilla. On top of this we get a redux of little-known mecha M.O.G.U.E.R.A. who first debuted in Ishiro Honda’s 1957 sci-fi adventure, The Mysterians and while the drill bit sporting, transforming battle fortress isn’t a patch on the far more iconic Mechagodzilla, its thick-hipped presence adds some variety to the trio of Godzilla variants rampaging about the place.
However, the main new face of the block is a hulking antagonist with a stunningly unoriginal name, who comes with a vast array of special powers and a vaguely enigmatic origin story (cells from Godzilla carried into space by Biollante spores must have been sucked into a black hole and – hello? Hello? Are you still there?) but despite looking fairly impressive with his shoulder mounted bling giving Joan Collins’ 80’s shoulder pads a run for their money, he’s actually quite dull and lacks personality.

The plot is entry level Godzilla, but contains some interesting points worth mentioning. The secondary story involving Sato’s one man war against an adversary that could smush him between his toes without a second thought is far more interesting than all the other human stuff and you kind of wish that this was the main thrust of the human story instead (it actually feels like the sort of contained story you’d get in IDW’s comic line). Even though Sato wants revenge on a fallen comrade (cue stock footage from Godzilla Vs. Biollante) and seemingly has figured out a way to single handedly kill Godzilla, he intriguingly has sparked up a begruging relationship with Little Godzilla which could have played more into the main plot which, to be honest, plays a dull as ditchwater. With the substandard “blah blah blah scientists, yadda yadda yadda monster” story going through the motions, it all feels way too light to be properly effective and a late in the day twist involving the Japanese mafia suddenly getting involved is just as baffling as SpaceGodzilla choosing to kidnap Little Godzilla – why, does the rampaging space monster want to collect a fucking ransom or something?
Even the score is boring, forgoing Akira Ifukube’s established themes and falling back on an ill-fitting, soundtrack from Takayuki Hattori which sucks what little life the visuals have clean off it’s bones like the Oxygen Destroyer.

Sure, the final battle is appropriately huge with crystal missiles exploding in Godzilla’s face and buildings tumbling like a meeting of the national fainters association, but it all curiously feels like carnage for carnages sake. It’s such a shame because the previous film, Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla II, managed to put a tremendous amount of effort to show just how much the Big G’s usual crush/kill/destroy/repeat attitude was being tempered by his biological pararenting instincts booting up (kids: they make softies of us all, don’t they?), but Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla chooses to simplify all this and then forgets to add any weight to the emotion leaving it frustratingly simple and unfathomable dull.
Don’t watch this space, Godzilla.

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