GODZILLA VS MEGAGUIRUS (AMERICAN DUB)

Well it turns out that from here on out I will be reviewing the rest of the Godzilla movies from the "Millennium Era" in their American dub, but hey at least I can change the language on my Blu-Ray's to Japanese to make it bearable, after all it's better than hearing bad dubbing. So with that out of the way, let's take a look at the second film to the "Millennium Era"...

The film is not a sequel to the previous Godzilla movie, but is a semi-sequel to the 1954 film, as in Godzilla was discovered and attacked Tokyo in 1954, but everything revolving around the characters or the Oxygen Destroyer is completely absent. In 1966 after Godzilla destroys the first Japanese Nuclear plant in Tokai, an army of soldiers sent to fight Godzilla was formed. Decades later, the army are able to create a satellite device that can fire miniature black holes and plan to use it on Godzilla that will take him away to god knows where. Unfortunately the device opens a wormhole that releases a prehistoric dragonfly that leaves an egg before leaving the present, that eventually hatches the giant bug monsters from "Rodan" the Meganulons, that later turn into Dragonflies that suck part of Godzilla's energy and transfer it into a giant cocoon for their Queen who becomes Megaguirus.

One of the first criticisms that I hear from Godzilla fans about the movie is how Godzilla's design is the same exact design from the previous movie, despite the film not being a sequel to the last movie. In many respects I can see where they are coming from, and I hate that one of the few alterations to his design is by making his green skin and spikes more bright and colorful, when in the original film it looked fine. But what about the sequels to the Godzilla films, particularity during the "Showa Era"? Godzilla's design kept on altering as the film's in that Era went on, despite that they are connected to the other films. Are we really just going to mostly overlook those important pieces of continuity that in my opinion are more distracting than this? I know that keeping his design mostly the same is confusing for people who aren't sure if this film is a sequel or its own film, but that never really bothered me as much. Don't get me wrong, I would rather see a different design to avoid confusion and make the film stand more on its own, but I'm just saying if people can overlook the changes to Godzilla's design through the sequels that are supposed to connect (except when the suit and design sucks), I don't see why others can't overlook a similar design in a stand-alone film. Besides that's not what bothers me about Godzilla in this film. What really bothers me is how uninteresting Godzilla still is, only he's even more boring than he was before. At least in the previous film he had some kind of motivation and vengeance (not to say that it was done well at all). But here I don't get anything from him. He's just a monster that just destroys stuff. I know he's supposed to be similar to the 1954 Godzilla, since that's what he's supposed to pretty much represent. But the 1954 Godzilla was also a monster confused in his new environment, when this one just pretty much just does stuff for the sake of being a monster. 

I have to admit that over time the Meganulons in "Rodan" who I thought weren't scary have grown on me a bit after giving the film another view. They don't look realistic or as scary when comparing them to giant American bug films made before the film, but their movements, how they can appear a few times out of nowhere, the chirping noises, the dark atmosphere supporting the scenes that they're in, and even their cheesy designs are quite unsettling and at times creepy. But with that said, that still doesn't change the fact that they served no purpose in "Rodan", or the fact that I wish that they were gigantic monsters, and the portrayal of them in this movie takes them to a whole new level. The practical effects used for them as well as their designs are indeed an upgrade. It's awesome seeing them turn into giant sized Dragonflies called Meganula's that can fly around the city and swarm around Godzilla and take away his energy. And above all, they actually serve a purpose by developing Godzilla's main foe, rather than having them just taking up half of the movie serving no purpose to the film's main monsters. But while being better updates to when they first appeared, there's still tons of things wrong with them. Half of it revolves around them on a Special Effects, but I'll go into more detail about that later.  But one of the main problems that I have with them is that they're not scary. Unlike how intense the build-up to them was in "Rodan”, here it's rushed, and aside from one scene when they attack a couple, there's no tension surrounding them, nor are their designs for when they become Meganulas' scary. We see very little of them as Meganulons, which in my opinion is a scarier design compared to their Meganula design, and yet we don't even get that much of a good look at the design and the practicals used for the Meganulons for how fast the editing is!

The film's main monster Megaguirus does have a few neat powers like being able to use her stinger to suck out Godzilla's energy, and being able to fly so fast that she can leave a trail of destruction behind. Not to mention that she carries a pretty sadistic personality. But despite having some cool powers, and showing some enjoyment over the abuse that she gives Godzilla, I didn't find her to be one of Godzilla's best foes. When I saw her design, to me she seems like a watered-down bug knock-off of Battra that doesn't look all that intimidating. And as if her design doesn't remind me of a previous Godzilla monster, she's practically given the same motivation that Orga from the previous movie had, which is to suck out Godzilla's energy for her own. On top of it, I just didn't find her to be that much of a match for Godzilla. With Orga I did for how gigantic and menacing he looked and for nearly being unstoppable. I knew Megaguirus was going to be toast as soon as she flied into the picture. The only challenge that this monster ever brings to the movie is trying to get through her roar, because I'll tell you it was not pleasant to listen too. It's like hearing the sound of nails scratching up against a chalkboard, it is so unbearable!

In the last film, the fights weren't exciting, but I was invested enough to see what was going to happen since Orga was so powerful. But in this film, since Megaguirus doesn't appear as a monster that Godzilla can barely stand a chance with, I was just sitting there waiting for Godzilla to give her the final blow. And it wasn't that much of an entertaining or cool fight either, it's pretty much as good as the fighting in the last film. I mean the film started out promising with its action in the opening scene of Godzilla attacking in 1996, that was campy and over the top, but fun and cool at the same time. But from then on out the fighting stopped being entertaining. When Godzilla and Megaguirus finally meet up to battle each other, the fighting started out awkward and dull, that is until Godzilla gets up after being tossed into a building. From that point on we get Megaguirus losing a claw; a building blowing up after Godzilla tosses her into it; Megaguirus bonking Godzilla on the head with Godzilla carrying a comical awkward stare as cartoony sound effects are used to add to the silliness of the scene; and of course the famous Godzilla BODY SLAM!! When I saw these few bits I was quite entertained until Godzilla gets hit by a fire ball where everything goes back to being dull and slow-moving. But if there is one thing the fight scenes do 100% better than the last film is by giving it a good score and better sound effects. Though keep in mind that I am reviewing the American Cut, so maybe the music and sound effects in the original Japanese cut is just as bad.

Remember when I talked how awful the CGI looked in "Godzilla 2000", well Toho uses that crap CGI again only this time the film appears to be more reliant on it. I mean it, we have CGI jets, submarines, and space-stations; computerized waves when the city is flooded; Godzilla and Megaguirus occasionally being turned into poor computer animation that looks far from real; but the most DISGRACEFUL use of CGI used in the film are when they use it for the Meganula's. I don't care how much they updated the bug monsters from the original ones, because they look so horrendous in CGI that I didn’t that they were actually there, especially when they were attacking Godzilla. I was so bored and uninterested with what I was watching for how incredibly fake they looked that I wanted to shut-off the movie to take a nap! They look awful! The only time the CGI ever looked passable is for when the army uses their device to create a black hole to suck Godzilla, which is also a great new concept for the army to fight against Godzilla, instead of using tanks, missiles, and jets. But aside from that, the CGI is garbage! As for the practicals there are plenty of bad ones like the army vehicles (mainly the ones that fly) looking like toys for how plastic and colorful they look; the underwater shot of the city looking like a fish tank; the practicals used for the Meganula's on Godzilla looking like those rubber bugs that you would stick to the walls and windows; and Megaguirus coming off as stiff for the way she flies in a few shots. Also the green-screen effects for half of the movie look just as unconvincing as the majority of Godzilla films. However, there are a few good effects. Some of the models look decent; there are some great shots of Godzilla that make him appear gigantic; and a good half of the green screen-effects aren't bad either. The most impressive effects that the film has to offer that had me amazed are how they inserted the modern Godzilla into the 1954 film in the first scene of the movie; and how they managed to create the illusion of a person riding on Godzilla's back in the middle of the ocean. These two are certainly some of the best effects that I've seen in the franchise!

The characters in the first installment of the "Millennium Era" were characters that I found to enjoyable and highly likable, and the characters in this film started out interesting but much like how I felt about the human characters in "Godzilla VS. The Sea Monster" (except for one character) and "The Return of Godzilla", they suddenly stop being interesting midway through the movie and become dull. Not to mention that we're flooded with so many other characters that they become forgettable and pointless. So I'll just point out the mains stars in the movie. Our main character and focus of the human characters Kiriko Tsujimori (Misato Tanaka) who's in the army against Godzilla, at first seemed promising due to her motivation to seek vengeance on Godzilla after killing her Commander and boyfriend (that's shown in the pre-opening credits sequence), and yet will swing from being sympathetic, to badass, and even sweet in a few other scenes. Not to mention that she's one of the very few human characters to make physical contact to Godzilla's body, and live to tell the tale (though I question how the radioactivity doesn't rub off on her at all). But as the film moves forward she somehow just loses all likability and sympathy where she just becomes bland, almost as if the film is slowly sucking out her personality. And as I was watching the character lose everything that I admired, I started to notice how similar she is to a character in "Godzilla VS. SpaceGodzilla" that wants vengeance against the beast after losing a love one, as well as the whole planting a transmitter on Godzilla subplot being copied and pasted right into this film. I even got a bit of a Captain Ahab vibe from her when I saw her on Godzilla's back cursing at the beast just like when Ahab was on Moby Dick's back, which isn't a bad scene, it just wasn't that emotionally investing which made the idea seem like a cheap reference to an incredible story.

Assisting Tsujimori in her quest to rid Godzilla is Hajime Kudo (Shosuke Tanihara) a comical and nerdy Computer technician that makes a few inventions. While I enjoy some of the things that he invents, the fact that he shows up in badges to help take-out Godzilla in the climax, and having one or two funny moments, I was overall not interested in his character or personality since he's no more than a generic archetype of a young scientist or nerd joining forces with the army like in many of the films in the "Heisei Era". If you think the characters get anymore cliché, how about the film throws at us another greedy corporate villain?! I don't have anything to say about the character, or performance for how one note he is, with nothing entertaining or interesting to offer. I can't even remember what exactly he does since he's in the film so little! If generic archetype characters with no charm isn't for you, don't worry because Yuriko Hoshi who's been in "Mothra VS. Godzilla" and "Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster" is in the film as a scientist, and as nice it is to see an actress from the "Showa Era" appear in the third and (by far) the last full Era of Godzilla movies, she isn't given much to do. They give her character a bit tragic past with Godzilla, but that's all forgotten as soon as it is mentioned and even shown.

The worst character in the movie is the kid who finds the egg left by the Dragonfly that came through the wormhole. Despite that the last kid in a Godzilla was a little too perfect for her age, she was still an upgrade from the kids in the franchise that have little to no purpose but to attract the younger crowd. This kid not only takes this trope a step backwards by acting innocent and cutesy, but he's the one responsible for most of the chaos that happens in the film when he finds the egg and throws it into the sewer. And yeah I know that he's a kid who doesn't know what to do, and I was willing to forgive it since he has no way of contacting Tsujimori after meeting her earlier. BUT later on after the egg hatches he does meet her with NO explanation of how he contacted her or vice versa. If this boy can contact her why not give her the egg. In fact, now that I think about it, why not show it to her Mother and have her call the army or someone to examine the egg, or destroy it! I know there wouldn't be plot, but I feel that the writers could've came up with a better way for all this chaos to happen rather than it being a careless mistake from a boy who we don't see for the most of the film until after the end credits! Oh and before I forget the film has one of the most awkward endings that I've ever seen. Just when we think the film was going to end with a nice shot with character overlooking the ruins that Godzilla has left behind, we for some reason see two of the characters talking to each other and the credits just roles! Yeah no big finale, or anything, it just ends. And incase if you do sit through the credits, the film throws at us a scene with the kid seeing one of the two monsters appear off-screen (guess which one) and the film ends on a cliffhanger that won't be resolved in the following film! This for me is one of the worst endings I've ever seen in a Godzilla, and could've been satisfying if the film just ended where you think it was going to end.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

The film has some great ideas, two of the best effects to ever be brought into a Godzilla movie, and one or two entertaining scenes, but on the whole it’s a chore to watch! This is one of the most boring Godzilla flicks that I’ve ever had to sit through for how uninteresting Godzilla is, the uninspiring main villain, the cardboard cut characters that are far from interesting, the terrible and unamusing effects (worst one is the CGI), and the unengaging fight scenes. It’s not as godawful as say “Godzilla’s Revenge” or anything, it just falls under “Godzilla VS. SpaceGodzilla” territory that seemed promising, but in the long run fails.