GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA 2
That's a pretty odd title, because since this series is a reboot and not a continuation of the Showa series there's no reason for it to have a 2 in the title, or for MechaGodzilla to be referred to as the second MechaGodzilla. On top of it, this film is actually MechaGodzilla's third movie, since his last film was "Terror Of MechaGodzilla". But aside from the confusing title, how's the film itself; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
Japan has salvaged the remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah after the events in "Godzilla VS King Ghidorah" and used its parts to create an aerial gunship called the Garuda, and a giant robotic monster that resembles Godzilla called MechaGodzilla. Meanwhile on a tropical Island that's radioactive (I'm sure you can already guess where this is leading up too) a team of scientists discover a strange giant egg that gives off a telepathic signal that attracts Rodan and Godzilla. As the two monsters fight over the egg, the scientists grab the egg and take it back to Japan (of course). It turns out that the creature inside the egg is Godzilla's Baby whose egg was accidentally left inside Rodan's nest. With Godzilla still on the loose, the scientists know that he will come for his son, so the military now known as the G-Force plan to use his son as bate so MechaGodzilla can take out the beast once and for all.
In the previous film as Godzilla served little to no purpose where he could be easily edited out of the film. Here he has a purpose and does play out as a leading character, instead of a supporting character. Rather than being a cold hearted beast who just seeks out to fight another monster, the film goes back to his sympathetic roots that's been hinted in the previous films this Era before "Godzilla VS Mothra: The Battle For Earth". But instead of giving him one scene that hints at his emotions, the majority of his on-screen appearance is centered on him trying to find his baby, where you can tell that he deeply loves and understands that his baby is afraid of him. But while he's being played out for sympathy, his mean and badass qualities that were seen in the previous films still remain here. The scenes when he destroys the city and fights the tanks as short as these scenes are, are still awesome. How he outsmarts his opponents and takes them out makes him a worthy foe who can't be beat. And his overall design is very threatening. Sure the costume is a bit bulky and his neck looks a little off, but aside from that he does look better than he did in the last film. Plus they were also nice enough to give him back his iconic menacing roar, instead of using the same stupid high pitched roar from the last film.
Now as someone who didn't mind Minilla that much (depending on which Godzilla film you're referring too) I was wondering how this new version of Godzilla's son was going to do in the film. Because as much as I've found Minilla to be cute in "Son Of Godzilla", even I'll admit that he at times got under my skin for how annoying he can be. So is this new version of Godzilla's son anywhere near as annoying as his son in the "Showa Era"? Actually no, in fact I didn't find myself not enchanted by this creature even once. He has a better design than Minilla, where he looks more like a Reptile, as well as behaving and sounding like one. When with Minilla, I don't know what the hell he's supposed to be, or what the hell kind of sound he's making. Let's just say I would hardly ever find myself buying that he's supposed to be a reptile creature like his Father. With this version of his son on the other hand, I do. And the costume and puppetry for his face looks convincing. Ok not realistic, but still convincing. The main reason why I don't say realistic is because they do make him look cute by giving him big eyes, but considering that he's an offspring of a mutated monster, I'm totally cool with that. The personality they give him isn't annoying either; he appears to be more subtle with his innocence and actions than they did with Minilla who always seemed to be jumping in front of the camera seeking for attention since he’s supposed to be the cute one! But I think the reason why Baby Godzilla is so subtle is because they grounded his character to act more like a Dinosaur, than whatever the hell Minilla is trying to act like. Again I don't despise Minilla as much as other fans of the franchise do, but I still think that Baby Godzilla is way better and more tolerable compared to him.
Next we have Rodan, and as great is it is to have him in the movie, he really didn't feel all that needed. He just felt there just to have Godzilla fight another monster that's made of flesh. Sure he's after Baby Godzilla as well which makes it conflicting, but a part of me felt like that having him going after the baby as well, just didn't feel necessary or fitting for his character. His fight against Godzilla felt like it could've been made as a standalone film; just give them a different excuse to fight each other. But as unnecessary as Rodan's presence in the film is, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't find him a nice addition to the film. Granted when I first saw flying from a faraway distance, I thought he was going to destroy the movie, since he appeared to be a lifeless puppet on a string. But when I saw his expressive animatronic face up close, watched the many shots of him flying around causing chaos and fighting Godzilla in his first scene in the movie, I was more than satisfied to see him return to the franchise. Rodan has two forms in the movie which are his regular form, and his Fire Rodan form, that are both awesome looking designs, and I like how his first design appears to be weak, while his later one is strong and powerful. As for his abilities, Toho did give him his traditional powers like standing all the abuse it takes, and flying at great speed that exposes his shockwave abilities, but they also gave him an incredible new power where he can shoot out beams of ultra-heat out of his mouth. But that's for only when he becomes Fire Rodan. The scenes of Rodan causing destruction are as short as Godzilla scenes are, but they're still just as enjoyable. But if I had one serious nitpick with any of these scenes, I did feel like it was a missed opportunity that Fire Rodan didn't destroy Tokyo Disney as he was flying around looking for Baby Godzilla. Don't get me wrong I do love Disney, but that doesn't mean I don't mind seeing it get destroyed in a disaster film or a giant monster movie, like all the other landmarks I love because that’s what you’d expect in a film like this. But it’s still a nice little cameo.
In the previous Godzilla movie (or should I say Mothra movie that just features Godzilla), I praised how there was a minim of human characters since a few of the other films in the Era were flooded with too many of them. Well Toho decided to limit the amount of human characters in the film as well, by giving us three. You do have the G-Force characters and such, but they don't take up as much as screen time as our trio of leads does. They just simply remain as the supporting characters. The first out of our three stars in the cast of human characters is Masahiro Takashima as Kazuma who pilots the Garuda. The minute when I was introduced to this character, I found myself attached to him. He's a klutz with a child-like personality who's consider to be a misfit by his superiors, but he's very knowledgeable about Pteranodons, steps out of his boundaries to help, and even comes up with a few ideas to help the Military destroy Godzilla. Sure his development is simplistic, but you still root for him all the way through, while also getting a few laughs out of him. Next there's Ryoko Sano as the biology researcher Azusa. In terms of her relationships with the other human characters, she's really not that interesting, especially how the film forces a love connection between her and Kazuma, which doesn't at all feel organic or engaging. The character herself is also nothing special either. But her Motherly relationship with Baby Godzilla does make-up for how bland she is of a character, and how her interactions with the other human characters are hardly ever intriguing. These scenes are obviously trying to play out as the forcefully cute and whimsical factor of the movie to gain younger audiences attention, but I do think their chemistry together is adorable. I do buy that this women cares for this frightened little creature, and that Baby Godzilla sees her as his Mother. It to me never feels corny, or that the actress looks like she's interacting with someone in a costume. Every scene with them together is sweet and believable to the max.
The third and final leading character in the movie is the character that we've been seeing in all the other Godzilla films since her first appearance in "Godzilla VS Biollante" Miki (Megumi Odaka). Ever since her appearance in "Godzilla VS King Ghidorah" all she would ever do is just stand around and do nothing but observe and talk about what's going on around her, and use her special psychic powers very little. It just felt like Toho was shoehorning into the last two films just to give the series a sense of continuity. Well thankfully in this film, instead of making another pointless appearance, she actually does get to use her psychic powers more than she did in the last two films, as well as using them to help save the city, instead of just telling everybody that she senses Godzilla coming. Furthermore she also gets to help pilot MechaGodzilla in the climax, which raises the stakes for this final battle since you find yourself on the edge of your seat hoping that she will make it out of this fight ok. And if that doesn't sound awesome enough for you, we even get to see her visit the school full of physic kids where she used to teach, and interact with the children twice in the film, which is a nice little heartwarming reunion considering that she's been serving in the Military for all this time. As for Odaka's performance she's just as charming and dramatic as she was in her debut film. And the best part about the character and performance is instead of just seeing her take part in the action, she (just like Kazuma) has a bit of a story-arc where she goes from wanting to destroy Godzilla after causing so much pain to humanity for so many years, to starting to have a soft spot for him after seeing his son. And while I do feel like that her transformation does feel a bit downplayed in the film, you still buy that she sees a different side of Godzilla that she's never considered before. After being disappointed two times of seeing her doing little to nothing in the previous two installments to the franchise, it feels refreshing to see her have more of a purpose, and I seriously hope that she continues to do more in the last two films of this Era.
The last and final thing for me to talk about is of course MechaGodzilla itself. As much as the continuity for the series is just as a bad as it was in the last series, I do like that MechaGodzilla was created from the remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah, which in a way makes MechaGodzilla part King Ghidorah, that just simply adds to the awesome factor of this machine. MechaGodzilla itself is just as kickass as it was in the "Showa Era". It can shoot lasers out of its eyes and mouth; fire plasma grenades from its waste; fly around on its Jet Pack feet; absorb the energy from Godzilla and Fire Rodan's laser beams with its armored body; and has the ability to fire anchor cables inside Godzilla and shock him (I guess some continuity errors just never get fixed). The awesome part about MechaGodzilla is that it can attach itself to the Garuda warship to transform into "Super MechaGodzilla” as it is now provided with a Jetpack and shoulder cannons to double the speed and fire power. Since MechaGodzilla is portrayed as a hero in this Era, it would make sense to make it look less evil, and more heroic by making him it look shiny, giving it a friendlier looking face, and having triumphant music play in the background for when it flies, which didn't please fans (like James Rolfe) for toning down its image. I personally don't have any problem with it considering that it is supposed to be the hero, instead of the villain. The fight scenes with MechaGodzilla, Godzilla, and Fire Rodan are definitely the highlights of the film that are full of cool and intense action that's thoroughly entertaining, that are well choreographed, nicely shot and edited, and run at decent pace. The effects for these scenes are also some of the greatest effects that the series has ever had. The miniatures and the way they are shot when the monsters destroy them look as convincing as the monsters look. The optical effects for the lasers combined with the explosions that we see are spectacular. And the effects for the green ooze, blood, and foam that spew out of the monsters when they are injured look painful and brutal. There are a few occasional phony effects like half of the mattes, and a couple of shots where you can see the strings pulling MechaGodzilla (particularly when it first takes-off), but they are still overall top notch effects. I guess if I had any kind of nitpicks with the fights themselves, I will say that the use of optical effects for the lasers are used just as often as they were in the previous film which gets a little tedious after a while. I also found it pretty annoying that the film keeps making us think that the fight between each monster is over, only to suddenly give us more action (which is weird for me to say, considering how much I hated how there was so little fighting in the 2014 Godzilla film). But on the whole I can't find myself saying that these little nitpicks made these scenes less exciting, or ruined the enjoyment because they didn't. They just made the pacing for these scenes a little slow, which was why I considered the pacing to be decent.
Out of all Godzilla films that I reviewed during the "Heisei Era", this is by far my favorite. I'm not saying it’s a masterpiece, or as great as the first Godzilla film ever made, but it’s still overall a well-made Godzilla flick. Taking Godzilla back to his emotional roots is nice. Baby Godzilla is a major improvement over Godzilla's first son. Rodan as forced in the film as he is is still an awesome addition. MechaGodzilla may not look as intimidating as it used to be, but the majority of qualities that make it a mean fighting machine are still there. The trio of human characters is characters you find yourself caring about. And the action and effects are for the most part visually stunning. Perhaps if its emotional core was stronger, and that the action scenes didn't feel like they were dragging on a bit, this could've got my top score. But for what it is, it’s still an awesome Godzilla film!
RATING 4/5
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