"GODZILLA VS. SPACEGODZILLA"
As Miki (Megumi Odaka) and a team of scientists try to control Godzilla with a mind control device on a tropical Island, Miki is visited by Fairy Mothra and the Cosmos to warn her that a monster called SpaceGodzilla is coming to destroy the Earth. SpaceGodzilla lands on the Island where Godzilla lives and the two fights against each other after he attacks Godzilla’s son. SpaceGodzilla leaves the Island to attack Tokyo, and a wounded Godzilla decides to follow him there to avenge the harm that he brought to him and his son. Meanwhile as Godzilla sets out to settle a score with the monster; the humans build a replacement giant robot for MechaGodzilla, called "M.O.G.U.E.R.A" to fight off both creatures. Many fans have considered this film to be the low point of the “Heisei Era” (without counting the America re-edit of "The Return Of Godzilla") and as someone who enjoyed "Godzilla VS Mothra: The Battle For Earth" despite how fans feel about it, I went into this film hoping that it would surprise me the same way that Godzilla's battle against Mothra (or Mothra’s battle against Battra that features Godzilla as a semi-surprise guest) did. When I finally saw the film, my reaction was pretty much "ehh".
Starting off with Godzilla himself, Toho felt like that it
was time to make Godzilla a hero again instead of being a sympathetic monstrous
creature. He's not allied with the humans, but he doesn't go after them either.
He pretty much just behaves neutral when he's around the human characters,
which I actually like. But aside from Godzilla being a hero again, there's
nothing that really stands-out about him in terms of character, compared to his
previous appearance. His motivation in this film is to just simply take-out
SpaceGodzilla after harming his son, which at first seemed promising since the
music and directing for the scene of Godzilla protecting his son seemed to be
very effective. But once he starts going after him, that's when his motivation
to destroy SpaceGodzilla started to lose its effect, when in the previous film,
the emotion of him looking for his son was always there. The two main reasons’
why it doesn't feel effective is the suit, and the music. The Godzilla suit in
this movie looks way more bulky and rubbery than it looked in the previous
film. As well as having an incredible lack of expression. Now I know that this
is the same suit that was used in his match against MechaGodzilla and Rodan,
but the directing for his movements and interaction with his enemy and the
humans feels very off. And it seems that the effects team didn't take much care
of the costume either (his tail snaps off when he's swimming underwater on one occasion),
which would explain why he looks fake and lacks emotion. The music for
Godzilla's on-screen appearance aside from the one scene that I just mentioned,
it overall doesn't make you feel his anger or his emotions for how bland it
sounds. It just sounds there, to be there.
When I talked about Godzilla's Son in the last movie, I was more than pleased to see Toho create a new version of his son that was subtle with its cuteness and looked and acted more like a reptilian creature, compared to the original version of Godzilla's Son. Unfortunately, in hopes to create a TV Spin-off show starring Godzilla's Son, Toho decided to make the character look and act just as annoyingly cutesy and cartoony as Minilla did in the "Showa Era", as well as giving him a stomach that's just as chubby and plump as the Pillsbury Doughboy's. Ok, I will seriously admit that I did find him to be cute in this film. But as cute as I personally found him to be, that doesn't mean that I'm overall fine with his change of design, because I'm not! I really did want to see this second Era of Godzilla films continue with their new approach of Godzilla's Son, rather than making him look and act more childish as he got older! It just feels very out of character, and does come off as a major step-backwards! On top of it, he doesn't do anything in the movie except look cute and get into danger! He only serves as a tool for Godzilla to go after SpaceGodzilla. But even that reason feels pointless, because having a space monster that resembles Godzilla and is trying to kill him is more than a good enough excuse for these two to fight against each other. There was no need for Godzilla's son in the movie at all, except for continuity of the previous film.
And speaking of continuity, the film doesn’t follow continuity from the previous films made in the "Heisei Era" that accurately either. How you may wonder, because the cells from Godzilla's previous clone Biollante escaped from the Earth's orbit when she rose into space after fighting Godzilla. Now if you didn’t read my review on “Godzilla VS. King Ghidorah” or have just simply forgot about what I said, I’ll tell you straight out that the events before that movie have been changed thanks to time travel, which clearly means that Godzilla's fight with Biollante should have never happened! But don't worry; the film gives us ANOTHER REASON for the origins of SpaceGodzilla by having Mothra unknowingly carrying Godzilla’s cells into space with her wings that also resulted to SpaceGodzilla’s creation. Why are there two totally different reasons for the origins of SpaceGodzilla instead of one? It's just as confusing as the many different origins for the tree monster in "From Hell It Came". What makes it even worse is, even if you did decide to ignore the origin with Biollante's cells since the humans came up with that theory, as the Cosmos already told Miki that he was created from Mothra's cells, the continuity between the films still makes no sense, because one of the human characters wants to kill Godzilla to avenge his Brother for being killed by Godzilla during the events of his fight with Biollante.
But ok, so the logic behind SpaceGodzilla's origins makes no sense at all. Is he at least a cool and intimidating foe for Godzilla to fight against? Well as much as I hear fans call him the saving grace of the movie, I really don't find him to be that great of a villain. Make no mistake that a space monster resembling Godzilla does sound like an awesome monster for Godzilla to fight. And he is shown to be a powerful and calculating villain, where I can definitely see why fans enjoy him so much. But as powerful and smart as he may be, I never got the impression that he was actually going to kill Godzilla once. I knew that Godzilla was going to destroy him one way or another mainly because I hardly got a sense that he's a match for him, unlike some of the previous monsters and machines that he's fought against. Sure he can shoot out more lasers than MechaGodzilla can, and can make crystals appear out of nowhere, but I just didn't feel like they were powerful enough to destroy Godzilla. The effects for his powers don't look all that convincing either. The optical effects for his laser beams half of the time don't look like their actually there (though to be fair, the same goes for Godzilla and "M.O.G.U.E.R.A" when they fire their lasers as well). And the crystals look plastic and even at times rubbery. On top of it, his design didn't do much for me either. Unlike how Mothra's evil counterpart Battra (particularly in its Larva form) was scary and intimidating and was covered with spikes to make him seem strong and powerful; Godzilla's Space counterpart looks like he was designed as a means for the film to sell toys based off of him, by toning down the dark and fright factor that Battra had. Furthermore, I just found the crystals on his shoulders to be silly instead of cool. And when I see him flying around in space with even more crystals around his body, I found myself laughing at how he's so consumed by them, as opposed to finding it to be tough and intimidating. By the way, remember how "Godzilla VS. Mothra: The Battle For Earth" kept preaching about its message of saving the Earth, well the film decides to bring up that message again when the film has reached its end by claiming that humanity will have another SpaceGodzilla if we don't save the Earth, which feels completely out of the blue, since that message has hardly been addressed until now. It feels just as out of left field as when "Godzilla VS. The Sea Monster" gave its last minute message!
Unlike the previous two films, where Toho limited the lead characters and subplots involving them, they decide to cram the series again with more of it. There's a subplot with the human's trying to control Godzilla, which was a cool idea, but they only attempt it once in a very long sequence to just simply lengthen the movie, which felt like a pointless detour that doesn't play a big role in the story. There's an out of nowhere scene where Miki gets captured by the Mafia, who are quickly defeated as soon as we learn little to nothing about their motivation. And we get a twist villain, that doesn't at all come off as shocking since we hardly knew him, or so much as got antiquated with him. Aside from the Military characters in the G-Force (including horribly acted American actors) and the twist villain that the film never really cares about, most of the characters are either downright forgettable, or their motives don't come off as emotionally intriguing as the film tries to make them out to be. Professor Chinatsu just felt there. The two goofball soldiers were entertaining, and did provide a good laugh here and there, but are still overall forgettable for how little character they have. And the character who wants to kill Godzilla for vengeance of his Brother's death, is a badass character that goes through many different lengths to kill Godzilla, but lacks emotional investment.
As for Miki, I'm kind of glad that she's mainly the focus of the
film. And I like that we get to see more of her talents such as using telepathy
to control Godzilla through the device that they planted on him; seeing through
other people's eyes; and using Telekinesis (that's only used once in the movie
for plot convenience). But with that said, she's a complete nark in this movie.
Most of her dialogue in the film is her just bitching and moaning about
humanity trying to kill or control Godzilla and that he should be left alone,
despite all the buildings and lives that he's destroyed with his reckless and
animalisic behavior. I guess in some respects, I can understand where she's
coming from since he's pretty much not bothering humanity in this movie. But
when people complain about the tragedies that Godzilla had brought to them,
she's so closed minded about the topic that she shows no respect for the people
who despise Godzilla, or understand why the people are against him, which is
odd since she used to hate Godzilla as well. You'd think that she can somewhat
relate to what other people have been through with this monster! She also makes
up this total B.S. and sexist excuse of how men only think about violence,
which is interesting since she helps try to kill Godzilla in the previous film
with another female solider in the G-Force. Why doesn't she simply try to
convince the humans to help aid Godzilla in his fight against SpaceGodzilla to
help maintain the peace on both sides while saving the world, its way better
than just seeing her yell and complain all the time about how messed up
humanity is. I bet that's what the Cosmos who visited her wanted. Speaking of
them, the scenes with the Cosmos and fairy Mothra, as little as their presence
in the film is, they're still enchanting characters that offer some pretty
imaginative visuals.
Then we get to the robot "M.O.G.U.E.R.A". This fighting robot was not an original creation made for the movie, but was actually a remake of a robot with the same name that was featured in a Sci-Fi film made by Toho during the "Showa Era" called "The Mysterians". I haven't seen the film, and I didn't think it was necessary to review it since it isn't cannon to the series. But comparing the designs between these two robots, the original looks more creative and badass, compared to this silly MechaGodzilla wannabe that looks like a toy. Also when comparing it to MechaGodzilla it seems less powerful since it gets beaten down and kicked around more times than the previous machine did, and the weapons that it fires out don't seem all that powerful or so much as hurt SpaceGodzilla. The only time when the machine became a threat to MechaGodzilla is when it turned itself into two separate vehicles, which is clearly what the G-Force should have just used in the first place.
The biggest issue that I have with the film is the fight scenes. In "The Return Of Godzilla" I explained how cool the scenes of Godzilla fighting and destroying stuff looked, but felt overall slow and boring which took away all the excitement. The fighting in this film is the exact equivalent of that only worse since the effects look terrible. At least in that film the effects and look was interesting, this is just a downgrade when coming off the heels of the effects and action from the previous movie. I tried to be invested with these fights, but I simply couldn't for how slow moving and poorly directed that these scenes are. This is also the third time where a Godzilla film is flooded with optical effects for the laser beams, and explosions, which have finally gotten to the point where I'm getting sick and tired of the overuse of these effects for how much they drag on. If I had to pick the worst fight scene in the movie, it’s hands down the scene when SpaceGodzilla and "M.O.G.U.E.R.A" fight in space. Not only is it a fight that comes and goes quickly as you are sitting there in complete boredom, but these are some of the worst effects to have ever came out of a Godzilla film. Both SpaceGodzilla and "M.O.G.U.E.R.A" look like lifeless toys tied on to a few strings. The asteroids that they constantly pass don't move, and look like they were made out of Styrofoam. And it’s painfully obvious that they're both fighting in front of a black backdrop since there are no stars or planets in sight! It's just as bad as the films that Ed Wood would direct; only it isn't funny or entertaining!
I guess in some respects I can see some people being entertained by this film ok. But in terms of Godzilla films (especially ones made in the “Heisei Era”) this is one of the worst. The effects are terrible. Making Godzilla's Son look and act like Minilla is disgraceful...even if he is a little cute. SpaceGodzilla is a weak and bland looking villain. "M.O.G.U.E.R.A" is a downgrade from MechaGodzilla. The logic in this film is asinine. The cramming of human characters and subplots with these 4 giant monsters makes the film's story feel convoluted. The fight scenes are tedious. The music is forgettable. Godzilla lacks the emotions that he had in the last film. And everything that I loved and admired about Miki is completely gone here. I'm not going to act like that this is one of the most horrendous Godzilla films I've ever seen. But it’s still a poorly made movie that I don't think I will be re-watching any time in the near future.
RATING 1/5
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