Terror of Mechagodzilla
I swear, I didn't set out to do two kaiju films right off the bat. I was writing the review of Varan and this came across the recommends on Amazon. I will get into things a little later on but this is probably one of my favorite of the Showa era of Godzilla films.
Release Date: March 15, 1975
Director: Ishiro Honda
Company: Toho
Plot: This film picks up in the aftermath of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. While searching for the remains of Mechagodzilla, a submarine encounters a new monster. This leads to an investigation that introduces as to a mad scientist named Dr. Mafune. The aliens return and propose an alliance that would see Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla team up.
There are a lot of parts and pieces to the plots of this movie. Katsura is one of the more tragic figures in a Godzilla movie. She is a cyborg that was created after suffering severe injures during one of her father's experiments. She ends up being one of the most memorable characters in any Godzilla movie.
The finally battle sees Godzilla get battered pretty handily by Mechagodzilla and Titanosauros. The only thing saving him this time is that the humans manage to use a supersonic weapon to distract Titanosaurus while Godzilla and Mechagodzilla square off one on one. This battle is quite the goodbye to the Showa era of Godzilla.
The Monster: I will give Godzilla and Mechagodzilla their due when I finally cover their first appearances. So this post is going to be about Titanosaurus who makes his debut in this film.
Titanosaurus appears to be an excellent underwater combatant and not a bad one on land. He can also use his tail to create massive winds.
Titanosaurus is kind of a forgotten kaiju of the Godzilla films. As far as I know, he's never made another appearance in a Godzilla film other than some stock footage in Final War. It makes me a little sad that Titanosaurus really doesn't get a lot of love. His powers are a little on the generic side but I still like him. He has a cool look and his call is memorable.
I think his first appearance being the last Showa era film has a lot to do with that. They seemed to abandon most of the monsters from this era until they brought most of them back for the big Final Battle fights.
Overall Thoughts: I would say if I were to make a list of my favorite Godzilla movies this one would rank fairly high on it. I think there is an argument to be made that this is the best film of the 70s and probably the best film since Destroy All Monsters.
The storyline feels similar to the story of the original Gojira. I am not going to argue that this film is full of great characters or great performances because it isn't. The human scenes are still something that you tolerate to get to the monster mayhem. But the film does draw you into the human part of the story more than other movies. Katsura is a really solid and tragic character. She's more than just a time waster to pad out the plot between fights. She has a character arc which is kind of rare for a Godzilla film.
The fights are pretty good in this film. It is a 1970s Godzilla so there is some goofy stuff in there but less of it. The final battle feels like it has some real stakes to it and Godzilla feels to be in real danger at points in the fight. I remember the first time I saw this film I was a bit older and was kind of questioning the result of the battle. The suits all look pretty good for this film. I really like the look of Titanosaurus and Godzilla and Mechagodzilla looked good. Sometimes in these later era Showa films, the suits could be a little rough looking for these films.
It's really a shame that the marketing for this film internationally was so messed up. It feels like Honda had really found a tone for these movies going forward. It would have been interesting to see what they came up after this if they hadn't gone on hiatus.
Verdict: This movie flirts heavily with being an excellent films but falls victim ultimately to it's budget and genre. This movie feels like a slightly inferior take on Gojira which isn't really a bad thing. While watching this film it felt like this really stood out from the other Godzilla films of the 60s and 70s in a good way. It tried to be different and I think it largely succeeded. As I said before, if I made a list of my top Godzilla movies this would probably be in the top half of it. I am rating this movie at ***. It has good action and I would say the human scenes are above average for a kaiju film. This is an excellent example of it's genre.
Where to View:
Amazon Prime Streaming
Buy the Blu-Ray (paid link)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Company: Toho
Plot: This film picks up in the aftermath of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. While searching for the remains of Mechagodzilla, a submarine encounters a new monster. This leads to an investigation that introduces as to a mad scientist named Dr. Mafune. The aliens return and propose an alliance that would see Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla team up.
There are a lot of parts and pieces to the plots of this movie. Katsura is one of the more tragic figures in a Godzilla movie. She is a cyborg that was created after suffering severe injures during one of her father's experiments. She ends up being one of the most memorable characters in any Godzilla movie.
The finally battle sees Godzilla get battered pretty handily by Mechagodzilla and Titanosauros. The only thing saving him this time is that the humans manage to use a supersonic weapon to distract Titanosaurus while Godzilla and Mechagodzilla square off one on one. This battle is quite the goodbye to the Showa era of Godzilla.
The Monster: I will give Godzilla and Mechagodzilla their due when I finally cover their first appearances. So this post is going to be about Titanosaurus who makes his debut in this film.
Titanosaurus is kind of a forgotten kaiju of the Godzilla films. As far as I know, he's never made another appearance in a Godzilla film other than some stock footage in Final War. It makes me a little sad that Titanosaurus really doesn't get a lot of love. His powers are a little on the generic side but I still like him. He has a cool look and his call is memorable.
I think his first appearance being the last Showa era film has a lot to do with that. They seemed to abandon most of the monsters from this era until they brought most of them back for the big Final Battle fights.
Overall Thoughts: I would say if I were to make a list of my favorite Godzilla movies this one would rank fairly high on it. I think there is an argument to be made that this is the best film of the 70s and probably the best film since Destroy All Monsters.
The storyline feels similar to the story of the original Gojira. I am not going to argue that this film is full of great characters or great performances because it isn't. The human scenes are still something that you tolerate to get to the monster mayhem. But the film does draw you into the human part of the story more than other movies. Katsura is a really solid and tragic character. She's more than just a time waster to pad out the plot between fights. She has a character arc which is kind of rare for a Godzilla film.
The fights are pretty good in this film. It is a 1970s Godzilla so there is some goofy stuff in there but less of it. The final battle feels like it has some real stakes to it and Godzilla feels to be in real danger at points in the fight. I remember the first time I saw this film I was a bit older and was kind of questioning the result of the battle. The suits all look pretty good for this film. I really like the look of Titanosaurus and Godzilla and Mechagodzilla looked good. Sometimes in these later era Showa films, the suits could be a little rough looking for these films.
It's really a shame that the marketing for this film internationally was so messed up. It feels like Honda had really found a tone for these movies going forward. It would have been interesting to see what they came up after this if they hadn't gone on hiatus.
Verdict: This movie flirts heavily with being an excellent films but falls victim ultimately to it's budget and genre. This movie feels like a slightly inferior take on Gojira which isn't really a bad thing. While watching this film it felt like this really stood out from the other Godzilla films of the 60s and 70s in a good way. It tried to be different and I think it largely succeeded. As I said before, if I made a list of my top Godzilla movies this would probably be in the top half of it. I am rating this movie at ***. It has good action and I would say the human scenes are above average for a kaiju film. This is an excellent example of it's genre.
Where to View:
Amazon Prime Streaming
Buy the Blu-Ray (paid link)
Comments
Post a Comment