Terror of Mechagodzilla

source: Terror of Mechagodzilla

When I got this I was pretty excited. The rematch everyone was waiting for between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla was here! Unfortunately, this movie does not live up to its hype whatsoever. The story is patheticly dull and the fight at the end is just nothing to look forward to. What makes this worse is that this is the final directorial effort from Ishiro Honda, by far the greatest of all the Godzilla directors. While this movie clocks in at a slender 78 minutes, the more you see of it the more you realize how pointless the whole affair was. Quite possibly the only Godzilla movie worse than this is the horrific King Kong Versus Godzilla, just not by much.

It has a mixed reputation among the fans, but Terror of Mechagodzilla is a romp of a sequel, one that's not without deep emotional heart. Plot is bonkers of course, aliens are plotting to rule the world and have recreated Mechagodzilla after Godzilla shredded it to pieces in the previous meeting of the two beasts (Godzilla V Mechagodzilla). There's Interpol agents running around not exactly in control of anything, a vengeful scientist with an agenda who aids the aliens, while his daughter has become a cyborg designed to control Titanosaurus, a gigantic amphibious dinosaur that teams up with Mechagodzilla to stomp on Tokyo. All is lost for mankind, until Godzilla climbs out of the ocean to hopefully protect his domain. The return of Ishirō Honda to the director's chair is a reassuring presence, and it helps the film retain a classy production level. The monster smack-downs are neatly choreographed, the model work is wonderfully 1970s, and Akira Ifukube's thunderous score gladdens the spirit as it simultaneously rocks your bones. Yukiko Takayama's screenplay contains intelligence, where the sci-fi boffin speak is spliced with deep observations on humanity and what it means to be part of such a race etc. Fan division usually comes down to who likes super-hero Godzilla or who likes Godzilla in destroy everything mode. This is the former, and it's cheer worthy, the atomic lizard in a bad mood would not surface again for 10 years, and by then the direction of Zilla's fortunes got increasingly silly. This marks "Terror" as something of a franchise closure to be cherished, and rightly so because it has all the good parts that made the first Toho wave so enjoyable. So turn up the volume, open your screens out and indulge. Wonderful. 8/10

This one starts out (in the American version anyway), basically combining the two battles between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla from the previous movie while editing out the stupid furry monster. The aliens have rebuilt MechaGodzilla and with the help of a scientist have gained the help of another monster called Titanasaurous (I know that is probably spelled wrong). Of course you know there is going to be a big battle with these two going against a solo Godzilla. There is also a subplot involving some guy in love with the scientist's daughter and a weapon designed to hurt the dinosaur with the hard to spell name. The battle is pretty good in this one, cause this time there is no stupid monster to help Godzilla and steal the glory like the dumb fuzzy monster in this one. Though I still liked that one better.

Terror of Mechagodzilla is one of the best of the classic era Godzilla films. Just as the Godzilla series went on a hiatus, they started to really get it right with human beings playing a part with the monsters, and in this one they managed to do it with a romance! This has all the classic elements, a mad professor, a cyborg, space invaders, secret police, but they are not presented in the normal way! A woman is a cyborg, a police investigator becomes involved in a personal relationship, the space invaders are actually trying to lay low, and the mad professor is an ambiguous guy. Tomoko Ai gives a great physical and also subtle performance as Katsura the cyborg, and in almost every scene she does not blink once. The scenes of destruction are great, and you get to see actual destruction of a city by Mechagodzilla. Great editing also.

The currently available English-dub print of this film is a frightfully hash-re-edit from UPA, released to TV syndication in 1978. I hope this is not the best surviving print of the film, but it very well may be. It is transferred in grainy pan-and-scan, and there are obvious bits and pieces missing from it - it is certainly possible to follow the story, but not always possible to follow the action. For instance, there's a moment towards the end when Godzilla is knocked over by a blast of Mechagodzilla's light ray; then suddenly, he's up and swinging, and Mecha-G is sparking from a short-circuit - what happened? We may never know. Quality of surviving prints aside, this is Ishiro Honda's final attempt to remind Godzilla-fans what the series was originally intended to be about. The opening soundtrack is amazing - it begins with a martial snare tattoo; then Akira Ifukube introduces the darkest, most menacing Godzilla music he ever composed - it's really a shame that his "Mechagodzilla theme" was never re-introduced to the later revival-Godzilla films of the 1990s. It is brooding and downright scary without any images - but it enhances some of the stark images of the film very well. These images include the most frightening moment of Tokyo-destruction ever seen in a Godzilla film, when Mecha-G and Titanosaurus march on the Japanese capitol with a sadistic joy rarely exhibited by rubber monsters from Toho. Although the scene is relatively brief, it leaves a huge impact - The cinematography captures the essence of US military documentary footage of experimental nuclear bomb tests - truly frightening. Also, there are some quirky back-screen shots of the monsters wading through the city that manage to capture how insignificant their human victims are to such gigantic creatures - the over-all effect proves to be every bit as scary as Honda must have wished. The opening martial tattoo on the snare tells us what this film is really about - it is a puppet-show metaphor for war, in all its hideously dehumanizing violence. Towards the end, a scientist holds in his arms the dying form of the woman with whom he fell in love, robotized and short-circuited like the Mecha-G. she was used to control, and reassures her(it): "...even if you're a cyborg, I still love you; none of this is your fault - you aren't to blame.' The epitaph of a good chunk of the 20th Century - thank god it's over. The only weird thing is, we survived. Or, perhaps we didn't; it is Godzilla who wades through this film unscathed. Perhaps only the monsters inherit the earth.

It was obvious that the filmmakers were running out of inspiration by the time this entry was planned,and as well as tired plots and tiny budgets the films were doing less well at the box office. Of course,films like Godzilla V Gigan and Godzilla V Mechagodzilla were still fun if juvenile,but it was clear that the series was winding down and Godzilla needed a break,so a great deal of effort was put into this one,even to the point of getting Inoshiro Honda,the original and greatest Godzilla director,to return. Terror Of Mechagodzilla is uneven,but it's by far the best of the 70s Godzilla films. The plot ONCE AGAIN rehashes the aliens-out-to-conquer-Earth-using-monsters plot,but at least here it is augmented by a few interesting elements,such as the tragic female cyborg who still retains human feelings,and it is handled a lot more seriously than before. Honda tones down the juvenile elements and even brings a touch of darkness to the film. The finale has most of the characters killed,and one person's sacrifice appropriately parallels Dr Serizawa's sacrifice in the original Godzilla {incidentally,the current version available in the US cuts so much of the violent and dark elements out that the ending makes little sense}. Despite the general downbeat feel here is still plenty of monster action,with the best destruction sequence since Monster Zero,while Mechagodzilla is somewhat improved since the last film and Titanosaurus is a memorable new monster {why has he never returned?}. There is the odd shoddy moment,mainly due to the low budget,and signs of carelessness at times-for instance the final shot of Godzilla uses a different and pretty awful looking suit to the rest of the film. However overall this was the best Godzilla film since Destroy All Monsters,and a fairly worthy end to the 'Showa'series.

Toho realized something after their abysmal GODZILLA VS. MEGALON and hence were smart enough to put a bit more effort into their subsequent two films. GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA suffered from a lot of the same 70's goofiness of the previous films and some serious pacing issues, but overall was certainly a step in the right direction. Wisely, Toho decided to go old-school with the sequel and brought back Inoshiro Honda to direct and Akira Ifukube to compose one of his best musical scores yet for the series. The result certainly brings this film a level of class lacking in most of the Godzilla films following VS. MOTHRA though unfortunately there's a lot of silliness yet to be had. Plotwise we get the same tired old formula of aliens plotting to conquer earth with a monster (or two this time - Titanosaurus makes for an interesting newcomer) aided by a mad scientist hot for revenge against "those fools". Fortunately, Godzilla is out to stop them but isn't in full-blown hero mode. Instead, Godzilla seems to be fighting them more out of the fact that he's just plain pi**ed off, and he's got an impressive new suit to show it. Effects-wise you have to understand that Teruyoshi Nakano was working at 1/3 to 1/2 the budget of what his mentor Tsuburaya had to work with, so in that respect his work is quite impressive. This film features a triumphant return of the city-stomp with a show-stopping sequence involving Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus laying waste to downtown Tokyo. Don't mind that they blow up the same row of buildings at least 4 times in a row - it's all great fun and showcases a lot of great pyrotechnics. There's a lot of bizarre moments in the climactic monster-on-monster violence and a lot of iffy continuity. For instance, Godzilla knocks Titanosaurus out of the way and then tackles Mechagodzilla to the ground but in the very next shot, Godzilla is lying down alone and Titanosaurus is suddenly there kicking him in the head. (?) Most likely a case of bad editing more than anything. Overall a worthy candidate for a way to spend a rainy afternoon. The 70's may have been a Godzilla nadir but this film is the highpoint of that lowpoint.

Things did not bode well at the start, with a seven-minute greatest hits sequence that never seemed to end, but by the time it was over I found myself grateful for so much action so early on. When the story proper started it was with some very impressive underwater model work (I couldn't see the seams at any rate). But what really marked this out as a superior entry is the plot. A reclusive discredited scientist is employed by aliens to use his thought-controlled pet Titanosaurus to destroy Tokyo along with the newly-rebuilt Mechagodzilla, their combined might certain to overcome that pesky Godzilla. Meanwhile an Interpol agent and a marine scientist investigate the disappearance of an exploratory submarine, the trail leading them to the scientist's beautiful but non-too-helpful daughter. It might sound like the usual gubbins on paper but there's genuine tension in many of the scenes, it's logical and exciting, and rather than feeling like drawn-out filler while we wait for the real action to begin it's successful on its own terms, even managing to pull off genuine pathos bordering on tragedy at the end. When it does begin it's hands down the best destruction I've seen so far in the series. They're right in the centre of Tokyo surrounded by skyscrapers ready to be demolished and incinerated. The camera pans across the cityscape as whole swathes of it are destroyed, and it truly is spectacular. What makes it even more powerful is that it's not a fight sequence for the most part - it's just two big boys laying waste to the city. Godzilla himself is given a wonderful entrance, and in those moments it's a thrill to see this (of all films) so overtly referencing The Third Man (of all films). They do escape to the country for the final showdown, but there's still the odd power station to be sat on and let's face it, we've already had our money's worth with the destruction of Tokyo. The fight is lengthy too, with Godzilla on the back foot for most of it, and while we're never unsure of the outcome it does get pretty hairy for the big guy. For the budget the special effects are often superb and always imaginative (like the alien technician walking inside Mechagodzilla's head or the shot that takes us from his massive, dormant frame as he's being worked on, through a window, and finishes with the aliens and doctor watching the progress from a lab). The music throughout is excellent, and the female lead is impossibly gorgeous. What's not to love?

Once again, Classic Media releases a G-film I would have never seen without them, the finale of the Showa series, "Terror of MechaGodzilla"!And this film really is one of the best Godzilla movies ever made, seriously. This is obviously due to the returning Honda, his final G-film. Also returning was Akira Ifukbe, thank God. Enough of Masuro Sato's often childish scores. Ifukbe's score was dark and menacing and we finally hear the "Godzilla March theme", which sounded bad-ass. It sounds even better than it did in the original "Gojira" in fact. There were also sad and touching themes, adding to the beauty of score. Honda just has an aura of seriousness that he puts into his work that makes them stand out against the rest of the showa films. I love the human characters and the aliens are better brought to life in this film. No more aluminum foil bases. Kastsuhiko Sasaki (Ichinose) and Tomoko Ai (Katsura) have a beautiful and tragic love story, and the fact she's a cyborg was fresh twist that I LOVED!! Her struggle to maintain loyalty to her father is a well done aspect of the film. However, a weak point is Akihiko Hirata's portrayal of Dr. Mafune (Katsura's dad). Although at times over dramatic and a little too 'mad scientist', the acting is good. Usually Hirata is top rate, but he kinda slacked here. Whatev. The screenplay by Yukiko Tkayama is excellent and I love this movie already. Next, as you should know by now our the monsters. Godzilla looks great, although technically the same suit, but it looks meaner. Therefore, better in my opinion. Not to mention he isn't a campy do-gooder, but more of an anti-hero. He also has some bad-ass moments , such as his first entrance: JUST BAD-ASS, with the appearing out of nowhere and all, just great. MechaGodzilla goes through minimal changes but looks, what else, bad-ass. Katsura being his controller internally was a great idea that added to the drama. Titanosaurus was great, a revelation compared to the onslaught of horribly bad monsters such as Megalon, Jet Jaguar, Gabera and the rest.I think it's messed up he died while being controlled but Godzilla is still the hero here, so he has to win. The end battle was spectacular and one of my favorites of all time. The Tokyo smashing scenes were done quite nicely. Teruyoshi Nakano handled the effects nicely and I'm glad we have comparison shots again, but the monsters are often a little over sized compared to hills and buildings. I also enjoyed all the areal and overhead shots. The U.S. version was all right, but as usual I prefer the Japansese version. Dubbing, was okay but the prelude was unnecessary. Nonetheless, I'm glad it was included on the fantastic DVD. Some might complain about the alien ship scene, not enough back ground and all. On the plus side the stock-footage is limited to an all time low. The story is a little rushed, but what do you expect for a film on such a rushed schedule? The Japansese version is only 83 minutes, but if Honda had had the time and budget I'm pretty sure the film would've been around at least 92 minutes. Still, compared to the films Jun Fukuda was releasing at the time fans shouldn't complain. A revelation after I don't know how many incredibly bad G-films!!!