Talkback Thread #14: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

[TitanoGoji16]

Maybe the other one (King Seesaw?) died way back when in the ancient days when King Caesar was more active.

[LamangoKaijura]

It'd make sense. Still it would have been cool.

[Shobijin]

Watched the Japanese version for the first time.

Mechagodzilla holds up very well- simply an awesome creation, almost unstoppable. What an opponent. Felt sorry for Anguirus once again! The Fake Godzilla reveal is always amazing to me no matter how many times I see it. King Caesar- he looks like a lovable dog, and boy, what a prophesy- he was featured in the entire legend part of the story line and that statue was such a plot mover. But when he actually fought, he was a letdown and did not figure in the ending. Godzilla himself needed more screen time in this one. Not sure how he turned into an electromagnet. But the fight was fantastic.

I loved the girl in the hat, but the old man looked too fake, the men were interchangeable, and the Planet of the Apes aliens were boring!

It took me days to get through this viewing- the human and alien scenes just felt way too long, random, and there were just too many actors.

Unfortunately with so many positive reviews in this thread, once again I feel like an outcast or naysayer. But I truly love Godzilla, but some of his movies are really bad due to the human/alien portions.

[Spuro]

I admit, I never understand how it takes some people days to finish a 90 minute film. I mean if it's something as long as The Lord of the Rings I can understand, but 90 minute movies tend to fly by.

[Stevo_1985]

I admit, I never understand how it takes some people days to finish a 90 minute film. I mean if it's something as long as The Lord of the Rings I can understand, but 90 minute movies tend to fly by.

I didn't know it took people that long to get through a film. If I'm workin on one my rc's I'll have g films playing in the background. Before I know it KC is going back into his cave and I'm putting on the next one.

[Ivo-goji]

^This has as much to do with the fact that I don't have a DVD player and can only watch movies on my laptop as anything else, but I seriously can't watch kaiju movies and do other stuff at the same time. I always must have my attention completely focused on the movie, or it drives me crazy. Even for something mindlessly fun like GvsMechagodzilla.

[ZeppandonConfirmed]

My personal favorite Godzilla movie! MechaGodzilla was an awesome creation and I wish he was portrayed more as an Alien and not a weapon for the military. Don't get me wrong, I love both MG 93 and Kiryu, but I prefer the originals because of how badass they were. The Godzilla from 1973- 1975 was one of my favorite Godzilla suits, and while King Caesar got his ass kicked by MG in the final battle, he had a cool design. Same with Anguirus, but I wish it was Baragon instead.
The characters were alright. Not the best or most memorable characters, but they were fine. The best characters were Professor Miyajima, Nanbara, the Interpol Agent, and the Black Hole Aliens Commander. Those characters were very well implemented and I wish the rest of the characters were like that.
As for the Soundtrack, it's one of my personal favorites. This was Masaru Sato's last Godzilla film and he really nailed the muisic with this one! The music is so jazzy and I love jazz oddly enough. Many catchy and memorable tunes were made from this and I'm glad Sato finished off strongly!
I love this film and I could talk about it for hours. But Nah, I got things to do. Lol.

[Goji]

If it's taking you "days" to get through a movie of this length, then you've got a pretty severe A.D.D problem.

[ZeppandonConfirmed]

Wait what!?
Why does it take days to finish 90 minute film!? That's pretty absurd.

[eabaker]

It took me over a month to get through Tokyo SOS the last time I inflicted it upon myself. But, then, that was specifically an experiment to see if watching the movie in smaller chunks spaced out over time would help to make it remotely entertaining.

[Demon Lord Gira]

Guys, I'm pretty sure he's hyperboling when he's saying it took days to watch the movie.

[Lain Of The Wired]

Has it ever been stated anywhere just what exactly caused the explosion during the beginning of this movie right after Anguirus shows up?

Was it the title card blowing the mountain up?

[Ivo-goji]

^I assumed it was the space men doing a test run of Mechagodzilla somewhere remote where they hoped not to be spotted, with Anguirus as their target practice. After knocking him around for a while they presumably had MG tunnel his way to Japan (how else would he break out of that mountain when he shows up for the first time?) only for Anguirus to unexpectedly recover his strength and burrow after MG. Hence why Angurius shows up to fight Mechagodzilla to begin with.

That's my inference, but it's not very clear what was going on.

[Terasawa]

It's probably not Mechagodzilla since the roars are Godzilla's.

[Lain Of The Wired]

It's probably not Mechagodzilla since the roars are Godzilla's.

I bet its Godzilla waking up. Maybe he has a nuclear pulse too

[edgaguirus]

Has it ever been stated anywhere just what exactly caused the explosion during the beginning of this movie right after Anguirus shows up?

Was it the title card blowing the mountain up?

Anguirus fired an invisible ray from his foot.

New power: Foot laser.......jk

[Billzilla1974]

This movie is tied with monster zero for my personal favorite Godzilla movie. Mechagodzilla is a terrifically effective villain compared to Gigan and Megalon. It was nice that Anguirus got another role as Godzilla's ally , even if it was another loss. King Ceasar was another interesting departure from the norm of insectoid/saurian kaiju, with the strength to knock down the slightly heavier Mecha G.
I feel like Showa Godzilla looked the most badass in this movie, his fight and subsequent beam-clash with Mechagodzilla at oil refinery really cement the threat of Mechagodzilla. When Big G came up that hill, it looked quite intimidating.

[edgaguirus]

It's one of my favorites as well. We get an evil Godzilla with the skin covered robot, but MG truely shines in metal form. It's an impressive and powerful creation. The action oriented story is also appealing, with the spy angle a nice touch. Overall, it's a fun film with a great climactic battle.

[AbudJasemAlBaldawi]

Watching the English dub with friends after smoking a bunch of pot is one of the funnest things I've done. The way the alien guy jumps in and bluntly states "I want the statue" killed me. This and Hedorah are the best Godzilla movies for stoning imo.

[Zarm]

I was excitedly looking forward to reaching Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla in this marathon. I hadn’t seen it in many years, and I know its reputation as a return to a serious tone after the kiddiness that plagued the seventies. Having seen the film again at last, I must say that Mechagodzilla is awesome, and one of my favorite kaiju… but the movie itself isn’t really that great. It follows in the mold of Ghidrah, The Three-headed Monster and is inoffensive enough, but the plotting and characterizations just aren't very strong. It eschews the kiddiness of the last several entries- but fails to provide significant enough material to take its place. It's grown up, but it's also a bit sloppy.

Take, for instance, King Caesar. The majority of this Godzilla-light movie is dedicated toward the aliens trying to prevent King Caesar from waking up, as if he’s the most significant monster threat on Earth. No real worries about Mothra, or Jet Jaguar, or Anguirus, or Rodan; no, King Caesar, who we- and the people of Earth- have never heard of before, somehow has an extraterrestrial reputation big and bad enough that the aliens consider it necessary to preemptively destroy him as their nearly-sole focus on the planet. And that’s partly because his ability to awaken other monsters could spell doom for Mechagodzilla.

When he wakes up, do you want to guess how many monsters he awakens? Exactly zero.

Or, there's the box containing his statue, which the heroes apparently constructed an exact duplicate of midway through the film- secret form even the other main characters- with no explanation and no reasoning, just so that we can have a fake-out that it’s been lost.

Or the infamous arrival of Godzilla, in which he’s apparently crouch within an oil refinery that’s too small for him, waiting to explode up out of it for no adequate reason- and no explanation as to how he can get himself in there. The best I can figure is, he tunneled in from underneath, like Bugs Bunny having failed to take that left turn at Albuquerque.

Or then, there's the climax, which features both Interpol-ex-machina and pipe-ex-machina to get the heroes out of impossible situations. Heck, there's even the death-by-sauna in which no one even tries to remove any of their clothes or get away from the metal wall; a small detail maybe, but it feels emblematic of the sloppy writing throughout. Even if this film aims for a higher level than the preceding kiddie-plots by adding in more-mature plotting and violent content, it hasn't transcended kiddie logic.

The main characters are a decent bunch; stoic, stalwart Keisuke and his slightly-more-goofball brother Masahiko, Professor Miyajima (good to see Dr. Serizawa back once more; Akihiko Hirata really gets around!) and his daughter Ikuko, the coy, quirky archeologist Saeko… the characters have more personality than before, although there are arguably enough of them that none of the characters get a chance to properly develop beyond mono-traits, similar to Godzilla vs. Gigan. In a lot of ways, though, it’s the most diverse set of characters we’ve had for some time; they just have so little screen-time spread between them that they come off as thinner and more interchangeable than they actually are.

When you add in an interpol agent (and, out of nowhere, his partner), the list gets even more crowded… particularly when the interpol agent gets the majority of the focus in the final act.

The villains are a bit stock, though they show an impressive level of inventiveness, having created this entire enterprise on Earth, underground, undetected. Their transformations are suitably icky (if not always convincing), even if their natural form is a bit goofy. Toho needs to stay away from gorilla suits; it never works out well.

The kaiju roster is almost as crowded, though the time is distrusted more equally by giving each a sparing part. Anguirus gets his swan song here, his trust betrayed by the monster he thought was his friend; it’s a sad, brutal little ending for the scrappy fellow- although at least we know from the timeline that he’ll still be around, putting the hurt on King Ghidorah, in the showa-era future. Still, seeing the poor little guy get so brutalized, and then summarily shuffled aside, is quite sad.

Godzilla himself is barely in this; though at least, unlike vs. Megalon, it fits with the story; he has an early, excellent confrontation with his metallic doppelganger, takes some serious injury, retreats, gets powered up, and comes in swinging. Though he is absent for nearly as much of the film, the story structure makes it feel like a fitting injury-and-comeback, rather than an oversight. He doesn’t look half-bad, either.

King Caesar, as aforementioned, is a bit of a lame duck, and his jazzy 70s summoning song doesn’t hold a candle to Mothra’s. His design is a little too humanoid for me, personally; like Monster X from Final Wars, he looks more like he belongs in a super-sentai, imported oversees and battling the Power Rangers, than the generally less-humanoid stylings of the Godzilla still universe.

Still, just like Monster X, there’s something I like about the guy. His standing ears are either silly or good fun, his gem-eye-beam-redirectors are nonsensical-but-great; King Caesar hasn’t made many reappearances for good reason, but he’s a fun kaiju. He doesn’t have a lot of personality and his appearance was brief enough that his limited back of tricks could sustain the appearance- but in the small dose we get him, he’s a worthy partner for Godzilla. In terms of tag-team buddies, I’d still put Jet Jaguar, Anguirus, and possibly even Rodan above him- but I will admit to greatly enjoying the final battle.

A lot of that may be down to Mechagodzilla, though. My personal favorite of the three, this awesome fighter has spinning hands and missile fingers, is made of the unlikely-and-specific ‘space titanium,’ and can generate a forcefield by spinning his head really fast. Booster jet feet, a rainbow laser beam, and even a false Godzilla disguise for the clever-misdirection opening scenes; this is a kid’s dream action figure, and a nicely-powerful nemesis for Godzilla. Despite the remote control element rendering him a limited personality, he has a great look, an expressive body language, and a great bag of tricks. The effects work for his berth in the base, with human figures walking beneath, is an excellent miniature-footage blending, and iconic enough that all future incarnations of Mechagodzilla retain the same.

Indeed, whatever shortcomings this film may have, the effects work is not among them. not only is this colorful film a sumptuous visual treat on the order of the first Mothra film, the model work is excellent, with a variety of beams and rays (prefiguring the Heisei era to come), titanic explosions that really tear the refinery to bits, emphasizing Mechagodzilla’s power and creating a great battlefield of flames for his first confrontation with Godzilla, and various locales from cities to the countryside (with crumbling cliff) to a storm-wracked island to a subterranean base, are all convincingly staged. If there’s any weak point, it would be the aforementioned human-to-ape-alien transitions (sometimes accompanied by the needless and gruesome spraying of black blood)- but even they had an icky, grotesque effectiveness with the liquid-effect covering the stage-transitions of makeup.

The music is a jazzy collage very much of its time- but despite the diss on the Caesar song earlier, it’s actually a good tune, and a lot of the music from this movie is memorable. it might be reused; I can hardly tell anymore… but whatever it is, it works.

The production values are top-notch all-around; it is clear that the production team were trying to return the Godzilla series to a quality affair after the last few films were slumming it on the cheap, and they definitely succeed. If only the writing didn’t let them down…

Overall, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is a film striving to be what Godzilla films used to be, yet stuck in the state of what they’d become. With one foot firmly in the quality of the past, but another stuck in the lackluster writing of the present, it doesn’t quite achieve the showa era’s prior heights; but it’s as close a return to them as we ever got. Along with vs. Hedorah, this is one of the rare gems of the 70s; and unlike that film, this one id the kind of fun that we used to get in the earliest films. It also has a great villain. And if it had been better written, it would have been one for the ages. As it is, it’s still the brightest and best of a cheap and dour lot, and the one this reviewer, at least, would be most likely to return to from this decade.