Talkback: Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

[eabaker]

They end up having to pause at such strange points in their sentences, in some cases it actually obfuscates the meaning of the lines.

AND WITH A PARABOLIC LENS

That is the line that leapt out at me the most, and actually confused my wife a little.

[Spuro]

Dr. Mafune's dubbed cries of "Titanosaurus!"are pretty damn memetic though, so the dub isn't all bad.

Shame there's no examples up online.

[Space Hunter M]

[Shobijin]

Saw the Japanese version for the first time, after so many American versions viewings. Katsura was great. I was so sad when she died. I could not help but tear up, and also at seeing the last appearance of Showa Godzilla in the ocean at the end. It was truly the end of the era.

The Good:
Titanosaurus' roar, looks, and battle scenes. He and Katsura were the real stars of this film, and the title should have reflected that.
Music was a fitting end to the Showa Era.
The plot was fine.

The Bad:
Godzilla's screen time was way to short, although he was good for the last 20 minutes
Mechagodzilla was too weak this time due to being controlled by the conflicted cyborg
The men
The aliens- each time aliens have been used since Astro Monster, they had gotten worse and worse
Acting

Ultimately I feel the scientist/daughter story was more cohesive and emotional than the convoluted alien/legendary creature plot in the previous film. I do not agree with the Godzilla on the Mind author, who really bashes this film and justifies the death of the era.

My rankings as I have watched them in order in the original Japanese:

Gojira
Godzilla vs. Mothra
Godzilla Vs. Hedorah
Son of Godzilla
Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster
Godzilla vs Gigan
Godzilla Raids Again
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
Invasion of the Astro Monster
Destroy All Monsters
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Attack All Monsters
Godzilla vs. Megalon

[Zarm]

And so, we come to the end of an era; a film that seems to languish in relative obscurity, oft-overlooked; an ending never meant to be an ending. And for all that, Terror of Mechagodzilla is… a frustrating paradox of both return to quality and decline back into the worst of the 70s’ sloppiness.

On the one hand, Terror of Mechagodzilla is a triumphant return to style- and the substance, with a tragic romance between man and cyborg, has the makings of a much deeper plot than we’ve had in a long time. On the other hand, what feels like a major jump up in quality at the start slowly peters out until it has almost declined beyond previous levels by the ending, which is drenched in overacted melodrama, silly anthropomorphic tag-team shenanigans on the order of Gigan and Megalon, and an extremely ill-advised ending closeup of fake Godzilla (the disguise suit from the start of the previous film)’s goofy face.

It’s like the return of classic director Ichiro Honda is struggling to elevate the material, but the very aura of 70s cheapness fights back and, over the course of the film, turns the tide- eventually proving that no amount of attention can transcend the limitations that are almost baked-into the era.

While he’s not the primary protagonist, it seems appropriate to comment first on Akihiko Hirata; he was there (as a brilliant reclusive scientist doomed to die in the cause of trying to destroy Godzilla) at the start of showa; it seems only appropriate that he’s here (as a brilliant reclusive scientist doomed to die in the cause of trying to destroy Godzilla) at the end. It’s also a little daring to recast him in a direct sequel to the previous film in which he played a different character- but under goofy Einstein hair and a bushy moustache, he’s almost unrecognizable, and really gets a chance to ham it up.

As a veteran actor, he deserves the chance to cut loose and have a little fun in the film’s final entry- but it’s to the film’s detriment. While the cartoon-supervillain/mad scientist ranting has its fun and camp value, if any actor involved could lend a necessary gravitas to the story, it would’ve been Hirata. Its lack already starts the film disadvantaged.

Tomoko Ai as Katsura clearly has the most dramatic part- and she delivers on a wide range of emotions and portrayals, from the coldly robotic to the childlike and innocent, to the conflicted, and the romantic… she holds the film together, and is the true center of audience investment… but tragically, by the time her terrible fate befalls her, the script has called for such a dissolution into melodrama and hysterics that her suicide doesn’t have the impact it ought to. (Presumably, Mechagodzilla was just using her brain as a processor, rather than her having any actual control?)

The choice to inject needless nudity into the film with her is reminiscent of the smut visible in the back of the cab in vs. Megalon; signs of different cultural mores, obviously- but a very unfortunate set of choices nonetheless for a series that, like modern television, is trying to become increasingly ‘mature’ with gratuitous sexuality and violence and gore, without understanding that excesses of things not suitable for children do not equal maturity, but in fact more juvenile and childish mindsets than any kids’ programming could ever achieve. It is unfortunate that the blood-sprays and tongue-cuttings and face-rippings and bloody hole-rendings and repeated-shootings (incidentally, a great scene with the fugitive and its subsequent recap, cleverly structure, but somewhat ruined by its absurdly hyper-violent conclusion)- and the female nudity, in picture or ‘live’ form, increasingly pervade the series, as films that are of dubious value but still contain some gems become far less watchable by choking off the audience of children that might yet appreciate them and discouraging those adults that might be willing to see past a flawed production from subjecting themselves to the full range of unpleasant or inappropriate content. (it is fortunate that the Heisei and Millneium eras by-far-and-large decided to shy away from this sort of content; it doesn’t fit a Godzilla film).

Back with our characters, the unfortunately-named-for-English-audiences Ichinose is out perfunctory protagonist, and is interesting primarily as he plays into the ill-fates romance; he’s a decent enough character, but relatively lifeless when not sharing the screen with Katsura. He’s better than Murakoshi, who is only slightly more than a bit-part (and a cardboard cut-out) in this film.

The two villains, Mugal and Tsuda, at least have striking- and contrasting- presences. Mugal is cool and superior and probably one of showa’s best villains, while the passionate and oily Tsuda makes for an excellent henchman. His messy end was more than a little disquieting, and the altered alien appearance is strange. However, during the first meeting between the villains, they do reference ‘getting their bodies back’ in the new world to come. Perhaps they have lost their ability to retain their true form, mutating into the half-simian, half-human creature that we see, either by design, or due to time spent on the Earth, and only with their full technology base will they be able to re-gene-sequence themselves back to the forms they knew? If so (rather than just an arbitrary makeup change), it’s a nicely-suggested and relatively subtle point of character-motivation and world-building, and one to be applauded.

Either way, apart from Katsura, the two were the best part of the film, and could easily go up against the Xilliens or the Simian commander from the last film as most charismatic showa antagonists.

Titanosaurus is the last new kaiju created for the era- and he has a nice design. (Even better on some of the posters, where he looks more like a Chinese dragon). His power-set is relatively limited, save for hurricane effects that put me in a nostalgic mood for Mothra. His personality is lacking, unfortunately, as he’s just used as a pawn whenever muscle is required, and we never really see him as himself. I wanted to love Titanosaurus as ‘the great forgotten kaiju’- but in all honesty, he’s just ‘okay’; fairly mediocre.

Mechagodzilla returns in this film, salvaged and rebuilt and as awesome as ever. He looks a little dirty, a little beat up, befitting his rebuilt status; sadly, apart from shots under construction, he’s as under-scene in this film as Godzilla himself has been throughout the 70s, only really showing up for the last twenty minutes. Still, he has some new tricks- incredibly-intimidating rotating missiles which cause a colossal explosion, and make smoke pour out of Godzilla’s mouth after penetrating his gut; yikes! This guy, unlike King Ghidorah, I can believe as a world-destroyer. He’s never been better; and that makes it all the more sad that his innings are too short. (I do love his neck-canon; the idea that the Simians said ‘Well, just in case Godzilla tries the same thing again, we’ll be ready for him!’)

It’s a little sad, however, that in Godzilla’s final showa appearance, he doesn’t even get to win any of his fights. Mechagodzilla even looked like he might be winning; I have little hesitation in declaring this upgraded version the most powerful kaiju of the showa era (edging out acidic Hedorah and informed-attribute King Ghidorah); and then, he is simply turned off. Titanosaurus, meanwhile, is simply disabled and either killed or flees because Godzilla was pounding him while he was disabled. In both cases, Godzilla didn’t really achieve a victory; the fights were canceled due to human intervention. And as a final matchup, that goes beyond disappointing; it feels pathetic. Was Godzilla growing so long in the tooth that his battles had to be handed to him?

Also, he answers the summons of teenagers, now? What is he, Gamera? (Incidentally, the camera angles, timing, and angle of stomp used, coupled with the lack of follow-up shots, make me think that they were indeed squashed before Godzilla intervened, even though I doubt that was the filmmakers’ intention.) At least he gets one of his best intro-shots, arriving to fight Titanosaurus, and a pretty great re-emergence after the aforementioned summoning.

The monster battles are well staged, with low-angles, a grey fog that adds verisimilitude to the proceedings, and plenty of great, brutal action… which unfortunately, by the end, degenerates into Titanosaurus’ silly jumping, down-angles, and tag-team gimmicks that takes this from one of the most serious, quality brawls since Ghidorah’s heyday into sappiness on the order of vs. Megalon. It’s both shocking and bizarre to see the kaiju scenes degenerate from something that looks like it is just on the cusp of Heisei filmmaking quality to something that hits the lows of the decade so accurately; like the human hysterics, a truly-unfathomable mid-film shift from a classy endeavor down into shlockiness, as if they switched directors for the last 10 minutes of the film. It is hard to overstate how absolutely jarring and obvious the decline is; feeling like something new and fresh, and then decaying into the same-old-same-old that this (and the last film) were a welcome escape from!

The film (and fight) forge a unqiue identity, standing out from previous tag-team films with stylish filmmaking, strong cinematography, and an emphasis on the true power of these kaiju… until it wasn’t. It’s just strange; the film is both melancholy (they had no idea this was going to be the end; if only they’d been able to continue) and wearying (perhaps it truly was time to end; if even Honda couldn’t salvage the Godzilla films from the rut they’d fallen into, it was better not to go on; the films wouldn’t get any better than this.)

The effects, on the other hand, betrayed the film’s issues from the start; a definite step down from the predecessor movie. The research sub at the beginning looked more like a toy on the surface of the water than any model since the tanks in vs. Kong (though underwater scenes were decent). Titanosaurus swam without moving a single muscle, just a status sliding through the water, while several shots of the villainous kaiju marching through the city were composed as such to suggest they were walking through a deep trench, as we were looking at them waist-up from ground-level (unless Tokyo is built on a cliffside?)

Even rear-screen projection of Mechagodzilla being viewed by humans was far poorer. The use of sparklers to suggest welding was a nice tough, but the lack of visible people doing that welding made for a very odd, unfinished feel to the effect. And the much-lauded shot of people at Mechagodzilla’s base, panning up to see model in dock, was a total failure this time around, with mismatched grain and the live-set pan wobbling terribly, failing utterly to match the camera move panning up the model. Even the visual centerpiece of the last film was bungled here; it should’ve been obvious this entry was headed for trouble. Sadly, it seems as if vs. Mechagodzilla was the peak of showa’s production values; this film seems to suffer from a lower budget- and while Honda still manages to coax some strong values out of the film through staging, filming angles, cinematography, and imagination, it was clear that without his creative stretching of the meager resources, this would’ve ended up looking like the cheapest film in the series.

The soundtrack is fairly decent, moody and haunting, wistful and tragic; it lacks the iconic qualities of prior ‘golden age’ films, but it’s a cut above the generic-jazz that we’ve been receiving of late.

Terror of Mechagodzilla is a film I wanted to like better; and indeed, its schizophrenic nature meant that the first half is a startling uptick in quality that puts it a cut above the rest. But by the end, gratuitous nudity, sloppy production values, and manic overacting combine to tarnish that pristine starting image; and indeed, are almost more disappointing than films like vs. Megalon because of the absolute promise this one showed at the start. It starts as a film I’d recommend highly, ends as a film I’d hardly recommend to anyone, and in the end, kind of flounders.

As a grand ending, Terror of Mechagodzilla is the unfortunate epitome of ‘out with a whimper’- but as a culmination of the showa era, it serves as a wonderful scale-model; starting strong, and even wowing with its innovation, intruiging with the human interest toward the middle, and degenerating into something fairly sloppy that ends abruptly in its final moments. The whole of Godzilla history up to that point, encapsulated in a single film, with all its glories and flaws. And like the era itself, perhaps most fondly remembered if stopped after a high point in the middle rather than ridden to its ultimate conclusion.

Added in 4 minutes 29 seconds:

- Dr. Mafune is a wonderful character and Hirata gives a great performance for him, IMO. ^_^ I like the concept of him having been a scientist who discovered Titanosaurus prior to the other monsters appearing, ridiculed and shunned for his claims, and now twenty-something years later is a bitter old man angry not just at what they did to him but because considering all the times Godzilla has appeared NOBODY came to him before Ichinose to apologize and say, "We're sorry, you were right all along." Imagine being Mafune watching that news broadcast of Godzilla's first big attack on Tokyo and saying to himself, "See? Believe me NOW that there are still dinosaurs living in the sea? I bet they'll be calling begging for my forgiveness in a week, tops." ...And the phone never rings.

I kind of wondered if there was a part of this story missing. I mean, this guy makes a claim to have found a dinosaur (which he had) and claims that he plans to control it. And based on the photos, they... wrestled him to the floor and threw him out of Tokyo? I mean, didn't he at least get a chance to say "Well, look, here's the dinosaur?" It seems a little strange that the classic media dub, at least, seems to imply they called him a madman and drove him out even though he actually HAD found a dinosaur and shoudl've been able to prove it.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

I still believe this is one of the best Godzilla films. Could be nostalgia talking

[LockBite]

I don't see how Katsura's breasts were "smut." It really didn't seem like the movie was trying to be sexy here. She's on an operating table with her chest open, it's just an establishing shot. Also, I don't recall much violence in this one.

That being said, I think this movie's real problem is that it's a tired retread of its predecessor.

[Zarm]

Considering that we already had a shot of her being operated on earlier in the movie without having her breasts exposed, I can't see it as anything but needless and gratuitous. That said, 'smut' referred to the pictures in the back of the truck cab in vs Megalon. I only called the choice to have gratuitous nudity here reminiscent of that, rather than using the term for this film itself.

In terms of violence, there's some pretty significant gunplay in the end, with bloody wounds (the professor's demise, for instance- or whomever it was that the alien leader used as a human shield), and of course the ragged hole that Katsura blasts in herself.

[LockBite]

I would think that, if they were trying to sell tickets, they would've used her real breasts in this. Also the violence on display here pales in comparison to its predecessor.

[InnocentClarke]

This is one of the times where I have to disagree with Zarm. While the film didn't have the budget of some of the earlier entries, it does a great job with the monsters themselves, with a climax that's absolutely chaotic and interesting. The darker tone of the film just rubs me the right way, despite some hamming it up from some actors, and despite the unnecessary shot of breasts that feels REALLY out of place in a Godzilla film. Nonetheless, I found the plot interesting enough to keep my attention, the cinematography to be pretty top-notch, the effects work generally impressive, the monsters enjoyable to watch, just... I dunno, it all worked for me, making this my favourite of the Showa films aside from the original.

I'm usually a film snob, but man, with this franchise, I can't help but throw all of that out the window. Maybe this film genuinely is really bad, but I don't see it, and even if it is, I have too much fun with it to care.

[Zarm]

Well, it's not like my opinions are infallible.

[InnocentClarke]

No, but I agree with most of your little reviews is all. Ah well, you're wrong this one time, so I'll let you off with a warning.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

I need to find the Japanese version.

[Goji]

I need to find the Japanese version.

It's been available on DVD for a decade. Looks like it's OOP though, so you'd have to settle for one of the used copies since the new ones are really expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/Terror-Mechagodz ... hagodzilla

[Zarm]

The Godzilla Collection is a good way to get it, as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Collect ... B000VXWK86

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

I need to find the Japanese version.

It's been available on DVD for a decade. Looks like it's OOP though, so you'd have to settle for one of the used copies since the new ones are really expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/Terror-Mechagodz ... hagodzilla

Thanks, I may consider it.

The Godzilla Collection is a good way to get it, as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Collect ... B000VXWK86

Thanks, although I dont really want to pay for all of them.

[Shoe Yeti]

This was a good film. The human story was interesting, especially the story around Katsura. The city destruction scenes were awesome and Titanosaurus was an interesting new monster.

It is too bad the Showa series ended after this film because the Mechagodzilla films were evidence that the series was improving after a string of lesser movies.

[GigaBowserG]

Well, for those who ever wanted a follow-up to this movie, your wish has been granted: viewtopic.php?f=28&p=1508930

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Well, for those who ever wanted a follow-up to this movie, your wish has been granted: viewtopic.php?f=28&p=1508930

I saw that in The Big Book of Japanese Monster Movies: The Lost Films ; its a pretty cool follow up.

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

I saw that in The Big Book of Japanese Monster Movies: The Lost Films ; its a pretty cool follow up.

Speaking of that book, is it any good?