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Run-of-the-mill, mediocre, and
sterile are the three words that best describe
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. It is a movie
that attempts to be creative and edgy, but somehow
fails, leaving one wanting with futility to really
try to enjoy the film. This is a film that many
fans dislike for a variety of reasons, but in
an odd and polarizing twist of fate, there are
many fans that like or even love this film. This
forces one to step back and look at the film as
a whole. One comes to realize that there are reasons
to hate it or love it, with each reason oddly
intertwined harmoniously in this movie. Fans who
hate it will point out the unoriginal design for
the enemy monster, the flat plot, and a wide number
of terrible special effects. Fans who love the
movie will point out the creativity in the ultimate
weapon, the brilliant fight with the Meganula,
and the ferocity of the final fight. Looking at
the plot, it's easy to see where people from each
side of the debate anchor loyalties.
The story begins with either the
most brilliant, or the most confusing scene in
a Godzilla film. The scene reworks the millennium
Godzilla into the role of the 1954 Godzilla, and
destroys the plot about the oxygen destroyer.
The special effects, pyrotechnics, and matting
are superb, and the scene is well done. What about
the confusion? Well, unlike Godzilla
2000: Millennium (1999), which leaves
continuity to the original movie to the imagination,
this movie completely cuts all tethers to Ishiro
Honda's classic. It really waters down the
effect of the original movie, and serves to confuse
the casual moviegoer more so than Godzilla
2000: Millennium (1999).
The story continues to tell the
tale of how Godzilla attacked Takai in 1966, feeding
off a nuclear reactor, and forcing Japan to find
other means of energy. Godzilla returns to Japan
in 1996, in search of plasma energy, a technology
still in its infant stages. The military comes
in to intercept the creature, but alas people
die... including the commanding officer of this
story's heroine. Now, the heroine, Kiriko Tsujimori,
has a personal vendetta against Godzilla.
In order to finally destroy Godzilla,
the terrible weapon known as the Dimension Tide
is commissioned to be built in 2001. The machine's
purpose would be to form a black hole and have
it plummet to earth (from a satellite) in order
to annihilate Godzilla. Unfortunately, a test
run creates a dimensional portal that releases
a giant dragonfly that lays a mysterious egg.
The egg, through a course of events involving
an insect-loving boy, finds itself in the sewers
of Tokyo. The egg splits apart, and the individual
cells begin to hatch! The horrifying larvae, known
as Meganulon, start to emerge and attack humans.
They transform into the winged Meganula and fly
out to sea. The Meganula meet Godzilla on the
tiny island of Kiganjima, where Godzilla had been
led for extermination. The insects attack and
absorb energy from Godzilla, but most are defeated.
The Dimension Tide fires, but Godzilla is only
buried slightly underground. It emerges and leaves
the island.
Meanwhile, the remaining insects
return to their queen, whom they instill with
enough energy to create a monster large enough
to face Godzilla. Megaguirus, the massive dragonfly,
begins to wreck havoc. In Tokyo, Godzilla and
Megaguirus meet, preempting the planned Dimension
Tide firing. Godzilla and Megaguirus exchange
blows, each one appearing at one point or another
to gain an advantage. The ferocious battle sees
Godzilla often sent to the ground. Godzilla, however,
scores many successful blows as well, and even
manages to rip one of Megaguirus' giant claws
from its socket. Finally, Godzilla tears Megaguirus'
stinger from its tail and it annihilates the creature
with its pale yellow breath. Godzilla lumbers
on, heading for secret plasma experiments that
aren't supposed to exist. This reckless secret
on the part of the government is the bane of the
recent attacks.
As Godzilla continues to make its
way through the city, the Dimension Tide is found
to be fraught with errors. In fact, it loses its
fuel and begins to descend toward the planet!
Kiriko flies into the sky and manages fix the
last problem by having the Dimension Tide lock
onto her craft, the Griffon. She flies the Griffon
into Godzilla (she ejects first) and the black
hole collides with Godzilla's beam and seems to
destroy him!
The government learns its lesson
about the reckless continuation of plasma experiments,
but the terror is not quite over. An epicenter
looms under Tokyo, and the worst is feared. Godzilla
may live to ravage Japan another day.
The plot sounds more interesting
in words than it manages to manifest itself on
screen, and it isn't at all helped by the acting
performances. Misato
Tanaka's character is so dramatic and so unbending
to humor or softness that it is very hard to get
close to her as a character. On the other hand,
Shosuke Tanihara's performance is so over-the-top
at times, you expect him to break into song and
dance when his character makes another successful
achievement.
Surprisingly enough, even though
Suzuki Hiroyuki's character is given a poor role
as the child performer whose curiosity and recklessness
causes chaos, he actually does very well with
what he's given. You can empathize with him in
those moments where he knows he has something
terrible that he just wants to rid himself of,
no matter what. Then, like many dark secrets,
it just keeps getting worse. The remaining actors
really don't deserve any big complaints or exemplary
marks. They did well with what they were given.
Yuriko Hoshi's acting does deserve some high marks,
but her "solemn scientist" role limits any real
exploration into the character as a whole.
Of course, the real stars of the
film were the monsters. Unfortunately, the monsters
were sometimes handled unskillfully. Godzilla's
body movements were quite stiff and lacked an
organic quality, and its facial expressions were
at a minimum. Despite these flaws, the scene where
Misato
Tanaka's character rode on Godzilla was executed
brilliantly. It really appeared as though she
was riding Godzilla. This was one of the major
high points of the film special effects-wise,
but with every tall peak, one can expect a low
ravine. Godzilla's true low point in the film
was the body slam in the final bout. It was quite
unequivocally one of the most bizarre and blatant
attempts to turn the battle in Godzilla's favor,
at the expense of any quality of realism.
As far as the enemy monsters are
concerned, the Meganulon props were wonderfully
designed, and the Meganula proved to be an intriguing
opponent against Godzilla. Megaguirus was the
most interesting of the three stages of the insect,
but unfortunately (and though some fans will disagree)
Megaguirus looks like an obvious attempt to revamp
Battra. As far as the execution of this monster
is concerned, Megaguirus was at her best when
her wings were buzzing at sonic speeds. This increased
the realism of the creature by adding what appeared
to be an acceptable amount of lift. When her wings
weren't flying at high speeds; however, her flight
was very unrealistic, and reminiscent of the flight
woes of Godzilla
vs. Mothra (1992). Her energy weapon
was a nice touch, even though she used it only
once.
The special effects in this film
were a mixed bag, to say the very least. It is
unfortunate to see so many frame rate errors in
the final battle, and these moments are probably
the most jarring moments in a Godzilla film, ever!
The backdrop scenes weren't done any better. The
shots of Griffon flying were done with little
more sophistication than the flight backdrops
of some of the latter Heisei movies. This film
did excel in Godzilla matte effects. They were
pretty flawless, for the most part, and they really
gave the illusion of a gigantic monster swimming
toward Tokyo. Another noteworthy special effect
triumph is the Meganula. Even though there were
many dozen in a scene at once, none of them were
deprived of an ample amount of realism.
Despite a few special effects triumphs,
this film was at a downfall when it came to a
much less sophisticated form of special effect:
atmosphere. All the scenes seemed to be very sterile,
using very neutral colors. The colors and scenery
gave little warmth, and in many cases they somewhat
repelled the audience from forming an emotional
attachment with the film.
The score of the film made up for
what the movie lacked in visual atmosphere. The
score is reminiscent of Akira
Ifukube's themes, while adding a modern touch.
Godzilla's theme is an earworm theme, most definitely,
but one that is highly doubtful to become obnoxious.
The music wasn't without its grimace-moments.
The final battle between Godzilla and Megaguirus
has one of the odder themes in the movie. There's
almost a Spanish quality to it, and one highly
expects a bullfight to break out. While it does
work with the battle, its unprecedented quality
simply jars the ears.
The better themes would translate
to a future Godzilla movie, and this topic brings
up one of the more intriguing aspects of this
movie. Godzilla
Against Mechagodzilla, two years down
the road, took many important aspects from this
movie and incorporated them into its own plot.
From the heroine with a vendetta, to a technologically-exotic
ultimate weapon, to the music, to the special
jet planes, to a similar suit, and even to the
scenery at the end of the movie, inspiration can
be seen to have been pulled from Godzilla vs.
Megaguirus and fed directly into Godzilla
Against Mechagodzilla (2002). Why would
so much be borrowed from a movie that did so poorly
at the box office? Well, the same director directed
both movies, so perhaps that question just about
answers itself. Perhaps it's merely a directing
style of Masaaki Tezuka. Ironically, the recycled
aspects of the Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
plot work out to be far more enjoyable in Godzilla
Against Mechagodzilla (2002) than in the
movie from which the inspiration was pulled.
It is true that this movie did
poorly at the box office, and for many good reasons.
However, it did introduce a popular monster, a
musical theme that would carry through to future
movies, and plot devices that would be recycled
successfully in the future. Overall, the movie
can boast that it has left an indelible mark.
Whether that mark is attractive or repulsive is,
of course, up to the audience.
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(2/5)