Friday, March 16, 2012

Kaiju Reviews #21 - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II [Written by skull902]


Hello one and all, skull902 again for another Godzilla review.

Today we've got "Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla II", released in Japan in 1993 and in America in 1998. This one surprisingly was not released in a double-pack like the other Heisei films that TriStar and Sony tried desparately to distract us from- err, I mean tie-in with the 1998 American movie. Oh don't worry Matthew Broderick, I'm coming soon.

So we start off with Japan's Self-Defense Force recovering Mecha King Ghidorah's body and using the metal parts to create a new anti-Godzilla vehicle, no doubt screwing with the timeline. Think about it, if MKG isn't still in the ocean, it can't be hailed as a hero. Nobody will know what the hell happened in the past and Godzilla will just keep roaming around without any clue how to stop hi- ...eh, it's a Japanese science fiction film. There's bound to be some plot holes. They use the parts and futuristic technology to create Mechagodzilla in hopes that Godzilla will finally be stopped. During some other footage, this one guy is moved from the research lab to the pilots or something and reports to training. His commanding officer doesn't like that one of his hobbies is dinosaurs (pteranodons in particular) and scolds him for it. Que "hilarious" montage.

When some researcher people go to this deserted nuclear wasteland island, they find an egg. They conclude that it's a pteranodon egg and decide to take it back for research. As soon as they do that, Roda- err, Radon appears. He fucks their tents up and then Godzilla just decides to be in the scene. As he and Roda- err, Radon start fighting, the humans get the hell out of there.

With the egg on the mainland the research begins. The humans find that the egg's color changes with it's mood. It mostly turns red, which means the little baby is usually afraid. What a scaredy cat. Actually I don't know why red means afraid, it usually means angry. Anyway soon enough the egg hatches and HOLY SHIT it's Godzilla's kid. Everyone is shocked. But the species thankfully isn't as aggresive and the little tyke is a plant-eater as opposed to a meat-eater. Oh and the scientist girl who was the focus of these scenes gets closer with the pteranodon guy or something.

Godzilla comes along looking for his son but Mechagodzilla is flown to his location. They have a showdown and it seems as if the military has finally won the struggle but all is for not - Godzilla reversed the beams or whatever that Mechagodzilla was shooting at him and now Mechagodzilla has over-charged it's batteries and can't function. Godzilla continues to fuck shit up for a little bit and then returns home.

Some research is done on Baby Godzilla AND...they discover it has two brains and figures Godzilla also has two brains. The second brain apparently controls all the functions and shit so I guess the "head brain" is there for nothing. They conclude that if the second brain is taken out Godzilla will be parylized and can be easily killed. They then force Miki to find out where exactly Godzilla's second brain is and they set out to action...using Junior as bait. Nice.

Roda- err, Radon (who has by now transformed) falls for the bait too when the plan is executed and tries to save Junior, all while Junior and the science lady are in this little box. Rad- you know what? I'm just calling him Rodan. Rodan tries to rip up the little box and get Junior out but then Mechagodzilla fights him and presumably kills him. Godzilla enters the scene and Mechagodzilla gets an upgrade in preparation by combining with this previously obsolete ship piloted by pteranodon guy, becoming SUPER Mechagodzilla. Godzilla is then knocked down and his second brain taken out, and once again, victory seems inevitable. Rodan then gives his energy and spirit to Godzilla or something and Godzilla's second brain comes back. Using a new special attack that he acquired because of the energy given to him, Godzilla destroys Mechagodzilla.

Pteranodon guy reunites with science lady and Junior and science lady gets Miki to tell Godzilla to pay some god damn attention to his boy and take him home. She does, and Godzilla complies. So they go back to the ocean after an "emotional" goodbye by science lady (who had been forming a bond with Junior all this time) and all seems well...until next year when Space Godzilla- oh yeah. Already did that one.

Next time, Godzilla is going into nuclear meltdown and he and Junior team up to take on possibly their most evil enemy of all time. How will they fare against him? Will Japan's military be able to save the world? Find out in the last Heisei movie (but not my last review :D).

This honestly wasn't my favorite Heisei movie. I mean, it's better than other Godzilla films (especially late Showa "classics" such as "Son of Godzilla" and "VS Hedorah") but I think it may have tried too hard to be awesome like the two previous films. I still like it but I think it's the weakest of the second series (out of all the ones I've seen anyway).

Score: 3.0/5.0