Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Year: 2002
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Gojira X Mekagojira
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
After a series of failures, the military is convinced to try constructing a new robot protector of the country which requires them to compile a team of the brightest minds in their plans. With the project completed and ready to launch, they wait until Godzilla reappears only for the robot to malfunction before they can finish the fight and the loose robot starts attacking humanity before running out of power. Using that as a point to go in a different direction in terms of their defensive strategies, the team decides to try a series of radical repairs on Mechagoddzilla to get him back into fighting shape to stop Godzilla and save the country once and for all.
Review:
This was a fairly solid if somewhat problematic franchise entry. The main factor to be had with this one is the massively enjoyable storyline that manages to create an intriguing human drama that carries this one through. The initial setup of gathering the team of scientists and other mechanical workers that are needed for the project to construct the Mechagodzilla itself serves as a fine way to bring everyone together as we end up spending the time with the main scientist and his daughter who is a soon turned into a bizarre triangle with the pilot who’s looking for redemption based on her past interaction with Godzilla. This adds a great weight to their scenes together with the two bonding over their shared loss while also raising the daughter whose past trauma is also a big part of this with her fervent desire to protect the sanctity of life that continually pours weight on the various interactions with her desperate for them to leave Mechagodzilla alone and just let it be. It does this setup a lot better than other entries in the franchise that have attempted similar methods, especially with the secondary storyline involving how the government defense forces team comes together to build and eventually repair Mechagodzilla for use against Godzilla. The idea of using the skeleton of the 1954 original from the body of the ocean as a base for the robotic creature is a nice way of bringing everything together and adding a different type of setup than normal for the robotic creation.
The secondary factor with this one is a solid series of monster action that comes off incredibly well. The new Godzilla look is a fantastic design, bringing a more traditional look to the creature and a large neck that disappears into the body for a slightly obscure hood that makes for a vicious look to go along with his vicious personality. The costume looks great but is a pale imitation of the new Mechagodzilla which is an absolutely fantastic design and one of the finest incarnations of the creature in its history. The mechanized dragon-like look and enhanced armament offer a fantastic image that allows it to be comparable to Godzilla while still remaining very much a robot featuring enough firepower to put up a believable fight against Godzilla. These scenes are immensely fun, with the demonstration sequence showing off how the weaponry and rockets it has as well as the special cannon that’s put to to use disintegrating a building that provides enough context for the later encounters. The first battle is a great touch with the robot inflicting an injury on Godzilla that sends him into a cry of panic that sets Mechagozilla into an unforeseen malfunction and sends it on a truly awe-inspiring rampage through the city using its powerful beams and rockets to blast the city to pieces that no one has any defense for until it runs out of energy. That sets the stage for a really fantastic finale where the repaired machine turns back into a great battle with Godzilla which takes place throughout the city, leaving this one with a spectacular series of energetic brawls and crashing through the city that leaves a great trail of destruction in their path as the cityscape used for the whole affair looks great with the miniatures being quite effective. With a fine finale that sets up a great cliffhanger for a sequel and gives this a fun finish, there’s a lot to like here.
There are some minor issues that come together with this one. The main factor that brings this one down is the generally sluggish pacing that goes on here with the majority of this one offering very little outside of the monster action there’s not much else going on. The majority of the first half tends to focus on the relationship between the scientist and his daughter as they get into the facility to build the robot, getting some humorous moments with the daughter trying to make do with the change of scenery as they move into the facility with the rest of the staff, exploring her frustrations with building the robot off the bones of a living animal ho deserves the right to rest comfortably, and the internal squabbles with the staff at the command center who don’t trust the pilot because of her sketchy past that left others dead. These storylines are fantastic art creating a thrilling setup with the realistic characters all given some fun setup for how to get everyone together for the setup later on but it also highlights the lack of monster action here until the second half when it finally starts to get to the monster action. Other sideplots including the military advisors looking for redemption against the project or keeping their political careers in check which are unnecessary and just bog the pacing down. With some silly CGI in places that look quite obvious with how they’re portrayed, these are what end up bringing this one down.
Overview: ***.5/5
A really solid entry in the franchise that has a lot to like even though there are some issues, this one comes off nicely enough with quite a lot to like while being let down by just a few factors by those who prefer this part of the series or are not too bothered by it’s setback will have a lot to like while those turned off by these factors should heed caution here.
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