Director: Jun Fukuda
Year: 1974
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Gojira tai Mekagojira; Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster; Godzilla vs. The Bionic Monster
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
Exploring a cave in Okinawa, an archaeologist finds a statue of King Ceasar, a protector of the land, and a prophecy that foretells terrible destruction at the hands of giant monsters. When several attempts are made on the statue, he turns to his friend for help. True to the prophecy, soon Godzilla appears but starts destroying the countryside. When a second Godzilla appears, the first one is revealed to have been a cyborg in disguise and a fight breaks out, leaving both badly injured. They learn the cyborg is Mechagodzilla, the weapon for a group of invaders intent on taking over Earth. Using the statue of King Ceasar to awaken him, and with Godzilla's help, they battle the alien robot for the planet.
Review:
This is a really underrated film in the series. One of the finer features of this one is the intriguing storyline that manages to offer up some strong spy-movie themes onto a traditional monster-film setup. The whole idea of the backstory involving the creature being an integral figure of the community as a guardian of the royal family over the years and the prophecy foretelling its return makes for a strong setup. The detailing on the history itself is quite fun and even ties in quite well with the series of events that are utilized in the appearance of the black mountain, the series of monsters appearing according to the prophecy, and the riddle about how to wake King Ceasar to defend the country all gets enough time to be built up rather nicely as the need to investigate the sayings and what they’re about to give this a different tone and atmosphere than most other entries in the series. The back-and-forth nature of the first half to acquire the statue needed for its awakening allows for some decent action scenes, especially the cruise-liner scenes, and the escalating sidestory of the different revelations that start pointing to the alien invasion threat with the discovery of the strange metal or the animalistic intruders shown getting involved in everything.
That gives the monsters plenty of room to breathe and take over the film quite nicely. Much of the credit goes to Mechagodzilla, one of the most inspired creations ever. Using the obvious “evil-twin” opponent and endowed with an amazing arsenal of weaponry that is well-integrated into its imposing design, this is more than a worthy opponent for Godzilla taking most of the responsibility for how underrated this is as he steals most of the movie’s scenes. Spending most of the beginning of the film rampaging around as Godzilla, he gets a couple great scenes including one of the greatest pyrotechnic displays possible when it sets fire to a petrochemical complex. It also gets in a pretty gruesome and gory battle with Anguirus in the countryside that contains several really enjoyable battle tactics from both sides and enough storyline connotations as the monster moves mechanically during the battle, starting and stopping repeatedly like a robot, there are all sorts of different mechanical sound effects that Godzilla never emits, and the roar is different. Godzilla himself doesn't look too bad and is much better than last time as there are some redesigns in the suit that come making him less playful and more serious.
When it comes to the rest of the action, this one is quite fun as the monsters get plenty of more fun. The real big highlight of the film is the Okinawa battle, which is quite simply spectacular. The centerpiece of the battle is seeing Mechagodzilla being unleashed, and it's a spectacle that is rarely matched in the series. With its awesome assortment unloaded on both Godzilla and King Ceasar, the screen fills with beam weapons, missile attacks, and explosions left, right, and center. It's an impressive and unforgettable scene and really sets the tone of the battle quickly. The widescreen used for the battle helps to generate some great visuals, such as when Mechagodzilla is confronting both Godzilla on one side and King Ceasar on the other, and there is a nice balance between grappling and beam-throwing. The visuals are effectively handled as there are some exciting concepts between the three monsters that let each creature get something to shine with Godzilla’s magnetic ability, Mechagodzilla going crazy with its energy beams, and King Ceasar showing off a great ability to reflect energy beams back at their target and a ramming head-butt give it a really improved menace. With an effective score, this is one of the most underrated entries in the series.
There aren’t a whole lot of problems with this one as while none are that big they do add up. The main problem is the clichéd aliens-taking-over-the-world scenario again which is getting incredibly tiring trying to include it once again. It had been attempted in the last two films and continues again here with the only new change being the aliens hunting down the humans for control of the Ceasar statue necessary for his resurrection which is a sign that a new direction might be needed. This highlights a bizarre feature in the final battle with the treatment against King Ceasar as just about everything before his appearance is concerned with how the prophecy is getting fulfilled to bring it back so it should be a big deal yet once he's awakened is dispatched in such quick fashion it makes the whole thing confusing. We’ve already gotten how dangerous Mechagodzilla is so the quick battle makes it look ineffective and weak, especially with the scrappy design and costume that make him appear flimsy overall. The last issue here is the finale where it’s human error involving the alien controllers panicking and diverting their focus away from the successful aerial battle to try to outrun Godzilla’s magnetic pull to lead to his downfall for no reason. Overall, though, this is an underrated entry with a few problems.
Overview: ***.5/5
With only a few problems and a lot to like about it, this is an underrated entry that offers a lot of entertainment with only a few distractions to bring it down. None of the problems are really that threatening and this can really be enjoyed by all, so it's a big recommendation, especially to those who like the later entries in the series.
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