Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S.

Decent continuation I'd say.




Bit different from what I expected though, the story picks up a year later on where we focus not on our lady pilot Akane but with one of the technicians for Mechagodzilla, Chujo who actually shares some lineage with a previous kaiju main character, Shin'ichi from the original Mothra film which was pretty mindblowing to see. And yes we do meet slightly less clothed fairies and a giant colorful moth, a bit unexpected but it's never a bad time with Mothra! Though it really does make me want to seek out both the original 1961 Mothra and the Rebirth Of Mothra trilogy, because almost everytime Mothra appears in a Godzilla film it pretty much goes as follows: Fairies show up and request peace or Mothra will throw a shit fit, Mothra shows up, Mothra gets her ass beat and dies, egg hatches, two larvae continue on fighting, Godzilla gets webbed, FIN. Not much different here I will freely admit. Maybe we can get a solo Mothra movie in the Monsterverse and get something new in the future. I do very much like the concept though of the spirit of the original Godzilla not wanting to fight and be used as a puppet for Japan's safety, that the dead should remain at rest, and that humans cross lines that they need to learn from, you can tell that's some deep rooted belief in Japan. Not one for conflict, immense respect for the departed, recognizing the failures of man and trying to improve the world through it. Regardless of era, iteration, or story, Godzilla movies have positive messages in some form or another. And I think that helps the overall film, the human plot works and isn't a bad one plus I like seeing just a tiny bit of character growth for Akane who's mellowed out a bit, it's slightly better than the first one and it does indeed feel that the story has concluded. If anything I feel the effects get to show off more now that we have 3 kaiju in the mix, from practical to digital, it has that same stamp of quality and I for one actually love that some of the effects aren't as flawless as some CG in american films, it gives it charm and when looked at with the right set of eyes even the silly becomes awesome. Definite improvement I would say, I give 3.5 stars, 7.5/10! Is it the end already? Is it really just one more film? I feel this is more a momentous achievement because of how many years it took, it's not like all the Marvel movies one right after the other in the span of a month. I'm kinda speechless I'm going to be able to say tomorrow that I have seen every Godzilla film ever. And if you want to get real technical, it's taken me about 24 years. All good things to those who wait.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

Strange title but no more stranger than Vs. Mechagodzilla 2 that had nothing to do with the first one.




Another fine addition to the franchise from Mr. Tezuka, this is certainly one of the more interesting entries in the Millenium series. Once more all films except the 1954 original have been ignored, with the japanese military undertaking the creation of a bio-mechanoid codenamed Kiryu built around the bones of the original Godzilla to use as a deterrant for the modern Godzilla, why in the hell they couldn't have built a giant robot without a skeletal wireframe is beyond me, but somehow through biology or SCIENCE(!!) memory fragments of the original Godzilla override the protocols and failsafes of Mechagodzilla leading to two kaiju on a rampage as everyone scrambles to reassert control. It's an interesting concept for sure, still have no idea how bones retain memories but hey screw it, it's a giant monster movie not Interstellar. I feel the human plot has basic elements from Megaguirus, again with a female soldier named Akane who holds a grudge against Godzilla because of the deaths of her comrades and is kind of on a suicide quest to take him down with her but beyond that it's new stuff. We get acquainted with the specialist team who created Mechagodzilla in particular a single dad named Tokumitsu and his young daughter Sara, as both have grievances with the creation of such a machine and Tokumitsu shamelessly crushes on Akane. Cutie pie though she is, I say he's doing a good job being a single parent. I advocate for more single dads in fiction, it's a new lense to view stories through and it's just something you don't see much of. I know people may say this feels like a very average kind of Godzilla movie, nothing too much special happens and it ends fairly wrapped up but it has a direct sequel Tokyo S.O.S. so who knows what could happen next. The effects are still rock solid with admittedly less experimentation but the models and the new design for both Godzilla and Kiryu are really cool, and they still have a bag of tricks with all the weaponry utilized. I didn't entirely hate the human story but it didn't grab me as strongly as Megaguirus, but like I said the story continues and that could readily change for me so it'll be interesting. We never get a great deal of reoccuring characters until the Heisei series and that paid off in aces so I'm looking forward to it. It's a good Godzilla movie with a basic format and a little lemon twist of ideas, so let's find out tomorrow how it truly ends. 3 stars, 7/10!

Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus

Love means never having to apologize for wrecking Tokyo's shit.

It's time I think. I've been reviewing Godzilla movies since maybe 2016 and these are the final 4 I need to review. I was actually kind of impressed and very pleased with Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus, the movie strangely doesn't follow after Godzilla 2000 despite the same design being used, where the military have designed a literal black hole firing satellite (UN approved no doubt I'm sure) to finally rid the world of Godzilla but births a new monster from a mutated dragonfly. What's neat is that the dragonfly goes through several phases before becoming a kaiju sized one, with a gnarly design and pretty wicked abilities, able to make supersonic sounds to shatter entire city blocks, takes some Orga inspiration by absorbing Godzilla's energy, and is even able to fire it's own photon blast. It may take awhile for the monster goodness to start, but I feel this actually has a very good human story, with Major Tsujimori having a bit of a vendetta against Japan's cultural ambassador and recruits a bit of a self employed inventor named Kudo to help out with the satellite. Albeit I could only get my hands on the dubbed version but the physical performances shine, with Tsujimori being a hard edged but still sympathetic woman who is good at her job for a reason whereas Kudo could not be more of a laidback normal ass dude, he's kind of wisecracking and doesn't take much seriously yet I was enjoying every moment he was on screen. It's really not often Godzilla movies have such a everyman character, in fact the movie does a lot I have never seen before in any Godzilla movie. You can tell this was a very competently directed movie, they knew how to film their kaiju scenes, they even experiment with a lot of visual techniques never seen before and while they don't always work flawlessly I can't hate seeing a bit of innovation and can forgive this special effects team implementing it in the modern day, it never gets dull and once the monster scenes get going they go until almost the end credits. I genuinely didn't expect it to be bad, but considering this is an entry I hear precisely zero people talk about I expected it to be a decent Godzilla film but what I got was a damn good Godzilla film in my estimation. The concept of the story, the effects, the human element, I really can't find much to hate. The only slight I would say about the movie is it kinda jumps between characters and for awhile you're not really sure who the real main character and focus is, but it rectifies that fairly quick. I really hope this movie gets a bit more attention both from the public and the Godzilla fanbase, and let this be a sign of good things to come for this week, fingers crossed. I give it a full 4 stars, 8/10, and part one of a duology comes up tomorrow.