THE SAGA OF THE KING OF THE MONSTERS ~ PART 21: GODZILLA VS SPACEGODZILLA

The title just sounds ridiculous. And let's face it, a lot of these Godzilla movies are ridiculous, especially from 1969 to about 1975. This 1994 installment, even with its ridiculous title, is AWESOME!! Part 21, GODZILLA VS SPACEGODZILLA. This film was released to commemorate Godzilla's 40th anniversary. At one point Toho had planned on the 40th anniversary film being the final film. Clearly that did not happen (thank goodness).

Spacegodzilla, the result of a Godzilla cell floating in deep outer space merging and mutating with an unknown crystalline alien life form and becoming one of the greatest threats the earth has ever faced.
Throughout the entire franchise simply the mere presence of Godzilla was dangerous. The very ground he walks upon is poisonous. The air he exhales is like radioactive fallout. The scales on his body contain dangerous mutagenic properties. His bones possess the vengeful spirit of the past Godzillas. Even the little parasites living on his body have slaughtered human beings. Every single fiber of his being is deadly to the earth and mankind. Not to mention spawning two of the most deadly kaiju in the roster, Biollante and Spacegodzilla. Which part of Godzilla is the deadliest? I'll let you decide that.

I like this movie because it's 100 % new and unlike any other Godzilla movie before it. After a slight decline the Heisei series (the second series) rises back up a notch. There are plenty of ludicrous moments in this movie but those don't detract from the epic scale therein. Godzilla has never faced an opponent like this before and it will take more than him to defeat it!

The other part of this movie that I love is the reinvention of a classic kaiju who never before appeared in a Godzilla movie. MOGUERA, a transforming kaiju size mecha. Moguera originally appeared in the 1957 scifi classic THE MYSTERIANS, a film directed by the late great Ishiro Honda. Aside from the NES game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, Moguera and the king of the monsters had never been together before. Moguera happens to be the first mechanized kaiju of them all!

Another tie to the Godzilla video game series is Spacegodzilla himself. His design is reminiscent of a design from the Super Nintendo  video game SUPER GODZILLA. In the game if you get enough power ups you can transform Godzilla into Super Godzilla! Spacegodzilla over is a wicked cool design boasting an array of powers from which to combat the king of the monsters.

16 bit Super Godzilla transformation!

I mentioned early that this film was in celebration of the 40th anniversary. Originally the film was supposed to feature Mechagodzilla instead of Moguera. Can you imagine having three different Godzillas in one film? That would have been incredibly epic! As it is I am a bit torn. I love seeing Moguera revitalized but seeing three Godzillas together is unheard of. Either way would have been fantastic.

Super Godzilla as depicted by Godzilla artist sensation Matt Frank!

One character featured throughout the Heisei series finally gets a decent role in this film too. The human character Miki Saegusa portrayed by actress Megumi Odaka has play tertiary roles in almost all the films to far, not having contributed much since Biollante. Here she is further developed as character and her ESP abilities are enhanced. She's a great character that links the movies together on the human character level. She made a brief appearance in one of the IDW Godzilla Legends comics too which all have been great.

In short, which if you've made it this far you know it has been anything but short, Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla brings the series back up and into new territory. Screwy title, well worth the time.

Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10
Category: Transcendence