THE SAGA OF THE KING OF THE MONSTERS ~ PART 20: GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA

As I said during the last Godzilla film, I'm not always a fan of retreading where we have been before. That's the one thing that keeps this next film from really wowing me. Same thing with the last Star Trek, it was Wrath of Khan all over again. Part 20, GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA... again.

After the terrible destruction wrought by Godzilla and his battle with Mothra and Battra the world has united to take steps in preventing such a tragedy from occurring again. Using the futuristic technology pilfered from the remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah, the United Nations creates the first ever fully functional kaiju sized mech unit MECHAGODZILLA! Meanwhile a team of scientists travel to an island not far from Japan to excavate rare dinosaur fossils. On this island they discover what appears to be a giant dinosaur egg perfectly preserved and showing signs of life.

Just when they try to extract the egg a massive Pteranodon flies overhead, a rare offshoot actually called Rodan. Rodan tries to protect the egg leading the scientists to believe the egg is that of a baby Rodan. Then Godzilla appears and he and Rodan have a territorial battle. The scientist take the egg while the two kaiju are fighting and escape. But the egg proves to be more trouble than it's worth when it hatches and calls both Godzilla and Rodan after it. Only Mechagodzilla stands in the way of Japan and total destruction. But is Godzilla really out to destroy or is he merely trying to save the baby dinosaur that hatched from the egg?

Many fans consider this film the pinnacle of the second series. I do not fall into that group. Rodan's resurrection is a down grade from where he was before in my opinion and I've never been a fan of kaiju offspring. Rodan is smaller than he was in the Showa Era at in comparison to Godzilla. Overall he seems less power and majestic than he did in his 1956 debut. With Rodan being smaller in scale they use a puppet rather than a man in a suit and the results are left wanting.

The special effects are pretty cool especially when it comes to Godzilla's atomic breath (it's not fire) and all the other beam weapons in the film. Godzilla's suit looks great and so too does Mecha G. Mechagodzilla's story is different this time around. Instead of a robot from space it's a United Nations funded project to protect not just Japan but the entire world from Kaiju threat. The premise is cool but the design feels very flat to me.

I like the introduction of G-FORCE, a specialized United Nations force training specifically in Godzilla countermeasures. The incorporation of series regular Miki Saegusa is another welcomed addition and she brings her own unique dynamic to the team. As per usual Miki isn't the central character and instead our main hero of the film is a goofy robotics expert with an obsession with Pteranodons. Not the greatest choice in my opinion.

MechaG as a good guy seems like a very logical choice and it is done very effectively in this movie. Indeed this movie rocks compared to many entries in the series. I guess I'm just not as big a Mech fan as I am Kaiju. That and I'd rather see new kaiju introduced as opposed to old ones. I love seeing my old favorites return but there should at least be a new kaiju mixed with a bunch of old ones. And if you're going to bring classic kaiju back you should make them better not worse.

Mechagodzilla, a favorite amongst the fans, has never been on the top of my list but for MechaG fans this movie has it all! It works as a kid friendly movie as well as maintaining a great spectacle for adults and old school fans alike.

Overall Ranking:  5 out of 10
Category: Transcendence