Godzilla vs Megaguirus

 

        
     Godzilla vs Megaguirus, while using the same suit as Godzilla 2000, does not share continuity with that film. Rather, it is a direct sequel to the 1954 film, but with some liberties. 

     The film begins with a retelling of the events of the first film, but with the new suit. The major change is there's no mention of the Oxygen Destroyer, indicating this Godzilla merely retreated.

Then Godzilla returns in 1966, and attacks Japan's first nuclear power plant. Japan then must created a new energy source called plasma. This attracts Godzilla in 1996 where the science institute developing the technology is destroyed. What sets this film apart from other Godzilla films is this Godzilla is indicated to be the same as the 1954 monster, rather than a successor. After these events, a special section in the JSDF is formed called the G-Graspers with the mission of combating Godzilla.  They create a black hole gun called Dimension Tide to destroy the monster.  During a test firing,  a prehistoric dragonfly comes through a worm hole and lays a egg. Out of the egg comes meganulon. These creatures were featured in 1956's Rodan. The meganulon molt and become meganula which fly. These meganula feed off of Godzilla and transfer his energy to their queen which turns into Megaguirus, a giant dragonfly capable of taking on Godzilla. 

Godzilla and Megaguirus fight until Godzilla emerges victorious. Godzilla goes onto destroy the rebuilt science institute where a secret plasma generator has been stored. The G-Graspers use Dimension Tide against Godzilla to seemingly success. In a series first, an after credits scene features an earthquake accompanied by Godzilla's roar revealing even a black hole can't defeat the king of the monsters.

     The honest truth is not a lot can be said about this movie. It's a very typical, middle of the road Godzilla film. Not much is inherently bad about it, but there's not much that stands out either. There still is few moments of note. Such as an interesting shot of a characters climbing on Godzilla's back to plant a tracker. Which we rarely get  to see human's that close.

Characters are decent. The lead is a female soldier who wants revenge against Godzilla for killing her superior officer. The other lead is a young scientist who is brought on to reduce the size of Dimension Tide. He flirts with her a little. She responds coldly. She's a live action Tsundere. The fights are competent. They do contain a few Showa style moments like a body slam by Godzilla. This is due to the director, Masaaki Tezuka, being a big fan of King Kong vs Godzilla.  Overall, it's just a basis, but enjoyable Godzilla film.

Godzilla 2000

 

 

  Godzilla 2000 was TOHO's answer to Godzilla 98. It was released just one year after that film in 1999, and the start of the millennium series.  Production started just two months after Emmerich's film. They gave Godzilla a redesign and scaled him down to 170 ft.   

  The film follows the Godzilla Prediction Network(GPN), an small organization with the goal of tracking Godzilla in order to reduce casualties. In contrast, the government agency Crisis Control Intelligence Agency(CCI) wants to kill Godzilla. Immediately, Godzilla is introduced. Probably as pallet cleanser of the '98 Godzilla. The design of this Godzilla is reminiscent of the King Kong vs Godzilla suit. It has a more reptile like snout and larger spines.

It is not stated within the film how long Japan has had to deal with this Godzilla, but the filmmakers have stated this is the second Godzilla in this timeline following the '54 monster.  Meanwhile a large meteor is discovered underwater which turns out to be a UFO which crash landed on Earth millions of years earlier. The military engages Godzilla. They use a new armor piecing missile which actually does some damage. The UFO shows up and Godzilla has a short fight with it resulting in Godzilla missing. Godzilla's atomic breathe is shown to red this time. Seems to just be a cosmetic change. A member of the GPN discovers Godzilla has a healing factor which he names Organizer G1( Regenerator G1 in US edit).

The UFO lands on top of a building in Tokyo where it proceeds to suck up all of the data in the city. Military tries to blow it up, but fails. They determine it wants Godzilla to use Organizer G1 to adapt to Earth's atmosphere. Godzilla shows up, they fight. Godzilla is knocked down, and the UFO absorbs some of Godzilla's abilities. It becomes some weird tentacle creature before falling to the ground.

Godzilla finally destroys the Saucer,  but a new threat arises. Orga the evolved form of the alien. It puts up quite a challenge by using Godzilla's own healing factor to heal itself.

It's final attack stretching its jaw open and attempting to practically swallow Godzilla in order to become a clone. But Godzilla kills it from the inside. Godzilla roars in victory, but rather than go back to sea, he proceeds to destroy more of Tokyo as the credits role.

    This film has nostalgia for me due to it actually getting a theatrical release in the states, and being one of the Godzilla films I owned on VHS. I remember posters for it in a local theater, but never saw it in theaters. Either, I missed it or it never came to the second run theater I always went to. In a way, this film reminds me of Godzilla '14. In that, Godzilla is the title characters, but there's a greater threat which gets most of the focus. In this film, the UFO. The UFO is decent adversary it has pretty powerful attacks and evades many of Godzilla's attacks. The second form is pretty shitty. It's just squid like and brought to life using poor CGI. This film also features the first fully CG Godzilla for TOHO. Which also looks pretty bad. Orga, the final form is brought to life through suitimation. He looks pretty good. But doesn't show up til the last 10 mins. Their fight is alright. Mainly a bunch of bumping and biting. I've hear it been said, Orga is supposed to resemble the '98 Godzilla, but I don't see it. One change with this production from earlier ones is there's less miniature effects. They elected to use more compositing, which looks fine usually. but others stick out terribly. I would praise the music. It's a great new theme for this Godzilla.

    Rarely will I recommend a US cut over the Japanese, but this is one of those times. It all has to do with sound design. Don't know if it's due to a rushed production, but the original edit is very bland. Times where there's no music where it could have benefited, few sound effects, Godzilla's roar is actually rarely used, then Orga's roar is nothing but a squeal. The voice dub is okay. Some cheesy lines. There are also pacing changes that are actually better.  Like cutting to a character to a location, rather than follow them to it. A small change is the word millennium appears on computer screens hacked by the aliens, Don't even know the significant of it in the original.  So, my feelings are it's  a decent return to form, but not one of the best.

   

Roland Emmerich's Godzilla:

           

    The first attempt of an American Godzilla film to get any progress was in 1983. Director Steve Miner of Friday the 13th fame struck a deal with TOHO for an American adaptation of Godzilla.

The film would have been called Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 3D. According to the screenplay, The plot would have Godzilla chasing after a baby Godzilla concluding with a fight on Alcatraz on which he is defeated by the military.  This Godzilla resembled a T-rex, but still retained the atomic breath, Miner shopped the idea to the studios, but none went for it.

     In 1992, TriStar announced their acquisition of the rights to produce an trilogy of films. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write the film with Jan De Bont,director of Speed, set to direct. Stan Winston was even brought on for creature design.

The script had Godzilla battle a new monster called the Gryphon. Their battle concluding in New York with Godzilla using the same finisher featured in Godzilla(2014) Unfortunately the script was deemed too costly. Interesting to note, the released film cost around the same amount to produce. De Bont left the project, and TriStar approached Director Roland Emmerich and  Producer Dean Devlin the duo behind Independence Day to pick up the project. This original script has been adapted into a graphic novel free to read online.

   Emmerich and Devlin agreed to do the project under the condition they do it their way. Both were not fans of Godzilla.  In fact, Emmerich complained about the original script ending with two monsters going at it.  Being a fan isn't necessarily required for adapting a established property, but respect is. That seems to be lacking with Devlin, describing the TOHO films as "a fat guy in rubber suit". 

Patrick Tatopoulos completely redesigned Godzilla from Winston. TOHO executives were skeptical, but eventually approved it. The goal was to make this Godzilla fast and agile. As expected, the primary method to bring Godzilla to life was CGI with suits and models used for select shots.  Emmerich and Devlin rewrote the script, although Elliott and Rossio still got writing credit. 

  The script actually starts out promising depicting nuclear test in  French Polynesia. Originally, I thought the blame of Godzilla's creation was shifted from the U.S. in order to get military assistance for the film. That may possibly be a secondary reason, but the primary reason was due to France conducting tests up to 1996. The following scene depicts an attack on a Japanese fishing vessel which is also shot very well, and is followed by Jean Reno's character Philippe Roaché questioning the only survivor who only utters the word. "Gojira".  Now we're introduced to the protagonist, Nick Tatopoulos played by Matthew Broderick. Name obviously taken from creature designer, Patrick Tatopoulos, his name is used for comic relief being that everyone mispronounces his name. He's a NRC scientist studying Chernobyl earthworms. He is recruited by the U.S. military to investigate the aftermath of Godzilla's appearance. I personally don't mind his character. The moment  I pinpoint when the film starts going downhill is the introduction of Audrey, Nick's love interest, and her friends Animal and Lucy. It just marks when a bunch of bullshit subplots are introduced.  Godzilla introduction in New York is actually pretty great.  We only see parts of him which is effective. All of Sudden, Godzilla disappears.  Fish is used to lure him out.

Here we officially see they got Godzilla wrong. He runs from the military, and they're the ones causing most of the destruction. Godzilla disappears again. Nick discovers the creature reproduces asexually, but is kicked off the team due to a information leak thanks to his former girlfriend. The military performs "operation fish fetish" a second time, but Godzilla doesn't fall for it. They do incapacitate him with submarines. Nick meets up with Philippe, and they hunt for the nest. I do like Reno's character, although his group of Frenchmen are pretty much stereotypes. They discover hundreds of eggs in Madison Square Garden, and they all start to hatch. Here the film feels more like Jurassic Park with all the Baby Godzillas behaving like raptors. They run into Audrey and Animal.  Together they get a message out for the military to blow up the building.

All seems well, but Godzilla is still alive and pissed due to his slaughtered young. A chase ensues. Funny, that they outrun Godzilla when the filmmakers stated Godzilla can run up to 300 mph. Godzilla gets tangled up in the Brooklyn Bridge where the military takes him down. The final shot of the film is the lone surviving egg finally hatching. That's cute. they thought there was going to be a sequel.

  Now, a major thing missing is Godzilla's atomic breath. They replaced it with what they called power breath which is just combustible fish breath. The design is not necessarily bad, but signature aspects of the character are not present mainly him being  impervious to traditional firepower.  Seriously, the military kills him. Godzilla has had two deaths in his filmography. The most notable being a top secret super weapon in the original. Here, it's just tradition missiles. Someone at TOHO stated, " Guess the U.S. couldn't deal with the idea of a foe who bests their military".  TOHO and fan reception of the film was one of disappointment. Kenpachiro Satsuma, who played Godzilla throughout the 90s (or just some fat guy according to Devlin), walked out saying " It lacked the spirit".  Due to the drastic difference with this Godzilla fans have coined the term GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) to refer to the creature. It would eventually be named Zilla by TOHO due to the God being taken out of Godzilla. This creature would even go onto appear in the 2004 film Godzilla Final Wars. 

   The characters in this are pretty generic.

Like I said, I do like Reno in this, but most others are just okay or one dimensional  caricatures.  A couple characters to note are Mayer Ebert and his assistant, Gene. A reference to film critics Siskel and Ebert. Probably a jab at them by Emmerich for their negative reviews of his previous films.  For some reason, there's a handful of Simpsons cast members in this. Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer have significant roles, and Nancy Cartwright with a cameo. 

   Despite a poor critical reception, the film was still a box office success.  A sequel really was planned with Godzilla's offspring fighting a giant insect in Sydney. But Emmerich and Devlin left due to budget disputes. Eventually, the film was cancelled. In the years since, Emmerich and Devlin have considered it a mistake taking on this project. Emmerich said he never took the original film's seriously. 

What did come out of it was an animated series which I have not seen, but I hear it's actually pretty good and more faithful to the character. It features Godzilla's offspring who has imprinted itself onto Nick. This one is gentle and can be communicated with. Plus it actually has an atomic breathe. The series ran for two seasons.

      This film does have some nostalgia for me. I remember it coming out. The marketing campaign, the toys, and the hype. I wasn't into Godzilla yet, and this was my introduction. While not a true Godzilla movie, it at least opened that door. There's a stupid, small line from this movie that has stayed with me. 555-7600. For some reason, these numbers are cemented in my brain due to the multiple times this line is spoken in the film. Then there's lines that are frowned upon today like,"Get back here, you retard", which dates the film a little.  Now, Initially I liked this film, but it has lost favor over the years. On the technical level, the CGI is a little dated. The story feels like a typical Emmerich disaster film.  The truth is I consider the film a generic monster movie in which there is enjoyment to be had. The problem is it's called Godzilla.  To sum it up, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla is an enjoyable monster movie, but a terrible Godzilla film.

 

 

     

Godzilla vs Destroyah

 

     "GODZILLA DIES!" This was the focus of the advertising. Imagine if the advertisements for Avengers Endgame promoted " Iron Man dies, April 26"; but for this film, it worked. It brought international attention to this installment. Even news sources in the US reported on the film despite it not even getting a release in the states. By this time, Godzilla had already cemented itself as a pop culture icon. It was a big deal like the death of Superman.  This film also ties itself closely with the original. With its adversary being a direct result of the oxygen destroyer which destroyed the original Godzilla forty years prior.  

    The plot involves Godzilla now has red, glowing rashes along his chest and his atomic breath has exponentially increase in power. This is due to him absorbing too much radiation, and is on the verge of exploding to the extent which would destroy the planet. 

Due to this, the military cannot use conventional weapons due to the risk of triggering a explosion. Therefore they use freeze and cadmium based weaponry. They also use a new version of the SuperX called SuperX 3. During this time, a search is conducted to find Godzilla's son who hasn't been seen since the the island on which him and Godzilla lived was destroyed by some sort of volcanic eruption. Various incidents lead to the discovery of a ancient life form which was mutated by the oxygen destroyer's use in 1954. The creatures evolve to various forms. First appearing as tiny organisms which eat away fish in a aquarium. Much like the effects of the oxygen destroyer on the original Godzilla's corpse. They take a large 15 ft form which fights the JSDF. Then they merge to a 200ft form. During an encounter with the JSDF, Godzilla is frozen which manages  to temporarily get his temperature under control.  Meanwhile Godzilla's son is found, but now a young adult dubbed Godzilla Junior. It is determined that Destroyah is the key to preventing Godzilla from melting down. So, they lure Godzilla Junior to Destroyah which draws Godzilla. Godzilla Junior takes on, and defeats the current form of Destroyah. Godzilla shows up, and they unite. They are interrupted by the final form of Destroyah appearing. This form even larger than Godzilla.

  Destroyah carries Godzilla Junior away dropping him from a great height, killing him. Godzilla mourns for his son until turning his rage on Destroyah.  During this time, Godzilla begins to meltdown. Outmatched, Destroyah attempts to escape, but is shot down by the military. Godzilla continues to meltdown. The military uses their freeze weapons to minimize the damage. After his meltdown, Tokyo is left uninhabitable by the radiation. Suddenly, the levels begin to fall. Through the smoke, Godzilla Junior, revived and fully grown by the radiation gives out a roar taking up the mantle as king of the monsters.
The credits roll over footage from the original film and moments throughout the Heisei series.

    Destoyah was a great villain to end the series on. Much like how Godzilla is the result of nuclear power, Destoyah is the result of another one of man's inventions. The device in which man created to combat one monster became a far worse monster.  In addition to Destoyah there's others elements and characters in connection to the '54 film. The characters of Kenkichi Yamane and Yukari Yamane are the grand kids of Dr. Yamane from the first film. Emiko Yamane makes a brief appearance played by original actress Momoko Kōchi. There's a subplot involving a scientist who is on the brink on rediscovering the secret to the oxygen destroyer. G-Force wants him to create one to combat Godzilla. The military seems to finally have their shit together here. They defeat Godzilla for once by freezing him.

And for a first, They are the ones who take down Destroyah. Godzilla's death is presented as a mix of emotions. The military leaders look relieved that their battle with Godzilla is finally over which Psychic Miki Maegusa is sadden that her work with Godzilla is over. Yukari Yamane comments on Tokyo becoming uninhabitable as it being atonement for man's misuse of nuclear energy. The finally shot may have seemed as a hint to a return of Godzilla Junior, but this was never pursued.

   Godzilla vs Destroyah was a great finale to the Heisei Series. It had compelling characters, a inventive story that ties to the original, and top notch fight scenes. The series was supposed  to go on a nine years hiatus for Tri-Star could make their own trilogy of American Godzilla films, but that's a topic for another time.  They ended up bringing Godzilla back four years later for a new millennium.

Here's my Heisei series rankings 

1. Godzilla vs Desroyah
2. Godzilla vs King Ghidorah
3. Godzilla vs Biolante
4. Return of Godzilla
5. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II
6. Godzilla vs Mothra
7. Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla
   

   

    

Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla

     Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla brought an alien threat into the Heisei era.  Not through Cockroaches or apes from outer space, but a space monster created by mutated Godzilla cells.

      The plot involves two operations against Godzilla. Project Telepethy( Project T) which means to control Godzilla through telepathy and Project M.O.G.U.R.A which is a giant robot designed to kill Godzilla. They encounter Godzilla's son, now known as Little Godzilla on the island where project T is being tested.

Spacegodzilla shows up, beats Godzilla, and captures little Godzilla. Eventually, Godzilla with  help from MOGURA  takes down Spacegodzilla.

       The films gives two explanations on how G cells made it into space. Through Biolante or Mothra. It's been noted by another reviewer how bizarre it is that they give two possible explanations rather than just settling on one. 

MOGURA  has its roots in another TOHO film called the Mysterians from 1957. Of course its given a new origin for this. The problem with it is it's a poor man's MechaGodzilla. Continuity wise it makes no sense, In the previous film, they already tried killing Godzilla with a giant robot. Little Godzilla looks more like Minilla now.

Gone is its dinosaur look. This was due to a planned children's television show starring Little Godzilla.  

     There's a human plot involving the Yakuza, buts it resolved almost immediately. There's an attempted romance between a psychic Miki Saegusa and a G-Force member, but nothing much comes from it except him learning the value of life. One stand out character is a man whose best friend was killed by Godzilla in Godzilla vs Biolante. Which gives him a personal  agenda.  This film is a weaker entry in the Heisei series. It has good action sequences, but the story around it isn't very engaging.  As a fun fact, There is a scene of brief nudity. A male character showers in a makeshift shower on the island, and he's seen from behind. It's dark so not much detail is seen. This marks the third and last time nudity would show up in the series.  The others being topless photos on the back wall of a truck cab in Godzilla vs Megalon and a plastic bust of Katsura's breast during surgery in the Japanese cut of Terror of MechaGodzilla.