Look At Them Monsters Go: Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Godzilla Against MechGodzilla wasn't as successful as GMK, but it wasn't a failure, either. So Toho decided to plot along with the same director, and essentially, the same plot. This is also the only film of the Millennium series to be a direct sequel to another film of the same series.



Our first monster on-screen is Mothra. Again ignoring the Rebirth of Mothra series, Mothra looks much like it did for Godzilla vs Mothra, although it can apparently fly as trans mach speeds. Mothra is no longer sleek and combat-oriented, but again hairy, as she was in her original film. If this is to make her sympathetic, I'm not sure. With her are the shobijin, who shows no signs of having a wicked triplet. The shobijin contact Dr. Shin'ichi Chûjô, played by Hiroshi Koizumi forty years after he first performed the role in Mothra in 1961. They want Godzilla's bones to be returned to the sea.



Less than ten minutes after the film begins, so do the plot problems. The shobijin want Japan to decomission Michagodzilla. When Kaneko's nephew reples that it is their only defence againat Godzilla, the tiny fairies promise Mothra will protect Japan from Godzilla. So where was she the whole last film? Worse, if the humans do not do this, Mothra will declare war on them. But this ultimatum is forgotten as soon as it is spoken.



Mechagodzilla has been nerfed a bit, and is still under repairs from the damage taken in the previous film. The absolute Zero chest cannon has been replaced with a more run of the mill triple hyper maser. But here it also serves as a bone of contention. It is made from Godzilla's remains, the Shobijin want returned to the sea.



Giant turtle Kamoeba, from the obscure Space Amoeba washes ashore, letting everyone know that Godzilla is on the prowl again. Apparently, writer/director Masaaki Tezuka originally wanted this to be Anguirus, but Toho said no. It would have been oddly appropriate, since the cranky old dinosaur's last appearance was the first Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, back in 1974. Apparently, Toho worried about the audience's reaction to Godzilla killing one of Godzilla's oldest friends. Which is odd, because not two films ago, Godzilla disintigrated Mothra, who is now back.



Where the military has been primarly lionized in the previous Masaaki films, here the vibe is avery different. Are the bones of Godzilla attracting Godzilla? Is military build-up inviting military attack? Godzilla appears for the first time attacking an American nuclear sub, as in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah and The Return of Godzilla. But is the submarine an innocent victim, or should have it not been there in the first place?

The film moves back to Ishiro Honda's attitude, that the military is there for show, but it almost completely ineffectiver against Godzilla. There are some very striking shots of missiles streaking across the Tokyo skyline, and the Hyper Maser is cool-looking, but none of these weapons do much more than inconvenence Godzilla. He sweeps away a phalanx of tanks with a single jet of his atomic heat ray.



Godzilla looks much the same as he did in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, bvut he has a large scar on his chest. So Godzilla is not invulnerable. But Kiryu no longer has the Absolute Zero gun, which caused the injury.



A lot of story beats and plot points are taken directly from Ishiro Honda's Godzilla vs Mothra, which is a little weird since that film doesn't exist in this continuity. In the initial confrontation, Mothra uses its poison scaled on Godzilla, which haven't been used since that 1964 film. But Chûjô was not involved in that, Lahtough actor Hiroshi Koizumi played the part of Dr. Miura) so I wonder how he knows about the scales. Again, for the first time since Honda's 1964 film, The Mothra larvae are twins. Godzilla's defeat is the same. Although Mothra can't take Godzilla down, the two larvae are able to, coating Godzilla in silk. This flies in the face of the shobijin's promise. Mothra can't handle Godzilla on her own.



Mothra, who really hasn't had much religious symbolism since her debut, is at least willing to sacrifice herself for her children, taking a direct blast of Godzilla's atomic ray protecting her children. It plays out rather like her sacrifice in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah. The shobijin get a moment in front of a fallen cross, saying that the living should not touch the dead.





Godzilla: Tokyo SOS is fairly remakable in that there is only one monster showdown. The fight is on-going, and the human action is intercut with it. Again, Mechagodzilla proves to be Godzilla's greatest for, battering him around, knocking him down once. It's not as harsh as the job done by Mechagodzilla II, which temporarily cripples Godzilla. And ultimately, it's very inconclusive. The Mothra Laevae do the heavy lifting.



Ultimately, I struggle to remain interested in the film. The human drama isn't all that compelling. While it was nice to engage someone who wasn't (initially) a pilot, focussing instead on a technician. But he doesn't have much to work with. When Mechagodzilla goes down, he goes ouyt to fix it. Not a lot of character depth there. The Godzilla problem is ultimately solved as Kiryu takes it upon itself to fly Godzilla's silk-enshrouded form to the ocean. The humans do not prodice a solution. It's all done by the Mothra larvae and Kiryu. The protagonists are really just spectators.



In two weeks, the Kaiju Blender, love it or hate it.

The Smaller Kaiju: Space Amoeba

I probably would never have heard of this film if it hadn't been for a review of the Godzilla, Monster of Monsters video game. Later, I found out that Kamoeba shows up in 2003's Godzilla: Tokyo SOS. This is an odd duck of a kaiju film; a Toho release, directed by Ishiro Honda, not tied to Godzilla intil 2003. Yes, Honda made more non-Godzilla science fiction films than he did in the franchse, but these are not nearly as well known, or commonly available in the US.

Space Amoeba begins with a brilliant scene dealing with the exploration of space. The image of a Saturn Five lookalike, the Helios 7, silhouetted against the sun, is a powerful, beautiful image.



That said, the film employs considerable coincidence when a commercial jetliner happens to be within eyeshot when the Helios 7 capsule, which was taken over by something glittery in space, splashes down. When you consider how big the Pacific Ocean is, that's quite the coincidence. And of course, because this is a Honda film, our truth-seeker is a reporter. And because it's the end of the sixties, he's laughed at by the establishment.



In yet another nod to the greedy industrialist trope, and in fact a neat lift from Gappa, an wealthy industrialist is going to build a resort on isolated and lightly-populated Selgio Island.



Like Infant Island, it turns out Selgio Island has a monstrous guardian; Gezora the gigantic cuttlefish of doom. It also appears to have Chekov's Volcano. An island that smokes in the first act will erupt in the second.



To make sure we get a monster in the first twenty minutes of the film, some of Asia Development Corporation's lackeys go fish at Selgio's forbidden cove. And it turns out that on Selgio the fish fish for you.



Gezora later attacks the cabin and devours the company guy he didn't get. But before it can devour their local guide, it's driven off by a flock of day-flying bats.



The Gezora suit is decent, and gets used for an extended attack on the village. Under Honda's careful direction, the sequence doesn't drag, but moves along at a good clip, and is integrated well into the rest of the film. Unlike most other Kaiju, Gezora is successfully attacked and killed with guns and fire. This stands in a stark contrast to works like Godzilla, where tank fire, artillery, and millions of volts doesn't even faze the monster.





Once Gezora is dead, the weird glow infests a giant crab. This monster is tougher, and does not fall to machine-gun fire. However, it does fall into a hole, where it is destroyed by setting a big pile of gas cans on fire. Twice thwarted, the glowing glittery thing divides itself, infesting a turtle (Kamoeba), another crab, and a human.



Luckily, the hypersonic sounds of the bats makes the two giant creatures go crazy, and they fight each other. They do so up the volcano, and like Frankenstein vs Baragon, the volcano erupts, consuming the kaiju.





Ultimately, this films lacks the city-stomping that demonstrates the monster's size. All the action happens on Selgo Island. With the smaller set, mostly of trees and a few small huts, the monsters don't have to be quite so gigantic. But the film lacks a lot of the fire and earnestness that made Godzilla and Matango the thrilling and weird films they were. Space Amoeba is merely an acceptable film with little going for it.

Next up, the Godzilla franchise veers in a very strange direction.