Godzilla 2000: The Rebuttal

Toho had said they were going to keep Godzilla on ice until its fiftieth birthday, in 2004. But after Godzilla 98, they felt that could not keep silent. Despite their protestations that this was not a rebuttal to the 98 film, Godzilla 2000 is very much everything that the 98 Godzilla was not. It features Godzilla as a man in a suit, it revels in how traditional it is, how unkillable Godzilla is. It revels in the history of the franchise witrhout being bound to the tight continuity of the Heisei series. It is also the last Godzilla film to be released theatrically in the US.



Toho hadn't been off monster movies since Godzilla died in the 1995 Godzilla vs Destroyah. The three Rebirth of Mothra films all featured giant monsters, King Ghidorah two out of three, so the studio was still in practice. The new Godzilla has a very new look. The spines are now enormous, the face is sharper, giving the suit a more streamlined, predatorial look. It is less humanly muscular that the Heisei Godzilla suits, more lizard-like. And it is dark green, a color that Godzilla has been in popular opinion, but never before in presentation.



Godzilla 2000 is quite aware of the roots of the franchise. An early encounter with Godzilla takes place in a lighthouse, in an homage to the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Shinoda stands in the gigantic footpring of Godzilla, as in both 1954 and 1998 versions. Now, I've argued that Godzilla 98 is an extended, jokey remake of Beast, but here the homage is light. Godzilla 2000 wants to be its own film. At the same time, the extensive use of MacIntosh conmputers being hacked by the alien could be a sly reference to the MacIntoshes used to hack the aliens in Roland/Emmerlich's Independence Day. The new anti-Godzilla weapon developed in this film is a form of all-penetrating missile. These of course do nothing, and it's difficult not to see this plot point as a repudiation of Godzilla 98's death by missiles.



Godzilla 2000 sets itself up in a way that Godzilla is not really the hero, nor is he the villain. He wrecks cities and fights the military, but when Ogra shows up, well they've got to be put to the torch, too. Human or alien, Godzilla is going to fight whatever is in his way.



Human characters Shinoda and Katagiri are the two sides of the same argument that was central to Godzilla 1954. Shinoda wants to study him, where Katagiri is attempting to eliminate him. This lets us know that Shinoda's heart is in the right place, where Katagiri's is not. The scientific study of Godzilla also give us the major plot, the analysis of Regenerator 1, the special factor that Godzilla has that allows him to quickly repair himself. This isn't mentioned in any other film, but the references to Godzilla's unique DNA and the collection of it is similar to the genetic eingineering from Godzilla vs Biollante. In fact, there's a fair amount that tiesd this film in with Biollante. Godzilla is attacked by cables turned tentacles. Both Biollante and Ogra attempt to consume Godzilla, and that doesn't turn out well for either.



The film has its problems. The plot is not sterling, the characters perfunctory, the logic occasionally strained. But the last third of the film, the confrontation between Godzilla and Ogra, is one of my favorite Godzilla set pieces. It starts with Godzilla's apprach, over which Ifukube's classic Godzilla march is played. What better way to let the audience know that the film knows its own roots?



Godzilla's opponent is a new creature, Ogra, or the Millennian, is formed from a space ship that is being pulled from the bottom of the ocean. It's been there for millions of years, and once it gets some soler energy, takes off, able to work for itself. According to data that mysteriously appears on a laptop, the aliens want to change the atmosphere to make the Earth more habitable for them, an idea later borrowed by Pacific Rim. The enemy, Ogra, starts outas a silvery creature, with tentacles and a body shaped like the original ship.



Regenerator G1, extracted from Godzilla, mutates it into the twisted form that Godzilla fights.



The miniatures work is fantastic. Godzilla is weighty, when it swings its tail, houses are crushed. Combined with the sound, deep crashesm, the shattering of glass, the effect is bone-jarring. The destruction in this film feels more real than virtually any other Godzilla film. Godzilla is often shot from a low angle, which imparts a sense of power and size that is sometimes lacking in these films.



And the destructive power of Godzilla's atomic ray is awesome in this film. Anguirus would not be able to just shrug off the explosive energy projected by Godzilla here. One shot from the heat beam destroys the back half of the spacecraft, although it's not enough to kill it. The second shot blows through the remains of the spaceship and goes on to sear Ogra's back. Lucky, it's got Regenerator 1 to fix itself.



And there is a moment, after Ogra has been blasted and severely injured by Godzilla's atomic heat ray, that the music, which has been uninspiring up to now, plays a mournful tune. Ogra may be the enemy, but it clearly got in over its head, and now it's in pain. This note of sympathy gives the combat an emotional keynote unexpected in a sequence about giant monsters.



Of course, Ogra then attempts to devour Godzilla. Having been asleep for the events of Godzilla vs Biollante, it apparently is unaware of how bad an idea this is. It grows spines like Godzilla, but we know the jig is up when Godzilla's own spines begin to glow.



Unfortunately, the script then gives us a horribly stupid pontification about how Godzilla knows there's some Godzilla in all of us. It's not a creation of the dub, it's right there in the original script. And it's the sort of thing that leaves a bad taste in this viewer's mouth. I always forget abotu the line, and then I watch the film again. And it's horribly times, right at the end of the film, so it leaves a lasting impression.

One of the central themes of the film is respect for Godzilla. At the beginning of the film, Shinoda has a very close encoutner with Godzilla in his Godzilla chasing truck. He shuts down the lights and tried to be very quiet, so as not to provoke the massive beast before him. His government-funded counterpart, Katagiri, has his encounter at the end of the film. Katagiri does not understand Godzilla, and so when he does the same thing, facing down Godzilla, he does not survive the experience. American producers be warned! Respect Godzilla or be destroyed.



Next up, the Terrible Terrapin completes his trilogy.

Killin' it Old School: Godzilla vs Destoroyah

In many ways, this is the 40^th anniversary film that Godzilla vs Space Godzilla was not. Momoko Kôchi returns as Emiko Yamane from the original Godzilla. Destoroyah is born of the Oxygen Destroyer from that film. Akira Ifukube has returned one last time to score the film. In many ways, this film is the acknowledgment of the end of an era. Which it was. Toho was about to turning the franchise over to Tri-Star, for their big budget American version of the character. The death of Godzilla here is in preparation for his metamorphosis into something else.

Even at first glance, the audience knows this film will be different. Godzilla shows up right away, two and a half minutes into the film, and he's glowing and smoking. There's a mass of glowing, pulsing red tissue on Godzilla's chest, and his spines now glow all the time. Something has changed, Godzilla looks more threatening than ever.



Godzilla's heat ray has not changed permanently to the more powerful red spiral, as acquired when resurrected by Rodan in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II. Godzilla used the red ray at the climax of the fight against Space Godzilla. In the latter film, it appeared to be an ability to be used at will. Now it seems to be the default.



Our protagonists, Yukari Yamane and Kenichi Yamane are the children of Dr. Yamane's adopted son, tying us firmly to the original Godzilla in a way that no film has done previously, through the human characters. We finally get to learn about the aftermath of the film, from the human perspective, and it wasn't a happy ending. Emiko never did marry the handsome Ogata. She has become the Yamane childrens' aunt, too traumatized to marry, and still wakes up from terrible dreams of Serizawa's suicide.



It's been some time since Godzilla stomped on a city that wasn't Japanese (probably Destroy All Monsters). This foreshadows Godzilla's identity as a potential global disaster, not just something Japan has to deal with, since the licence for the character was about to be shipped overseas. This is the first film in the Heisei series, and possibly since the first Godzilla vs Mothra, that looks at Godzilla's identity as nuclear metaphor. Sure, Godzilla has eaten nuclear reactors, but the link to the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: this film was released in the fiftieth anniversary of the bombings. This gives the film, for me, a more serious tone, and a sense of tragedy, at least when the dubbing doesn't get in the way. Godzilla's roar over the title credits is from the original film, a more raw sound than the audience is used to in the Heisei series.



Like Hedorah, Destoroyah has multiple forms. It begins as a swarm of car-sized critters. They have a flared head and a long neck, on top of a eight-legged crab-like body. The color scheme, charcoal with red highlights, is very reiminscent of Battra. Part of what gives it extra menace is that we don't know its powers. At the end of the initial confrontation, one of the creatures is hit bvy the flamethrower, and it just burns. It doesn't scream or thrash, but bits of burining material drip off it, and the audience is shown the flames touching the ground. What does the thing know something we don't? This sort of unanswered question is quite rare in kaiju film.



Remember when I said that many of the Heisei films make homage to a Western blockbuster? This time it's James Cameron's Aliens. When the military goes in to investigate the initial outbreak of multiple car-sized Destoroyahs, the aurience is shown a tankless flamethrower that is supported by a boar belt, like Aliens' smart guns. That also have the motion detector. Later, the mini Destoroyahs deploy that second set of inner jaws that made the Aliens so menacing.



Second-stage Destoroyah looks much like the smaller versions, crab-like lower body, long neck, and a massive, shielded head on top. But it's the size of a building. Its legs are longer, and there appear to be some upper limbs. They mostly just wave around, however.



Third-stage Destoroyah has wings, again reminiscent of Herodah's recapitulation of phylogeny. It doesn't use this form to fight, but to move from one location to another.



Fourth-stare Destoroyah is a massive, perfect match for overpowered Godzilla. Finally walking erect, and also with wings, it looks the most demonic of all Godzilla's foes.



The Super X III doesn't look like the previous iterations. it has wings, for one. The design seems to have been influenced by the F-1217 Nighthawk, as it's black and blocky, with a pair of tail fins. It is once again equipped with cadmium missiles, which we haven't seen since The Return of Godzilla. All the weapons on the Super X III are low-temperature, so they will help cool Godzilla down. Despite this, the victory is Phyrric. Even the Super X III can't keep Godzilla on ice forever.



The next piece of the plot is Godzilla Junior. It has lost the cuteness it had of Godzilla vs Space Godzilla, and it's not missed. Junior appears to be more adolescent, looking angular, like a smaller, slimmer version of Godzilla senior. Junior is also green, which ins interesting, since Godzilla is often presented in American promotional material as green, but has always been a charcoal grey. Initially, Junior's role is to lead Godzilla to Destoroyah, but it serves several ends. Junior being on the receiving end of a curbstomp battle gives the audience a sympathetic note not usually found in Godzilla films as Godzilla mourns its offspring.



In the climactic fight, Junior is gravely inuured, and the movie makes this touching. Between the Afukube music, and reaction of Miki Sagusa, who has come to sympathize with Godzilla and family, the scene has an emotional impact unlike most other kaiju films. It's reinforced when Godzilla itself comes to look at its fallen offspring. When Junior closes its eyes, Godzilla thrashes around in inchoate rage, and I feel its loss. For orchestrating this genuinely touching moment with a creature that has been primarily an engine of destruction, this film stands out among the Toho ouvre.



Godzilla's temperature continues to rise, and the special effects crew has done an excellent job of showing us how much this is a problem. Godzilla's spines begin to melt. It begins throwing off waves of light from its back.



Destoroyah is rather summarily dispatched, leaving us with the final problem of Godzilla's impending meltdown. Again, the effects crew, combined with Ifukube's music, convey the tragedy that is unfolding. The sounds of the missiles and lasers are muted, and we are left with the beautiful and sad music as Godzilla's flesh begins to melt off its bones. Godzilla's death theme is a combination of the original "Prayer for Peace" from the original film, as well as a light rework of the Godzilla march, and it's beautiful. The scene is not a triumph for humanity, but the sad passing of a creature the audience has admired, like a great warrior.



This sadness is mitigated by the re-emergence of Godzilla Junior, not a full adult, absorbing the old Godzilla's radiation and preventing Tokyo from becoming a permanent ghost city. After all, what is Godzilla without Tokyo to destroy?



Godzilla vs Destoroyah is a favorite of mine, because of the careful handling of the near-death of Godzilla Junior. The editing in the final fight is very much off, Destoroyah drops from the sky and dies with little acknowledgment. And ultuiamtely, monster fights are passable, but the first time since Godzilla Strikes Again, the monster fight isn't the point. Getting emotionally involved with Godzilla and Junior is. It's not a particularly well put-together film, and I know that part of that is the dubbing, which occasionally strays very far from the original script. Looking forward, again, to the subtitled Blu-Ray. But the impac of the film rests in the last half an hour, and I'm willing to forgive a multitude of sins for that.

Next up, a miracle. Someone takes Gamera seriously.

Powering up Through Song: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II

With the success of Godzilla vs Mothra, and the further impetus of a pending deal with Tri-star, Toho resurrected not one but two old enemies for Godzilla. The next truly new monster in the series This would be Destroyah, but even that had its origins in the 1954 Godzilla film. Given the popularity of giant mecha in Japanese culture, it's no surprise that Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II was made. As a small aside, the title is really just Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, but the II makes it weasier to distinguish from the 1974 film with ape-like aliens and King Seesar.

Buoyed by the success of the Super X series, of flying tanks, and salvaging the futuristic technology of Mecha King Ghidorah, the Counter G Bureau will create their own Godzilla to fight the original. This is in line with the increased militarism of the Heisei era, and a huge difference from the original mechagodzilla, which was created and run by aliens. But the similarities are striking. Mechagodzilla has an astonishing amuount of firepower that it can out downrange; a wide variety of beam weapons, as well as missiles.



Before the construction of Mechagodzilla, G-Force's main machine was Garuda, another iteration of the Super X flying tank concept. But Mechagodzilla rules the roost now. It's kind of interesting to see the training of the Mechagodzilla pilots. It's a bit like the combat training in Pacific Rim, specifically with martial arts and information lectures, and time in a simulated cockpit.



Meanwhile, a group of geologists have discovered an egg on a volcanic island inhabited only by Rodan. TRhe egg was discovered near the broken shell of another egg, which the professor is certain hatched Rodan. And, of course, it's been radiated. How he knows this... well, some questions don't lead anywhere productive.



But where there's one giant mionster, there's likely to be another. Godzilla shows up a little after Rodan does, and the two have a quick fight. Rodan shows a breath weapon similar to Godzilla's, but he never uses it against Godzilla. Instead, there's a lot of body-slamming, which was very absent from the previous film. The physicality of the fight makes it much more satisfying that the director's previous effort. As the titans fight, the scientists make off with the egg.



Any egg introduced in the first act must hatch in the second act. This introduces us to Godzilla Junior, a much more palatable scion of Godzilla whan Minilla was. The plot involving Junior is quite similar to Gorgo and Gappa. The child of the monsters is taken by humans, and the parents wants to get it back. But Junior seems to be the product of a mixed marriage, unlike the baby Gappa. Godzilla and Rodan stop fighting only to take on threats to the young monster. Junior will appear in the next two Godzilla films



Pursuing his child, Godzilla makes landfall in Japan and Mechagodzilla is deployaed. Like all future Mrechagodzillas, this one can fly, allowing it to be rapidly deployed. It has a hovering action that is very similar to Space Godzilla's in the next film. The big weapon, the one deployed from its belly which suspiciously a telephoto lens, is called the plasma grenade. I have no idea why. It's an energy blast, just like all the other weapons. It is, however, powerful enough to knock Godzilla on his ass.



It also has a taser-like weapon, again, likely inspired by Mecha King Ghidorah. And the first fight against Godzilla goes well until Godzilla uses the nuclear pulse to send energy back up the shock cables. Mechagodzilla is thus disabled.



With Mechagodzilla out of the way, the standard military tried to engage. It works out about as well as it always does.

Again, Pacific Rim seems to have drawn heavily from this film, since this is the only film to target Godzilla's 'second brain.' In this case, the G-Crusher plan is to paralyze Godzilla.

Rodan, who has been absent since the slug-out with Godzilla, is awakened and powered up, somehow, by a song which reaches it through Godzilla Junior. It's at this point that he gains his atomic breath. I guess part of the point is thast everyone powers up during the movie?



Unexpectedly, some complex emotions are evoked in the film. Miki Sagusa objects to the military using Godzilla Junior as a lure to get Godzilla clear of Japan. They're putting Junior's life in danger, yet at the same time, this action may save the lives of others. Miki suffers a similar moment of doubt as she is the one who activates the G-Crusher and paralyzes Godzilla. How can the audience's sympathies be divided beween the humans and the gigantic monster bent on destroying all humans? Yet this film understand that Godzilla is a sympathetic character, even if it's destructive, and this film captires that contradiction.

The fights, especially the final one, is immensely satisfying. It begins with Rodan, who manages to take out Garuda, the flying anti-Godzilla weapon. It takes out one of Mechagodzilla's eyes before being hammered with the Plasma Grenade. Godzilla can't deal with Mechagodzilla's ordinance, Rodan doesn't stand a chance.



The battle between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla takes place on a larger stage than any of the previoud Heisei films. There's a lot of room for the camera to pan, to catch the monsters in longer shots.



Godzilla gains the upper hand almost immediately, as Mechagodzilla overheats after and shuts down. But Garuda is able to distract Godzilla, and the two merge into Super Mechagodzilla confguration.



This is too much for Godzilla. The combined and sustained firepower knockes Godzilla down and keeps him down. It's then up to objector Miki Sagusa to deploy the G-Crusher, which will cripple Godzilla.



Godzilla screams in pain as the energy from the wires lashes at him. Miki pulls the trigger, and the nerve bundle that's been targeted explodes. It's a hard scene to watch.

Fortunately, Rodan isn't as dead as we thought he was. Awakened by Godzilla Junior, it lands on Godzilla, and gifts it the rest of Rodan's life. This repairs the nerve bundle, and Godzilla is back in action. This raises an interesting chain of events. Rodan was first reawakened by song. It therefore follows that Godzilla has just absorbed the power of song. Which is kind of weird.



Godzilla is more powerful than he was. He crackles with electricity, his heat ray has gone from blue to red. As Akira Ifukube's familiar Godzilla march plays in the background, Godzilla gets back to his feet and destroys Mechagodzilla. His power, already increased in the last film, is even greater now. It doesn't just blast Mechagodzilla, it turnes the supposedly heat-proof robot into a blazing inferno. Once again, by interfering, humanity has just made their Godzilla problem worse.





As with Gorgo, the solution is to send Godzilla Junior back to its parent, and the two walk out into the sea. Miki says farewell to both Godzilla and Godzilla Junior. While she may not like what Godzilla does, she no longer wants him destroyed.

This is one of the better Heisei Godzilla films. The monster action is pretty constant, and there's a little more heart to it than in most other Heisei films. There is no obvious homage to other films, and despite cute, young Godzilla's appearance, it's not nearly as irritating as the previous version of Junior Godzilla.

Godzilla + Space. Should be awesome, right?

Have We Mentioned the Environment? Godzilla vs Mothra: Battle For the Earth

Toho experienced greater success by re-introducing Ghidorah back into the Heisei series, so the next logical choice was to bring back perennial favorite Mothra. Mothra hadn't shared screen time with Godzilla since 1966, as part of the monster soupcon Destroy All Monsters. As with much of the Heisei series, this draws heavily from popular Western films of the day. The openning borrows heavily from Indiana Jones, with the protagonist stealing from ruins, apparently in Cambodia. A thief who also avoids paying his child support he's one of the least sympathetic protagonists in the Godzilla series.



A meteor has descended on a far-away island (Infant Island, specifically) and our protagonist is pulled out of jail to lead a team including his ex-wife and a corporate secretary, into the interior of the island. There's a bridge scene I greatly enjoyed the first time I saw it in Romancing the Stone. When the people enter the cave, they find a window cut into the rock that points them in the right direction.



Mothra's egg looks just the same as it did in Godzilla vs Mothra, a pastel, sherbert-y swirl of pale green and pastel orange. The shobijin are back, this time they refer to themselves as the Cosmos. They aren't played by the Peanuts anymore, but look twin-like. In an abrupt turn-around from Godzilla vs King Ghodirah, and in keeping with Gorgo, Mothra, and Mothra vs Godzilla, the greedy industrialist is back. And if the religious subtext has waned, Mothra is still beholden to a higher power: The Earth.



Battra is the new villain, and continues Mothrea's theme of twins. Battra is the dark twin of Mothra, created by the angry Earth. Like Mothra, is has larval and an imago forms, which is quite unlike any sort of bat. It also uses Rodan's cry. Luckily Rodan hasn't been heard from since Destroy All Monsters. But he shows up in the next film. Coincidence? I think not. It's first form is a sort of crawling lizard, with a horn. It has energy beam eyes that destroy the military when they show up, and another beam that comes from the horn. With the dark coloration with colored extrusions, there's a presaging of Destroyah's design.



The imago form is again, black and angry, retaining the horn. And has no explanation. Mothra undergoes its transformation, and then there's a flying Battra. But it's definitely changed, it has spiny insect-looking legs now.



Mothra's backstory has been tweaked. Mothra is a guardian of the Earth, who lived twelve thousand years ago, in harmony with all living things. But, as all utopia, someone got a bright idea and screwed it up. The Earth created Battra to combat Mothra, and did so poorly. Mothra defeated Battra, which was laid to rest in the ocean. As with Godzilla vs King Ghodirah, the writer has the idea that monsters are unaffected by a few thousand years under the ocean. This is much the same origin story as the Gamera reboot. And, like the older Gamera films, deals with an ancient civilization of great power. Fortunatly, it's quite dfferent from the Seatopian society from Godzilla vs Megalon.



Mothra's larva looks the same, although it's larger than it has been (I blame monster inflation). The imago form is even more colorful than the prevous versions. The colors are richer. And it has an energy beam that comes its antannae.



Mothra's egg is carried from Infant Island to Japan on a barge towed behind a ship, similar to how King Kong was brought from his island home in King Kong vs Godzilla. And like Mothra, the Cosmos are kidnapped, to be exploited by a large and uncaring company.



As the egg is being hauled away, Battra and Godzilla have an underwater fight. It's so intense that they break a fissure into the ocean floor, both Godzilla and Battra are consumed. But we know from Godzilla vs Biollante that Godzilla can survive immersion in magma. Miki Sagusa, who has an amazing amount of nothing to do in this film, should remember that.



Usually, Godzilla gets the major military welcome as it approaches Japan, but this time, it's the Mothra larva. Battleships, helicopters, and planes fire at it. And Mothra does the majority of the city destruction as it finds a place to coccoon. It settles on the Diet building, which hasn't been seen since King Kong vs Godzilla.



It's important to remember that Godzilla is still the bad guy here. Mothra is the beneficial force, and Battra, is initially intent on destroying Morhta. But after Battra gets kicked around by the King of the Monsters, Mothra uses some sort of friending glitter. This is another new Motyhra power. Showa Mothra only had its poison scales as a weapon of last resort.



Mothra tries this on Godzilla, who responds with the uses the nuclear pulse, his new trick, and Mothra falls away.



New BFFs Battra and Mothra then join forces against Godzilla. It doesn't work out well for Battra. They get Godzilla down, grab him, and start to carry him out to sea. Battra gets the front ent, and like Mech King Ghidora before him, is subjetced to both the heat ray and Godzilla's bite. Seeing the inevitable outcome, Mothra lets go, and both Battra and Godzilla plunge into the ocean.



Mothra then drops an odd sort of containment grid to keep Godzilla quiescent.



With Battra's death, Mothra is now obliged to stop a meteor that will imact Earth in 1999. this could, perhaps be a nod to Destroy All Monsters since it takes place in 1999, and King Ghidorah initially shows up as a meteor. And I shouldn't be surprised that Mothra's wings work in space



I know that it was one of the highest-grossing films on Godzilla history, but dammit, this one doesn't do it for me. The humans are too unsympathetic, the monster fights are unsatisfying. Mothra is a difficult monster to hinitiate figthts with, because it cannot go in close. It's a moth. So the bone-crunching, building smashing I have come to expect from Toho just isn't there.

Further, the environmental message is so overplayed that it sounds like author's message. But the platitudes are very broad. 'We should take care of the Earth.' But it doesn't impact the plot at all. Godzilla vs Hedorah at least gave us the emotional impact and ugly consequences for environmental neglect.

The Blu-Ray is coming out with the subtitles, and personally I can't wait. The dubbed films feel flabby to me, the dialog disconnected from the rest of the film.

Next up, another old friend, a new baby, Ghidorah's spare head, and Godzilla gets his ass kicked.