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Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Columbia/Tri-Star // G // October 19, 2004
List Price: $24.96 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
One of the last Godzilla flicks produced before the character was shelved in the mid-'70s, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla features yet another fiendish alien scheme to conquer the world as a prophecy foretelling the rise of a mammoth creature is slowly coming to pass. The ancient guardian of the Azumi royal family may be able to stave off the impending threat, but the key to reviving the beast has long since been lost. The fabled statuette is thankfully uncovered in an archeological expedition far away, and once its discoverers learn of its true purpose, the team travels across Japan to return the icon to its rightful home. These aliens from the third planet in the black hole take the guise of ordinary Japanese men and, determined to seize the statue for themselves, duke it out with our heroes by land and sea. Eventually stumbling upon their lair, our plucky group of men and women are all that stand in the way of the aliens' space titanium-armored automaton. Oh yeah, and Godzilla's in it too. Like most Godzilla movies, the King of Monsters is kind of a secondary character. If Toho had trimmed out the monsters, replaced the statue with microfilm or some other standard issue MacGuffin, and cut out the special effects shots of the aliens transforming into green apes with bad complexions, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla could almost pass for an ordinary spy flick. No one recognizably Godzilla-like rears his head until close to twenty minutes in, when Angilas is uncharacteristically mauled by what appears to be his one-time friend Godzilla. Angilas manages to get in a couple of good hits, damaging his enemy enough to expose part of the metallic shell lurking underneath the fake green skin.
This is shortly followed by some Godzilla-on-Godzilla action, where the imposter's disguise is decimated, fully revealing one of Godzilla's most memorable sparring partners. Mechagodzilla's just neat, armed to the teeth with an apparently inexhaustible supply of missiles, able to launch himself into the sky with boot-jets, and decked out with lasers and force fields. Their first confrontation is nice and devastating, but after it wraps up, it's another forty minutes or so until the next kaiju battle. There are brief glimpses of the monsters in the meantime, but there seems to be even more overreliance on the movie's humans than normal, and the middle stretch kinda drags as a result. It takes a while for that final, climactic battle to roll around, but it's worth the wait. The first couple of fights in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla are pretty brutal, particularly the bloody brawl with Angilas. The movie really gets violent near the end, when geysers of blood (or something close enough to it) are spurting out of everyone and everything that suffers any amount of damage. Godzilla's pretty thoroughly bloodied and even winds up with a slew of missiles embedded in his skin.
Since Mechagodzilla's a particularly nasty opponent, Godzilla gets an assist from oversized bounding puppy dog King Seesar (listed in the DVD's subtitles as "King Caesar", but I'm too used to the old name to switch now). He's one of the goofier monsters to wind up in a Godzilla movie and seems awfully anticlimactic considering how frequently he's touted as the world's great savior. Although Seesar doesn't really wind up being that much help, there are some pretty decent moments when he and Godzilla double-team Mechagodzilla. He fits in pretty well considering that the mastermind of the scheme is a Japanese guy in a shiny jumpsuit with silver paint smeared across his face, using the spraypainted innards of a Delta 88 to pass for extraterrestrial weaponry. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is one of the better Godzilla flicks of the '70s, and although the human element lingers a little longer than it should, the monster battle sequences more than make up for that. Budding G-Fans might want to get their feet wet with some of the earlier movies before picking up this disc, but the introduction of such an essential character, a great scope presentation, and the original Japanese audio should make Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla a very appealing purchase.
Video: Wow. I've gotten so used to seeing severely cropped, grainy, washed-out videos fished from the grimy bottom of bargain bins that this DVD isn't just an improvement -- it's almost an unrecognizably different movie. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image is remarkably sharp and detailed, with a small handful of scattered scenes having a slightly smeared appearance. The film's palette is vibrantly saturated and looks fantastic. There are no noteworthy flaws in the presentation -- no intrusive speckling, no pervasive edge haloes, no artifacting, and no visible signs of wear. Looks great all around.
Audio: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla sports a pair of monaural soundtracks, one in the movie's original Japanese and the other dubbed into English. I opted for the Japanese track, which is accompanied by optional English subtitles. The clarity of the audio is impressive, and its sound effects are clear and distinct rather than winding up all muddled together. Bass response is decent, though the score offers more of a low-frequency rumble than the numerous explosions and tumbling monsters throughout. I don't have any complaints, and it's a real treat to be able to watch this movie with its original soundtrack. Although I've seen most all of the Godzilla movies from this era over the years, this is the first time I've been able to ditch the laughably bad English dubs.
At least in the handful of scenes I spot-checked, the English subtitles appeared to be a direct transcription of the dubbed English soundtrack. Being completely unfamiliar with Japanese, I'm not sure how closely these subtitles compare with what's being said in the original soundtrack. French subtitles are also available, and the movie is not closed captioned. Supplements: There aren't any extras directly related to Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla...just plugs for other Sony product. There are trailers and teasers for Godzilla: The Series - Monster Wars, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., Kaena: The Prophecy, Steamboy, and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. An TV spot for the "Godzilla: Save the Earth" video game is also tacked on. The DVD features a set of static 16x9 menus, and though there is an insert tucked into the keepcase, it's purely promotional and doesn't list the movie's twelve chapter stops.
Conclusion: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla wouldn't be my first pick for someone starting to build a Godzilla collection (my favorite pre-Heisei flicks are mostly from the mid-to-late sixties), but the violent showdown at the end, the campy fun that permeates so much of the rest of the movie, and the introduction of Mechagodzilla make this movie a worthwhile rental or purchase for any Godzilla fan. The presence of the original Japanese audio and an impressive transfer should make this incredibly appealing to those with more than a casual interest. Recommended.
Related Reviews: For a more intelligent, informed take on Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, DVD Talk's resident Japanese cinema expert Stuart Galbraith IV has also contributed a review. There are a bunch of reviews of other Godzilla movies too, if you're bored.
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