Hot Spur is a grimy western roughie, but National Review apparently liked it

 

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Review by Doug Gibson

I'm not much for the 1960s "roughie" genre (today essentially violent R-rated films with nudity), but one film has always intrigued me. It's called "Hot Spur," a 1968 revenge western directed by Lee Frost and co-written by exploitation genre legend Bob Cresse. The reason? Legend has it that the  conservative opinion magazine National Review named it one of its Top 10 films of the year.

Is this true? Perhaps I'll need to search back archives of the magazine to confirm. But just the thought that the late William F. Buckley might have traversed 42nd Street to see this sleazy film, with its frequent nudity and violence, intrigued me. I had to view it and did, for free, on Plex.

It is indeed grimy. A Mexican teenager stablehand, Carlo, is sick and tired of seeing his sister raped. The films opens with a sexual assault on a barmaid, who might be his sister; it's kind of unclear. The teenager follows the rapists back to the ranch. He eventually kidnaps the rich rancher's wife, and rapes and tortures her. There is a very bloody, nihilistic finale. There is gratitious nudity. A typical long-scene example is a visit by the misogynistic assaultants to a bordello, where prostitutes disrobe and for several minutes are groped, squeezed and have beer poured on them by the clothed men, who behave like pigs.

So is this film a step above its low-tier genre?  Maybe a little. It's a pithy tale, direct and to the point; brevity works here. Perhaps National Review was impressed by the crude frontier justice and chaos that results. Also, Carlo, played by James Arena, is kind of interesting. At first the viewer has sympathy for him, due to the abuse he takes from the cowboys and rancher. But as the film goes on Carlo's actions turn evil and his character loses sympathy. That reminds me of George A. Romero's "Martin," where the title wannabe vampire, played by John Amplas, could evoke sympathy but simply goes too far until the audience wants him dead.

Apparently Joseph Mascolo, who plays the rancher Jason O'Hara, became a soap opera star later. Virginia Gordon plays his kidnapped wife, Susan O'Hara. My assumption is she was a star of the adult genre of that era.

Besides Plex and other streamers, this film is for sale by Severin Films as a Blu-Ray, with accompanying feature, shorts and interviews. I believe this weekend it's half price for Black Friday. The Blu-Ray is also at Amazon. If you like this revenge western genre, Plan9Crunch has also reviewed "Cain's Cutthroats." John Carradine is great in that grimy film.

Joe's Gamera Film Ranking, Worst to Best - Gamera Day Nov. 27, 2024

 

By Joe Gibson

Very suddenly, the anniversary of the original 1965 Gamera film, November 27th, 2024 (otherwise called Gamera Day) is close upon us. Now, here at Plan9Crunch, I, Joe Gibson, have been working my way through specifically the Showa Gamera series (1965-1980) out of order, and I eventually intend to have reviews up here for all of the Showa Gamera films + Gamera The Brave and Gamera Rebirth (if you are interested in essays on the Gamera Heisei trilogy, let us know). However, Gamera Day comes only once a year, and this ranking can serve as a preview for those later thoughts and a concise summary of earlier articles (links interspersed throughout). If you disagree, share your own rankings below.

13. Gamera vs Zigra 1971 (Link here to a Plan9Crunch review: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/07/gamera-vs-zigra-turning-53-years-old.html)

As I have already expressed, Gamera vs Zigra is constrained by such lack of budget that Director Noriaki Yuasa's creativity is unable to realize in any substantive charm. The film, set almost entirely in Kamogawa Sea World has to contrive reasons to stay at the setting without destroying it and proves unable to use the setting to ground any main characters' arcs and actions (outside of a superfluous aquarium worker that somehow contributes more than the children do). The plot comes off as a retread of Gamera vs Viras, and the intention and powers of Zigra and those under his thrall as well as the stakes are very inconsistent without many creative fight scenes to offset that. As I will discuss in the following sections, most Showa Gamera movies are a mix of high highs and low lows; this film is just the same bland tripe throughout where the contrivances in Zigra's paralysis working differently for different people leads into the contrivance of the main cast's ultimate survival, but the more clever choreography and aquarium juxtaposition taper off into nothing by the end of the film.

12. Gamera 1965

Being the first Gamera movie ever made and one of the most influential kaiju films (at the very least, Yongary seems to have copied this film's tonal inconsistency of designating the title monster as  terrible destroyer as well as friend to a child), it is surprising I have not discussed this in its own dedicated review yet. Personally, I find it quite hard to watch with its very abrupt storytelling and confusing character motivations of Toshio and his family, but it places here on the list because the image of Gamera catching Toshio from the lighthouse (as well as other scenes that support Yuasa and writer Nisan Takahashi's intent for Gamera as an icon to children) touched upon something that would go on to fuel the childlike whimsy of this franchise. Gamera 1965 is a movie at war with itself, with the studio Daiei wanting a darker Godzilla ripoff and Yuasa wanting to emphasize his childlike creativity; Gamera vs Barugon 1966 shows us Daiei's vision more fully realized, and Gamera vs Gyaos 1967 is the earliest film where Yuasa can show off what he wants to do unopposed. Both are much higher on this list so stay posted for my thoughts on those.

11. Gamera vs Viras 1968 (link here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-best-of-scenes-and-worst-of-scenes.html)

In my review of Gamera vs Viras, I emphasized the growing pains of the transition from early to late Showa Gamera with the decreasing role of series mainstay Kojiro Hongo and introduction of an American child alongside a Japanese one per AIP's dictates, and, consequently, this very uneven film is the best of the Showa series...and also the worst. It averages out to merely decent (there are more things done well here than in the original Gamera). Whenever I get to reviewing Gamera Rebirth, I will have to compare Viras' utilization there to his original film, so while I do not have much new to say on this movie now, it will get its time for fresh thoughts.

10. Gamera Super Monster 1980

Having Gamera Super Monster this high is an insane hot take; I understand that. Hear me out. While I enjoy the common joke that Gamera Super Monster, as a trashy clip show, makes the worst Godzilla films look like Shakespeare, that just is not true according to the way I am watching these movies. The two films before this on this list are intensely inconsistent, detrimentally affecting their value as stories and art to relay a theme, emotion or internally consistent script. Do I enjoy any of the component parts of Gamera vs Viras less than watching a dorky child try to impress three good spacewomen and an evil one? No, obviously not since I haven't talked about this one and only intend to reference it as scarcely as necessary, but this movie is consistently about Keiichi seeking an older sister influence, said arc justifying his interactions with the three good spacewomen and his naivety that redeems the evil spacewoman. Add in the genuinely good transitions into the stock footage segments and a great soundtrack, and it is better than several Godzilla films (but I should probably stop that train of thought before I incite a mob against me). If you want some literature to give you a newfound appreciation for Gamera Super Monster, pick up Constantine Furman's "The Unoffical Tokusatsu Fan's Handbook For Gamera Super Monster" (link here: https://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Tokusatsu-Handbook-GAMERA-MONSTER/dp/B097VBGYTL).

9. Gamera vs Jiger 1970

I feel kind of bad having this film this low since, though I have not yet had the opportunity to talk about it, I genuinely think this is one of the best Showa Gamera films and a darn fine Showa kaiju film in general. Because I mentioned that Vs Viras is an awkward intermediary stage between early and late Showa Gamera, I should probably expound on how I would characterize both halves of this era. Just like with Showa Godzilla (where I would argue Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster 1964 exemplifies grounded but absurd early Showa with Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 1974 carrying with it the tropes of goofy late Showa and Godzilla's Revenge being the awkward middle step where priorities reframed to children), the trajectory changed, and this film pays off the influence of Yuasa the best in AIP era Gamera. Yuasa's childlike creativity is best epitomized by the treatment of Jiger, a triceratops with an absurd amount of long range weaponry I can't even summarize efficiently that has been locked away  for a long time. But Yuasa tackles this daunting premise in a way only he can. So Jiger escapes her captivity, right? Immediately, she goes to take a long drink of water. It's so simple (this is the way a child thinks) but it helps to not only characterize the villain monster but also set the creative and whimsical tone. Throughout the movie, Jiger cycles through her absurd arsenal believably and efficiently, again in a childlike cycle: Jiger lands her attack, Gamera recovers, Gamera learns how to counter the attack, and then Jiger moves on to the next weapon because the other one stopped working. It is a simple formula, but this series' creativity thrives in simplicity.

8. Gamera vs Gyaos 1967

Though I am placing this film this low, I can understand and would defend any placement above this point; everything just genuinely comes together extraordinarily well: Kojiro Hongo is a very engaging hero, there is enough social commentary to keep the intersecting subplots and archetypes purposeful, and the influence of child character Eiichi on this plot helps to keep the sci-fi aspects simple and creative. Gyaos gets its name from Eiichi imitating the cry it makes (meaning the pronunciation regardless of how you spell it is probably meant to be Gy--oww-ssss as one syllable), and the explanation of Gyaos' head stiffness is a unique way to account for the limitations of suitmation. All in all, this is just a great example of Showa kaiju eiga and proves what Noriaki Yuasa and Nisan Takahashi can do when Daiei appoints a producer Hidemasa Nagata that agrees with their child marketing enough to write children's songs for them.

7. Gamera vs Guiron 1969 (read Doug Gibson's review here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2023/04/gamera-versus-guiron-was-fun-fare-for.html)

You may be thinking that this film has no valid reason to be this high, that it messes up incredibly easy dumb things like Akio and Tom's mothers not remembering that aliens literally invaded last film when they say that there is nothing left to be discovered in space. You would be kind of right. You may also say this a morbid trainwreck of a fairy tale, but I'd contest the label fairy tale when portal fantasy is much closer philosophically and by counting common tropes. Technically speaking, I am evaluating this film's placement with different rules than the previous ones, but that is because no one else seems to have considered the portal fantasy connections or the ones I can draw between this film and the teachings of Carl Jung (see my Jungian Analysis of Gamera vs Guiron here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-jungian-exploration-of-gamera-vs.html). Most speakers on this movie have some knowledge on how Noriaki Yuasa's psychology made it into these films, but the literary criticism stops there for some reason. All art is art, and, if any art deserves deeper in depth analysis, all art does. If we were just focusing on the craft and internal consistency, this film's placement would slip, but I also will point to the possibly unintentional way that this film transforms Gamera's stock footage into a very effective Jungian Answer to Job Christ figure. If the pendulum ever swings to favor this film intellectually, I will be more critical of it; as of now, I have the most fun being its most stalwart defender. If you want to hear a more dynamic presentation of this argument, you can visit our YouTube page, watch this podcast episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsnr2cNOm2c) and comment your thoughts.

6. Gamera Rebirth 2023

Despite poor viewership, I honestly think Gamera Rebirth was one of the best shows of 2023 (far better than the Skull Island cartoon anyway). It has the unique and unfortunate position as the revival for Gamera while kaiju reintrepretations are at an all time high in supply and Gamera's popularity is high among fans but low generally. As a kaiju/tokusatsu fan entering 2023, distributions of Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider were on the horizon as well as Godzilla Minus One, Godzilla x Kong, etc, and Gamera Rebirth pretty provably fell out of attention. But it somehow managed to thread together Showa and Heisei sensibitilies to be a love letter to this series, the Shin Gamera that no one seems to want to make. The 6 episodes each give Gamera a different opponent (Gyaos, Jiger, Zigra, Guiron, Viras and a really big mutated Gyaos called S-Gyaos) mostly in retrospect to each kaiju's film (the Jiger episode brings up the subplot from that movie of the military not trusting Gamera, and the Guiron episode is when the characters realize they cannot necessarily trust the adults, which is a major idea in that film as well). As such, I really will need to have fleshed out reviews for all the relevant movies to point to when I end up reviewing this show. Broadly, I can say this series builds up its characters really well because the templates of Toru (from Gamera the Brave), Asagi (from the Heisei trilogy) and Akio and Tom (from Gamera vs Guiron) exist and can be revised and shaken up for Boco, Joe, Junichi and Brody. The last episode is, by far, the worst one (something this show has in common with Johnny Sokko) because, given the explanation provided, S-Gyaos really should not exist (if Viras can absorb dead kaiju parts while they are enclosed in a box, how did it fail to assimilate living tissue that had no plastic protection from his body?), and Joe, Junichi and Brody have barely any relevance during the final battle.

5. Gamera vs Barugon 1966

While I am mainly a fan of Noriaki Yuasa's Gamera vision, I cannot deny that Gamera vs Barugon 1966, the only Showa Gamera film not to feature Yuasa as director is really really good. It focuses on human greed and the collateral damage that causes as dastardly villain Onodera murders his friends and sics a kaiju on Japan because of his self serving greed. This is Kojiro Hongo's first Gamera role as the brooding protagonist Keisuke Hirata who deconstructs his own blame for these events and selfishness throughout the runtime. This film otherwise will probably assault the senses in a marathon: it is dark and edgy with bloody human fights that outshine the monster ones, the only child character is newborn monster Barugon, who Gamera drowns, and for some unknown reason, there is a shot that simulates oral sex when Karen licks Keisuke's blood from his arm at an odd angle. In retrospect, does this make sense as part of this series? No. But is it a great blockbuster achievement for Daiei? Yes.

4. Gamera 2. Advent of Legion 1996

For the 30th anniversary of Gamera, Daiei allowed Shusuke Kaneko and Kazunori Ito to reboot Gamera, and the ensuing 90s trilogy that places these next three spots on the list was born. There was some executive meddling in keeping Gamera's cuddly and childlike nature around and only incrementally letting Kaneko and Ito bring in their darker ideas, but, like an ouroboros, that meddling ended up clarifying how they wrote their story (i.e. building up Gamera as an obvious hero and then casting that in doubt as the stakes, building dread by showing Gamera getting scarier and scarier but still being on our side...for now). As the middle chapter in this story, Advent of Legion has to build the stakes from the previous film and provide something new and interesting. The worldbuilding of the Legion alien army is spectacular, being somewhat feasible pneumatic aliens that spread through pods. As I mentioned in the third part of my Godzilla x Kong review (https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/07/part-three-nuanced-deconstruction-of.html), I do take issue with a major contrivance toward the end that goes unexplained, namely how Gamera does defeat Legion. It is debatable if it actually ruins the cause and effect of the climax, but I do not like having to make inferences for a movie even if it has definitely earned that.

3. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe 1995

Talking about the Heisei trilogy comes far less naturally to me, but again I have nothing but praise for how this movie interprets its monsters, especially the villains where Gyaos returns for a sleek redesign involving better fleshed out science fiction and fantasy by delving into the origins for Gyaos (and Gamera), something that has only really ever had lip service paid. (For what it is worth, the plot point of the Gyaos turning on their creators comes directly from Gamera vs Guiron, if you wanted another reason to reevaluate any negative opinions on it.) To be concise, GOTU, AoL and RoI all have a different focus; this first part is a streamlined kaiju format that balances its plot and character complexities, Advent of Legion was very plot heavy, and Revenge of Iris will be so vague in the plot just to prop up its characters and themes more. What approach you prefer depends on your preference, but I will argue that RoI is superb enough to place above this, and Advent of Legion is flawed enough to deserve placement beneath this.

2. Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris 1999

I suspect later honest inquiry will find this to be the best Gamera movie of all time because Ayana's arc perfectly develops the moral ambiguity, revisionist ambiguity and mythological ambiguity that not only the trilogy up to this point but especially this film is building to in its climax . If you are unaware who Ayana is, I ended up going on a tangent about her in my Godzilla vs Kong review that is a better summary than I can give here (https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2023/06/review-godzilla-versus-kong-2021-remake.html). This movie, as I mentioned in my later Godzilla x Kong review manages to redeem the Deus ex Machina of Gamera's final attack on Legion in G2, and it uses the mythology of Atlantis, Gamera, Gyaos and now Mana (what allowed Gamera to kill Legion but seemingly also creates Gyaos if Gamera uses too much in any single dose) to tie together this trilogy's storytelling in a very satisfying way. The storytellling, fight scenes and character progression of Ayana as well as returning characters Nagamine and Osako are genuiney top tier, so there was never any question in my mind that this would be top 2. So what can be better than this?

1. Gamera The Brave 2006

Despite heavy ambivalence, I have chosen Gamera The Brave (original title The Little Braves, Gamera) to be at the top of this list rather than Revenge of Iris. In my defense, this is a close matchup. The debate for best human character in this franchise is always going to be Toru or Ayana, and, ultimately, which one you choose is going to depend on if you prioritize deconstructing the Showa formula or reconstructing it to be stronger in the modern era. (Like the Showa era, this film is about Gamera helping the development and survival of a young boy Toru, caring for him after his mom dies and while his neighbor is about to undergo a surgery, while Revenge of Iris was about a young girl trying to cope with her loss by destroying a very destructive Gamera.) The effects are impressive in both GtB and RoI (surpassed by both GOTU and AoL), and I think both scripts are near perfect. It will be a challenge to find a victor just focusing on either film because the strengths of each film are firmly rooted in retrospect (the flagship scene of this movie involves all the children passing off a magic rock to give to Gamera, which plays off of the series trope that Gamera is the Friend to All Children, while one of the most impactful scenes in Revenge of Iris features Gamera saving a random child seemingly accidentally, deconstructing the purpose that we apply to Gamera or gods in general in our relationship with him). But if you prefer slice of life character development to dramatic philosophizing, you may see what I see in Gamera the Brave that makes it the very best this franchise has to offer.

Hope you enjoyed this ranking and that you enjoy Gamera Day by watching some of the above films and show. Gamera Rebirth is on Netflix, and you can stream all the other Gamera films on Amazon Prime Video. Tubi, Pluto and YouTube should also have listings to stream for most of these films.

Part Three - Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II: Strengths and Stupidities

 

By Joe Gibson

 

Hi, and welcome back to Plan9Crunch’s review of Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II. In the two previous parts (linked below), we went over an introduction of the context for Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II and a plot runthrough. As we are now discussing and concluding on thematic content, this will make a lot more sense if you have read the previous parts.

 

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/11/godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla-ii-strengths.html

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/11/part-two-godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla-ii.html

 

Chapter Three - Moral Befuddlement or The Trolley Problem of Young Baby Godzilla

 

Based on what we just went over, I would summarize the themes of this film as intentionally confused and confusing. Our desired allegiances are unclear, because Mechagodzilla is an iconic villain now reimagined as an extension of human desires, while Godzilla (hero or villain that he can be) is finally acting on the sympathetic moments trickled within this Heisei chronology in order to step up as a slightly redeemed version of this character. Throughout all this is sparse commentary on life vs artificial life and responsibility vs self-interest.

 

Kazuma Aoki is an annoying, irresponsible, flaky, obsessed and pushy idiot with a stupid flying pteranodon robot, and half of the reviews I see of this movie focus on that, but the other half detail how he is a singularly relatable and funny character. Imagine for a moment growing up in the 70s, 80s and pre Jurassic Park 90s being a fan of dinosaurs or Godzilla, when the collective conscious reaction is to dismiss those things as dumb. Aoki’s passions lead him to court an attractive successful woman and be the hero without having to directly kill a monster but fighting both. Many viewers see themselves in him, and I think that is intentional when you contrast him with the well-intentioned but misguided officers and contractors of G Force, best exemplified through returning star Miki Saegusa choosing this film to realize killing Godzilla is not a simple noble thought anymore or the stern G Force commander softening up to Aoki.

 

One of the biggest complaints against this film is that its Mechagodzilla lacks a personality compared to the 70s one, and that is, I think, a benefit to the writing rather than a drawback. Mechagodzilla, in this film, is not a character, but a very glorified tank, with the thicker monochromatic design with sleek curves and bleeding-edge technology supporting this interpretation. Godzilla is the personality to focus on in this story; Mechagodzilla’s role in this story is to oppose and contrast Godzilla. 

 

 

In the hand-drawn poster for this film, Mechagodzilla is this hulking ugly menace over Godzilla and Rodan having inflicted gory injuries on them, and no such scene occurs, but it is representative of the power and morality shift that happens in act 3. A very popular format for stories involves the hero winning against the rival, losing against the villain and then getting the rival’s help to beat the villain, but this is also a very flexible format. Rocky III has Rocky beating Apollo as the intro backstory to spend more time on why Rocky then loses to Clubber Lang and how Apollo will help Rocky win, while Black Panther plays it more straight structurally (T’Challa beats M’Baku, Killmonger beats T’Challa, M’Baku supports T’Challa’s attack on Killmonger). This films holds off on Godzilla being the hero or even losing until the third act, giving Rodan more agency as a character than M’Baku and Apollo due to less screen time with Godzilla, and also assigning this persistent growing sense of dread that we do not know where to assign until Super Mechagodzilla starts acting like Showa Mechagodzilla.

 

Now this also raises a question. Who should we blame for Super Mechagodzilla’s ferocity: the mech itself, the pilots therein or the people giving the orders, and doesn’t that sound awfully familiar for a series originally existing to comment on destructive actions taken to end a war? Most other reviews I have seen for this film would have me believing I am seeing subtext that is not there, but again I return to what I said earlier. Where is the analysis that officially ruled this out and decided it was just a dumb light show? I am by no means the final say here, and, if I am wrong, please show me when and where and by how much. This movie still holds up as a mostly consistent popcorn flick, and Mechagodzilla’s design and purpose can be praised for subjective preference if not thematic content, but I genuinely see an attempt at brilliance here.

 

 

Heisei Rodan is my favorite incarnation of the character, despite the fact that he started the annoying trend of Rodan being smaller and weaker than Godzilla, so there is some degree of bias I hold in approaching this part of the analysis. I appreciate the design erring closer to Pteranodon than a winged guy in suit design, and I really like the three horns (as opposed to the usual two) and face equal parts ferocious and sympathetic depending on the scene. Because Mechagodzilla is a more long range then melee opponent, Rodan’s fight with Godzilla gives us the best tooth and claw action in the film, so I also appreciate that. But I also find his use very interesting in a way that ties into the tag team match of Godzilla x Kong: Godzilla and Kong vs a shadow Godzilla and a shadow Kong, Godzilla and Rodan vs Mechagodzilla and Mecha-Rodan??

 

Garuda is very interesting in this movie, designed mostly to mirror Rodan, as, in the climax, Garuda must join with Mechagodzilla to win, and Rodan must join with Godzilla to win. Aoki is no longer piloting Garuda at that point, just as Rodan sacrifices his mind and body to fuse with Godzilla. Aoki’s agency is often overlooked in this story, but he decided to name his anti-Godzilla weapon after a bird god that is the enemy to all snakes in folklore, and Garuda as a modern cryptid is speculated to be surviving pteranodon same as Mothman, Thunderbird, Batsquatch, etc, so Rodan = Garuda is by no means an absurd talking point. (Also, while Aoki only interacts with Rodan adversarially, he really does not get the option to study Rodan, and arguably does a lot of what he does because of that, as I have already detailed.)  I am not claiming it the richest subtextual layer in any film, but if we are giving this film the fairest shake possible, it deserves mention especially in view of what the film builds to with these ideas. If you doubt that Garuda joining with Mechagodzilla is an intentional thematic element to these characters, then you should recall that Garuda is the mount to Vishnu, inherently tied to a more powerful character.

 

Before I summarize my thoughts on Godzilla in this movie, I think it is wise to briefly compare this film to 1967’s Son of Godzilla, since many of the same building blocks exist in both. Godzilla’s redemption arc started sooner than Son of Godzilla in the Showa series, but there was a sort of unease in the mid Showa entries toward Godzilla (the humans willingly dump him and Rodan on Planet X in Godzilla vs Monster Zero, and he is merely the better of two bad options in Ebirah: Horror of the Deep) leading to a film where Godzilla is just on an island fighting villainous mutation monsters to protect a child, and the next time we see him after this, everybody knows he’s a hero. But, in terms of aforementioned similarities, Goro Maki (the Akira Kubo version in SoG, not the Ken Tanaka version from Godzilla 1984) is a campy and comedic journalist who pushes himself into dangerous situations out of genuine interest that annoys the people around him and wins over the girl, while Aoki is all of those things except a journalist. Rodan also slots into the Kamacuras role as a lesser kaiju killed by Godzilla at the beginning that also gets to the fight the villain monster at the end, be it spider Kumonga or Mechagodzilla (let it be said that Kamacuras’ puppetry is far more impressive). And then, of course, the female lead that serves as partial caretaker to the Baby Godzilla is present in both scripts. I have a lot of respect for Son of Godzilla, and it is interesting that Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II seems to share that sentiment.

 

Godzilla, in this film, resembles the Baby, but it is not as exaggerated as in Son of Godzilla (which redesigned Godzilla to look closer to Minya). It is in subtle things, like the positioning of a couple teeth when they both tip their head up to roar the same way, and the more hunched-over stature of Godzilla that organically follows from his previous film to film Heisei redesigns but also matches this new version of Baby Godzilla. Aside from that, I just like the design, and I cannot point to a specific reason that I like this design so much for him except that he gets just shy of 27 minutes of screentime, much of it in daylight, to show off this look. 

 

The most major difference from previous Heisei Godzilla incarnations is that Godzilla’s beam is a lot more precise. Rather than aiming it down to bring it up to an opponent, he will often just land it the first time (except for a few blasts in the climax). I think, based on all of this other befuddlement, that this was done to challenge the audience as much as possible. Godzilla is more dangerous than he has ever been, but we understand him now for the first time. He has the capacity to instantaneously target anything he wants, so when he chooses not to, it also makes you wonder why he did not, and if he ever were to stop, could we leave well enough alone? The viewer ends up stuck between two options rather than being able to fully align with either side.

 

So, what is the answer then: do we dirty our hands to defeat a sympathetic but rampaging creature with G-Force, merely evacuate and hope to rebuild if Godzilla actually does stop attacking this time or throw our hands up and chase down our own special interests in the face of nuclear destruction as Kazuma Aoki does? That drama is where Godzilla, the nuclear allegory, and Heisei Godzilla, the antihero, operate best. Godzilla 1984 also had some version of this where, in the climax, two of our leads are carrying out the plan to dump him in a volcano, the other two are just trying to survive Godzilla’s nuclear destruction, and a homeless man enters the story to decadently feast in the chaos as a third option for what the natural human response to this crisis would be. (The homeless man is actually a decently complex character; I just don’t have time to get into it here.)

Chapter Four - Conclusion or How I learned to stop worrying and rate this film an 8 out of 10

 

I began this review touching upon the history of Godzilla’s reinterpretations and what they mean if you keep one eye trained on the original film. Godzilla is an icon because of nuance and meaning where it was unexpected. Why would anyone expect Godzilla, the villain of the piece, to be a sympathetic character that is as unfairly destroyed as its victims? Why should anyone predict that Dr. Serizawa, the one man with the knowledge to defeat Godzilla, is so deeply disturbed about his miracle weapon he would rather kill himself than see it used again?

 

I am of the opinion, open to hearing contrary ones, that Mechagodzilla should not be some cheap sadistic alien knockoff no matter how cool the 1974 Mechagodzilla was but instead a deeper thematic foil to Godzilla. Ghidorah can have that role, but the more important facet of their rivalry is that they are always on opposing sides no matter what those sides are (Ghidorah as a good guy worked well in Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All Out Attack 2001, as did the aforementioned heroic Mecha King Ghidorah). But Mechagodzilla is literally a human or at least humanoid-created Godzilla, and that carries so much subtextual complexity based on what Godzilla is and how humans created him, just less intentionally so. When Godzilla crosses between anti villain and anti hero, it is so much more interesting to have this shadow version do the same. 

 

In Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, Mechagodzilla is reimagined to be the original Godzilla unnaturally preserved into a new heroic being, and the normally destructive new Godzilla gets a somewhat sympathetic streak due to the implicit familiarity of his opponent, but, whereas, Kiryu (Mechagodzilla) resists his dark impulses, Godzilla proper falls into them, needing to be stopped. 

In Godzilla: City On The Edge of Battle (though I despise that film and trilogy), Godzilla and Mechagodzilla both took over their sections of Earth through mirrored means, and choosing either one over the other turns out to be just as self destructive in different ways for lead Haruo Sakaki. 

And finally in Godzilla vs Kong, Godzilla seemed to be slipping into a villainous role due to decreased proximity to the goals of humans, while Mechagodzilla emerges as a villain due to increased proximity to humans but really takes off for a rampage when it divorces itself from human input and the remaining humans default to Godzilla’s side, vindicating him.

 

But none of this matters. We are talking about Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II and how it executes the complicated morality of rooting against the monster we built to defeat the monster we accidentally started rooting for. I have argued for its merits, and I spent less time arguing the flaws because I see less evidence of them.

 

It is important that you understand this: when it comes to ranking and reviewing media, there are three distinct areas you are sure to eventually disagree with me. 1. The flaws and merits we notice. 2. Our evaluation of the severity of those flaws and merits. 3. How we compare these flaws and merits to those found in other relevant media. 

 

Perhaps you are the kind of person that cannot fathom wasting money on one giant mech when you could make a Super X armada and will not listen to any symbolic justifications (Mechagodzilla as shadow Godzilla) or vague implicit ones (the head and shock anchors of Mecha Ghidorah are the stimulus tech, how in the hell would they put those into Super Xs?). In that case, the poorly fleshed out but ever more reasonable single gauntlet of Project Powerhouse in Godzilla x Kong will make more sense to you. 

 

As I see it, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II is a darn fine entry encompassing some of the best ideas of the Heisei series. Execution is where it falls a little short. While I primarily argue in favor of Aoki as the lead, more relevance given to his pteranodon enthusiasm could only have improved the script. If Godzilla Minus One is a 10 out of 10 for instance, how much lower would it be if Shikishima’s kamikaze background did not play into the final confrontation? Omae, as a very unscientific and quickly irrelevant Professor, also is a bit of a dud in this series of great scientist characters (Doctors Yamane, Serizawa, Mafune, and Shirigami to name a few).

 

We here at Plan9Crunch have a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, and TikTok page. If you enjoyed this analysis, feel free to check out any of our other content, and Happy (now belated) Godzilla Day.

 

Links to Godzilla focused Plan9Crunch articles and videos below:

 

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2023/06/review-godzilla-versus-kong-2021-remake.html

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2014/03/godzilla-is-on-this-authors-mind.html

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2021/12/godzilla-2000-review.html

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2010/02/godzilla-versus-monster-zero.html

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/06/a-nuanced-deconstruction-of-godzilla-x.html

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/06/part-two-nuanced-deconstruction-of.html

https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/07/part-three-nuanced-deconstruction-of.html

 

https://youtu.be/yV6i2xX0pf4?si=Nu9RWsP5k6CbT68H

https://youtu.be/1HMV1hMPgzs?si=1Iip-2qfPxDe6G_B

https://youtu.be/pSosxtg51oM?si=CoDIwTko6C5N5DCY

 

https://youtu.be/AI_FMxtTlIk?si=EA51lODIQp2LUVr1

 

Part Two - Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II: Strengths and Stupidities

 

By Joe Gibson

 

To celebrate Godzilla Day 2024, I started a review of Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, but it turned out to be too long for a reasonable single post. You can read the first part here: https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2024/11/godzilla-vs-mechagodzilla-ii-strengths.html

 

In that first part, I discussed a broad view of the history leading up and extending beyond Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, because the context is very important for a film at one point intended to be a finale and regardless, this film did shift the trajectory of the Heisei series by making the moments of sympathy for Godzilla in the previous films amount to a greater payoff. Then, I began to work my way through the film’s plot, doing my best to analyze each plot point. We left off on Godzilla beginning a rampage while the main characters were gathered around the newly birthed (via pteranodon nest) Baby Godzilla.

 

Chapter 2 (Plot Run-through) Continued

 

Mechagodzilla is launched to intercept Godzilla, and if this seems too early for the title fight at only 30 minutes in, it is, I was serious about the 27 minutes of Godzilla screen time. Not only do we get a Godzilla vs Rodan warm up match but Godzilla and Mechagodzilla get at least two rounds too. The G Force Commander refers to Aoki as a jackass for not showing up, so they get a backup pilot. At this point, Mechagodzilla is in the hero role. Godzilla is an established menace, and Mechagodzilla is the weapon of the virtuous organization to defeat him, representing no threat to the innocent (just as Godzilla seems to be of no benefit to the innocent). The film even casts Mechagodzilla in a bright light just to make sure we are on the same page that it is definitely the good guy.

 

This fight plays out mostly as a weapons display for Mechagodzilla, with the rainbow megabuster mouth beam and plasma grenade belly button port that actually knocks Godzilla down from absorbing and redirecting his energy (reminder, this only works because of the aforementioned diamond plating). Mechagodzilla fires paralyzing missiles into Godzilla and another shot of the plasma grenade to prep the shock anchor, essentially a really big taser.

 

It seems as if Mechagodzilla has Godzilla dead to rights, but, if you’ve been paying attention to the Heisei series, you know that Godzilla does his best fighting to get back up off his back and even exactly how he will get back up. Whenever Godzilla’s mouth starts foaming, he is liable to release a nuclear pulse or else redirect energy, and giving him a literal direct line to overcharge you is never a good idea. Godzilla knocks over Mechagodzilla, and we learn where his rampage will take him: Kyoto, where the Baby is. Whenever I think of Heisei Godzilla rampage and evacuation scenes, I think of the montage as Godzilla finds his way to Kyoto.

 

The four main humans and Baby Godzilla go to a deeper secure level of the building they are in, and the characters conclude Baby Godzilla has been calling Godzilla to him and that Godzilla also went to the island in the first place solely for the Baby. Godzilla is a little bit too destructive trying to get into the building, scaring Baby Godzilla, and this causes Godzilla to leave, very suddenly and dejected, even avoiding other buildings on the way out, which is very interesting (it would be more understandable if Godzilla reacted to disappointment by destroying those buildings, but it seems the rampage is over from the moment Baby does not want to leave with him). 

 

Aoki, when chastised by the G Force commander for not being there when Godzilla attacks, tells him he used up some vacation time he had coming for him. It is very important that you understand that Aoki is a lackadaisical anarchistic free spirit that would rather crack a joke in the face of authority than honestly explain the major contribution he has made to their Godzilla research by being the only reason Baby Godzilla was born, because it is not a contrivance but a consistent character trait. Aoki only cares about pteranodons, and, as the only organic one in this film is presently dead, he will try to resurrect his robotic ones going forward. The commander is uncharacteristically peaceful during this exchange, and it turns out that is because he is reassigning him to parking lot duty.

 

While this is all happening, Azusa has become more comfortable with her role as the young Godzillasaur (affectionately called Baby)’s caretaker, as he begs her for a hamburger (the camera does not focus on burger as she does something to it before giving it to him, making it possible she removed the meat patty) on the way to their new enclosure within G Force. The G Force officials overseeing this refer to Baby only as a very important animal, and we learn why a few minutes later. Baby contains a nerve cluster/second brain near his back, and they intend to target that point on Godzilla (once more the juxtaposition of this innocent creature in captivity being Godzilla but also the key to his downfall.

 

Dr Asimov is the obligatory English speaker (though the actor is Italian) in a Heisei Godzilla movie, overseeing the Mechagodzilla project, and Aoki traps him in the parking garage in order to convince him to reinstate Garuda as an official part of the Mechagodzilla project to “increase Mechagodzilla’s maneuverability.” A computer simulation shows us a mockup of Garuda’s functionality, and Asimov agrees they can make it so that Garuda can attach to Mechagodzilla when needed in combat.

 

Baby is mischievous in captivity, and Aoki visits to hit on a more receptive Azusa by showing off his small personal flight vehicle the Pteranodon. This scene is subject to many memes and much ire as he wins her over by flying around stupidly and irresponsibly on a pteranodon robot for little to no reason other than that he (or at least someone on the creative team) wanted it to be so. In my analysis, this is yet another example of how much he enforces his will on the plot by liking pteranodons and yet being unable to have any substantive interaction with a physical one. People complain that he does not interact with Rodan more, and, yes, that is weird, but these same people get annoyed by and ignore when his pteranodon passion trait still influences his key scenes. Another point of interest is when he, in this same scene, refers to his promotion as being back to flying again, a way he can be like the pteranodon just like on his dumb two seater robot.

 

How Baby Godzilla feels about anything at any given moment is a little unclear because the suit is not as clearly defined as the Heisei Godzilla suits and animatronics. He expresses some fear in situations involving Godzilla and Rodan but usually only when directly in danger. He is perfectly docile when a robot that somewhat resembles Rodan flies overhead, and when he shows agitation following the psychic children singing the plant song and incidentally reviving Rodan, it is not fear and is instead because the song gives Baby power too. Actually, while we are here, I am not entirely sure why this time the song was sung, it revived Rodan into Fire Rodan, but it did not the previous time. The only variable difference is between that of a recording and a live production of people very high in psychic energy. Gun to my head, I think that is what the film is going for, but they should have better expressed that unless I missed something.

 

G-Force’s plan is to use the Baby to lure Godzilla to the Ogasawara Islands and have Miki on Mechagodzilla to psychically locate the second brain for their G-Crusher attack, and, this is where the dubious morality of G-Force fully comes into play. Beyond just using the military pieces against the giant monster, G-Force is now using Baby and Miki, two peaceful innocents, as chess pieces in this game. Azusa pleads to a UNGCC higher-up that Baby is an intelligent being that deserves his own life, but the retort is that G-Force’s most important task is defeating Godzilla no matter the cost. Now, the obvious wrinkle here is that if G-Force knows Godzilla will follow the baby, that means they can figure out his only attacks this year have corresponded to the baby, so using the baby under any circumstances assures Godzilla’s activity, and they really should not have him anywhere near their main base of operations.

 

Miki being present at the meeting of higher up G-Force members might screw with my interpretation of her and Aoki both being outsiders and sitting together consequently, but she is still the odd one out, and her input in not only the planning of but participation in a G-Force mission is meant to be an escalation in story, so I do not think it damages the earlier plot point. After the meeting, Miki, Aoki and Azusa all compare notes, pondering that Baby Godzilla was born 65 million years too late to have a good life…or maybe too early if dinosaurs might come back as Azusa contemplates.

 

Baby is loaded into a van in chains and a collar, and his eyes light up in fear just so that it is clear this is an inhuman animal rights violation and not just putting a dog in a temporary moving kennel (again the design is good, but it is very difficult to tell its emotions without the eyeball lights flashing, something by no means true of Heisei Godzilla, who by this point has scowled, done a double take and even cried very visibly and clearly in previous films). Azusa decides to go with him, and Fire Rodan goes after the container. Rodan’s devotion to protecting his adoptive baby brother is the most interesting thing that has been done with this character since the debut film (where he was devoted to his spouse even to the point of dying together rather than living alone), and I think it speaks to my earlier point equating the Shin movement with the original Heisei philosophy. This was not just a different take on Rodan; this was the true and new Rodan after things got a little out of hand with the superhero with the droopy beak. Omae has been out of the movie for a little bit, but here he gets to jump to the conclusion that Baby and Rodan are communicating, despite there being little to suggest that from his perspective (obviously he is right, but he strains credulity after a certain amount of omniscient rants unless he too is supposed to be psychic, which we can just call the Trapper Beasley Effect, see my Godzilla x Kong review for more information: https://youtu.be/AI_FMxtTlIk?si=EA51lODIQp2LUVr1).

 

Miki hesitates to put on her special helmet, once again driving home that the Heisei series’ main character and otherwise moral center is not fully in this fight. Aoki is all in but for different reasons, as he informs the G-Force commander that he built Garuda and has to see it through (but we must also remember Azusa was literally just kidnapped by Rodan, so that is an additional two incentives for him to fly out to meet them).

 

Rodan circles and finds a place to land. His red Fire Rodan coloring stands out against the night backdrop. (Whether or not Rodan standing out against a dark backdrop is intentional, it is still interesting that back when this conflict was clearer, Mechagodzilla was the shining hero with a gleaming background, but this fight will take no such opportunity to make Mechagodzilla look so good. Mechagodzilla will even lose an eye to Rodan and consequently look somewhat sinister and at least less human). Rodan opens the container, and Baby screeches (or yawns, his eyes aren’t red). Mechagodzilla and Rodan finally square off, and Rodan immediately fires a purple heat beam (this was the Heisei era after all). Mechagodzilla preps the plasma grenade, but the commander places his trust in Aoki to distract Rodan first. I would have liked more scenes between them to justify this turn, but it is still cathartic to see Aoki finally taken seriously after he has stepped up to help out.

 

 

Aoki flies around and attacks Rodan, siccing the pteranodon on himself. Rodan’s air superiority knocks him out of the sky, and the commander is actually displeased to see this happen to Aoki. The plasma grenade knocks Fire Rodan into a tall building, and Mechagodzilla slowly approaches him to finish the job, more of a slasher villain than good guy in presentation. Rodan does the aforementioned eye pecking but gets blasted and starts to bleed out and foam at the mouth. Mechagodzilla approaches again, even more sinister looking than before. I forgot Omae was here for the climax, but he arrives to try and get Azusa out of the container just as Godzilla pulls up. 

 

A UNGCC official comments that Godzilla is there at last, and here is a point of hypocrisy on their part. This fight is not happening on the uninhabited Ogasawara Islands, per the plan, and Mechagodzilla has already caused considerable collateral damage by blasting Rodan into the tallest building there. Continuing the plan to exterminate Rodan and Godzilla here rather than move the now unguarded container to the aforementioned islands represents a rather huge moral compromise that G-Force and the UNGCC made unflinchingly. If you think I am reading too deep into this, then explain why the G-Force commander hesitates before launching into this attack. However, there is still a great deal of complexity here as Mechagodzilla is still the underdog for having lost the previous fight, and Godzilla immediately shows off his strength by lifting Mechagodzilla and throwing him. Similarly to earlier, Godzilla’s focus is not the buildings, but he is just so physically impressive that he is a constant threat.

 

Aoki leaps back into action to attack Godzilla to buy the Mechagodzilla crew time to right themselves, and the commander and Aoki have genuinely nice banter as Garuda joins up with Mechagodzilla to share weapons and energy systems to become Super Mechagodzilla. Super Mechagodzilla has all of the weapons of both mechs and releases them as a barrage on Godzilla. This is something the Showa Mechagodzilla as a villain did in his two movies, and Super Mechagodzilla hides behind buildings to evade Godzilla’s beams. The two opponents roar quite a bit at the start of this scene, so I want to highlight that Mechagodzilla has a roar, which is quite strange taken any way other than symbolically. Its roar is uncanny, an artificial imitation of Godzilla’s, an easy way to communicate it is unnatural. Super Mechagodzilla finally prepares the G-Crusher, and the UNGCC brass pressure Miki into targeting Godzilla’s second brain, something she clearly does not want to do.

 

The G-Crusher discharges electric pulses to Godzilla’s second brain, paralyzing him. Whether or not we should consider this a death for the character is unclear. Previous drafts had Godzilla die here, and, if we compare Godzilla to Rodan, Rodan died a couple days ago but was able to revive and is currently bleeding out. My point is that these are death scenarios that are not permanent, thereby meant to leverage our sympathy more so than denote the end of a character.

 

With Godzilla defeated, Aoki ditches Super Mechagodzilla to go help Azusa. The commander looks very solemn during this, and Aoki clearly cares more about Azusa, so at this point, Super Mechagodzilla the entity is no longer on our side as the audience. Super Mechagodzilla continues to pelt Godzilla with every attack it has, and Baby cries in sadness at Godzilla’s impending death. This inspires Rodan to circle back, and Super  Mechagodzilla shoots him out of the sky. But Rodan lands on Godzilla and sacrifices his life and essence to give Godzilla the radiation he needs to heal his second brain. Rodan was once again so devoted to his family that he sacrificed himself, and this moment is one of my favorites in the entire Heisei series.

 

 

Because of the new energy, Godzilla is able to melt that diamond plating we had all film building up to, so Godzilla unleashes his new Red Spiral heat Ray to destroy Super Mechagodzilla. As I compared the diamond plating to the BEAST Glove, here is the ultimate third-act payoff. After it has worked thus far across the film and is based on past technology, it ultimately fails as a cathartic moment, which I find to be an apt comparison to the BEAST Glove, which had some setup but no relevance until it worked flawlessly even when it should not have (see the third part of my Godzilla x Kong review for more information).

 

Godzilla’s Red Spiral Ray overpowers Super Mechagodzilla in a beam clash and knocks over the mech. Red flames akin to hellfire engulf Super Mechagodzilla, and the robotic operating system of Mechagodzilla claims there are no survivors when really there were no casualties. I did not highlight it yet, but there has been a minor theme in this film about how unreliable technology is compared to organic. Mechagodzilla breaks down and only has a finite amount of energy even when Garuda joins with, but the familial power Baby Godzilla and Rodan share is enough to fuel Godzilla when he breaks down. The pteranodon robot also breaks down abruptly, and Rodan can easily beat Garuda in a fair fight. Artificial life truly is lesser than organic throughout this entire film.

 

After a tearful goodbye, Azusa bids Baby go with Godzilla, and Godzilla tries to convince the kid to leave him with him, but Baby is scared suddenly, and Azusa asks Miki to ask Godzilla to take the Baby with his telepathy. This is stupid, because Godzilla clearly is on that same page, and it is Baby Godzilla that stands in the way of this. Miki realizes this, and the film’s editing shows us that she alleviates Baby Godzilla’s fear rather than communicate with Godzilla (honestly, this was probably a mistake of the dub, but also, speaking practically Godzilla probably knows that Miki is the one that just killed him, so negotiating with him is unwise). 

 

As Godzilla and Baby walk off into the ocean together, the commander and Mechagodzilla team pontificate about the differences between life and artificial life. This is a common criticism of the movie, but I have already argued it portrays this. My only issue is that the commander was not present for all or even necessarily most of the showings of the tenacity of natural life. Yet more controversial is Aoki and Azusa speculating that a dinosaur age awaits. I have heard a lot of complaints about how the film does not really justify or earn this dialogue with any profundity, but that is really not the point. This is how Aoki and Azusa as they have been written thus far would reflect on these events, so it is an example of good writing, and if your analysis does not even allow for character consistency as an option for a creative choice you do not understand, then I do not think you are putting enough thought into your analysis. I am not perfect in this, but I always try to approach a film with its due respect and meet it within what it aims to say and how. I guess I just want to ask how we ruled out that the film is just merely keeping consistent with established character traits rather than rushing a plot development we did not see.

Unfortunately, I'll have to end this part here (at least we finished the film this time). Throughout this review, I've highlighted some key concepts whenever they appeared in this film, and, next time, I will bring this all together for some commentary on the thematic content I see in this film and what conclusions I draw based on these scenes. Stay tuned for the final part soon.