By Joe Gibson
Hi, and welcome back to Plan9Crunch where we’re all about cult films and hope you are too. I’m Joe Gibson, and today to coincide with Godzilla Day 2024, I would like to talk to you all about our Lizord and Savior Godzilla. This is mostly about 1993’s Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, but it’ll take a little bit to get there. This review got pretty long (9 thousand words, so you can expect a similar format to my Godzilla x Kong Review of multiple parts and then a video, links at the bottom of this article).
Chapter One - Shin Godzilla Raided Again the first time in 1984
The larger genre of
kaiju eiga, best exemplified by Godzilla, fits within several era categories.
Kaiju films made before 1989 fit into the Showa era (these era names are titled
mostly after the Emperor’s reigns, so Heisei is the era of 1989 onwards, and
Reiwa is the most recent), and Godzilla’s Showa series lasted between 1954 and
1975, Godzilla 1984 being the start of the Heisei series that ended in 1995,
with the Millennium series lasting from 1999 to 2004, and the concurrent
Legendary and Toho Reiwa revivals occurring in the last decade. While the
Millenium series was focused on rabid reinterpretation (which you can see with
Godzilla finally being green and having a red beam rather than blue, King
Ghidorah being a good guy, Mechagodzilla being the revived original Godzilla),
much of the Reiwa era has been focused on returning to the roots of the
character for a truer incarnation.
Shin Godzilla (2016) is perhaps
the most important monster film of the past few decades, for reinterpreting
Godzilla as a nuclear tragedy the way he was originally, in ways that have been
mimicked with Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider that return to the aesthetic
and tone of their respective original series. (Gamera is unfortunately the odd
man out with no dedicated Shin installment, but I think 2023’s Gamera Rebirth
is a very good example of the general trend in how it remains focused on
Gamera’s bond with children from the Showa era with Showa monsters while still
acknowledging the aspects of Heisei Gamera that are now inextricable from the
IP.) And then of course Godzilla Minus One might be the best example in this
entire series of hearkening back to the original and encapsulating something
Godzilla Can Be that feels right.
However, this history is
somewhat revisionist. The Millennium series, as an example, was not meant to be
unlike Godzilla but condemn the 1998 American film; noticeably Godzilla 2000
(1999) designs its villain monster Orga after the 1998 creature, with the added
implication that Orga is trying to assimilate Godzilla but will always
fail. Even this new green, spiky Godzilla that breathes red flame is more
of a Godzilla than the Tristar abomination was. The New Millennium must have a
New Godzilla, and Toho could not allow the 1998 Zilla or (G.I.N.O. Godzilla In
Name Only) to lead the series into this milestone. We have to remember that
every Godzilla series was made film to film, not experiment to experiment.
More to the point of why
we are here today, the Heisei series was not designed to be one out of three
additional series to experiment each in a separate direction; it was the
relaunch of Godzilla to return to his roots. Regardless of your opinion of
Godzilla’s sillier Showa outings, one can chart the general trend from serious
to satire to superhero in Godzilla’s Showa filmography. While the beast in
Godzilla 1954 was equal parts allegory, monster and victim, there was nothing
in that original film to suggest that Godzilla would wind up sliding on his
tail fighting alien invaders to save little boys in tight pants. But the series
reached that point anyway. Rebooting Godzilla was an opportunity in and of
itself, and there are a lot of scrapped concepts you can find online to see
where Toho thought Godzilla should go upon his return. What we got was The
Return of Godzilla also known as Godzilla 1984 also known as Godzilla 1985, a
film set amidst and about Cold War tensions, where Godzilla represents the real
threat of nuclear annihilation, but he also has a character outside of that.
This new Godzilla was going to hearken back to the original in that way.
Superhero was a bit too far, but sympathetic…that could work. At the end of
Godzilla 1954, following damage control from Godzilla invading the humans’ homes and destroying them, the humans enter Godzilla's home to destroy him. Not only
that, but in that film about victims of nuclear technology, he is the first
victim of it.
Godzilla 1984 carries
this sympathetic streak through effectively. During a couple key moments,
Godzilla responds to bird calls, following them because, due to similar
anatomy, he understands them and either thinks they are the same or wants them
to be. That is how the ending functions; the humans lure Godzilla to a volcano
with the bird calls, and there is a moment where he pauses, almost as if he
knows he shouldn’t but proceeds anyway to fall to his doom.
I cannot speak to the
intent of these scenes any better than anyone else can. Insofar as Godzilla
1984 was technically the first Shin Godzilla, but history won’t see it that
way, I cannot speak to the deliberate intent of certain other key decisions
film to film. The flabbergasted look on Godzilla’s face after he escapes his
volcano and treks to find his clone Biollante, finally laying eyes on that
abomination can communicate aggression or that same loneliness. In the third
Heisei Godzilla film, time travel shenanigans reveal a connection with a
particular human, and the tear in his eye as he kills Shindo elucidates that
aggression and loneliness may very well be tied together in this character. As
far as character moments for the Big G, Godzilla vs Mothra (1992) is pretty
much a wash, so that brings us to Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (1993), the
topic of discussion.
My argument here is that
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, whether intentionally or incidentally, ties these
possibly disparate moments together into a satisfying character arc for
Godzilla, as essentially the linchpin of this era's storytelling. The basic
premise of Godzilla’s role in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II is that he wants to
find and retrieve the Baby Godzilla, with audience sympathy for him emphasized
throughout the film to the degree of those earlier moments. Godzilla attacks a
lot, looking for the child, the devastation taking on a more heroic quality but
still remaining threatening. Structurally, Godzilla is still the most clear
threat, and the Heisei series keep this as an overarching trend (except for the
next film Godzilla Vs Spacegodzilla, but Spacegodzilla is still a Godzilla and
even the consequence of earlier Godzilla rampages) because even in the finale
Godzilla vs Destoroyah, a film about the ramifications of the oxygen Destroyer
made manifest into devil incarnate, the more pressing stakes relate to Godzilla's
impending nuclear explosion. It is a tricky line to navigate rooting for the
only thing that makes sense to root against, so we will have to go much deeper
into how the film navigates itself through this story.
Chapter
Two - Let’s Rewatch Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II With This All In
Mind
The film opens on the
remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah, and I probably should explain what that is. As
I opened with, the Heisei series is the second main Godzilla series, and, of 7
movies, this is the fifth. It is said that the Heisei series has the strongest
continuity of any Godzilla series.
Godzilla 1984 leads into
Godzilla vs Biollante with not only the increasing innovation of the Super X
line of flying tanks but the consequences of trapping Godzilla in a volcano and
leaving his mutagenic G cells all over Japan. Then, the method for defeating
Godzilla in that movie (a form of anti nuclear energy bacteria) leads directly
into his absence for the first chunk of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (and of
course the character Goro Gondo in Godzilla vs Biollante has close ties to some
in Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla, almost autocorrected to Godzilla vs speakeasy,
the 6th Heisei film, and there is a third Super X in Godzilla vs Destoroyah,
the 7th and finale). As the most overt film to film connection, we have the
remains of Mecha King Ghidorah from the end of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah being
salvaged to become the basis for Mechagodzilla (Godzilla vs Mothra between
these two films sort of did its own thing but ties directly into Godzilla vs
Spacegodzilla).
There are impressive
shots to show off the scale of the onlookers at Mecha King Ghidorah before the
film takes us into a narrated info dump. I’d be remiss not to be as thorough as
possible with the implications and ramifications of this plot point before we
proceed, however.
I initially got quite
puzzled about how Mecha King Ghidorah should still exist, since the English dub
for Godzilla vs King Ghidorah is quite explicit that two of the same being
cannot exist at the same time and one would magically disappear were that to
happen. Oh yeah, sorry, this is important because due to timey-wimey shenanigans,
there would be two Ghidorah corpses in 1992 coastal Japanese waters, one with
the mechanical augmentations and one without. That said, the start of this
movie only shows Mecha King Ghidorah’s mechanical head, so even though
technology like Mechagodzilla’s shock anchors originated in that piece of
future tech (the electric "Godzilla Capture Devices and Machine Hand" work incredibly similarly, whereas no other tech in previous films comes close to approximating the shock anchors), the whole frame need not still exist (because no matter which
Ghidorah disappears, I doubt the relevant one would still be a functional
cyborg). GvsKG is a really stupid film, so to already sidestep an issue that
one creates with this connective tissue earns respect on this film’s part I
think.
The narration info dump
explains to us the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center organized a
think tank for a weapon to destroy Godzilla, rushing us through the backstory
and development of not only Mechagodzilla but a previous attempt in Garuda a
mech that resembles the maser tanks integrated into a Super X machine. It will
be significant that the Garuda is named after a Hindu bird god and not the
Super X 3 for reasons I will explain later. The narrator explains that the
scientists studied Mecha King Ghidorah’s technology and integrated it, but,
again, only the head is focused on as an intact piece in the virtual blueprint
plans shown. We next see an artistic depiction of Mechagodzilla being assembled
piece to piece with text overlaid alluding to a special diamond coating that
will be relevant later. I previously covered Godzilla x Kong The New Empire and
its misuse of Kong’s BEAST Glove with similar early subtle mention and later
significant plot relevance. We will see how this film handles the diamond
coating, but there is an early advantage here with the previous existence of
“Fire Mirror” technology on the Super X 2 that briefly reflected Godzilla’s atomic
breath.
Is a narrated info dump
a valid writing technique to use in this kind of story? In my opinion, it
depends on the execution. Other Heisei Godzilla movies have more creative uses
of exposition such as Godzilla vs Biollante and how it presents the different
alert stages corresponding to different levels of Godzilla activity within
Mount Mihara. But “we salvaged a time traveling cyborg into a nuclear mecha
tank as one of our two weapons” is not nearly as easy to put in diegetic
conversation that isn’t As You Know dialogue as one might initially think, so I
give this a pass.
After a title card and
credits sequence, a scientist explains that Mechagodzilla uses a derivative of
heavy hydrogen helium three in pellet form to fuel its reactor, and as the second
advantage the synthetic diamond plating has over the BEAST Glove, the scientist
thoroughly explains that too. Yuri Katagiri, a new recruit, asks some
followup questions, and this film is noticeably avoiding unrealistic As You
Know dialogue (wherein characters break character to exposit solely for
audience benefit), as, once the two reach Kazuma Aoki in the Garuda weapon, the
exposition that Garuda is state of the art comes from an argument between the
scientist and Kazuma, not just because we need to know that. It tells us a lot
about Kazuma, the lead of this picture, that he is unable to let go of Garuda,
as he worked on the team, and his passion for pteranodons is more important to
him than his UNGCC and eventually G Force appointments. It turns out Katagiri
is here to replace him, and he has been hired to G Force, a pseudo military
branch of the UNGCC.
The G Force commander
Sasako is very disapproving of Aoki’s lifestyle and pteranodon hobby and
explains he is there to help in the Mechagodzilla project along with three
pilots. The conflict between Aoki’s unique personality and the rigid military
structure of G Force is a major part of this film, and a montage shows him
failing at karate and falling asleep in “class” of studying Godzilla’s attacks.
His selective competence and constant irresponsibility are seemingly his least
flattering characteristics, but not only will they drive the plot forward, this
a comedic scene for us to identify with him, and G Force may not have the best
of intentions comparatively. We’ll have to put a pin in that, since the movie
is now showing us a research team on Adona island to introduce the inciting
incident and key monster players.
The so-called Big Five
of Godzilla kaiju are as follows: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah,
Mechagodzilla, and Rodan. The conceit of this classification is marquee value,
but, as far as actual data goes, they are the only monsters to appear in every
era of Godzilla, however fleetingly in some cases. Well, that is only mostly
true. Some form of a juvenile Godzilla also always appears, so this film is
knocking out three of the should-be Big Six: Mechagodzilla, Rodan and Baby
Godzilla. Adona Island is setting to an irradiated pteranodon nest, where one
egg has hatched into Rodan and another remains undisturbed but present for a
team of researchers to steal while Godzilla and Rodan fight. (Specifically, a
team was there with Russians for petroleum when they found a Pterosaur skeleton
and in fact a nest.)
Professor Omae and Azusa
Gojo analyze a mysterious fern left on the egg when Rodan perches which causes
the egg to glow red. I really like Rodan’s design in this film. Especially
compared to how he last looked in the Showa series with the droopy beak, there
is a resumed ferocity, but I will talk more about that later. What is relevant
for now is that the puppet is unfortunately somewhat stiff, and Omae is very
weirdly confident that Rodan must have come from the hatched egg and become
irradiated before he is informed the island is even a dumping place for nuclear
waste. In a series where scientists are so important (either as methodical role
models or tragic figures), having one so quick to state (incidentally true)
assumptions registers weird to me, so we will have to keep an eye on his
character.
Godzilla arrives to
fight Rodan (we will learn why later on), and his head pokes up over a rock
similar to the imagery of rising over the hill in the original film. Perhaps, I
am overthinking this connection, but this was originally intended to be the
finale to make time for the then-1994 slated American attempt (being a finale
explains the impending recontextualizing of his morality, reinterpretation of
the three remaining Godzilla staples and 27 minutes of Godzilla screen time
starting with a fight against Rodan within the film’s first 20 minutes).
Godzilla and Rodan’s
skirmish is the fight most indicative of Heisei battles in my opinion. Heisei
Rodan begins the fight dominating with his gimmick (in this case aerial
superiority, but other gimmicks have been piercing tentacles or prehensile
necks to strangle Godzilla), and Godzilla even winds up on his back, but his
durability is too great, so he turns the tide of the fight and eventually lands
a fatal beam strike.
Aoki learns of the egg’s
transport to Kyoto and takes it upon himself, pteranodon enthusiast as he is,
to sneak into the lab holding it to take pictures for his own enjoyment,
accidentally flashing one of Azusa when she catches him. He is really flippant
about her protests that he leave but is paying close enough attention to her to
notice she does not want him to go toward the fern samples, at which point he
goes toward the fern samples. She sends him out, but it turns out he has
pocketed one of the fern samples and hits on her.
Omae studies the egg’s
color change and concludes it is related to the child’s emotional state (red
for stress and agitation); this leads to the realization it has imprinted on
Azusa. Meanwhile, Aoki is eating lunch with returning actress Megumi Odaka as
Miki Saegusa, a character in each of the Heisei sequels Biollante onward. They
would both be outcasts in G-Force so I have little issue with Miki being in the
right place at the right time to conclude they have to take the fern sample to
the psychic institute for a different kind of analysis.
And now is the point of
any Heisei Godzilla review where I have to explain how ESP fits into the larger
Godzilla series. Godzilla 1984 is a very grounded Cold War-era film exploring
Godzilla as an allegory for nuclear annihilation fears, and it is important for
that film’s subtext that it be the real world or as close to it as possible.
(The 1954 Godzilla, 1984 Godzilla, Shockirus, a louse mutated by Godzilla, and
the Super X are the only unrealistic things to add to our world for the story
of Godzilla 1984 to function.) But Godzilla vs Biollante introduced a psychic
component where Dr. Shirigami was able to put his daughter’s soul into a
Godzilla-rosebush, Miki Saegusa of a psychic research institute can attempt to
use ESP to stop Godzilla from coming ashore, and Godzilla can reveal he too has
psychic energy by resisting Miki. Miki tags along for all subsequent adventures
to differing degrees (in too little of Godzilla vs Mothra and too much of
Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla), and the institute containing psychic children is
seldom brought up again except here. (In other words, I am saying the film
containing this plot point is a good thing for the longer form storytelling,
and the quality of this film will depend largely on internal execution not the
premise itself).
In any case, the psychic
children conclude that the fern’s energy can be represented through a song, a
revitalizing song of psychic energy, and when Aoki shows this to Omae, the egg
hatches in front of Azusa. (I conclude that the song is specifically one of
revitalizing because it provides the energy required to birth an otherwise
mostly dormant dinosaur and also revives Rodan later in the movie.) As I have
already spoiled, the egg hatches not another Rodan but a Baby Godzilla,
specifically a mildly irradiated Godzillasaur (the fictional family of dinosaur
Heisei Godzilla was revealed to be in Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. The
Godzillasaur in that film was brown, while this child will oscillate between
blue and green in the coming films, so the best faith interpretation is
slightly different species or at least regional variation).
Omae, Aoki and Miki all
burst into the room to observe this new Godzilla, and, already, the film is at
work with its thematic juxtaposition. Here is an innocent creature that is also
Godzilla, overly cutesy with a tongue to lick Azusa but a creature that also
makes Heisei Godzilla-esque hand movements (hand motions were a surprisingly important part of Kenpachiro Satsuma's Godzilla suit acting, God rest his soul). Omae jumps to the conclusion that
this creature must be vegetarian, again letting his feelings inform what he
proclaims as fact. Aoki’s presence allows him to explain that Baby Godzilla
here was a parasite egg laid into the nest of a different bird without “As You
Know” dialogue, and Miki senses Godzilla beginning a rampage.
I am sorry to cut things off here right before one of I think the most iconic Godzilla rampages in the Heisei series, but this is getting quite long and repeating history with my Godzilla x Kong series, links here.
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
As I mentioned those three parts were combined for an hour-long recording, which you can watch through this link: https://youtu.be/AI_FMxtTlIk?si=EA51lODIQp2LUVr1 Or just search up Plan9Crunch on YouTube
Happy Godzilla Day, We'll be back soon with more Godzilla content as well as our other favorite cult films and cult figures.
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