Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (Gojira X Mekagojira) (2002)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka

Starring: Yumiko Shaku, Shin Takuma, Kana Onodera, Ko Takasuki, Yusuke Tomoi

From: Toho

This was a nice way to spend Godzilla Day two days ago. Besides noting that it’s awesome how Toho is making a new movie starring Gojira that will be out on next year’s Godzilla Day, Fathom Events presented this movie in cinemas Thursday night. I did not attend myself; instead I was financially prudent for once and played the movie at home as the Blu-ray is part of my collection.

Most of the Millennium Era aren’t related to one another and only hold the original Gojira in canon; that made it easy for me to jump in without any previous viewings necessary, whether it be this movie’s antecedent or any of the previous three MechaGodzilla pictures… although in an early scene it is revealed that two other kaiju monsters are canon; footage needed to be shown to show just why Japan has an anti-monster defense force despite Godzilla having been dead for 45 years-you see, the opening 15 or so minutes is in ’99 and there’s a time-jump to ’03. Indeed, MechaGodzilla is created by the Japanese government as its best line of defense.

One regret in not having a theatrical experience last night: the opening was awesome so it would have been even better to see Godzilla appear in the middle of a typhoon and utterly wreck a city. The kaiju action in general is pretty rad, although like The Return of Godzilla this was rather serious in presenting the government’s response to the impact of this catastrophe, including thousands in shelters due to their homes now being gone. The comedy is left to a minimum, although there are two appearances from a famous Japanese baseball player who eventually spent years playing in the United States and had the nickname Godzilla.

The main focus is on a distaff member of the Japanese Armed Forces who has experienced various tragedies in her life which has made her a loner, along with a scientist dad and his young daughter who have their own issues. Yeah, this has a precocious child which isn’t my favorite trope although there is only one scene which really made me roll my eyes due to unnatural dialogue. As this is only 88 minutes there is little in the way of filler in a movie filled w/ memorable music, bitchin’ kaiju action and rousing moments. It should satisfy most genre fans.

Please note that I happened to watch all the end credits to enjoy the accompanying music; what a surprise it was then to see that this had an entire after-credits scene that lasts for a few minutes. If you don’t know, now you know… don’t forget that in case you ever want to view this for the first time sometime in the future.