Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira: Tôkyô S.O.S.) (2003)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Masaaki Tezuka... among others

Starring: Noboru Kaneko, Miho Yoshioka, Mickey Koga, Hiroshi Koizumi, Akira Nagao

From: Toho

What a lackluster Fathom Events experience this was for me. In short, I went to my local cinema-for the first time in years-to see this presentation. Now, I don't know if to blame Fathom, that small theatre chain, Toho, or some combination, but besides starting a bit late, the picture was DVD quality and very dark.

When I got home, the 2014 Sony Blu-ray (which pairs S.O.S. with Godzilla: Final Wars) was popped in and not only was the image MUCH better, there was the revelation that while the film was presented in the cinema at 1.85:1, it's actually a 2.35:1 movie. Online sleuthing on Letterboxd and Twitter did not reveal anyone else noting this issue. I haven't heard anyone I follow on social media either complain about that so “my cinema” may be the explanation but remembering the whole “Fathom Events screwed up their showing of The Thing so badly it rightfully offended Mick Garris” debacle, who knows for certain. If that wasn't curious enough, one thing I noticed from popping in the Blu: that and the big screen prints are different, from the opening logo to all the subtitles.

Anyhow, while it's a major shame it looked so bad-at least for me-it was still nice to see some vintage kaiju action on the big screen so that plays no factor in my rating this direct sequel to Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla lower than that. It was rather that SOS wasn't as good in terms of story, characters, motivations, or even the kaiju action. On the other side of the coin, none of it I can say is “bad” and the kaiju action is still exciting so a solid 3 star rating is what I can give this.

In short: the Japan Self-Defense Forces wants to rebuild MechaGodzilla (wacky, given what happened in the last film) as Godzilla is still out there. Mothra returns and not only is the original Mothra film canon in this universe, a main character from that film returns 4 decades later and is played by the same actor-a very nice nod. There are various dramatics but that's the main details to know. While not one of my favorites in that universe, it at least was nice to see this with a crowd... a crowd which wasn't too lively although many will be charmed to hear that a dad brought his young son along.

Oh, and this Fathom Event including a presentation of last year's 6 minute short, Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex; that features CGI animation and a lot of people seemed to like it... I wish I knew why. It was just preposterous, a battle with Gojira vs. a phalanx of Gigan attacking him with new abilities, then there is a non-ending!