December 14th: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

After Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) and Jun Fukuda’s return to the directing chair my enjoyment of this franchise took a hit. It felt like a return to the formula that had become a little stale and it wasn’t a welcome one. So, it needed something new to bring me back in. Something fresh. Something exciting. What’s that? A mechanical Godzilla? You son of a bitch, I’m in! Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) sees aliens (what a shock) trying to take over the earth using a mechanical version of our favourite radioactive lizard. At the same time, there is an ancient prophecy playing out that claims that one monster will appear, before two more monsters appear to save humanity. You’ll never guess who those monsters are.

Well, okay you might not guess what one of those monsters is I did not mention it and it has not appeared before. That would be King Caesar, who is basically a big dog. Honestly, he probably doesn’t need to be involved in the film. He only appears right at the end, gets the absolute piss beaten out of him, and then gets saved by Godzilla. No really, that is it. He is also not a great design which doesn’t help his cause. However, do I really care when Mechagodzilla has a bloody brilliant design. He is quite easily the best new villain to be introduced into this series since King Ghidorah many, many moons ago. His introduction is really well done, as he initially is disguised as Godzilla and the only really hint you get that it is not Godzilla is the sound design. He makes somewhat metallic noises when he moves and his ‘roar’ is not that of Godzilla, but otherwise it is not immediately obvious and I think that works really positively in the films favour, especially when Godzilla appears and the penny drops. Also, the fact he is mechanical means that the fight scene at the end is much more creative than just two men in suits wrestling each other. Of course there is still a lot of that, but the fight scenes here implement projectiles which means bloody loads of explosions, and it means the final fight scene is one of the best in the series so far. It is also really quite gory. There has been blood in previous films but this one has Godzilla fully gushing from his neck and its pretty brutal.

However, what brings this film down is once again the human element of it. It’s aliens. Again. Is there really nothing else we can do here? And yes, there is the prophecy element that adds an extra wrinkle, but seriously I am over all the alien stuff. It would maybe not be as egregious if the rest of the narrative wasn’t basically the same as all the other films as well in terms of narrative points it hits. It has just got to a point where I couldn’t care less and I am just waiting for the kaiju action, which means that these films can drag. One thing I’ll give this film is that the aliens are hilarious because they are apes. Yes, really. When they get damaged their true ape form appears and I burst out laughing the first time I saw it. Other than that, again I just find myself not caring.

Despite my issues with the narrative, overall, I think this is a pretty good Godzilla film. It is paced fairly well, and the monster action is a ton of fun when it comes around. I am just bored of these alien narratives that keep happening each and every film. We do only have one more Showa era Godzilla film left, however. Maybe that one will buck the trend and not have aliens, though I’m not holding out hope.