Just take a look at that poster for a second.
I've always admired that artwork. It's visually stunning on numerous levels. Godzilla, intertwined with his most legendary foe, engaging in a heated battle that appears to be even on both sides.
This was a mythical film for me as a kid. I'd managed to find a copy of Godzilla vs. Biollante for rental when it got a release here in the States, but finding this particular picture was much more difficult. Around the time of this film's release, I was spending a lot of time shopping at this local Japanese market, called Yaohan. It's since been completely renovated and turned into a Mitsuwa Japanese marketplace, but back in the day (early '90s) they had a KILLER toy store inside that sold everything Godzilla. Everything. I've got loads of ultra rare collectibles simply because my parents would always take me there after a dentist appointment (right across the street) and I'd blow every penny of my allowance on anything related to the series. One item I purchased was a small book related to this film. I'm assuming it's part synopsis, part behind the scenes info. I bought it because I was obsessed with Godzilla and this had lots of great color photos. Don't forget, I hadn't seen the "new" King Ghidorah yet, nor had I see Godzilla's latest look, so this was big shit in my mind.
Years later, once I finally saw the film it was about what I was expecting, maybe a little less exciting. It opens in the year 2204, when an underwater crew comes across the corpse of King Ghidorah, missing a head, who an unseen woman mentions had fought Godzilla and lost in the 20th century. Cut back to the present day (1992) and evidence of Godzilla reawakening after his battle with Biollante has been confirmed. Aliens from the future have come back in time to warn Japan that Godzilla will decimate the country, leaving it an uninhabitable nuclear wasteland. Their only hope: go back in time to 1944, when a group of Japanese soldiers on Lagos Island came across a dinosaur that helped save them from invading U.S. forces. That dinosaur, Godzillasaurus, would go on to become Godzilla when nuclear testing in that area mutated him. The aliens go back in time with a group from the present, but they curiously bring along three small creatures, called Dorats, that look an awful lot like mini-Ghidorahs. They arrive at Lagos and teleport a wounded Godzillasaurus back to present day, away from the island, before disembarking.
But the aliens also left the Dorats behind, and when they return to the future it's revealed that the Dorats received the radiation meant for Godzilla, turning them into King Ghidorah. Nothing can stop Godzilla from happening, however, and the aliens soon realize they dropped the Godzillasaurus body in an area where a nuclear sub went down back in the '70s. Godzilla is resurrected, and when another nuclear sub is destroyed and consumed by him, his size grows to larger proportions than ever before. Reborn and enraged, he begins to attack the city, no longer the protector the Japanese army thought he was back on Lagos Island. The aliens have Ghidorah under mind control, sending him to fight Godzilla. The battle is fierce, but Godzilla is able to blast off one of Ghidorah's heads and destroy his wings before dispatching of his corpse in the ocean. Concerned this new Godzilla will surely destroy the country, one of the aliens goes rogue and returns to the future to rebuild Ghidorah's corpse, leading to... Mecha-King Ghidorah. The huge brute has been upgraded, with a new robotic head to replace the missing one, metal wings, and a reinforced chest plate. The hulking behemoth, with Emmy, the rogue alien, controlling from inside, goes to war against Godzilla. The fight is just as rough as before, but even in a newly mechanized form Ghidorah just cannot overcome the power of Godzilla, and eventually the two tumble into the ocean, where it is later revealed that Godzilla survived while Ghidorah is now totally dead.
This film got some flack after its release because of the perceived treatment of Americans by the script. It's true that, as an American, it does appear to be anti-U.S. due to scenes of American soldiers being stomped by Godzillasaurus, as well as the fact that the evil aliens are all Westerners with the exception of Emmy, the one Japanese alien who defects during the film. You've got to see this from the filmmakers point of view, though. This isn't necessarily any different than we would have written it in America, is it? The Japanese would be the villains, or more likely the North Koreans today. I can't think of a reason why director Kazuki Omori would have shown Japanese soldiers being killed by U.S. forces in his - a Japanese director - film. It is a little odd that he chose to make all of the evil aliens American, especially since Toho has traditionally always used their own Japanese actors for such a role. That's the only possible tip-off that the film has some anti-American sentiment.
The original idea for this entry was to have Godzilla fight his most popular adversary ever - King Kong. The problem was that Turner, who owned the rights to Kong, wanted nine million dollars for the rights. Toho balked, and instead planned to have Godzilla fight Mecha-Kong, first introduced in King Kong Escapes (1967). Turner made the claim that the character was still too close to their Kong, so the only option was to bring back another popular enemy, namely King Ghidorah. It's really a shame things couldn't be worked out with Kong because it would have been amazing to see what kind of a new suit Toho would design for him, not to mention seeing the two of them battle using modern suit technology.
Godzilla looks more or less just as he did in Godzilla vs. Biollante, but special effect designer Koichi Kawakita did buff him out a little more by adding more muscle and increasing the size of the chest. Godzilla's head also looks slightly more aggressive and a fraction smaller. Once again, suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma portrayed Godzilla. He'd be wearing suits in the series since Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), where he played the Smog Monster. Since Gojira (1984), he's been the guy under the rubber, a job he would keep until the final entry in the Heisei series, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.
Mecha-King Ghidorah isn't the movie's only robot. The aliens have their own android, dubbed M-11. And, man, is he ever corny. Robert Scott Field does a great job of giving M-11 virtually no facial expressions or sense of humanity. It's kinda creepy. But when he runs, the way the effect is done basically looks like he's power walking but moving quickly. You just have to see it. It's bad.
Godzilla doesn't make a proper appearance until there's 45 minutes left in the film. Until that time, the most we see is the footage of Godzillasaurus, which is admittedly very cool. I love how Kawakita was able to create a new monster that looked like a highly distilled version of the Big G. And Godzillasaurus is pretty damn admirable, too. Saving the Japanese soldiers and whatnot. He really puts his life on the line, with the eventual reward being that he's turned into a massive mutated nuclear monster who wreaks havoc on the coastline whenever he damn well pleases.
Once Godzilla and King Ghidorah meet, it's virtually a non-stop battle until the end credits. The fights staged here are big and impressive, with lots of heavy duty given to both suit actors. Particularly impressive are the miniatures, which are hardly so mini here. Skyscrapers tower over Godzilla in ways not see before, dwarfing him but still proving just as weak under his assault. When G and Ghidorah get going, the city gets leveled fairly quickly. Godzilla is more brutal than ever, really laying his all into killing Ghidorah. And he does it once again. Seeing one of Ghidorah's heads go flying off after a powerful atomic blast is awesome stuff. I really loved the look of Mecha-King Ghidorah, too, but he proves to be just as weak under the intensity of Godzilla's heat ray. There's not a whole lot that can withstand a head-on blast from him.
This film also marked the return of legendary composer Akira Ifukube to the series. His work hadn't been featured since 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, sixteen years prior. I'm a big fan of how Ifukube reworks some of his classic G themes, but adds more dread and emotional weight to the mix by using piano and other instruments played at a steady, lumbering pace. His opening theme in particular is haunting and foreboding, suggesting the great battle that is yet to come. Ifukube would stay on to compose the rest of the Heisei series from this point onward, save for Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994).
The Heisei (or Versus) series maintained a steady pace following this entry, with a new Godzilla film coming every year until 1995. Next up, Godzilla would once again face off against one of his most popular nemeses, this one arguably the most benevolent of them all - Mothra.
No comments:
Post a Comment