Wednesday, February 19, 2014

GODZILLA-THON #24 - Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)


I know that most G fans point to All Monster's Attack (a.k.a. Godzilla's Revenge) as the worst entry in the series, but if someone asked me that same question I'd more than likely point to Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000). As a Godzilla film, it is lackluster in nearly every way. It's just going through the motions, killing time (and too much of it at that), and ultimately it adds nothing of value to the series. At least Godzilla's Revenge has a kitschy '60s thing going on that makes it a fun, if not slightly laborious, watch. The same can't, or ever will be, said of this film.

Keep in mind, though, that even if I'm beating this entry into the ground it doesn't mean it's all terrible. No Godzilla film is outright terrible. And before you say "GINO", I've already made it clear that film isn't considered canon by myself or most other fans. If there's anything I can give the Millennium series credit for, it's that nearly each entry tried to do something unique with the Godzilla mythos. Godzilla 2000 re-imagined him as an eternally-regenerating force of nature. This film posits that the original Godzilla never died in 1954. He just retreated back into the ocean, only to return later in 1966 to feast on nuclear power. As any fan knows, in 1966 Godzilla was sleeping in a cave before battling it out with a giant shrimp. So essentially this film is retconning the entire history of the films. Bold move.

After a string of Godzilla attacks dating back to '54, Japan has abandoned nuclear energy programs out of fear. The JSDF has decided they want to be rid of Godzilla permanently, and they devise a weapon, Dimension Tide, that produces mini black holes with enough energy to draw in Godzilla, trapping him for eternity. Their experiments cause an ancient dragonfly to enter our world, where it lays an egg that a young boy finds and eventually discards down a sewer grate. The egg turns into hundreds of smaller eggs, eventually hatching Meganulon, small larva-like insects which are loosely based off of the creatures in Rodan (1956). They invade the city and molt on the side of a building, turning into adult Meganula. Godzilla enters the city and gets into it with the swarm, eventually using his atomic breath to decimate nearly the entire population of them. The few that remain have siphoned enough energy off of Godzilla to inject a waiting cocoon with it, one that eventually opens up to reveal the queen Megaguirus. She looks a bit like Battra in winged form. And, once again, this kaiju has some of Godzilla's abilities because his energy was used in its creation.

Godzilla and the flying Megaguirus fight it out over the city. It never really looks like Megaguirus gets the upper hand because Godzilla just takes every hit and keeps on coming. Eventually, Megaguirus goes in for a paralyzing strike only to get chomped on by Godzilla's massive gnarled teeth. And that, my friends, is the end of that. The remainder of the film deals with the Dimension Tide being fired upon Godzilla, and it looks like he's sucked up into the black hole during a tremendous explosion of energy. But the film's final moments strongly suggest he just got blasted deep underground.

I'll admit to enjoying this entry marginally more than the first time I watched it, but the fact remains it is kind of a slog to get to the end. Megaguirus just isn't a very good enemy. The Meganula look terrible since they're nearly all done with CGI. Megaguirus looks decent enough in final form, though it isn't nearly as memorable as nearly every other monster in the series. Hell, even Gabara is better, and Gabara sucks. It's just boring. And lazy. Once again, we've got a monster that has used some of Godzilla's cells/power/energy to try getting up to his level. At least some of the others seemed like a real threat; there's just no way a big bug like Megaguirus was ever going to inflict any real damage on G. The film even says as much when Megaguirus is dispatched early enough for the military to inflict the film's final blow. The real problem with the film is that it's just so lackluster. It's needlessly long, with most of the human element either uninteresting or... well, it's just not very engaging.

The retconned history was a nice though, though. I can admit that much. The insertion of Millennium Goji into the classic '54 film for a scene or two was well done. I really do give these Millennium films credit for thinking outside the box in some instances. Godzilla 2000 already established he's just a force of nature with no real origin being given, and future installments seemed to relish in the ability to retell Godzilla's history as they saw fit.

Toho used the same MireGoji suit for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, with only minor alterations being made. Most notably, the coloring was now a lighter shade of green (the last time he'd be painted this color), and his dorsal spikes were a light purple. I have never liked the purple spikes. Ever. The black-and-silver are synonymous with Godzilla's classic look; you just don't fuck with that, however, I will admit there are a few instances where I think they are insanely awesome in a very ridiculous kind of way.

Music this time around was handled by composer Michiru Oshima, a new player to the series. It's a decent effort overall, though it still retains much of the video game-esque cheesiness that Godzilla 2000 suffers from. Nothing composed here is terribly memorable; the film only seems to feel genuine when Ifukube's themes are being called upon to add the true gravitas a Godzilla score needs. You've got to remember that, until the Millennium series, nearly revery Godzilla film was scored by either Akira Ifukube or Masaru Satoh. And those two produced some phenomenal work that no composer is likely to ever match. Things got a little better with the next entry, but overall this Millennium series is sorely lacking in good themes.  

But like I said, they've got originality. And this next entry is undoubtedly one of the standouts of the series.


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