The Wrath of Godzilla, Part 15: Crucifixion

Let the countdown to May 16th begin!


Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

While "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth" (1992) was one of Toho's most successful monster movies of all time, the follow up, "Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II" (1993), while still a big hit, had a significantly lower box office take than its predecessor.  So what was Toho's strategy to bolster the success of their next project?  To hire some new behind-the-scenes blood and throw everything but the kitchen sink into the plot, see what works (I'd pay quite a lot to see "Godzilla Vs. the Kitchen Sink").  The result: A somewhat desperate but merely okay entry in Series 2.

Let's start with SpaceGodzilla himself.  Brought to life after some of Godzilla's cells got sucked into a black hole (courtesy of either Mothra's or Biollante's journey into space), SpaceGodzilla is one ornery dude with a mean territorial streak a galaxy wide.  He heads straight for Earth with the sole intention of taking out the competition - namely, his terrestrial kin, the Big G himself.

Godzilla's got his own problems, however.  Humanity is enacting its own plan, Project T, an attempt to psychically take control of Godzilla and end his reign of smashiness.  SpaceGodzilla's arrival puts an end to all that, especially when he captures and imprisons Little Godzilla (a larger and annoyingly cuter version of Baby Godzilla).  In the end, humanity and their giant robot Mogera (a more half-assed version of Mechagodzilla) teams up with Godzilla to take down SpaceGodzilla.

There are a lot of elements packed into this story.  First of all, the presence of SpaceGodzilla (just like EarthGodzilla but with two ginormous crystals jutting from his shoulders) appeases all of the fans who've been clamoring for "Godzilla Vs. Godzilla" (there are, surprisingly, a lot of them).  Little Godzilla, who looks like Minilla from the first Series, is there to amuse the kids in the audience.  Mogera (a redo of the giant alien robot Moguera from "The Mysterians") is there to please the mecha (giant robot) fans in the audience.  Mothra and the Twin Beauties even appear (briefly) to warn the Earth of SpaceGodzilla's impending arrival.

Then there are the humans.  The Project T concept is something new, and is spearheaded by none other than Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka), in her fifth appearance in Series 2.  "Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla" gives her the most screen time yet.  She gets to participate in more action than ever before, and even gets her own romantic subplot.  There's also a crusty veteran with a vengeful bone to pick with Godzilla (his buddy was one of the main characters killed in "Godzilla Vs. Biollante"), a hotshot pilot with something to prove (he's the pilot of Mogera, the Little Mecha That Could), and an additional subplot about Yakuza gangsters trying to take over Project T (complete with exciting shootout).  The producers clearly wanted to appeal to as many segments of the audience as they could.

The studio also decided to shake things up by giving the movie some new blood.  The director (Kensho Yamashita), writer (Hiroshi Kashiwabara) and composer (Takayuki Hattori) were all new to the series, and did a decent job.  Hattori's musical score is a little cheesy, but it's a nice break from the usual, pounding Ifukube score.

All in all, it's a decent movie.  It feels a little too cluttered and the action sequences are a bit too abbreviated but it never bores and is a reasonable amount of fun, which turns out to be a good thing - because things get real dark, real fast. . .

Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah (1995)

GODZILLA DIES!!!

Spoiler Alert.

Okay, it's not really a spoiler, since that was the main slogan of Toho's marketing campaign.  They hoped to draw in viewers by bringing Series 2 to a spectacular climax, doing something that's only been done once before, in 1954 - killing Godzilla onscreen.  It worked.  The movie was a monster (ha, ha) hit and a worthy close for the Series.

They brought back a few veteran Godzilla filmmakers to give him a proper sendoff.  Akira Ifukube returned to score the film, creating one of his finest soundtracks.  Kazuki Omori (director of "Godzilla Vs. Biollante", "Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah", and writer of "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth") provided the screenplay, and Takao Owara (director of "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth" and "Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II") once again took the directing reins.  There were a couple of returning cast members as well.  Megumi Odaka returns one last time as Godzilla's personal psychic Miki Saegusa.  While she isn't as involved as she was in "SpaceGodzilla", she's still here to give Godzilla a teary-eyed farewell.  Also returning is Momoko Kochi, reprising her role as Emiko Yamane, the female lead in the classic 1954 original.  That's pretty cool.

The story begins with a sickened, crazed Godzilla destroying Hong Kong.  Scientists, with the help of Emiko's brilliant grandson, determine that Godzilla's nuclear heart is about to go into meltdown.  If that happens, the entire world will be destroyed, so they devise a plan to freeze Godzilla at a critical point in his meltdown.  The weapon they choose to use to freeze G with is none other than the Super X3 (descendant of the Super X from "Godzilla 1985" and the Super X2 from "Godzilla Vs. Biollante").  First, though, they must lure him away from civilization by using Godzilla Junior (all grown up and out of his cutesy phase, thank the gods) as bait, because his meltdown will turn the immediate area into an atomic wasteland.

Unfortunately, Godzilla's meltdown has awakened Destoroyah (pronounce it Desu-to-ROY-ah!!!), a creature created by the aftereffects of the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon which killed the first Godzilla in 1954.  After appearing first as a gaggle of scary crab monsters which take out a Japanese S.W.A.T. team (in a sequence ripped off from James Cameron's "Aliens"), they soon combine to form a humongous, satanic-looking beastie which can fly and shoot red lightning bolts from its horns.  Destoroyah kills Godzilla Junior and takes on Godzilla in the middle of - where else? - Tokyo.  In his final battle, Godzilla decimates Destoroyah, then begins to go nuclear.  The Super X3 freezes him at just the right moment, saving the world from destruction but leaving Tokyo a permanent nuclear wasteland.

Destoroyah is an intimidating villain, and all of the cool callbacks to original movie are appropriate, but the real highlight of the movie is, indeed, Godzilla's death scene.  It's quite beautiful and tragic and strangely moving, accentuated by excellent visual effects and heightened by Ifukube's haunting "death theme".  The movie has a strange coda, however.  It suggests either that Godzilla Junior has been revived and will continue on with the family legacy, or it's meant to be metaphorical, like "Godzilla's shadow looms forevermore", or something pretentious like that.  You can take it however you want - it's the end of Series 2.

Overall, "Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah" is a fine film and a great ending for the Series.  Series 2, on the whole, is easily the most solid and overall satisfying series of films in the Godzilla canon.  Technically, "Destoroyah" wasn't the last movie of the Heisei era (a.k.a. Series 2).  Three more movies remain in that era, but they're unrelated to all the rest, story wise.  I'll get to them next time. . .