Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

directed by Takao Okawara

Japan

102 minutes

4.5 stars out of 5

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What an absolute delight this one was. How incredibly entertaining and beautifully crafted these 1990s films can be! It took me a long time to come around to them because I used to be a bit of a Showa purist, and I guess in some ways I still am, but I've been rewatching some of the Heisei films lately and they're surprising me with how perfect they are. Kenpachirō Satsuma is a master of the suit, and this movie has some of the best and most extensive full-body shots of Godzilla I've seen thus far.

This film introduces us to a darker counterpart of Mothra called Battra, a sinister-looking entity who is prophesied to battle Mothra, yet is also intertwined with her in a complex, fascinating relationship. Mothra (and Battra too, to some extent) in this film signifies not just the anger of the wronged inhabitants of Infant Island this time, but the will of the entire Earth, rebelling against the human race's cruelty and repeated betrayals. Like in Mothra vs. Godzilla, the question is raised of whether humans are deserving of Mothra's (and by extension, Earth's) mercy, and while ultimately the film takes the stance that we can be redeemable if we own our mistakes, the link between rampant greed and the destruction of the planet is made plain. Big businessmen debate over the buying and selling of Mothra's egg and the furnishing of more mining, testing, and depleting right up until (and while) their city is destroyed by the direct consequence of their unchecked greed. "How can it be my fault?" rages the CEO, kneeling and slamming his fists on the floor while beside him a television plays a live feed of the destruction he is responsible for, but refuses to see as his doing.

There's a lot more action in this movie than it feels like there usually is, even for Godzilla films, or maybe it's just laid out differently. But there's also more deeper character development than usual too. For a while at the beginning we follow the main character as he tries really hard to be Indiana Jones in a sequence of events that end up not having anything to do with the film as a whole. Establishing that this guy is a rogue former archeology professor with bent morals and an angry ex-wife does nothing to advance the overall narrative of the film, but it's refreshing to see some depth allotted to a human character here. We don't get to see a lot of individual stories in Godzilla films, and when we do, they're typically not fleshed out for longer than it takes to make us feel bad for somebody before they die tragically.

When I rewatched this last night I couldn't stop thinking about how Mothra sometimes feels like she represents forgiveness. Especially in this movie. Godzilla is like the spectre of past mistakes, getting dragged up over and over, unable to stop haunting humanity, and Mothra is the possibility for forgiveness and healing and regrowth. And the important thing is that they coexist! They always coexist in every film! Remembrance of past mistakes is both possible and essential for looking towards a future where we can make things better! I might have cried at the end of this movie.

This combination of action and character development is a unique take on a Godzilla storyline, because it is truly a combination - the film manages to push both emotional arcs and deeper implications during its fight scenes, which is kind of a rarity. I mean, I'm perfectly happy watching two kaiju duke it out, I don't need to think while I'm watching Godzilla pick up King Ghidorah and fling him around like a shot put, and my contentment with the way things had been in almost every franchise film I've seen before this is why I was so surprised that the climactic battle has an actual story to it. Yes, it is basically just Mothra vs. Godzilla redone - now with 100% more Battra! But every time they do this storyline it somehow manages to feel more meaningful and relevant, and now, in the middle of a pandemic when we're seeing more than ever the consequences of mishandling nature, I think we could really use a new Mothra film.

Now this is where I run into the limits of my vocabulary, because when I'm as deeply sucked in and transfixed by something as I was during that final battle, I have a hard time expressing with any degree of eloquence why it's so good or why I'm enjoying myself so much. I just know that I am. This is visually one of the best fights I've seen in the whole franchise - the expansive miniature work is just astounding, I have no idea how they were able to construct an entire city that looks perfectly in scale with Godzilla. Not to mention that this will make you feel real emotion towards Mothra and Battra - towards puppets, not even an actor with a suit, but puppets - which is some kind of magic. And there's just this tone to it all, this mood, Godzilla stomping through a nighttime cityscape full of PlayStation ads, neon signage, skyscrapers, and all the hallmarks of a comfortably excessive decade of economic growth, tearing it all down, exposing the wires, the fragility of it. Godzilla busting out of Mount Fuji because sure why not. Battra refusing to succumb to his nature and recognizing himself in Mothra, and vice versa. I think this movie represents a crowning achievement of technique in the Godzilla series, in how it's able to make us feel for every character, human or not.