Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

directed by Jun Fukuda

Japan

84 minutes

4 stars out of 5

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This year is the 50th birthday of one of my favorite Godzilla films, which also means it's the 50th birthday of Mechagodzilla itself. I used to talk about how I didn't particularly like Mechagodzilla, but somehow I've come around to it, to the point where I think it's genuinely one of the most fascinating aspects of the series to think about. Pitting something created artificially against something created by accident brings a new angle to the "man vs. nature" question that often comes up within the narrative of a Godzilla film.

In fact, thinking about "man vs. nature" provides an interesting lens through which to examine Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, because it's really man and nature tag-teaming it in this one. Mechagodzilla looks insurmountable at some points: that final battle where the real Godzilla and King Caesar are up against it and it's firing off weapons from every single part of its body is one of the most breathtaking battles in the series - yes, from any era, even beating out some Heisei stuff, IMO - because it's a moment where there's really nothing Godzilla can do, save for standing there and enduring the constant barrage of missiles and hoping to outlast it. But, all of this being said - and this is something I really only realized on my fourth rewatch - Mechagodzilla, and by extension its creators, the Black Hole Planet 3 aliens, were defeated by our friendly local irradiated dinosaur and a big guy who lives in a mountain who can only be summoned by a lady singing a song.

It's the chthonic vs. the invasive species. The whole "defenders of Earth" theme would be more explicitly developed in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, but Godzilla and King Caesar being guardians of the Earth is the de-facto backbone of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. 

There's ongoing debate - and probably always will be - about which Godzilla movie best balances its human story with its kaiju business. I don't see this one brought up to argue for the merits of its human characters, but personally (and this could just be because I've seen it four times and I know everything I can expect out of it) the mix between human/kaiju storylines feels totally satisfying here. It's not like the human characters have any depth, or relatable backstories that make me root for them as people, but they're still fun and interesting to watch. You don't want to see them get killed by aliens, which is, honestly, the bare minimum standard for any given character in fiction. Everybody's also dressed really nice all the time. Nobody looks like they woke up that day and just threw something on. I admire how put-together the whole cast of characters looks throughout the entire film.

You can't not talk about this one without talking about the practical effects. Teruyoshi Nakano's fingerprints are all over the thing. Even if you're a new fan who isn't familiar with the team behind the movies, you would easily be able to tell a Nakano movie apart from something else based on the sheer quantity of explosions. It's because of him that that final battle looks so unique; it's because of him that Mechagodzilla's entire body being a weapon is executed so flawlessly onscreen. There's a quote from him about how he wanted to blow the roof off one of Toho's soundstages but Toho didn't let him, and I gotta say I think they should have let him cook.

Another thing I realized on this rewatch is how jarring the Fake Godzilla scenes are. At this point they'd really perfected the "friendly Godzilla" design, and seeing that chubby, affable, cartoonishly-proportioned version of Godzilla break Anguirus' jaw so badly it starts spewing blood and limps away (and out of the series for the next 30 years) feels wrong. I think it was kind of a bold move to have a character who'd become pretty much explicitly a children's superhero look like it was committing brutal acts of violence. With Eiji Tsuburaya's death, they went to some weird places with this one, and I do love it. I do.

I don't really have much to say about this that other people haven't said better. I like this one more with every rewatch. There's something so pitch-perfect about it. I love every Godzilla movie, but I will admit that some of them do have moments where it feels like nothing is happening. This isn't one of them: I'm always either focusing on the wacky artifact-stealing/INTERPOL/ancient prophecy/ferry ride/kidnapping stuff or on the fieriest kaiju battle ever put to film. I wouldn't cut anything from this. It's all good.