Not quite as bad as it should be, though it does feature a cigar-smoking conquistador gorilla in a mylar suit.
The whole point of a Godzilla movie is that it's massively inept, outrageous enough to entertain in that nebulous middleground of translation issues, cultural disconnect and plain incompetence. The best of the bad Godzillas are just flat-out absurd, the plots a series of unlikely excuses to wipe out business districts and waterfronts. The original "Gojira" is not really a Godzilla movie, if you know what I mean. That's an attempt at a real story with themes and characters.
This one has a more glamorous look than many Toho movies. By this I mean that there are several sets not built to be destroyed, and even a few pretty locations. The photography is a little bit interesting. "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla" makes a further gesture toward sophistication when it declines to feature any cute, fat children.
Don't fear, though. This is still a movie so inexplicable as to feature an Okinawan monster named after a Roman emperor. So pandering that its ancient demons are awakened by modern pop songs. And so friggin' stupid that the aliens give their address as "3rd planet of the black hole, outer space." Like many Gameras and Godzillas of the 60s and 70s, it also shows the superficial influence of Kurosawa and Peckinpah, as both monsters and space aliens spurt high-pressure blood.
Unfortunately, this movie features less property damage than perhaps any other Godzilla effort. There are only two or three fights, and they're not very long, and they take place mostly in the countryside; worst, there is not a single remote-control tank deployed to deal with the 500 foot terrorists stomping the mainland. Boy do I miss those rocket planes on wires. This movie makes its least inspired choice when it injures Mechagodzilla just prior to his big job, inspiring his space monkey boss to say, "Damn it, we'll have to postpone our attack on Tokyo." Not words you want to hear in a Godzilla movie. Unless you're Japanese.
Fortunately for the rest of us, this film spawned "Terror of Mechagodzilla," a quantum leap forward in ludicrous hokum. An immensely more satisfying piece of crap, the sequel is a return to form in which Tokyo is properly laid to slightly overdue waste.
The whole point of a Godzilla movie is that it's massively inept, outrageous enough to entertain in that nebulous middleground of translation issues, cultural disconnect and plain incompetence. The best of the bad Godzillas are just flat-out absurd, the plots a series of unlikely excuses to wipe out business districts and waterfronts. The original "Gojira" is not really a Godzilla movie, if you know what I mean. That's an attempt at a real story with themes and characters.
This one has a more glamorous look than many Toho movies. By this I mean that there are several sets not built to be destroyed, and even a few pretty locations. The photography is a little bit interesting. "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla" makes a further gesture toward sophistication when it declines to feature any cute, fat children.
Don't fear, though. This is still a movie so inexplicable as to feature an Okinawan monster named after a Roman emperor. So pandering that its ancient demons are awakened by modern pop songs. And so friggin' stupid that the aliens give their address as "3rd planet of the black hole, outer space." Like many Gameras and Godzillas of the 60s and 70s, it also shows the superficial influence of Kurosawa and Peckinpah, as both monsters and space aliens spurt high-pressure blood.
Unfortunately, this movie features less property damage than perhaps any other Godzilla effort. There are only two or three fights, and they're not very long, and they take place mostly in the countryside; worst, there is not a single remote-control tank deployed to deal with the 500 foot terrorists stomping the mainland. Boy do I miss those rocket planes on wires. This movie makes its least inspired choice when it injures Mechagodzilla just prior to his big job, inspiring his space monkey boss to say, "Damn it, we'll have to postpone our attack on Tokyo." Not words you want to hear in a Godzilla movie. Unless you're Japanese.
Fortunately for the rest of us, this film spawned "Terror of Mechagodzilla," a quantum leap forward in ludicrous hokum. An immensely more satisfying piece of crap, the sequel is a return to form in which Tokyo is properly laid to slightly overdue waste.