Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
| Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla | |
|---|---|
 Official Japanese poster |
|
| Directed by | Masaaki Tezuka |
| Produced by | Takahide Morichi Shōgo Tomiyama |
| Written by | Wataru Mimura |
| Starring | Yumiko Shaku Shin Takuma Kou Takasugi Patrick Castillo Yuusuke Tomoi Kumi Mizuno Akira Nakao Tsutomu Kitagawa as Godzilla |
| Music by | Michiru Oshima |
| Cinematography | Masahiro Kishimoto |
| Editing by | Shinichi Fushima Shinichi Natori |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | December 15, 2002 |
| Running time | 88 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, released in Japan as Godzilla × Mechagodzilla (ゴジラ×メカゴジラ Gojira tai Mekagojira) is a 2002 Japanese science fiction kaiju film directed by Masaaki Tezuka, written by Wataru Mimura, and produced by Toho Co., Ltd. It is the 26th installment in the Godzilla series of films. It is the fourth film to feature Mechagodzilla. Unlike much of the Millennium Series, the film takes place in continuity with other Toho films, notably Godzilla, Mothra, War of the Gargantuas, The Space Amoeba and its successor, Tokyo S.O.S.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The year is 1999, forty five years after the first Godzilla attack of 1954. When Lieutenant Akane Yashiro, a mazer technician, fails to kill Godzilla during her first combat engagement, she is made a scapegoat for the military's losses during the battle and consequently transferred to a desk job. During the battle, it is discovered that Godzilla is immune to mazer fire, rendering all of the Japanese military useless against it should it return. Scientists are forced to build a bio-mechanical robot from the original Godzilla's skeleton. Four years later, the cyborg, called Kiryu, is finished and inducted into the Japan Self-Defense Forces along with its human pilots as the Kiryu Squadron. Lieutenant Akane Yashiro is congratulated by her captain as the new "Kiryu" (main pilot). However, memories of Akane's actions during the original engagement in 1999 still linger, and one of her squadron mates is openly hostile towards her, blaming her for the death of his brother in that same fight.
A while later, Kiryu is shown to the world, and the complete system that controls the unit is explained. The Unit is controlled remotely from a control craft that resembles a very large jet fighter with VSTOL capabilities. The Unit can be remotely recharged from the ground using microwaves that are relayed through a power system on one of the command aircraft, and then beamed back down to the Kiryu unit. For the end of the presentation,the Absolute Zero cannon is shown. Then everyone is shocked when it is tested on a building. The building is surrounded by a block of ice. As Kiryu hits his tail on the ground, the building is obliterated. At the same time, Godzilla shows up once again, even though the JXSDF seemed to finally defeat him. Kiryu is released at the same place of Godzilla. In the midst of the first battle, Kiryu's soul is awoken by Godzilla's roar and brings with it the memories of his death years ago. This action makes Kiryu extremely angry and he proceeds to destroy the city around him. Horrified, the Kiryu Squadron can only watch in terror and alarm as the rampaging cyborg destroys more city property than Godzilla did. It takes 1 hour for Kiryu's energy source to run out. Kiryu is brought back to headquarters for further work.
Meanwhile, Kiryu's main pilot, Lieutenant Akane Yashiro, tries to settle matters involving 2nd lieutenant Susumu Hayama, scientist Tokumitsu Yuhara and his distressed daughter, Sara; who sees Kiryu as a being with a right to life and that it should befriend Godzilla rather than battle him. Lt. Andre pops the seat out of his jet and flys out and plants a tracking bomb on Godzilla in the ocean. He also gets injured. Later, Godzilla attacks again. Afterwards, a nearby hospital is evacuated. A nurse quickly realizes a baby girl is still in it. Godzilla then creeps up on the hospital and charges for an atomic beam. Just then Kiryu is released from the air, and hits Godzilla with immense speed, saving the nurse and the baby. At this point, Godzilla and Kiryu face off in a head to head battle where each combatant sizes up its opposite and exchange powerful blows that also devastate the cityscape around them. During the course of the fight, Kiryu is disabled, and the remote piloting system completely taken offline. In an effort to continue the fight and press what advantage over Godzilla they still have, Lieutenant Akane orders the pilot to land his command craft so that she can make her way to Kiryu and take control from its internal backup cockpit. Now under direct human control, Kiryu rises from the ground one more time and closes with Godzilla in a final blow, hoping to use the absolute-zero cannon at point blank range. The Two titans collide, and the lieutenant uses the thrusters on Kiryu to propel it and Godzilla out to sea before the cannon fires, freezing a huge portion of the ocean around them. After the blast clears, Godzilla is shown with a huge gash in his chest, steadily walking away from the city and back into the sea. Kiryu is heavily damaged, missing its right arm, and the Absolute Zero cannon shown to be devastated.
The closing image of the film shows Lieutenant Akane standing on the shoulder of the heavily damaged Kiryu, watching Godzilla slowly retreat out to sea with a respectful expression on her face. Following the credits, an additional scene reveals that Lieutenant Akane agrees to have dinner with scientist Tokumitsu Yuhara.
[edit] Cast
- Yumiko Shaku as JXSDF Lt. Akane Yashiro
- Shin Takuma as Tokumitsu Yuhara
- Kana Onodera as Sara Yuhara
- Kou Takasugi as JXSDF Colonel Togashi
- Patrick Castillo as JXSDF Lt. Andre Ramirez
- Akira Nakao as Prime Minister Hayato Igarashi
- Yūsuke Tomoi as JXSDF 2nd Lieutenant Susumu Hayama
- Junichi Mizuno as JXSDF 1st Lieutenant Kenji Sekine
- Kumi Mizuno as Prime Minister Machiko Tsuge
- Yoshikazu Kanō as Hishinuma
- Takeo Nakahara as JXSDF Chief Ichiyanagi
- Kōichi Ueda as Dobashi
- Midori Hagio as Kaori Yamada
- Akira Shirai as Shinji Akamatsu
- Naomasa Rokudaira as Dr. Gorō Kanno
- Shinji Morisue as JXSDF 1st Lieutenant
- Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui as Himself
- Tsutomu Kitagawa as Godzilla
- Hirofumi Ishigaki as Kiryu
[edit] Production
- In this continuity, the original Godzilla's skeleton was not vaporized by the Oxygen Destroyer, and Gaira was seemingly destroyed by maser weapons.
- Kiryu is only referred to as Mechagodzilla three times in the film; for the rest of the film he is referred to as Kiryu.
- Japanese Baseball star Hideki Matsui has a cameo in the film due to his nickname "Godzilla".
[edit] Box office
Budgeted at roughly $8,500,000, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla opened in Japan on December 13, 2002, and earned $2,253,231 in its opening weekend. It went on to gross approximately $16,000,000 in Japan, making it the second biggest of the Millennium Godzilla films at the box office. It sold approximately 1,700,000 admissions.
[edit] Critical reaction
Mike Pinsky of DVD Talk gave the film three stars out of five, saying: "While I did have some minor complaints, [this is] a fine entry in the series." Pinsky said "the plot is more interesting than most giant monster movies," and "the battle scenes, which are the main reason anyone watches these films to begin with, were great."[1] Matt Paprocki of Blog Critics said the film is "pretty flawed, [but] those of us who still love seeing Japan get trampled are in for a treat."[2]
Stomp Tokyo praised the "great monster fight action" but criticized the "[un]compelling non-monster scenes."[3] Giving the film a "B+" score, Mark Zimmer of Digitally Obsessed said that it's "a good deal of fun and one of the better entries in the series."[4] Digital Monster Island gave the film a "B" score, calling it "a fun and exciting film that should please most kaiju fans."[5]
[edit] DVD
Sony Pictures
- Released: March 23, 2004
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla at the Internet Movie Database
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla at AllRovi
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla at Rotten Tomatoes
- "ゴジラ×メカゴジラ (Gojira tai Meka-Gojira)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/2002/dz003850.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
