We are now officially out of the "Bad" tier of Godzilla movies. Now begins the "Okay" tier, the shortest category among Godzilla films. These next few movies are all pretty average or alright, where they either have the same amount of good and bad moments or are just plain from start to finish. And we begin this tier with my definition of an average Godzilla movie - "Godzilla: Tokyo SOS."
This is the only Millennium film that doesn't take place in its own separate universe, but rather is a direct sequel to "Godzilla X MechaGodzilla," completing the Kiryu Saga. In many regards, it feels like the same movie as its predecessor, but has a few added benefits in the form of more monsters and better looking fight scenes, plus a reduced role for the bland human characters.
"Tokyo SOS" takes place roughly one year after the events of the last film, where the end of the battle between Godzilla and MechaGodzilla left both monsters heavily wounded, including the lose of Kiryu's Absolute Zero Cannon and his right arm. Godzilla has gone into hiding for the last year, while the Kiyru squadron continues to repair MechaGodzilla. But it seems that Godzilla's wounds have finished healing and he now begins to make his way back to Japan.
Meanwhile, in the snowy mountains of Japan, we are reintroduced to an aging doctor, Shin'ichi Chujo (Hiroshi Koizumi), one of the original explorers who was on the first mission to Infant Island in "Mothra." One night, while spending time with his grand children, Chujo is visited by the Shobijin, Mothra's tiny twin fairies. Rather than coming here to destroy humanity, like I am positive they truly want to do, the fairies are here to make a plea to all of Japan - Stop the MechaGodzilla project and send Godzilla's bones back to the ocean where they belong.
Chujo, the fairies, and one of his grandsons Yoshito (Noboru Kaneko) debate about what should be done. The fairies say the dead should be left alone for all eternity and that mankind is trying to play god by resurrecting something long gone. Yoshito, who is a mechanic for the MechaGodzilla project, says that Japan needs Kiryu to protect the country from monsters like Godzilla. So the fairies make a promise - If they return Godzilla's bones to the ocean, then Mothra will always be there to protect Japan from Godzilla.
This is a simple yet effective exchange between two sides that both make sense. From the perspective of the fairies, using the bones of a dead monster to fight other monsters is just asking for trouble, as well as the whole spiritual aspect. On the other hand, Japan is constantly attacked by giant monsters and, like it or not, MechaGodzilla is their best form of protection. I would also be hesitant to take the fairies promise, since Japan knows how strong Godzilla is and that Mothra, being a giant creature that will only attack sweaters, probably couldn't do much to stop Godzilla.
Although, an interesting thought I had recently is that this Godzilla didn't show up until just after the Japanese government got their hands on Godzilla's bones, and as we will see this Godzilla is always heading right for MechaGodzilla. Even though we're never told how this Godzilla was created, the theory is that the Earth made a new Godzilla with the sole purpose of getting the original Godzilla's bones back into the ocean. Meaning that if the government were to send MechaGodzilla to the bottom of the ocean, this Godzilla would never bother them again.
Jeez, it's almost like putting the bones of a dead animal inside your giant robot was a bad idea or something! Then again, the fairies are being just as cryptic as ever. They could just say how humanity messed up with Godzilla's bones and that sending them back to where they came from would end Godzilla's rampage. But nope, they have to be vague and non-descriptive!
Anyway, while Yoshito feels conflicted about the fairies message, the Kiryu squadron gets word that Godzilla is approaching Japan. The prime minister is reluctant to send MechaGodzilla out to fight him, mostly because repairs are not complete and he heeds the warning of the twin fairies. We get a pretty cool naval battle scene with ships and submarines attacking Godzilla, which leads into a neat sequence of Godzilla arriving in Tokyo Bay and the explosion of underwater mines matching up with his theme song.
But while the military strike feels massive in scale, it goes about as well as you'd expect on Godzilla. Like trying to take down an armored truck with foam noodles. Godzilla rampages through Tokyo for a little bit, appearing to head towards MechaGodzilla's base. But just before Godzilla gets to the heart of Tokyo, the young grandson of Chujo, Shun (Itsuki Oomori), learns about a way to save Japan. He takes a page out of his grandfather's book and constructs a large version of the Mothra symbol using school desks. And it actually works, the moment Shun finishes constructing the symbol, Mothra appears to defend Japan from Godzilla.
For me, Mothra is the best part of this movie. Without her, this is just another "Godzilla X MechaGodzilla" but with even more dull characters. Mothra adds so much variety to this movie and its fight scenes. Not only has she gotten a new bright and beautiful color scheme, but she fights unlike any other monster in the Millennium series - like a Showa monster! She has no beams or many weapons at her disposal, which means she has to think on her feet...or feelers I guess.
Her opening fight with Godzilla might be my favorite scene in the movie, when she makes her presence known to Godzilla and then proceeds to cause hurricane force winds. It doesn't bring Godzilla down, but it does bring up a lot of dirt to create a smokescreen, which Mothra uses as an opportunity to sneak behind Godzilla and send him hurdling to the ground. It returns to the classic days of monster fighting, when it wasn't all about energy blasts and massive amounts of damage, but outsmarting your opponent and using your strengths and their weaknesses to your advantage. To my knowledge, this is the only monster fight like this in the entire Millennium series, and it is a welcomed change of pace.
Godzilla and Mothra spend a while fighting until Godzilla finally starts getting the upper hand and throws Mothra into a building. Mothra breaks out her "weapon of last resort" which are her scales. They weaken Godzilla and reflects his atomic breath back at him, but the more she uses her scales, the more difficult it becomes for her to fly. Once enough of her scales are gone, Mothra will become immobile and helpless against Godzilla.
This leads into another great moment where the fairies sing Mothra's theme song. In previous Mothra movies, this song was heavily overplayed and butchered to the point that it lost all of its meaning. But this version is beautiful and sung wonderfully, complete with a nice background tropical island tune to make it unique. Because of Mothra's struggle against Godzilla, the song feels natural at this particular moment and works nicely in this scene.
After the prime minister sees Mothra's losing fight against Godzilla, he decides that he will not let Mothra sacrifice herself in vain, and immediately orders MechaGodzilla to join the attack. This leads to about a ten minute sequence of the Kiryu squadron prepping MechaGodzilla before sending him into combat. Again, they were going with a realistic approach, and I still say it was a dumb approach to MechaGodzilla in the first place.
But yeah, MechaGodzilla is send in to fight Godzilla while Mothra has been grounded due to losing too many scales. This leads into a fight between the two Godzilla's that feels exactly like the last time they fought - with Kiryu barely making a dent and then going down to just one or two blasts of Godzilla's atomic breath.
Are you starting to see why Mothra is my favorite part of this movie? Because without her, this is exactly like the last Godzilla movie.
There's a couple of neat parts, like when Kiryu uses a building for cover and the two monsters basically fight around and through the building. Or when Kiryu shows off that his new rocket pack can cause a massive explosion upon impact that does send Godzilla to the ground. But other than, it is a copy-and-paste of the long fight from "Godzilla X MechaGodzilla."
The fight changes up a bit when two Mothra larva show up in the middle of downtown Tokyo to continue to fight their mother cannot. But since they're newborns, they do about as well as you'd imagine against Godzilla. But as all three Mothra's gather for a tender moment, Godzilla has to ruin it by blasting the three with his beam and kill the adult Mothra. It is a sad moment to watch Mothra catch on fire and then explode from the inside out. Too bad it's ruined by the noises the Mothra larva make that make them sound like chimpanzees.
At the same time, Godzilla causes a critical injury to Kiryu that incapacitates the robot. Yoshito happens to be in the area, to save his grandfather and nephew, and is sent in to repair MechaGodzilla. This leads into a long sequence where the Kiryu squadron has to get Yoshito to the robot, while the pilots protect them from Godzilla, and then the repair scene. This is low point of the movie for me, since it all feels way too basic and lifeless. It's like I'm watching someone play a video game, trying to complete the mission and get to the next checkpoint, with no emotional investment in their struggle to get to MechaGodzilla or repair him.
In fact, that's the problem with the majority of the Millennium series, it just feels like its going through the motions without understanding why it has to do that. Like every human character is just a checklist of clichés or plot points. Even if the Heisei series had plots that were ludicrous and made no sense, I'd still take the silly stories over the ones that don't even seem to be trying.
As expected, Yoshito is successful in getting MechaGodzilla repaired and he reengages the fight with Godzilla. And suddenly, this is the point where Kiryu starts getting cool. First he wrestles Godzilla to the ground, while also destroying the old Tokyo capital building, then Kiryu turns his new right hand into a drill arm that pierces Godzilla's skin and puts a massive hole in him. He follows that up by showing his replacement for the Absolute Zero Cannon - the Triple Hyper Maser Cannon. The pilots unleash the full force of that cannon, as well as the regular maser cannon in Kiryu's mouth, right into Godzilla's open wound. How come we couldn't get a kick-ass MechaGodzilla like this in the last movie, or even earlier in this movie?
To top things off, as Godzilla is stunned by Kiryu's onslaught, the Mothra larva wrap Godzilla up in their silk string so he cannot go anywhere.
The film ends with MechaGodzilla preparing to strike the final blow, only for the original Godzilla to take control of Kiryu's body. He grabs the captured Godzilla and the two of them fly out into the Sea of Japan to finally bring things to an end. The people of Japan comment on how this feels like a hollow victory, since it cost them MechaGodzilla, but act like they've learned not to mess with the souls of the dead...even though the end credits reveal that they still have a vault filled with the DNA of every monster that's ever attacked Japan, including the original Godzilla.
From what I understood, this was added to try and push Toho to make a third film in the Kiryu series that never happened. The plan for the third movie sounded pretty neat though, with robot versions of many different kaiju, including Varan, Baragon, and Mothra. But maybe that was for the best, since both entries in this series were average at best.
"Godzilla: Tokyo SOS" is a definite improvement over "Godzilla X MechaGodzilla," if only for many of the Mothra scenes. This film emphasized how beautiful and majestic Mothra is, while also how different she is from any other monster in the Toho movies - one that relies on intelligence and wit instead of brute strength. Some of the fight scenes between the two Godzilla's were better here, but only near the end when MechaGodzilla broke out his new weapons. The human characters and the story are still just as bland as ever, but at least they seem to be downplayed this time. Overall, I wouldn't call this one a bad Godzilla movie, but it certainly isn't a good one either.
No comments:
Post a Comment