Rating: **
Review Date: 3/21/20
Director: Ishiro Honda
Music: Akira Ifukube
Cast: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata
"Even though you're a cyborg, I still love you."
Director Ishiro Honda came out of retirement to make this final Godzilla film
in the Showa Era series. Following the events in
"Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla" (1974),
a group of scientists search for the wreckage of Mechagodzilla when their
submarine is attacked and destroyed by a monster called Titanosaurus. The alien
invaders from Black Hole Planet 3 have returned to reclaim their property,
although this time they're not gorillas. They recruit a mad scientist (Akihiko Hirata)
who holds a grudge against humanity to rebuild Mechagodzilla's command center,
which they link to his cyborg daughter, Katsura (Tomoko Ai). While studying
Titanosaurus, a marine biologist (Katsuhiko Sasaki) unwittingly falls in love
with Katsura, and their doomed romance ultimately saves humankind.
The combination of Ishiro Honda and Akira Ifukube is a potent one, and the
film has a nostalgic and mature tone. It also features some naked cyborg breasts,
which is rather shocking for the series. Once again, Interpol is involved in
investigating the space aliens and coordinating countermeasures against them.
The monster action is fun and Mechagodzilla does a wonderful job of blowing up
Tokyo. Godzilla really goes after Mechagodzilla this time, and shows a surprising
amount of agility and aggression. Titanosaurus is a neat looking monster, although
it doesn't do much and its elephant trumpeting quickly becomes obnoxious. However,
it's a gentle creature by nature, and you end up feeling sorry for it being
manipulated by the bad guys. Unfortunately, the visual effects aren't up to par,
and the split-screen compositions look absolutely terrible. Projectiles look
especially bad, and the film recycles military footage from previous entries.
The final shot of Godzilla is also disconcerting, as it uses a blatantly different
suit. Katsura's noble sacrifice saves the day, but also instills an uneasy
feeling that women will always betray men, even if they're cyborgs.
Still, it's a fun monster romp that is completely free of silliness and
childish sensibilities.