The Terror of Mechagodzilla
Murakoshi: "Revolving missiles. That's Mechagodzilla's new weapon."
Inchinose: "Good heavens! Godzilla may even lose."
release year: 1975
genre: Godzilla
viewing setting: home DVD, 7/17/19
synopsis: Thanks to aliens, Mechagodzilla is rebuilt and returns to wreak more havoc.
impressions: This was the 15th film overall, and the last one in the initial (Showa) era. There wouldn't be another one for nine years, in 1975. So this was the end of an era, and as with all of the Classic Media boxed set discs, I had the choice to watch the Japanese or American version (I chose Japanese, with subtitles.) Things worth mentioning: opening credits contain recap battle scenes from last movie...submarine ventures where it shouldn't and runs into Titanosaurus...the Black Hole Third Planet aliens are back!...a crazy long-ago-fired mad scientist...an actual execution...a robot girl...a great example of what you don't want to see in your submarine's porthole...an alien leader who whips his underlings...goofy helmets on all the aliens...a couple of aliens suddenly teleporting away...Titanosaurus leaping into the sky to smash the planes...Godzilla's new round compact head...the robot girl's laser eyes...fake partial nudity...a brain link to Mechagodzilla...Titanosaurus' tail being a wind-making fan.
There was a short initial skirmish between Godzilla and Titanosaurus, and then a longer final battle with those two plus Mechagodzilla. The latter didn't have rampant scene-intercutting or footage-recycling like in previous films, and was pretty good. Highlights included: Godzilla just appearing magically at the battle site...Godzilla getting punted, twice...a headbutt and then some boxing...Godzilla getting pissed and swatting Titanosaurus aside before heading for Mechagodzilla...Titanosaurus' bizarre fighting moves, including burying Godzilla and then jumping up and down on that area like a child...a mighty multi-weapon barrage by Mechagodzilla...Godzilla powering through that and then unleashing the fury on Mechagodzilla, ripping his head clean off this time...a revealed mini-head inside, with a laser beam...Godzilla ultimately doing a clean sweep with his breath weapon, destroying Mechagodzilla, the three alien UFOs, and Titanosaurus.
number in Godzilla series: 15
previous Godzilla movie in series: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla
next Godzilla movie in series: Godzilla Returns
other giant monsters appearing in this one: Mechagodzilla, Titanosaurus
total giant monster battle time: about 20 minutes
acting: Main characters: Murakoshi, the Interpol agent...Inchinose, the ocean biologist...Miss Yamamoto, a woman who's kind of just there in a lot of scenes...Mafune, the (angry) mad scientist...Katsura, his hot daughter...Mugal, the alien commander.
final word: Another classic, mainly due to the debut of Mechagodzilla and his awesome array of armaments.
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