Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.


Grandpa Chujo: "What's the favor?"
fairies: "It's Godzilla's bones. You must send them back to sea. Human beings made a weapon using the bones from Godzilla. That was a mistake."



release year: 2003
genre: Godzilla
viewing setting: home Bluray, 8/30/19

synopsis: Mothra has a problem with the first Godzilla's skeleton being used to create Mechagodzilla, and takes action.

impressions: This was the fifth entry in the Millennium era of Godzilla movies, the 28th Godzilla movie overall, and a direct sequel to the last one. Let's get right to it with the notable contents from this one: it's taken a year and Mechagodzilla's still not fixed...the UFO sings to the planes...one wonders how a winged insect can fly at speeds greater than Mach 2...the fairy twins are back!...the anti-monster fighter squadron has their own insignia...the dead giant sea turtle is apparently from an older giant monster movie...Godzilla killed it, and also a submarine...they're rushing Mechagodzilla back into action...over Yoshito's objections...the had pilot is being an ass...the girl pilot likes Yoshita and he doesn't even realize it...Godzilla is located, so they attack him but he ignores them...there's now a Hyper Maser (which doesn't affect Godzilla, much like the regular masers didn't in the past, proving once again that even the biggest number multiplied by zero still yields zero)...the little kid ran away with the Mothra stone...two soldiers unwillingly learn what it means to go above and beyond the call of duty...Godzilla gets hit with every missile the military had...but he's unfazed, and looking pretty good...the kid builds the Mothra symbol out of a bunch of desks...and that worked...this viewer spotted what he thinks is the first subtitling error on any of these Bluray or DVD discs...an official panics: "Godzilla and Mothra. If those two attack us together, we're not gonna make it.".

And it's battle time! This only and final fight lasts about half an hour, with a few breaks for human action. Highlights: Mothra shows up and flaps her wings to push Godzilla back, then divebombs his head...Godzilla chomps off a leg...Mothra crashes into the side of a building...then uses the gold dust (which is now revealed as her scales, a "weapon of last resort" which are what's keeping her airborne...the Mothra home island is now Himago Island...and the fairies are singing because the next Mothras are almost ready...the gold dust blocks Godzilla's breath, causing an explosion, which in turn causes Godzilla to strike a funny pose...overconfident lead pilot Akiba...they decide to launch Mechagodzilla...how are just two planes able to carry this thing?...Yoshito's boss helpfully lends him his car...Tokyo Tower has been knocked down...Godzilla finally succeeds in blasting Mothra out of the sky...Mechagodzilla to the rescue!...it's blasting the hell out of Godzilla...and has an entire arsenal of weaponry...some of which Godzilla blasts out of the air, before blasting through a building to knock Mechagodzilla into another building...and then Godzilla walks through what's left of the first building...Mothra flies in for the save, taking the hit from the breath...witness the fairies' reaction to the egg hatching...the new Mothra is twins!...and they swim pretty well considering they were just hatched...this battle has some long interruptions...it turns out that the Mothra stone is also a compass to find one's wayward family members...the Mechagodzilla shoulder units separate and launch...one sticks into Godzilla and then explodes, knocking him down...Mechagodzilla uses a wrestling move, bending down and letting the charging Godzilla grab its back before suddenly standing up and flipping his opponent behind him...Godzilla wakes up and uses a tail sweep...the Mothra larvae have made landfall...their use of silk promts this from a spectator: "They really are Mothra larvae."...the one larva fails to sneak up on Godzilla...a larva talks to the adult...once again, Mothra takes the hit, and then ignotes...and explodes...and the larvae are sad...Yoshito's conveniently around now that Mechagodzilla needs repairs...even though he's a Mechagodzilla mechanic for a living, for some reason those in authority have to get past the fact that he's not a pilot before they're okay with him making the repairs...he commandeers a motorcycle and drives through the subway...a larva pounces, but misses the tail...after a second try, now she's got it...Godzilla can't thrash her loose...the fairies help Yoshito out...the home base helps him remotely with the repairs...this reminds me of Apollo 13...some female technician suggests that they try J3, then doesn't get credit for her idea and pouts...the one larva apparently wasn't in on the plan, was hanging around near Mechagodzilla, and caused it to get blasted...and now Yoshito can't get out...so he plans to sacrifice himself...Mechagodzilla has a drill hand!!...which is really tearing chunks out of Godzilla...it's time for the Hyper Maser...and Godzilla's reeling...and now the webs come...Mechagodzilla is damaged...a handy view of all four remaining combatants...the webbed Godzilla looks like a mummy at this point...and keels over...still trapped inside Mechagodzilla, Yoshito has visions and guilt from the souls trapped inside with him...now Mechagodzilla is acting on its own...it grabs the webbed-up Godzilla and flies him out to sea...Yoshito manages to escape with a little help...the two giant monsters crash in the ocean and sink into the depths...this kind of feels like it was supposed to be the last Godzilla movie..."The souls of the dead can now rest in peace in the cradle of eternity."...a cool post-credits scene that suggests a government conspiracy...and another showing that Godzilla's still alive down there.


number in Godzilla series: 28

previous Godzilla movie in series: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla

next Godzilla movie in series: Godzilla: Final Wars

other giant monsters appearing in this one: Mechagodzilla, Mothra (adult and larvae), "Megalo Matamata" (a giant sea turtle)

total giant monster battle time: about 22 minutes

acting: Main characters: Yoshito Chujo, a Mechagodzilla ground crew member whose uncle was the main guy in 1960's Mothra...Grandpa Chujo (who also had roles in a couple of the 1960s Godzilla movies)...the twin fairies, who now have some measure of telekinetic abilities...Shun, the token kid in this one and grandson of the elder Chujo...Asuza, cute female pilot...Aikba, the top pilot, who's a jerk but also has the reflexes to catch a fly in his bare hand...Akane, pilot/heroine from the last one, who basically has a cameo and then vanishes...no Sara or her dad from the last one.

final word: Decent sequel to the last one, with great special effects and a long fight to end it.

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