Monster Throwdown: Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Back when I was a young pup full of piss and vinegar I started this blog with the idea that it would be about monster movies exclusively. I think it took about two posts for me to drop that idea and adopt the "anything goes" approach to blogging that dominates Zombie Baby Nursery today. This free form approach allows me to write about a massive range of topics and I like that. That said, there will always be monster movies in my life in one form or another, and monster movies shall always have a place on this blog.

With that in mind, I'd like to take some time today to talk about a little movie called Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, a blast from almost two decades past. Mechagodzilla II (released in Japan as simply Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla) is a 1993 kaiju pic starring three big name beasts: Godzilla, Rodan, and Mechagodzilla. I watched it today for three reasons: I needed to kill some time, I was in the mood for some Godzilla, and I was feeling slightly nostalgic. Since Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II fit all three of these moods/requirements I popped it into the DVD player with hardly a second thought.

I probably first saw Mechagodzilla II when I was about nine or ten. It was never my favorite Godzilla movie as a kid, but I guess I liked it enough that, as I was combing through DVDs today, my nostalgia trigger went off when I stumbled across this title. As a kid my favorite Godzilla foe was King Ghidorah, but I had a solid appreciation for Mechagodzilla. As I grow older, though, I find that this pattern is being reversed. Nowadays I think Ghidorah's cool and all, but I find myself being drawn to the movies where Mechagodzilla puts in an appearance. One of the things about Mechagodzilla that really appeals to me is the whole "evil twin" type of thing. Imagine that your greatest foe was a version of you that shot lasers and didn't bleed. That's so cool, right?

Naturally the premise of organic matter vs. metal is the perfect framework on which to hang a story about environmentalism and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II does just that. By the time the movie is ending and the human characters have realized how truly foolish they were to have thought they could alter the course of nature, you'll be thinking that Jim Cameron's Avatar was subtle by comparison. Despite the bluntness of the film's environmentalist spin, Mechagodzilla II's story is pretty decent. The primary human characters are more likeable here than is typical for a Godzilla film. Two characters flirting over a giant dinosaur egg is simultaneously bizarre, cheesy and endearing. Most of the human parts are thankfully kept fairly comedic and light, and they serve the purpose of advancing the story and keeping the viewer from nodding off between kaiju sightings. Don't get me wrong, we're not talking Oscar worthy writing/acting here, but the people populated portions of Mechagodzilla II still get the job done in a B+ sort of way.

Of course monster brawls and destruction are the real reasons to seek out a Godzilla flick, and Mechagodzilla II does solidly well in this regard. The battles here are real energetic affairs with all parties getting bruised significantly in the process. The action starts up quickly, as shortly into the film Rodan goes ballistic on Godzilla which results in an epic monster scuffle. The fights in Mechagodzilla II are notably more visceral than typical Godzilla brawls. Blood and spit are occasionally splashed across the screen and dribbled down monster suits. Little Baby Godzilla even sheds a few tears at the end of the film. While all this monster bodily fluid could have been weird if used in massive quantities, it was done just sparingly enough to grab the viewer's attention.

Let me back up for just a second to talk about the aforementioned Baby Godzilla. Baby Godzilla hatches out of a giant egg and is a combination of adorable and terrifying. Just take a look at that picture. Baby's obviously supposed to be the gooey heartwarming center of the movie, but I honestly don't know what to think about him. My reactions to Baby varied from "Aww, he's so cute" to "Eww, he's so deformed" for the majority of the film. At the end of the movie I think I was mostly on Baby's side, but I'll need to give the movie another go before I've made up my mind on this matter.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II isn't the best Godzilla film out there. It's probably not even top five material. It's not bad though. Throughout the entire hour and forty five minutes of Mechagodzilla II there weren't two consecutive minutes that bored me. If you're a Godzilla newbie you should start at the very beginning and check out the Gojira (1954), but those who are already converted 'Zilla fans could do worse than to spend an afternoon with Mechagodzilla II.