Halloween 2022's Godzilla-Maniapalloza Extravaganza #15...For the Love of Godzilla.
All Hail, the Monster King!
Director
Ishirō Honda
Cast
Tomoko Ai - Katsura MafuneKatsuhiko Sasaki - Akira Ichinose
Akihiko Hirata - Dr. Shinzo Mafune
Gorō Mutsumi - Mugal
Toru Kawai - Godzilla
Kazunari Mori - MechagodzillaToru Kawai - Godzilla
Tatsumi Fuyamoto - Titanosaurus
It was released in the U.S. as "The Terror of Godzilla" and is a direct sequel to the last film, "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla."
By this point in the franchise, it's all feeling repetitive. That's not to say these Godzilla movies are getting boring, nor that "Terror of Mechagodzilla" is a dull film.
The movie begins with the fight between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla as seen in the last movie.
Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) agents are searching for what's left of Mechagodzilla at the bottom of the Okinawan Sea.
Their goal is to gather more knowledge of the Black Hole alien race that built this robotic, ballistic titan.
During their search, a new monster submerges from the deep and attacks their submarine, killing everyone on board.
This new monster is an aquatic dinosaur-like creature called Titanosaurus.
Interpol quickly launches an investigation into the attack. A Marine Biologist named Akira Ichinose (Katsuhiko Sasaki) helps to trace Titanosaurus's origins to Dr. Shinzo Mafune (Akihiko Hirata). Mafune is hellbent on destroying mankind.
Investigators meet Mafune's daughter, Katsura (Tomoko Ai) when visiting the doctor's house. She claims her father is dead and that she destroyed all his notes on Titanosaurus per his request.
However, Mafune is actually alive.
The Black Hole aliens are busy rebuilding Mechagodzilla.
Tsuda, an aide to the alien leader Mugal, played again by Gorō Mutsumi, pays a visit to Mafune to offer the service of the aliens by having Mechagodzilla fight alongside Titanosaurus in wiping out mankind.
Meanwhile, Ichinose falls in love with Katsura. Like the love-struck fool that he becomes, Ichinose inadvertently reveals all the information Interpol has on the Black Hole aliens, Mechagodzilla, and Titanosaurus.
But little does he know that Mugal is actually a cyborg!
Her scientist father performed a ton of cybernetic surgery on her after she was almost killed by one of his weird experiments when she was a kid.
Now, she has Mechagodzilla's control device planted inside her.
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| Godzilla takes on Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla - two against one - in "Terror of Mechagodzilla." |
The monster goes on a complete and uncontrolled rampage. Interpol agents figure out that they can use supersonic waves to slow down Titanosaurus.
However, Katsura destroys their supersonic wave machine.
Just in time, Godzilla shows up and takes down this new foe. But the dinosaur isn't completely defeated...yet.
The aliens capture Ichinose and force him to watch as they rerelease Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus on Tokyo.
Interpol desperately tries to fix their supersonic machine. All the while, Japanese Armed Forces try throwing all the weaponry they can at these two giants.
Godzilla returns to fight both monsters on his own, but is initially outmatched, and collapses.
Interpol finally repairs their supersonic wave machine and use it against Titanosaurus while Godzilla gathers himself and takes on Mechagodzilla.
Agents rescue Ichinose and kill Mafune along with a ton of other aliens, who by the way do not turn into ape-like creatures when they die like they do in "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla."
The remaining aliens attempt to fly away in their ships. But Godzilla takes them down with his atomic breath.
Now, all that's left is to destroy Mechagodzilla once again and finish off Titanosaurus.
Now, all that's left is to destroy Mechagodzilla once again and finish off Titanosaurus.
Godzilla manages to rip the robot's head off, but underneath is a backup brain to control Mechagodzilla.
That means Katsura must be killed if Mechagodzilla is going to be defeated, unless they can find another way to take it down. Well played, Toho. Well played!
Spoiler!
They don't find another way. Katsura tells Ichinose to kill her, but he loves her too much and can't do it. Katsura then shoots herself and dies.
Mechagodzilla goes down. Godzilla then focuses his wrath on Titanosaurus. Once the dinosaur is out for the count, Godzilla walks back into the water in a sendoff I can only describe as tear-jerking.
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| Gorō Mutsumi as "Mugal" of the Black Hole aliens. |
It's a direct sequel to the original 1954 film, "Gojira." It's also the first Godzilla movie in the Heisei era of kaiju movies (1984 - 1995).
With "Terror of Mechagodzilla" Toho really went out with an entertaining and well-constructed bang.
The film's campiness is found mostly with the dorky looking space suits and face coverings the Black Hole aliens wear. They unintentionally look fish with flailing arms, like something out of a Super Mario Brothers game. These costumes are even more ridiculous as the movie treats the invading alien part of the story with even more seriousness than before. The suits are cheesier than the Xilien space uniforms from "Invasion of Astro-Monster."
Despite that, for a sequel movie, it one-ups the previous film in a few ways. The human story manages to be captivating, though it seems like there's more human focus than in "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla." Still, that part of the story plays out well and carries the movie along solidly. I was invested in the human story just as much as I was in the monsters. I think that's thanks to the movie's strong cast.
There are several parts I love in "Terror of Mechagodzilla."
For one thing, the monster fights all take place within the city rather than taking the match to the country hillside or barren alien planet which always seems to be the case in previous Godzilla movies.
During one of the fight scenes, Godzilla catches on fire as he takes on two monsters by himself without any help, except from Interpol. I don't know if the costume catching fire was intentional or not, but it helps either way.
The production quality seems better than previous films as well.
The use of Godzilla's original theme as heard in the 1954 film works amazingly well and gives me chills. The theme plays when Godzilla makes his appearance in the movie, and it's nothing short of bad ass!
As Titanosaurus is wreaking havoc on Tokyo, Godzilla's silhouette is seen emerging from behind a building off in the distance. The camera switches back to Titanosaurus, as Godzilla's atomic breath comes from off screen and hits him in the chest, knocking him to the ground in a huge plume of dust. The camera switches to Godzilla's silhouette as bright flashes from behind him illuminate his presence, His face slowly emerges from the shadow, and his theme starts to play. Legendary!
"Terror of Mechagodzilla" marks the end of actor Akihiko Hirata's appearances in Godzilla films.
He was meant to return in "Godzilla 1984" as Dr. Serizawa. Unfortunately, Hirata became ill before filming commenced and died that same year.
He plays Dr. Serizawa in "Gojira," Dr. Shosuke Shigesawa in "King Kong vs. Godzilla," Police Chief Okita in "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster," Captain Ryui in "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep," Dr. Fujisaki in "Son of Godzilla," and Hideto Miyajima in "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla."
Through the magic of stock footage, he also stars in "Godzilla vs. Destroyah," (1995) and "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" (2002).
Hirata also has roles in other Japanese films such as "Rodan," "Mothra," and two episodes of the series "Ultraman."
"Terror of Mechagodzilla" is a strong film in the franchise, and a great picture to end the Showa era of Godzilla movies.
Even with the corny space outfits, the movie is one of the more entertaining in the series with its fight scenes done to perfection. And it's all paced out well. Good job, Toho.
And for the love of Godzilla, happy Halloween!
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| Special Effects Director, Eiji Tsubaraya, is considered a co-creator of Godzilla. |
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| Actor Haruo Nakajima played Godzilla in several films, including the first movie, "Gojira." |
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