TERROR OF MECHAGODZILA (1975)

TERROR OF MECHAGODZILA (1975)

Tagline: Metal Meets Monster

(Action, Adventure, Total Destruction) [G]

I may look like a girl but I’m not, I’m a cyborg!

In this one, Godzilla pretty much decimated the first Mechagodzilla and now there is an effort to find its remaining parts. As it turns out Dr. Mafune and his assistant/daughter are working with aliens from the freakin Black Hole to resurrect Mechagodzilla. Their goal is to kill Godzilla with a rejuvenated (and basically stolen) Mechagodzilla and a sinister new dinosaur named Titanosaurus. As you might know…fortunately it’s just really hard to kill Godzilla. Can Tokyo survive the terror of Mechagodzilla?

First off, acting-wise this movie is decent, but there isn’t much that better than the awesome helmets these aliens from the Black Hole are wearing. I mean, these things are epic. This movie also features a really good Mechagodzilla design, but it’s not the best one TOHO has ever done. 

The Good – This movie is loaded with awesome monster brawls and seeing at least one of the kaiju on screen seemingly every 5 minutes or less is outstanding. I loved what they did with this part of the story because there is never going to be too much Godzilla in a Godzilla movie. I also loved the Titanosaurus design. He’s one of my favorite kaiju in all of the TOHO movies maybe next to the updated version of King Cesar. Unfortunately, this is also Titanosaurus’s only appearance in a Godzilla film (or anywhere). Actress Tomoko Ai stood out in this one (playing Katsura) as well as Katsuhiko Sasaki who has shown up in a bunch of Godzilla movies as various characters. 

The Oddities – This is one of the TOHO films where the Godzilla suit actually caught on fire. The shot was left in both versions of the film. What wasn’t left in the U.S. version of the film is a brief scene of “fake nudity”. Thank God. It seems extremely uncalled for in a movie rated [G] aimed at kids. 

Story-wise this is far from one of the better Godzilla flicks. Almost nothing is given background or explained. In Japan, it was one of the worst movies in the Godzilla canon at the box office. In the U.S. however, the movie is still extremely popular among Godzilla fans. This was also the last of the Ishirô Honda-directed Godzilla movies. Godzilla wasn’t portrayed as a force for good after this movie from 1975 to 2004. 

Overall I found the plot for this thing extremely confusing and a lot of the crap that happens in this movie simply comes out of nowhere. Having said that, I still watch this one often because there is a ton of fun monster action to be had and the alien's helmets had me rolling on the floor in laughter.

I have to give this one a 5 out of 7 in spite of its extremely bizarre human plot. It’s just too fun to give anything lower than that.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TOHO COMPANY AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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