Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
2002 [JAPANESE]
Action / Sci-Fi / Thriller

Plot summary
JSDF pilot Akane has a fateful encounter when a new Godzilla emerges in Tateyama. As a countermeasure, a cyborg named Kiryu is constructed from the remains of the original. The machine is discovered to harbor the restless soul of the original monster as Akane must learn to find value in her own life as well.
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
good monster movie as it is
Good But Flawed
I must admit, I had my worries. So many good and bad reviews. First off, I just want to say both Godzilla and MechaGodzilla, or Kiryu as he's called, looked incredible. This has to be one of the fiercest looking Godzilla suits since the Heisei era. My favorite of the Shinsei era. Plus his heat ray was remarkable, the way it charges up. Kiryu looks cool as hell and has some of the most impressive weapons yet seen in a robot monster.
Anyways, Mazakki Tezuka returns to direct and he did an excellent job. Wataru Mimura provides a great screenplay, as usual. Akira Nakao returns, one of my favorite G-actors. Akane is played by Yumiko Shaku, a beautiful actor that gave a very emotional performance. The love story is awkward because there's a huge age difference between her and Dr. Yahara ( Shin Takuma), but it still works. Sara, his daughter, was a bit annoying at times but it helps the story along greatly. Godzilla, despite this being the shortest G-film since the Showa era, gets a lot of screen time. The many battles against JSDF are incredibly well done and I love the Maser Tanks!! The battle in the rain looked awesome and I would love to see a monster battle in the rain in the future. Prior to rumor, you don't have to wait that long for the title monsters to meet. Unfortunately, when they do Godzilla just sits there like a statue, not even flinching. Only the hit from the Maser rays in Kiryu's mouth make him wake up and react to what's going on. This was PATHETIC and I don't know what the staff was thinking but they must have been high to think it looked good.
Moving on, then Kiryu goes on a fantastic rampage that looks bad-ass as hell. The drive of Michuru Oshima's music and sound of explosions combine to make a very cool scene. I love that part of the story, Kiryu being part Godzilla, part man's machine to destroy him. How he turns evil, it's just great. In the end, the two meet again, after some nicely done rampage scenes. The first battle makes you wonder, but Tezuka delivers and Yuichi Kikuchi's SFX really kick ass! The CGI is excellent and MechaG even engages in a physical battle with Godzilla. His best weapon is that electrocuting machete, nice. At the climax, we finally see a weapon that really wounds Godzilla. I love that scene, seeing that bloody crater in his chest.
The movie is well done and could've been a ten star film, but a few things brought it down, all blasting a star off. First off, Godzilla being a statue when they first fought and secondly, Godzilla isn't exactly what I want him to be. Sure he gets screen time and all, but he's hardly ever mentioned in the dialogue. Plus he hardly interacts with the human characters, and he seems to be more of a afterthought if you ask me. The sequel, "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." , had the same problem. I don't know what went wrong here, because "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" was a remarkable achievement, and yet I felt Tezuka lacked here. In actuality, Kiryu is the main monster, not Godzilla. This was kind of a bother to me. He's basically a villain without character. The film is still a very good one, but the story should've revolved more around Godzilla. The characters just don't talk about him enough.