Godzilla Series Discussion

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) Discussion

Hey everyone and welcome back to another Godzilla discussion. In today's chapter of this epic discussion we're going to be taking a look at Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

After, a string of really kid friendly Godzilla movies. Toho realized that it was time to step up their game. This is one of my favorites from the Shōwa era.

Plot: Well the title says it all. Godzilla comes face to face with his mechanical counter part and does battle. There's more to it such as a statue that awakens another monster known as King Caesar, and also the humans have to go toe to to with aliens. So basically all you want it to be in this movie.

If I had to choose a favorite alien villain in the Godzilla series I'd easily choose the villains in this movie and also the follow up known as The Simians who would also appear in the next film in this series which is Terror of Mechagodzilla.

These guys are great. They go around wearing their silver slim suits and have a bit of a cool factor to them. Oh and if you shoot them they revert back to their true form which is that of space apes!

Anyways, the Simians are here to take over the world with their robot Mechagodzilla. But, before we get to see his true form. He appears looking like Godzilla. In his first fight the fake Godzilla starts attacking Anguirus and rips his jaw open basically killing him. Although if you were to go based on continuity with Destroy All Monsters which was set in 1999 Anguirus survives the battle.

After the first fight with Anguirus the fake Godzilla fights the real Godzilla which is pretty cool. After the battle goes on a bit Mechagodzilla's true form is revealed and the design is fantastic. Mechagodzilla has a bunch of weapons and it's great. In the first battle he kicks Godzilla's ass.

Soon Godzilla is out of commission for awhile and Mechagodzilla needs significant repairs. It's at the is point where the movie starts to drag a little. There's a lot of slow parts involving the humans trying to get the statue to summon King Caesar. Eventually they do find the statue and the location of King Caesar. But, unfortunately he's a real lazy monster and can only be summoned if you sing to him. And yes they play the entire song.

3 minutes later (after the whole Friken song is played). He finally wakes up and precedes to get his ass kicked by Mechagodzilla. Soon Godzilla joins in and we get a great battle with the 2 monsters teaming up to fight. Lots of explosions and sparks flying.

In the end Godzilla is able to turn himself into a magnetic force (because why not) and then he precedes to twist off Mechagodzilla's head. Which is strange considering that Mechagodzilla's head was seen spinning around a lot earlier when he created a force field.

Oh well in the end Godzilla returns to the sea and King Caesar goes back to his cave and not even bother to show up to help Godzilla in the next movie! Seriously what a lazy bum.

Overall, while this movie does have its slow parts along with some direction that could have been better. The movie is a nice return to form for the series. This also marks the final Godzilla movie directed by Jun Fukuda and the final Godzilla movie where Masaru Sato did the music. It's a good score and I recommend listening to it when you get the chance to.

Anyways, that's all I have to say about this one. If you want to discuss it further we can do so in the comments below. Anyway, I'll be back next time as we conclude the Shōwa era with the movie Terror of Mechagodzilla. Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you all soon.