Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

JLRVancouver In this militaristic revision of Japan's troubled history with kaiju, Godzilla attacked once before, in 1954, and was defeated by Serizawa's oxygen destroyer. Other monsters have since attacked (Mothra and Gaira ("War of the Gargantuas", 1966)) and Japan's response to each attack is to develop newer, more powerful weapons. Now Godzilla has returned and a new weapon is needed, so tissue from the original Godzilla's skeleton is incorporated into a giant mecha to create a cybernetic "Mechagodzilla" (that this is the third incarnation of a "Mechagodzilla" is not part of this film's alternative history). Similar to the previous films in the millennium-series, Godzilla is a simply rampaging monster that needs to be destroyed (the concept that he's just a misunderstood dad, or that he is our guardian, or that he is our friend was (fortunately) put aside for this series). "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" (number 27 in the canon) is a pretty typical Godzilla outing. There is some backstory about the cyborg expert Tokumitsu Yuhara (Shin Takuma ) who is brought in to help design Mechagodzilla and his daughter Sara (Kana Onodera, she's OK - kids in Godzilla movies just keep getting less annoying) as well as Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku), a Mechagodzilla operator with a personal vendetta against the big guy, all of which exists simply as a scaffold to support the kaiju scenes. Both Godzilla and his cyborg doppelganger look pretty good, especially when trashing cities, as do the "White Heron" transport/command and control aircraft. I always thought the mechagodzillas looked silly when flying, so was pleased to see this one being towed into battle (later it turns out that it can fly, and, once again, looks silly doing so). The battle scenes are a mixed bag - despite having the ultimate Godzilla weapon installed in the mecha's chest, the crew seem obligated to fire numerous useless cannon, missiles, ray guns, etc. before activating the 'absolute zero' canon. The battling colossi look OK when grappling or blasting each other with death-rays, but the scenes where Mechagodzilla jumps over Godzilla or spins him around by his tail look 'fake' in comparison and detract from the overall quality of the brawls. The film's score is also a mixed bag, with some good (and familiar) themes mixed in with the grating 'fanfare' music that accompanies shots of Mechagodzilla. Acting (including English subtitling in my version) is on par with other film's in the series (although I got tired of Yumiko Shaku 's po-faced Akane and her heroic pose at the film's close was pretty trite). While neither as imaginative or well-executed as 2000's "G. vs Megaguirus") or as off-beat as 2001's "Giant Monsters All-Out Attack", this latest version of Godzilla fighting his robotic-self is an entertaining enough entry into the long running daikaiju franchise.

dee.reid I have to admit that I've been rather slow in getting to the Millennium-Era series of "Godzilla" films - meaning, the films that were made between 1999 and 2004 in Japan. I admit that I know very little about the Millennium Era, but the first movie I ever saw from this series was "Godzilla 2000" (1999) back in early 2000 at the now-closed Cineplex Odeon at my local shopping mall and was consequently the last movie I ever saw there before it closed.Over the years, I saw "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004) and I've only seen bits & pieces of "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" (2000), the latter film of which I was never really impressed with from the few clips I saw of it. Only today did I watch director Maasaki Tezuka's 2002 "kaiju-eiga" (Japanese giant monster movie) "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla," which marks the fourth on-screen pairing of Godzilla fighting his cyborg-monster doppelganger, Mechagodzilla (the first three films were 1974's "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla," 1975's "Terror of Mechagodzilla," and 1993's "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II").Since all the films in the Millennium series are stand-alone features with no previous connection to the previous entry, "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" therefore has no connection to its predecessor, and instead - like "Godzilla 2000" - goes straight back to "Gojira" (1954) and pretends that any film that came after it never happened; however, Mothra and the Gargantuas are still referenced (through stock footage). So, in 1999, a new Godzilla appears out of the Pacific Ocean to threaten humanity. No explanation is given for Godzilla's sudden reappearance in Japan, except to say that he's a threat and he must be destroyed. (I must also say that this is one of the most menacing portrayals of the mighty King of the Monsters that I've seen in years.)So, a plan is put into action: in order to beat Godzilla, humanity must pool their resources to create ANOTHER Godzilla, a Mechagodzilla. Like the Mechagodzilla of the Heisei Era, this cyborg creature is a creation of humans (rather than malevolent aliens like in the Showa Era). However, there's a new twist here: this new Mechagodzilla (given the codename "Kiryu," for "machine dragon") is a construction built around the skeleton of the original Godzilla that was killed in 1954. Four years later in 2003, Mechagodzilla/"Kiryu" is ready to go, and disgraced Japan Self-Defense Force maser tank technician Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku) is selected to be the cyborg monster's chief pilot.You see, Akane was one of the JSDF troops who was first dispatched to counter Godzilla when he mysteriously re-appeared in 1999, and several of her comrades were killed in the fray and she was made a scapegoat and demoted by her superiors as a result. And so now, she's been given a second chance to redeem herself and prove to her superiors and fellow Kiryu pilots that she has what it takes to save humanity from Godzilla. And also, somewhere in there, too, she becomes connected to Mechagodzilla/Kiryu's widowed biological engineer Dr. Tokumitsu Yuhara (Shin Takuma) and his young daughter Sara (Kana Onodera).I've been saying for years that Mechagodzilla remains Godzilla's greatest opponent - in any incarnation of the character. This was confirmed upon viewing "Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" finally. It's heavily armed with a bewildering array of weapons, heavily armored, and bad to the bone (quite literally, "bad to the bone") - just like its two predecessors were. But this version of Mechagodzilla also has a severe weakness. Because Kiryu was constructed around the skeletal remains of the original Godzilla killed in 1954, it has that monster's genetic memories imprinted onto it, so it has a "flashback" (if you will) moment in the middle of a battle with Godzilla and goes on a destructive rampage of its own. So for a while, the creature was out of the control of its human creators. Yet, this is something that is easily corrected by Dr. Yuhara."Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla" also has a great human story. Its chief dramatic appeal, of course, is the beautiful young JSDF pilot Akane Yashiro, played quite well by Yumiko Shaku as someone struggling to overcome past traumatic failures and find some sort of meaning/direction for her life and try to find some sort of redemption (which she ultimately does - through her association with the Mechagodzilla program and Dr. Yuhara and his daughter).This was a good, worthy entry into the "Godzilla" series. I hope to watch its direct sequel "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." (2003) tomorrow and see where it goes from there.6/10

FilmExpertWannabe GMK changed gears from the mediocre predecessors that were Godzilla 2000 (1999) and GvM (2000). But thankfully, Toho didn't allow for there to be just one great G movie in the Millennium series, so they launched the Mechagodzilla pair of films, this being the first. Remaking a classic monster can be tricky. Toho decided not to revamp the origins of Mechagodzilla this time. The plot is much like 1993's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II in that Japan built the giant mech to defend themselves against Godzilla.Actually, I'm sorry I even brought the 1993 film up. This one is so much better. Unlike the Heisei series Godzilla, the Millennium Godzilla (and his foes) can actually physically fight and some fun scenes are carried out here. Godzilla looks good, his menace toned down just a tad from his previous Millennium suits. They also returned Godzilla's atomic ray back to a blue color, whereas Godzilla 2000 and GvM had deviated from the rest of the movies by giving him an orange-ish atomic ray. Mechagodzilla looks good, far more sleek, agile, and athletic than the 1993 version and more like the 1974-1975 MG. Special effects work is also great.There are a few minuses in the film, however. Character development was rather lacking and followed Godzilla vs Megaguirus too closely. One strange piece to the film, and I don't know if it applies only to the region one release, is Mechagodzilla's name. They start out calling it Mechagodzilla but quickly begin calling it Kiryu and keep that name for the duration of the film (and in its direct sequel, 2003's Tokyo SOS, they go back to calling it Mechagodzilla or Mecha-G). Why they started referring to it as Kiryu is never explained and is a little odd.Nevertheless, this is a good film, even without the human character strength that was a bit better in GMK that came before it. It's easy to see why Toho decided to keep this universe going with a sequel as opposed to just starting over again like all of the other Millennium series Godzilla films. I rate it 7/10.

AwesomeWolf Version: Japanese with English Subtitles (Madman's R4 DVD)'Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla' opens with a typhoon hitting southern Japan, and then a giant monster turns up to lay waste to a small town - everyone runs away - except for the one guy who thinks he can save his house from being stepped on - and the 'Anti-Megalosaurus Force' is called in, and eventually runs away, but not before their commander, Akane Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku) accidentally causes the deaths of several of her troops. Soon we learn the monster is Godzilla, and according to this movie's time-line, Godzilla attacked Japan only once, when he first appeared in 1954. Other monsters have attacked Japan since, but none have been as destructive as Godzilla.With Godzilla's reappearance, those wacky Japanese scientists come up with their best plan yet - they're going to build a Mechagodzilla, with added firepower, and controlled by a 'DNA Computer' using DNA extracted from the original Godzilla's skeleton. Apparently by doing this, Mechagodzilla can think like Godzilla, and will have a reaction time markedly better than that of a normal computer. Obviously this a bad idea, but these Godzilla movies need bad-ideas for the movie to proceed.On the human side of things, Akane Yashiro is assigned to the Kiryu Squadron (Mechagodzilla Squadron), and is met with hostility from her comrades their. Tokumitsu Yuhara, one of the Mechagodzilla scientists spends most of the movie chatting up Akane, while Akane tries to get Tokumitsu's daughter, Sara, to open up to her. Awww, how sweet.Enough of the love-ins, lets get down to some city crushing! The plot is simple, and like several other Godzilla movies, makes some interesting points that it completely skips in favour of monster action (in this case, Japan's rearmament is mentioned, but only briefly), of which is there is plenty. In their respective adventures, Godzilla and his mechanical cousin destroy a few cities and make a mockery of Japan's defence forces (just another day on the job for Godzilla), and get down to one way-cool giant-monster fight scene at the end. Did I mention the fight-scene at is way-cool?My only problem with the movie is the use of the Godzilla suit: there are times when it is plainly obvious that the Godzilla suit is empty, and not for any complicated reason - he just stands there motionless. Otherwise, there was a fair amount of CGI effects, but they were done well enough for me to say "this movie is awesome".8/10 - This movie is awesome. Godzilla fans should check it out.