HMaM Global Mod
Post by GL on Feb 20, 2007 11:28:45 GMT -5
“Godzilla vs. Destroyah” is a more than appropriate farewell film.
**SPOILERS**
Following a rampage through Hong Kong, Japanese forces conclude that a massive dose of radiation has changed Godzilla, and he’s going to overdose soon. Following a series of accidents in a tunnel, Dr. Kensaku Ijuin, (Takuro Tatsumi) finds signs of life in a sample taken. Showing them to his reporter girlfriend Yukari Yamane, (Yoko Ishino) he finds that they’re from the Precambrian Era, and with the help of her brother Kenichi, (Yasufumi Hayashi) they plead for him to build an oxygen-destroyer to defeat Godzilla. After searching for Godzilla, Miki Seagusa, (Megumi Odaka) and Meru Ozawa, (Sayaka Osawa) instead find Godzilla Junior, and direct him to fight an army of creatures from the Precambrian remains, named Destroyah. When Godzilla joins in the fight to save his son, it becomes an all-out brawl in Tokyo while trying to keep Godzilla from going to meltdown.
The Good News: As one of the better entries in the series, there is a lot to like in this one. The new look for Godzilla looks really good, and the new burn spots on the body, with the chest, arms, belly, legs and eyes glowing bright red and the outer plates having a crimson effect to them. It looks quite spectacular and really stands out. The monsters themselves are quite impressively designed as well, with Junior making top mention. Looking so much more like his father, the dinosaurian creature looks quite nice and gives it a unique feel. The flying and aggregate Destroyah’s aren’t terrible, and feature some really menacing features into it’s design. The fights in here are easily it’s best feature, and the marathon fight at the end is a real crowd-pleaser. From close-quarter grappling, where they rip and claw at each other to energy beam firing and building-crashing as well as other incredible spectacles, there’s a lot to like here. From the moment where Godzilla is dragged across an airport runway and deposited in the water, to Godzilla being sliced open with the sickle-horn to an absolutely thrilling assault by the miniature Destroyah’s who cover him head to toe, it’s filled with spectacular moment after another, and the final outcome leaves a satisfying feeling. The amount of property damage is also a high-point, with several really impressively-designed buildings going down in a fantastic manner that’s quite life-like. It even allows for a really heart-felt break in the action to show Godzilla approaching his dying son, and desperate to help it, try to breathe life into it. It’s incredibly touching and makes for a really moving last quarter, showing them as creatures who cared for one another and adding a human trait to them. The earlier battle, where Junior took on the smaller Destroyah, is also pretty nice and features some really great sequences, such as the building being blasted apart and falling onto Junior or Destroyah jumping on top of it and attempting to drain it’s powers using it’s pincer-like claws. The building damage provides some really impressive scenes as the debris flown about make for a quite littered fighting plane. A real nice action sequence is the Destroyah’s battle with the human JSDF forces, providing lots of action and some really thrilling moments. The fact that the creatures openly attack and kill humans in the scenes makes for some great viewing, and an epilogue, where one escapes and chases a reporter through a junkyard, is highly suspenseful and contains some really great sequences. There’s even a really great military battle, where the new Super-X III takes on Godzilla in the waters off a nuclear power plant and during a really interesting fight, manages to freeze him solid in the film’s most singularly striking scene. It’s hard not to imagine that scene afterward of his face being covered in ice and slowly slipping below the waves. The much-publicized fact that Godzilla will die in the film doesn’t take anything away from how impacting and heart-felt it is. It’s a sad sequence and doesn’t loose any ounce of feeling during it’s course. Best of all, this features one of the absolute best scores ever. It may be borrowed from other sources, but it’s still rousing, uplifting and impact-ful, and never once feels out of place. It compliments the action on-screen and features some really nice, memorable tunes that stick out. This here was a nice and welcomed entry in the series.
The Bad News: There isn’t a lot of problems with this one. The most obvious flaw is that Destroyah’s final form, a massive bat-winged behemoth, doesn’t really suggest anything in the way of menace. It’s too huge to do anything other than change forms if it’s out-gunned, or to slam into Godzilla and knock it down with it’s bulk. When it does use energy weapons, they’re effective, but it doesn’t do anything otherwise to suggest a worthy foe. There’s a few moments of sloppy FX, notably the sequence where the creatures retreating are so obviously toys that it borders on laughable. The model used at the airport sequence is another, and there’s a few other moments out there that really don’t look at all convincing. There are a few moments where it goes into homage territory that can be easily spotted, but unless they’re really being looked for, it’s quite easy not to notice them. These where the only real problems in this one.
The Final Verdict: As one of the better entries in the series, this offers a lot to like with only a few glaring moments where it could’ve been better. It’s not as bad as had been said about it, and all Godzilla fans owe it to themselves to seek this one out immediately.
