February,
2003
Godzilla vs. Destroyah
(Gojira vs Desutoroia)
Godzilla vs. Destroyah
(Gojira vs Desutoroia)
| February,
2003 Godzilla vs. Destroyah (Gojira vs Desutoroia) |
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1995 Starring: "What is that?!" Well, how else should a Godzilla film start? This particular film is the 27th (give or take) in a series of (at last count) 34 films starring the giant green lizard from Japan. A student, Kenichi Yamane, works on a thesis on Godzilla. He sends it to the "G Center" and scientists there take note of his fresh ideas. The G Center is where it all happens on tracking Godzilla and other monsters, and Kenichi is offered a job there which he readily accepts after he finds out that a cute girl he knows works there. It really is action central at the G center, and before too long, Kenichi seems to be running the place. Of course his theory that Godzilla was turned into a super monster as a result of the previous film, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, is correct. We also have the newly classified Super Monster starting to wreak havoc in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and he seems to be headed towards Tokyo Bay (where else!) While the young Godzilla phenom is busy taking over things at G Center, a marine biologist is figuring out that a zero oxygen formula that was worked on in the 50's has produced some very destructive results. There are now some little creatures left over from those experiments that eat other fish in seconds. They are also growing exponentially and seriously need to be dealt with. There is also a new sighting of a normal looking and acting Godzilla, which as it turns out, is baby Godzilla from the previous film. After the original movie in 1956, Godzilla turned into a good guy and protector of the human race, and the Japanese in particular. So seeing the former baby Godzilla (he aint so little any more) rise out of the ocean off of a beach filled with sunbathers, was a big relief for Godzilla fans and sympathizers. So at this point we have Godzilla (good guy), Super Monster Godzilla (bad guy) and creatures created from zero oxygen experiments in the 50s that eat and burn everything in their path (bad guys). They are all on a collision course for Tokyo Bay and someone is going to have to go down when the showdown begins. Kenichi has a sister, Yukari, who is a well know TV reporter and flies around in a helicopter and gets too close to the action with the monster showdown. She becomes trapped and in imminent peril, of course, but is saved by one of the heroes from the G center. She is not a terribly important character in the plot, but she does help to get some of her brothers ideas forwarded to the marine biologists working on the zero oxygen experiments. The zero oxygen monsters (ZOM) are on a rampage and overall kicking ass on the army. They can be torched, but to get close enough to do so is the tricky part. At one point the Super Monster Godzilla (SMG) shows up and while busy trying to kill humans, is attacked by the ZOM's. After lots of destruction (which is kind of a key element in any Godzilla film), SMG seems to have the upper hand. But one thing that has the humans worried is that SMG will heat up to a point that will cause a super meltdown and cause a chain reaction that would be catastrophic to the planet. So much plot to keep track of! Actually, there is a lot more going on here than your normal "good" Godzilla vs "bad" monster, and it is kind of all tidied up at the end. So after a battle between SMG and the good Godzilla, SMG has seemingly won and left the good Godzilla for dead. Of course there is not a dry eye anywhere in the G center after this battle. But SMG now has to deal with the last of the ZOM's, which is also largest and deadliest of them. It flies around and shoots out an electrical like current out of it's mouth, but SMG proves to be too much for him and the ZOM is ultimately defeated. And at this point, SMG is ready for his ultimate meltdown, which is prevented from being so destructive from a freezing ray that is sprayed on him from the G Center newest super weapon, the SX III hoverplane. Damn, those Japanese scientists work fast! And just when you think that you are going to be treated to a French new wave ending for the film, we see the good Godzilla rising up from the destruction and march back off to the sea.... I started to watch the other side of the disk which offers the second half of the double feature, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, but then baby Godzilla appeared as a youngster. For some reason I can't stand that snub nosed little guy and he makes me want to throw things at the screen. Since I am not rich and cannot afford a new TV every time a bad sci-fi character appears on the screen and the need to throw the nearest item at hand at it takes over (like a wine glass, book, shoe, etc), I decided to turn the TV off instead. Probably a wise move on my part. The print is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The colors were faded in areas and the print looks pretty rough in some spots, especially for a movie that is only 8 years old. There also isn't squat for extras, just a 28 chapter scene selection menu. The sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0 and sounded fine, if not a little flat on some of the dialogue. But when a monster screamed.... ROARRRR!! It could be pretty loud over the rest of of the audio. The only option for sound is dubbed English. There are also subtitles in Spanish, French and English. Maybe I am not the best judge for Godzilla films as I am not much of a fan, but this did have it's moments and was not all bad. But I am still only giving it 1 1/2 out of 5 stars. The miniature sets from these movies are always fun to see, and I cannot imagine the work that must go into making them. But the guy in the lizard suit tromping around just doesn't do much for me. He's not scary and the science part of the science fiction in this film just isn't really my bag. |
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15 Feb 03 |
