My review of "Terror of Mechagodzilla!"

[Kooshmeister]

Another really long-winded one from me (I'd previously reviewed "The Guyver" and "Darkly Dawns the Duck"). It's already reviewed on Badmovies.org and a hundred oother places, but I just figured I'd have a go at it.

TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA
Toho, 1975

THE CHARACTERS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Godzilla: Everyone’s favorite radioactive, atomic fire-breathing dinosaur. He in his good guy stage here, so he fights against the evil monsters.

*Mechagodzilla: Robot duplicate of Godzilla with missiles and lasers up the wazoo created by the alien race called the Simeons. He was destroyed in the last movie, but the Simeons rebuild him. Godzilla then rips him apart again.

*Titanosaurus: Normally peaceful aquatic dinosaur, he is controlled by Dr. Mafune’s cyborg daughter Katsura and fights on the side of the Simeons. Godzilla kicks his butt.

*Akira Ichinose: Marine biologist employed by Interpol. It’s his job to track down Dr. Mafune in the hopes of learning more about Titanosaurus. He seems to have a thing for cyborg chicks.

*Jiro Murakashi: Interpol agent and an old college buddy of Ichinose. He believes in shooting first, then shooting some more until everybody’s dead, then asking a question or two.

*Dr. Shinji Mafune: Cranky old scientist who was mocked by the scientific community for his screwy mind control theories. Joins the Simeons in order to get his revenge, but soon seems to regret doing so.

*Katsura Mafune: Dr. Mafune’s hot daughter; she was turned into a cyborg by the Simeons to save her life after she had a near fatal accident in her father’s lab.

*Mugaru: Smug, laid-back leader of the Simeon invasion force. Either he jumps off a cliff to his death or get fried by Godzilla while trying to escape in his ship (and thanks to sloppy editing, it's entirely anyone's guess).

*Tsuda: Mugaru’s bearded second in command. Strangled to death by Ichinose.

*Chief Tagawa: In charge of Interpol’s Japanese-based division.

*Yuuichi Wakayama: Some guy who works for Interpol. He may or may not be the designer of their experimental submarines. He’s also their chief scapegoat.

*Muri Yamamoto: Some woman who works for Interpol. She’s suspicious of Katsura, which annoys Ichinose to no end.

*Commander Segawa: Commander of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF), who is tasked with blowing up those pesky monsters.

*Professor Ota: Head of the marine biology research institute that Dr. Mafune used to work at. He has a very strangely-shaped head.

*Captain Kusakari: Captain of the submarine that is attacked by Titanosaurus. Dies when the sub gets destroyed.

*Creepy Servant: All-purpose lackey who works for Dr. Mafune.

THE STORY:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a direct sequel to 1974's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, which featured a race of shape-changing alien primates called the Simeons attempting to conquer Earth using a robot double of Godzilla, naturally dubbed Mechagodzilla. At this point in the series Godzilla was a good guy, so he didn't take too kindly to the alien apes and their cheapo tinker-toy doppleganger trying to take over the world. With the help of another monster called King Seesar, the Big G was able to destroy Mechagodzilla by tearing off its head.

As for the Simeons, the human characters (it's been a while since I saw the movie so I don't remember any names) in the film sabotaged their base and blew it up. Now that that quick recap is over, we can get to the movie in question. Terror of Mechagodzilla begins with Interpol sending a submarine to try and locate the remains of Mechagodzilla where the robot plunged into the sea.

Unfortunately for them they not only fail to locate the robot, but they're also suddenly attacked by a goofy-looking aquatic dinosaur known as Titanosaurus, which violently destroys the sub. Following this, a meeting is quickly called together at Interpol Headquarters (or at least its Japanese division) to discuss the disaster. Present at the meeting are agent Jira Murakashi and marine biologist Akira Ichinose, who will be our main good guys in this film. Interpol Chief Tagawa plays a tape which contains the last message sent by Captain Kusakari, the submarine's captain, who can be heard screaming that they're being attacked by a dinosaur, while said creature's roar proves that they were indeed attacked by, well, something.

Understand that by this point in the series the world knew good and well of the existence of Godzilla and all the other giant monsters. As a result, Interpol takes the whole dinosaur issue in stride and sends Ichinose and Murakashi to the nearby marine research institute to see if they can't find anyone who knows something about aquatic dinosaurs. They meet with Professor Ota, who reveals that the guy they're looking for is one Dr. Shinji Mafune, a marine biologist who was booted out of the institute years prior. He claimed to have discovered an underwater dinosaur, which he called Titanosaurus, although that's obviously not why he was fired. Rather he lost his job because of wild theories about using mind control to manipulate sea life.

Professor Ota tells them that Dr. Mafune has been living in the mountains with his daughter, Katsura, for the past few years, so the two Interpol agents proceed to his house. The place looks abandoned and they meet with Katsura, after being ignored by a creepy servant. She gives them some bad news. Her father is dead, she says, and what's worse, he requested on his deathbed that she destroy all his scientific notes, and she did so, which means that Ichinose and Murakashi's hopes of finding any info on Titanosaurus just literally went up in smoke. Dejected, they return to headquarters.

However it is soon revealed that Dr. Mafune is not dead, just really old. He's in his at-home laboratory talking to a mysterious man named Tsuda when Katsura comes in to tell her father about the visit from Interpol. Tsuda as it turns out has been funding Dr. Mafune's mind control experiments, and with the most unwelcome appearance by Interpol he decides to let the old scientist in on a little secret; he's a Simeon! He takes Mafune and Katsura to a newly established Simeon base in the nearby woods and introduces them to Captain Mugaru, the head honcho of the whole Earth invasion plan (phase two, no less).

Mugaru reveals why the submarine didn't find any bits of Mechagodzilla earlier; the Simeons have gathered up all the bits of the robot and are currently rebuilding it. Why are they telling Mafune all this? Well, they learned the hard way that Mechagodzilla alone isn't enough to battle Godzilla, especially when he's backed by another monster like King Seesar. Well, two can play at that game and they want Titanosaurus on their side. Mafune, eager to get revenge on the world for treating him like crap, readily agrees to help them. Katsura though isn't too keen on the whole monsters and aliens scheme, but she remains loyal to her father. Besides, they need her too since it's revealed that she can use her mind powers to control Titanosaurus. Yes, that is as contrived and silly as it sounds.

For some reason or another, Katsura seems to start falling for Ichinose even though they only met for about a minute. She takes him a bunch of Dr. Mafune's old notes on Titanosaurus and then agrees to go on a date with him when he asks her out. Thus begins the movie's lame romantic sub-plot. Against Katsura's wishes, Ichinose personally leads another submarine expedition to look for Titanosaurus. Instead, Titanosaurus finds them and attacks the sub, but is repelled when Ichinose, randomly punching buttons in desperation, bits the dinosaur with a sonar ping. This leads him to the conclusion that Titanosaurus can't stand sonic wavelengths, and so he begins to hastily design a likeminded device to use as a weapon against the monster.

Meanwhile, a random human prisoner of the Simeons escapes from their base and is chased by guards in scary skin-tight silver jumpsuits and silly space helmets. He is captured, but not before bumping into a telephone line repairman, to whom he gives a piece of space titanium, the other-wordly metal of which Mechagodzilla is composed. Per the guy's instructions, the repairman takes the piece of alien metal to Interpol Headquarters and turns it over to Chief Tagawa. Tagawa then reasons that the Simeons are back and thus instructs his agents to start searching for their base in the mountains.

Mafune, knowing that Interpol knows, decides to unleash Titanosaurus on Tokyo. He does this without Captain Mugaru's permission in the hopes of impressing him with Titanosaurus' might. Because Ichinose is a thickheaded blabbermouth who doesn't believe that Katsura is involved with the bad guys, she knows about the super-sonic blaster thingie he designed to use against Titanosaurus. As the dinosaur wades ashore and starts shrugging off tankfire and knocking jets from the sky in standard kaiju fashion, Ichinose breaks out the super-sonic blaster thingie, only to discover it's been sabotaged! Before they can start guessing who's responsible, they spot Katsura and Dr. Mafune's creepy servant sneaking away (and being none too sneaky about it, I might add). A foot chase ensues, leading into some woods where the two saboteurs split up to evade their pursuers.

Meanwhile, Titanosaurus continues to knock down buildings and step on cars. None other than Godzilla himself then rises up from behind some skyscrapers in the distance and saunters over to challenge Titanosaurus. The battle is woefully brief, as, back on the chase, Katsura is forced to jump into the sea to evade the Interpol agents, and the shock of the cold water makes her lose her psychic link with Titanosaurus. Freed from the mind control, Titanosaurus beats feet back into the ocean instead of continuing to fight Godzilla. Although nearly everyone is certain that Katsura is behind the destruction of the super-sonic blaster thingie, Ichinose refuses to believe that she would betray him like that. Typical lovestruck good guy. They quickly begin to repair the device.

Dr. Mafune's plan to impress the Simeons has backfired big time, and Mugaru proves what a jerk he is by having surgeons install within Katsura the control mechanism for the newly repaired Mechagodzilla. Now she controls both Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla, and is also an emotionless ice queen. Needless to say, it's at this point that Mafune begins to realize he's in way over his head. With Mechagodzilla operational again and Interpol closing in, Mugaru orders his men to abandon the base and set it to self-destruct, so that it will either blow up before the Interpol agents find it or right when they do.

The Simeons then relocate to Mafune's house. Find the base Interpol does, and Murakashi and some other guys go in. Unfortunately for the aliens, they made the mistake of neither killing their human captives or taking them with them, because when Murakashi and the others free them, the prisoners are quick to reveal that the whole place is about to go kablooey. They get out none too soon and the base explodes. Ichinose meanwhile goes to Mafune's house to confront Katsura and gets himself captured. Dope.

With that taken care of, Mugaru orders that Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus go and kick the tar out of Tokyo. So, they do. Oddly, no tanks or jets attack them this time. At least, not that I recall. I guess the army learned from Titanosaurus' previous romp that such weapons are useless, so why bother sacrificing more men and machines in a fruitless battle? At any rate, it doesn't matter, 'cause they've got Godzilla. The Big G suddenly appears (and I mean suddenly) when Titanosaurus menaces two kids, and starts to duke it out with the two invading kaiju. By now the film is starting to wind down.

The battle between the three monsters carries outside the city and into the countryside, whilst Interpol finally gets the super-sonic thingie working again. They fly onto the battlefield in a helicopter and turn the device on Titanosaurus and it starts driving him bonkers. This leaves the Big G with only Mechagodzilla to worry about, and Mechagodzilla is really more than enough. The thing's got more missiles and lasers than the entire SWAT Kats arsenal! Although Godzilla manages to wrench off Mechagodzilla's head, the Simeons have thought ahead (no pun intended) and fixed it so that Mechagodzilla can survive without its head and the battle continues.

Back at Mafune's place, Murakashi and the rest of the Interpol agents start closing in. Mugaru leaves the room where Katsura, Mafune, Tsuda, and the tied-up Ichinose are to see what is the matter, and Ichinose manages to untie himself. He then uses the rope to strangle Tsuda to death and Katsura pulls a laser gun on him. He's convinced she won't shoot him, but just when it looks like she's actually going to, Murakashi busts in and pumps her full of lead. This damages the Mechagodzilla control mechanism. The end result of this is that Mechagodzilla is reduced to a useless scrap heap and Godzilla gleefully tears it apart once again.

Getting shot has caused Katsura to snap to her senses, and she and Ichinose are reunited! The Simeons are defeated! Mugaru and what's left of their forces hop into their flying saucers and try to fly away, but Godzilla puts a stop to that nonsense by blasting them out of the sky with his atomic fire breath. As for Titanosaurus, he once again turns out to be a big coward when not being controlled by Katsura. Injured by Godzilla's fire breath, he retreats back into the ocean. Victorious yet again, Godzilla walks triumphantly into the sunset.

Picked this up on DVD at Wal-Mart for only about five dollars, not long after Rodan in fact, and I have mixed feelings about it. It's certainly not the worst Godzilla movie ever made (I'd give that award to the oh so awful Godzilla's Revenge), but in my opinion it's not the best. A lot didn't work for me, and I'm fairly certain a large part of it is due to the fact that it's a crummy English dubbed version, so I'll avoid complaining about plot holes and such. Perhaps the Japanese version has scenes cut from the American release featuring the Simeons reverting to their true forms upon death as they did in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla? Godzilla only shows up twice in the whole movie, not counting the montage of clips from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla shown over the opening credits. And both times he appears so suddenly I'm surprised I didn't get whiplash. Well, the first time he appears is actually pretty decent with a nice shot of him rising up from behind two buildings, but regardless, I found it to be jarring. In fact Godzilla's presence in the movie is almost superfluous. I honestly don't recall any of the characters aside from the Simeons even mentioning him. And even they only talk about him once or twice.

Also, for a film entitled Terror of Mechagodzilla there's actually not that much Mechagodzilla to be seen. In fact, they should've called the movie Terror of Titanosaurus, as Titanosaurus gets more screentime than both Godzilla and Mechagodzilla combined. Heck, Terror of Titanosaurus sounds cooler than Terror of Mechagodzilla, anyway. Then there's the really, really bad optical composites they use to make it seem as thogh Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus are towering over Tokyo buildings. The buildings come all the way up to their chests, and all the people and action going on at street level in those scenes doesn't match the angle at all, making it seem as though they are on a hill with the kaiju standing at the bottom.

But there was plenty that I did like. Dr. Mafune was a very interesting character, as were Ichinose and Murakashi (which is unusual since I rarely find the good guys at all interesting), and I liked the idea of the Simeons wanting to get Titanosaurus to team up with Mechagodzilla against Godzilla. They learned from their mistakes in the previous movie, that Mechagodzilla alone isn't a match for the King of The Monsters. And since Godzilla had teamed up with King Seesar before, the aliens decided to beat him at his own game. And speaking of Mechagodzilla, he may not show up in full battle regalia until the end of the movie but it's well worth the wait to see him blasting everything in sight with lasers and a gazillion missiles.