TinsHeadline Touches You

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

brando647 I watched a Godzilla movie for the first time in the weeks before Gareth Edwards' 2014 GODZILLA was released. I'd realized I'd never actually watched one and started with GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II. It was a little crazier than I expected (in a good way) but it was ultimately the weak plot that soured me on it. I'd gotten it as part of a double feature and I hopeful the second movie might redeem the franchise for me. The title alone was enough to get me excited. GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA. It sounds like something out of a ten-year-old's fan fiction. When it becomes apparent that defeating Godzilla might be easier said than done, the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center formulate a new plan in hopes of controlling the monster, calling it Project T. The center's head psychic, Miki Saegusa, will use an amplifier to overcome the creature's natural will and control him. Meanwhile, a mysterious object rockets toward Earth and lands, no surprise, on the same island where Project T has established operations. Adorned in enormous power crystals, we discover Space Godzilla! He's here to…hmm..well, it's never really established. Destroy the Earth, I guess? Yeah, that sounds right. And the only thing standing in his path of ultimate destruction is Godzilla and the United Nation's new secret weapon, M.O.G.E.R.A.I'll get right to it. This movie was a disappointment, even with the super awesome potential inherent in the title GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA. What could've been so bad about this movie? It commits the ultimate movie sin: it's boring. Seriously dull. I can't watch this movie without mentally checking out in the second half. It starts promisingly, largely in part due to the horrible writing. For example, the opening of the film begins in the ESP center where psychic individuals meditate in weird pyramid tents. We are reintroduced to Miki Saegusa where she's discussing Project T with one of the program heads, Dr. Chinatsu Gondo. Gondo goes on a long bit of exposition explaining Project T to someone who, if I understand the movie, already knows everything Gondo is telling her. This is a prime example of screen writing laziness. We could've left it at Saegusa voicing her opinion that Godzilla is not a creature who can be controlled with telepathy and we, as an audience, would understand what Project T was. Instead, we get an awkward interaction that would never happen in real life with Gondo ending the conversation exclaiming, "We're using telepathy. That's why it's called Project T." The only way the screenwriters could have made it any more obvious would've been to hire someone to personally stand in every theater to nudge you with their elbow and scream, "T! It stands for telepathy! Get it?" I know I'm blowing a minor nitpick out of proportion here but that's just the most blatant example. Later in the film, Saegusa is betrayed and kidnapped by the Japanese mafia for no other reason than to bring the main team back to the mainland from the island. Because there was no better motivation to leave the island, where nothing is happening, and return to Japan where a giant space creature is about the rampage, right? Plus the mafia sequence allows for Saegusa to bust out with some telekinesis, a power she (and we) never knew her capable of and it's only used for one scene. The writing in GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA is just a long series of unmotivated plot movement.That's not to say the movie isn't without its surprises. Just when I thought I'd gotten a handle on all the weirdness these movies have to offer, we get space moths that morph into twin space fairies to inform Saegusa that she's some sort of chosen one who can save the Earth from Space Godzilla. SPACE! It's nice to see there's still some crazy to be mined from these movies. In fairness, the human story element is better here than it was in GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II (before they drop it in favor of a 40 minute final battle). The concept of Project T is an interesting one, and the character of Akira Yuki (Akira Emoto) is pretty cool. He's actually got motivation (his best friend was killed in a Godzilla attack and he's out for revenge) and he's got a little character arc hidden in here. Space Godzilla is a pretty wicked monster too. He looks like something out of Godzilla's worst nightmares and the explanation behind him is pseudoscience at its most insane. Supposedly, some of Godzilla's cells were carried into space following a previous battle, were sucked into a black hole, and spit out a white hole where Godzilla's most vicious cells quickly evolved into Space Godzilla. Not gonna lie, I love that. Another fun bit of pseudoscience that could only have come from the mind of a child, Yuki's big plan to kill Godzilla are bullets the size of tampons containing blood coagulant. Yup, that's his big plan. Mechagodzilla couldn't take him down, but a little bit of blood coagulant (with no reason to believe it would affect Godzilla's blood as it would a human). But don't worry, despite his deep-rooted motivation to murder the beast, we never actually get to see if it would work because the one chance he gets where he can potentially kill Godzilla, he lets him go, explaining, "It's had enough of a bad day." I guess your revenge isn't as important as we were led to believe.Finally, my major complaint with the film is that the entire last half of the movie is one long battle sequence between Godzilla, Space Godzilla, and M.O.G.E.R.A. It was awesome for a while and Space Godzilla's got some cool moves but after twenty minutes I was bored and by the time it ended, I was mentally shot. Now to end this because I'm ranting and out of space. (SPACE!) One last positive not: my daughter loved it, so there's that.

Ben Larson Getting ready for the new Godzilla, I decided to revisit as many of the old ones as I could.In this one, we see that Godzilla has to defend Baby Godzilla, who is much bigger, against a UN built Transformer-type machine and also Space Godzilla, which was formed by some Godzilla DNA that traveled to space somehow. They keep getting sillier and sillier. This one seemed to drag on forever before we got to the real action. When we did, it wasn't as good as the others. I do have to admit that the finale, when Godzilla destroyed Space Godzilla, was spectacular and one of the best fireworks displays I have seen. The ending was sorta cheesy as Godzilla calmly reenters the sea to some romantic music and a setting sun, as two of the G-Force team walk along the beach holding hands and whispering sweet nothings. Megumi Odaka, Kôichi Ueda, and Kenji Sahara are back from the last film. Watch, if you must, but not as good.

bassplace88 Godzilla DNA makes it into space and creates Big G's next adversary, Space Godzilla. Space G is very cool looking if you can accept the big crystals sticking out of his shoulders. The music score was rather strange and seemed lacking at times. It's 'The Love Boat' crossed with up-tempo canned 80's synthesizer driven cable local access music. The fleeing mob scenes are poorly done(American dubbed version only?), as it sounds like two people recorded multiple times. The male voice being Star Trek's George Takei(aka Sulu). The lighting appears brighter giving the suits an unflattering shiny appearance. One of my favorite Godzilla suits was used in this film, although his lower half is bloated and he appears a bit stiff. Some great camera shots of Big G deliberately smashing buildings with his hands, and lots of explosions as he stomps on things. A bonus for Toho fans of The Mysterians, is the return of Moguera! Even though the robot cannot compete with Mech-G, it was a nostalgic pleasant surprise to see him. Probably the low point for Heisei era kaiju, but if you can get over the cheesy music, you can still enjoy this monster mash. Just for fun see if you can spot who I call the Japanese Shemp.*review edited after further review*

zv300 I thought the movie was pretty decent, but from what I hear true Godzilla fans think it was his worst film, not true. The worst is the inane "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah". Space Godzilla looks VERY impressive, kinda like Godzilla with crystals grown into it's skin. One thing about Godzilla fans, they drum to a beat all their own. I mean, they are so critical about the human casting and character progression, viability of the story as well as other things. Uh, HELLO............it's a Monster movie so rational thinking goes out the window because of it's very premise! Who cares about the characters? In these types of flicks the Monsters and special effects are what drive the movie, and the special effects are generally pretty good. (Except for the initial scene of Space Godzilla heading to earth, surrounded by the fakest-looking asteriods this side of earth) Oh, and the "Robot" looks silly also. Anyway, Space Godzilla is no joke as he commences to kicking BOTH Godzilla's *ss as well as the Robot's posterior. This movie won't win an Oscar, but it's a solid addition to the series.