Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

[ゴジラ対メカゴジラ]

Director: Jun Fukuda
Starring: Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, Akihiko Hirata

Synopsis:
A local prophecy in Okinawa and the discovery of an extraterrestrial metal hint to a disaster that threatens the world.

Impressions:
I can remember seeing this as a kid, so it was interesting revisiting it so many years later. It took a little more effort than usual to get my hands on the original Japanese version, but I didn't want to watch the English dub. The story is a little uneven, trying to mix mystic elements and scifi and the human side of the story is a little overstuffed. Streamlining the plot, merging some characters and such would've made for a tighter narrative. Mechagodzilla is a decent opponent for Godzilla and I do appreciate King Caesar tying in to local culture and his agility compared to most kaijuu (so credit to Kin'ichi Kusumi there). I wasn't so fond of Anguirus being used as a jobber, but such is the joy of being on the second string. You may recall me complaining about King Kong getting lightning powers in King Kong vs. Godzilla for power balancing purposes, which was in no small part because I was thinking of this film, though I didn't know back when I was a kid that this film came out 12 years later, so I guess it's not the lore break I thought. The fights are generally pretty good and I did like the summoning song for King Caesar. This is a decent outing for Godzilla but this is still a product of the waning Showa Era and may underwhelm, especially in light of the franchise's high points. I'll just narrowly give it a bump, particularly in light of the sequel. Give it a watch.

Rating:
Watch It