Gojira tai Megagirasu: Jî shômetsu sakusen (2000)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Masaaki Tezuka

Writers:

Hiroshi Kashiwabara (writer)
Wataru Mimura (writer)

Release Date:

16 December 2000 (Japan)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

Godzilla returns to terrorize Japan! This time, however, Japan has two new weapons to defend themselves...

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Japan | Black Hole | Satellite | Female Soldier

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Misato Tanaka	...	Kiriko Tsujimori
Shosuke Tanihara	...	Hajime Kudo
Masatô Ibu	...	Motohiko Sugiura
Yuriko Hoshi	...	Yoshino Yoshizawa
Toshiyuki Nagashima	...	Takuji Miyagawa
Kôichi Ueda	...	Government Official
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Kid's TV Host
Yûsaku Yara	...	Narrator
Tsutomu Kitagawa	...	Gojira
Minoru Watanabe	...	Megagirasu

Also Known As:

GXM (Japan) (short title)
Godzilla X Megaguirus: The G Extermination Command (literal English title)
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus: The G Annihilation Strategy

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Toho continued their tradition of casting actors from their science fiction films of the 1950s and 1960s. The character of Yoshino Yoshizawa is played by Yuriko Hoshi who had previously starred as Yoka in _Gojira tai Mosura (1964)_ and as Naoko (a completely different character) in the sequel _San daikaiju: Chikyu saidai no kessen (1964)_.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Megaguirus shows itself for the first time, the strings holding it up, and the strings its flying on are clearly visible.

Movie Connections:

Features Gojira (1954)

Soundtrack:

The Fury Of Godzilla

crazy fun with The Big G

I avoided this movie for months; most online reviews I read were negative, and it just had a bad stench about it. But then my ever-wise brother recommended it, and I'm glad he did.

It's fun - damn fun. Where else can you see Godzilla besieged by giant dragonflies, or cool visuals like a half-submerged city and a woman riding on Godzilla's purple-tinged spines? Many of the special effects shots are a touch sloppy in execution (obvious CGI is rampant), but they're tremendously imaginative in concept. So, improbably enough, they work.

Megaguirus is a cool opponent for Godzilla, and their climatic battle is practically high comedy. Both monsters get great reaction shots and some particularly nasty moves. In one infamous - but quite amusing - shot, Godzilla wallops Megaguirus with a leaping tackle that evokes the wrestling maneuvers of his 1960s-70s movies. Fans who complain that too many of the Big G's more recent battles have been decided by "beam contests" should delight in the wacky grappling on display here.

The human characters have interesting motivations, and are even allowed to be selfish, which is a nice change of pace from the preachy and saintly types you usually get in these movies. There's even a cute kid who manages not to be annoying. In short, it's all good - I like the silly monsters AND the incredibly earnest humans AND the totally insane visual effects. All these ingredients add up to a rare Godzilla feast.

Now I'm more jazzed than ever to see "Final Wars"!