Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

One of the better storylines of the modern era.

Godzilla is forced to battle large flying bugs and later, the giant dragonfly Megaguius, after Japan's test of a black hole gun releases the nasty critters. Actually, the black hole gun was designed to rid the world of Godzilla himself. What results are several battles between the megunula in its various stages, leading to the final showdown between the two kaiju.

The Godzilla suit in this movie looks good, although the spines are way overdone. Megaguirus is big and ugly and as usual, depictions of a kaiju in flight are less than convincing. Their final dust-up is entertaining and a little goofy with nearly a wrestling feel to it. Almost as fun is Godzilla's encounter with the swarm of meganula. I didn't care much for the human characters and the team of G-Graspers aren't the most impressive fighting force you'll see Godzilla battle with.

The opening of this movie replaces the original Godzilla and its attack on Tokyo with this new-look Godzilla. It's a pretty neat trick to "photoshop" the new suit into clips of the original black and white classic.

There are installments in the Godzilla franchise that feel like event movies. And then there are some that are just "the next one." "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" falls into the latter category for me. It's a pretty formulaic movie, including absurd "science,"a not at all subtle message, and the expected final battle between Godzilla and the Monster of the Week. As in its direct predecessor, "Godzilla 2000," the production values are once again decent. But due to the lack of an appealing story, the bottom line is that it is nothing more than halfway entertaining monster action without any depth.

A mixed bag in the Millennium series so far. I really dig the story here and found the over-the-top weaponry quite charming in their own right.

I was really on board with the story from the get-go. Not often we see the rage and spite created in an individual from an encounter with Godzilla from years ago. I really enjoyed that. This movie does not go the way of 2000 and tries to make him a hero again. But treat him as an all-out enemy that must be destroyed.

The foe in this film that Godzilla fights is nothing special at all and like Destroyah, I'll forget about them quickly. The fight scene between the two at the end is also laughably bad and stupid. The plot itself is dumb, but it takes itself seriously to a point. The fight scenes where the monsters are constantly hitting one another on the head and waving bye is just too much.

And only one year later and they fixed almost everything wrong with the special effects and CGI from 2000. It's about on-par with the Heisei series in terms of how the green screen is used and so-on. One thing that they couldn't obviously fix in time, was Megaguirus' strings during the nighttime sequence. They were soooo obvious and really pulled me out of the crazy story I was watching.

I do want to note that I think the subplot with the kid could have worked in well, but they just kind of dropped it after he served his purpose. But in-turn, it signifies that the soldiers protecting the planet, are also creating new disasters in unexpected places. Aka, the kid. Secrets lead to disaster, and this kid happened to be dragged in and unknowingly caused a massive most-likely deadly event. You may hate the characters in this movie for being so driven by their desire to win and kill a beast, and I think that is intentional. Even though it does feel like studio interference to continue to make Godzilla more appealing to kids.


I think that this movie is trying to harp on the old Godzilla moral that we are the villain. Good classic stuff, and done in a smart way here.

**6/10**

Hmmm, missiles aren't really doing much to take down Godzilla. I know, let's just fire a literal black hole that we somehow managed to create instead.

A deliciously stupid modern-era Godzilla rumble, in which soldiers and scientists who have been personally wronged by the monster (having lost friends and family to collateral destruction) attempt to remove him from the Earth by way of an orbiting black hole cannon. Even the early Godzilla plots would be ashamed by the utter inanity of a weapon that fires an uncontrollable matter-eating vortex, and that's saying something considering their nonchalant use of microscopic tribal princesses and scheming alien cockroaches. This complete disregard for the slightest hint of reality actually makes the pedestrian scenes more inadvertently entertaining than the stereotypical monster mayhem they introduce, a reverse of the typical formula. What scientific nonsense will they flaunt next?

The King of Monsters himself appears sleek and mean in his beefy, manga-influenced Godzilla 2000 suit. The physical effects - building-stomping and plane-swatting - look no more convincing than in the past, and the CG elements are somehow even worse. One exception to that is the big guy's infamous fire breath, a surprisingly impressive visual that plays very well in the climactic battle. The fight scenes are drawn-out and slow, foreshadowing an enemy weakness for far too long, but the brainless plot makes for playful, hilarious viewing. Even if that's just a happy accident.

Can't be any worse than 2000. Atleast there's no shiny CG pebble throughout the entire movie.