BA_Harrison

The last few Godzilla films relied heavily on the use of footage recycled from earlier films, making them feel like a case of déjà vu for fans of the franchise; there's only so many times you need to see the same model buildings being trampled on and blown up. Thankfully, much of the action in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is new, as Godzilla is pitted against a cyborg version of himself, created by aliens who intend to take over Earth (okay, so not everything is new... the alien invader plot is recycled nonsense). The answer to Earth's salvation lies in an ancient Okinawan prophecy which foretells of the appearance of monster King Caesar, who is destined to team up with another kaiju (guess who?) to save the planet.

Where the previous couple of Godzilla films felt tired and predictable, this one manages to inject a little more inventiveness and a whole load of fun: there's some espionage silliness, as a pair of Interpol agents assist archeologists Masahiko Shimizu and Saeko Kanagusuku in their quest to locate King Caesar; we get the silly aliens from from the Third Planet of the Black Hole called Simeon, who turn into green-faced apes when killed; Mechagodzilla is a mighty foe, tearing apart poor Anguirus's jaw and inflicting heavy damage on Godzilla (resulting in some arterial spray worthy of a Lone Wolf and Cub movie); King Caesar is hilarious, a massive moth-eaten furry; and the ending is preposterous, with Godzilla becoming a giant magnet and the humans defeating the aliens with a special metal pipe (which was clumsily introduced earlier in the film).

I get the feeling that the makers of Godzilla vs. Gigan simply couldn't be bothered, content to milk the franchise as much as possible with minimal effort. Hence, we get a routine plot involving yet another species of alien out to take over planet Earth, with a manga comic artist and his pals trying to stop them. And somehow, Godzilla, Anguirus, King Ghidorah (back from the dead) and new kaiju Gigan (a robotic parrot with a chainsaw belly) are worked into the plot.

The first half of the film commits that cardinal sin of being boring, with next to no monsters and too much mundane nonsense involving our forgettable human characters. The second half picks up, with the introduction of Ghidorah and Gigan, who are being controlled by the aliens, and plenty of monster mayhem ensues as Godzilla and Anguirus battle to save the planet, but with so much of it being recycled footage from earlier movies, it offers little new for fans of the series.

I did enjoy the occasional bright red spurt of blood as Ghidorah and Gigan inflict real damage on Godzilla and Anguirus - but it doesn't make up for all of the bad stuff: the slow pace, the lazy set-up, Godzilla and Anguirus having a chat (complete with cartoon speech bubbles), and, worst of all, the use of real cockroaches as the aliens' true form!!!

Do you like really weird Japanese movies from the '60s and '70s, like Matango (1963) and Hausu (1977)? Are you a fan of crazy kaiju films, but wish they would be even more bonkers? If you said 'yes' to these questions, then you're going to love Godzilla vs. Hedorah, a wildly imaginative, psychotronic monster flick with a storyline that takes a welcome dark approach after the saccharine kiddie-friendly garbage that was Attack All Monsters.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah also features a child as a central character - scientist's son Ken (Hiroyuki Kawase) - but instead of frolicking with Minilla in his dreams, this kid comes face-to-face with real danger, as slimy space monster Hedorah grows to massive proportions as the result of munching on toxic sludge and huffing a smoke stack, and proceeds to expel sulphuric acid that dissolves anyone unfortunate to be in its path. Ken is attacked by Hedorah at the beach, his father is facially disfigured by the monster, the lad witnesses the grisly aftermath of Hedorah's acid farts, and as if poor Ken wasn't going through enough, he is coerced into dancing at a psychedelic rock music gathering, and he doesn't look too thrilled about it.

The general tone for the film is surprisingly grim, with some genuinely disturbing imagery (a dead swan and a crying baby trapped in sludge), but director Yoshimitsu Banno regularly interrupts matters with brightly coloured animated interludes and the occasional moment of unexpected surreality, the weirdest scene featuring a room full of dancers whose heads turn into fish. It's kaiju on acid with an ecological message, and even though the final act is of the more predictable monster vs monster action we've come to expect from the franchise, Banno still has a few surprises up his sleeve, including Godzilla almost drowning in Hedorah diarrhoea, and the discovery that Godzilla can fly!

I've been working my way through the Godzilla movies in order, and wasn't happy that the films had devolved into child friendly pap. I wan't prepared for just how bizarre and unsettling this one is - it's now my favourite of them all so far. 7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.