Godzilla in the 70s usually stands out amongst the others, but not for the best reasons. This movie has a lot to be remembered for, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. It's got Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, Anguirus, King Seesar, ape-like aliens who are here to destroy earth, the international police, and a prophecy to be fulfilled. Needless to say, there is a lot in this film... A lot of everything except Godzilla!
This film does not focus on Godzilla, but neither does it develop its focus on the aliens, King Seesar, or the humans. The humans are trying to fulfill a prophecy for KING SEESAR to team up with ~mysterious other monster~ against a greater foe. That partner could have been Ultraman or anything else, but in this case it's Godzilla. The humans go along doing their thing, which is basically following Godzilla, finding the bad guys, and holding the MacGuffin, all to be the center of the plot pushing it forward, and, more importantly, give exposition about what is going on.
The characters in this movie are quite lackluster. I can't provide you with any of their names or describe them without stating what their roll in the story is. The only neat character decision in this film was between Mechagodzilla and Anguirus (and, as I've mentioned in other reviews, we can clearly understand their emotion WITHOUT DIALOGUE, and just through camera angles and their reactions.) Early in the movie, Godzilla appears and is blowing up stuff. Anguirus is like, "Hey, Godzilla, are you feeling okay?" And it turns out that it was Mechagodzilla in disguise! I like surprises like that. However, they gave it away right in the beginning and thus there wasn't any tension as to find out perhaps WHY Godzilla was supposedly attacking.
Speaking of tension, I didn't really feel any, especially during the final battle. The only time I felt something was when a decisive action was made. Such as Mechagodzilla breaking Anguirus' jaw (whoa, where did that come from!) and also Godzilla bleeding toward the end. But until that point in the battle I really stopped caring because the action had gone on for too long, the music was messy, and Mechagodzilla just seemed to have unlimited ammo and keep reloading. It didn't help that we'd intercut the battle with static shots of the captured humans very slowly trying to escape.
Would I recommend this movie? Eh. It's fun to watch with a crowd, but doesn't center on Godzilla (similar to how in Ebirrah, the focus wasn't on Godzilla-but that movie had at least an intriguing human storyline going on, they weren't just there for exposition). I'd say skip this one, and if you want to see Mechagodzilla, watch the next movie: TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA.
This film does not focus on Godzilla, but neither does it develop its focus on the aliens, King Seesar, or the humans. The humans are trying to fulfill a prophecy for KING SEESAR to team up with ~mysterious other monster~ against a greater foe. That partner could have been Ultraman or anything else, but in this case it's Godzilla. The humans go along doing their thing, which is basically following Godzilla, finding the bad guys, and holding the MacGuffin, all to be the center of the plot pushing it forward, and, more importantly, give exposition about what is going on.
The characters in this movie are quite lackluster. I can't provide you with any of their names or describe them without stating what their roll in the story is. The only neat character decision in this film was between Mechagodzilla and Anguirus (and, as I've mentioned in other reviews, we can clearly understand their emotion WITHOUT DIALOGUE, and just through camera angles and their reactions.) Early in the movie, Godzilla appears and is blowing up stuff. Anguirus is like, "Hey, Godzilla, are you feeling okay?" And it turns out that it was Mechagodzilla in disguise! I like surprises like that. However, they gave it away right in the beginning and thus there wasn't any tension as to find out perhaps WHY Godzilla was supposedly attacking.
Speaking of tension, I didn't really feel any, especially during the final battle. The only time I felt something was when a decisive action was made. Such as Mechagodzilla breaking Anguirus' jaw (whoa, where did that come from!) and also Godzilla bleeding toward the end. But until that point in the battle I really stopped caring because the action had gone on for too long, the music was messy, and Mechagodzilla just seemed to have unlimited ammo and keep reloading. It didn't help that we'd intercut the battle with static shots of the captured humans very slowly trying to escape.
Would I recommend this movie? Eh. It's fun to watch with a crowd, but doesn't center on Godzilla (similar to how in Ebirrah, the focus wasn't on Godzilla-but that movie had at least an intriguing human storyline going on, they weren't just there for exposition). I'd say skip this one, and if you want to see Mechagodzilla, watch the next movie: TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA.