Even though it has been several months since the premiere of Godzilla Minus One, the fallout dust resulting from warm reception of the film across the globe has not settled yet. In January, the movie was re-released in Japan and the USA in a special version called Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color. What is more, the film received 12 nominations at the 47th Japan Academy Film Prize, and a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards. In consequence Minus One is the first Godzilla production to be nominated for an Oscar(!) I have already praised the film in review last month, so I am not going to repeat my comments. The reason why I am writing today’s post is to praise the mastermind behind Minus One: Takashi Yamazaki, the ultimate die-hard fan of King of the Monsters. Yesterday, I accidentally spotted on Youtube an interview Yamazaki gave to Rotten Tomatoes and it absolutely made my day. Apart from having custom-made shoes, he had the audacity to bring with himself a Godzilla action figure. He is such a sweet fan boy who is not ashamed of his love for the franchise!
Evidently, Yamazaki poured his heart and soul into making Godzilla Minus One, not only as a writer and director, but also as a VFX supervisor, which (according to FX artists) really shortened the chain of command on a blockbuster production and smoothed the production process (source). In an interview, Yamazki says that he is open to the possibility of making “Godzilla Minus Two”, and I think Academy Awards offer the director a solid platform to convince Toho for one more shot at making a Godzilla flick. When I cooled down after reviewing Minus One, I would personally love to see Yamazaki’s take on a sequel in a time when Japan is rebuilding itself after World War II, but I would like the story to focus on entirely new characters. Please don’t bring the old gang because they deserved the happy ending!
This brings me to the Rotten Tomatoes question that was brought up in the interview. It is clear that Yamazaki has a lot of reverence for Christopher Nolan and Oppenheimer, and when the director was asked about the potential international casting choices for a new Godzilla film, he eloquently responded that the Oppenheimer cast was very talented (without giving any specific names). I know that Yamazaki was very gracious and careful with his answer, but this Oppenheimer touch really set my mind going for a potential Oppenheimer x Godzilla crossover. How crazy that could be? I know this is just fanboying, but nothing will deny the fact that Oppenheimer and Godzilla Minus One ruled the cinemas in 2023. Both movies focused on the themes of nuclear weapons, destruction, and morality of man in their own unique ways.
To end this text, allow me to say that during one of my high school lessons, I allowed students to ask me various questions in English. One student asked me on a whim “Have you seen Godzilla Minus One?” convinced that I haven’t seen the film, but I answered positively, his eyes lit up and shouted, “This is the greatest film of 2023!” and that remark comes from a 15-year-old. To sum up, I salute you Takashi Yamazaki, your movie has transcended countries, languages, and generations in its quest to creep into the hearts of Godzilla fans across the world. You are the greatest of all.
*Feature image source. The remaining pictures used are promotional photos of Godzilla Minus One.
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Godzilla Minus One; or, You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat You’ve all survived a tragic war. So it pains me to ask you again to put your lives on the line. But understand this, we can’t rely on the US and Japanese government. The future of this country is in our hands. I have to be honest and say that I was incredibly hyped when Toho announced that they were working on a new Godzilla film back in 2022. I was even more amazed to discover that Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One is going to be the first Goji flick to receive a wide international release in December 2023, including my homeland. Unfortunately, the screenings were very few in my region and I was about to give up my attempts to watch the film on the big screen until a local theatre in a neighbouring city made a special screening two days ago. This is my review of Godzilla Minus One.
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title: ゴジラ-1.0 Runtime: 125 min
Synopsis Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a kamikaze pilot who pretends that his plane is faulty and, in consequence, lands on Odo Island for repairs. The garrison stationed on the island is attacked by a mysterious monster which is referred to by the locals as Godzilla. After the war, Shikishima comes back to Tokyo as a disgraced former-pilot. By complete accident, he starts living with a stranger woman and child who is not her own. To provide for them, he signs up for a government approved operation of clearing the sea out of mines. When performing his duties, Shikishima and his fellow crew members come face to face with Godzilla, this time much larger and much more powerful.
The Price of Sacrifice I realise that I am quite late to the party because many movie enthusiasts out there have reviewed Godzilla Minus One through and through, but simply allow me to share my personal opinion that the film does indeed deserve the international praise it receives.
Director Takashi Yamazaki crafted a truly special and captivating spectacle that honours the original Ishiro Honda’s vision from 1954 as well as the essence of Godzilla’s character, being that it is an indestructible force of nature that plagues and traumatises mankind.
However, I would not say that Godzilla Minus One is a distinctively “Japanese” movie or that it beats Hollywood blockbusters because it does not communicate "the message", just as it is gloried by YouTubers across the board. Allow me to explain what I mean: If Shin Godzilla (2016) was an anti-establishment movie, then Godzilla Minus One is a full on anti-government movie. Director Yamazaki does not share Hideaki Anno’s vision of young, plucky bureaucrats saving the day. Instead, it is up to former naval soldiers suffering from war trauma to take matters into their own hands and fight for the safety of their families, not sacrifice themselves for the Emperor, honour, or the authority.
In consequence, Godzilla Minus One favours individualism rather than herd mentality and being under somebody’s thumb. This approach coupled with narrative techniques taken straight out of Steven Spielberg’s classic flicks (please refer to Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind) makes Godzilla Minus One a breathtaking cinematic spectacle, a memorable period drama, and effortlessly the best anniversary movie the fans ever had the chance to get.
Even though the movie was made on a tight budget, the production value is robust. I love the 1940s production design, special effects are not wonky at all, and Godzilla’s new appearance is truly menacing. You can clearly tell that Takashi Yakazaki had a clear vision of the story, which was made (thankfully) without the studio interference.
In addition, the music score for the film was composed by Yamazaki’s frequent collaborator, Naoki Sato. Movie critic Mark Kermode said that Sato’s subtle music resembles the sounds of Earth (source). I couldn’t agree more, but in my opinion, it also perfectly captures that mental aspect of impending doom that is Godzilla due to its slow build up. By far my favourite original track is Mission. Of course, Akira Ifukube’s original compositions make a comeback in the action scenes.
With regard to performances, Ryunosuke Kamiki carries the majority of the narrative burden on his shoulders because it is through the perspective of his character that audiences experience the raw power of Godzilla. Minami Hamabe is always a class act, and she easily entered the pantheon of Godzilla’s heroines (or, more appropriately, victims). Hidetaka Yoshioka is outstanding in the supporting role as a geeky scientist that comes up with a plan to defeat Godzilla. Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, and Sakura Ando have a chance to shine on the screen in spite of their limited screen time.
Recommendations All things considered, I highly recommend Godzilla Minus One. This is the kind of Godzilla all the moviegoers live for. If you enjoyed the original film as well as Shusuke Kaneko’s GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) and Shin Godzilla (2016), then Minus One is a must see. I sincerely hope that Takashi Yamazaki will be given another go at directing a Godzilla flick. In the meantime, it was confirmed that Minus Onewill return to Japanese cinemas in January, 2024 in a special black-and-white edition.
Overall score: 10/10
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For a very long time, I was thinking if I should take up discussion on the MonsterVerse movies. Obviously, these are American productions, so I did not want to trash my blog with separate reviews of these, even though they are technically part of the Godzilla franchise. For a moment, I considered posting my thoughts on Letterboxd, but I think the best solution is to talk about the films and my memories of them in the form of a concise editorial. So here we are. The MonsterVerse movies. The frenzy that started back in 2014 with the release of Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla. However, the slow built-up for the film started already before the premiere of Godzilla: Final Wars. That is to say, the Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) director, the late Yoshimitsu Banno, secured the rights from Toho to make a Godzilla short film using 3D technology. Banno started assembling the creative team for the project in the United States, and the idea evolved into making a 3D feature. Ultimately, Legendary Studios teamed up with Banno, and after securing a licence from Toho, they geared up for an official Godzilla live-action remake.
Being a Godzilla fan in the 2010s, I relentlessly followed the news about the upcoming movie. I still remember the excitement when I saw a 2012 conceptual teaser video, then a leaked 2014 teaser trailer with J. Robert Oppenheimer’s voiceover and a promo photo of Gareth Edwards and Akira Takadara (the actor had a cameo in the film, which unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor). Come May 2014 and I was ready for action. After a whole day at a university, I went to cinema with a colleague who was also a Godzilla enthusiast. We got tickets for late afternoon screening and barely any people were in the audience. When the lights went dark and the opening credits by Kyle Cooper rolled in, I knew I was in for a special viewing experience.
Needless to say, I greatly enjoyed the film. Nowadays, moviegoers complain that the film does not have enough of Godzilla in it and the monster fights are scarce, but I believe Edwards’ restrained approach compensated for that lack. Godzilla (2014) is more about Kaiju ambience than the King himself. It is a film about the looming, larger-than-life danger that is beyond human comprehension. To my mind, this is the first American monster movie that actually strived to show the psychological side of dealing with monster rumble in the same vein as Spielberg dealt with fear of the unknown in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). When the movie ended, I was the only guy at a movie theatre that was clapping. To date, I remember that some parents with children looked at me like some sort of weirdo. My colleague, on the other hand, had teary eyes because he was so moved by the final shot of Godzilla roaring and disappearing in the sea depths. I said to him, “Now, I have to wait four years for a sequel!”
Little did I know I had to wait five years instead of four. Godzilla: King of the Monsters was plagued by production delays. Even though Gareth Edwards was slated to return as a director, he was eventually replaced by Michael Dougherty who brought the whole project home. In the meantime, I was dealing with sickness on my own, so I was unable to see Kong: Skull Island (2017) on the big screen, which (in fact) is the film that ushered in the MonsterVerse concept; that is, giant monsters having crossovers and fighting each other. For Hollywood, it sounded like a novelty in view of Marvel movies, but Toho started doing this as early as the 1960s. I eventually caught a copy of Skull Island on DVD and greatly enjoyed it, although I’m not a massive King Kong fan. The action and bright colours were definitely a stand-out, but some of the sequences involving the military felt dragged out to me.
By 2018, I managed to get better, so I was ready for the premiere of King of the Monsters in June 2019. To be honest, this movie was everything I wanted it to be. The action set pieces and the monster fights were outstanding, in my opinion. In addition, some of the sequences were just really beautiful like the release of King Ghidorah from his ice imprisonment, the airplane getaway from Rodan, or Mothra’s transformation. The last moment in particular made me cry at the cinema because it was so well done. The rearrangement of Yuji Koseki’s original theme gave me incredible chills. All the more, it is hard for me to comprehend the hate this film gets. Evidently, it had a lot of human characters, human drama, and cheesy one-liners, but on the whole it was light-hearted fun. The creative team knew what kind of film they wanted to make, and they delivered on that front. Still, it does not change the fact that the film basically failed at the box office, barely recouping its box-office and marketing costs.
It comes as no surprise that Legendary took to heart the complaints of cinemagoers and, after many delays, they re-edited the living crap out of Godzilla vs. Kong before releasing it worldwide in Spring 2021. Back then, my country was still dealing with the pandemic, so I was unable to see it in the cinema, but I watched the film on streaming, and bought a disc later on. Well, Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong certainly has a briskier pace than King of the Monsters and it is definitely more colourful. Basically, it is a movie in which a giant lizard and an ape go boom boom, so I can’t complain. However, in terms of overall tone, it stands out from the previous MonsterVerse entries. In fact, I believe it can be said that each MonsterVerse Godzilla flick is actually a love letter to Toho’s classic glory days of the franchise. Godzilla (2014) pays homage to the Heisei era by reusing the theme of an old warrior showing up for one more battle, King of the Monsters to the Showa era with the multiple monster/people shenagings, and Godzilla vs. Kong to the Millennium era with its neon aesthetics and bombastic inclusion of Mechagodzilla.
All things considered, I like MonsterVerse movies for what they are, but it is nice to live in the fourth era of the Big G’s renaissance. The question remains: How long will it last? Legendary already develops the fourth film and a TV series, but Toho also works on their 70th anniversary film Godzilla Zero (2024), and they also churn out remakes of other popular properties: Shin Ultraman (2022), Shin Kamen Rider (2023), etc. It goes without saying that sooner or later Toho will reintroduce the King yet again for a new generation of cinemagoers.
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Godzilla: Final Wars; or, Last Hurrah for Monster Rumble The world is ruined, and the war is already lost. Now it's a matter of pride. We either die hiding... or die fighting. Even though this review is already quite belated, I am glad that I finally found the time to talk about my final Godzilla movie for the year 2023; that is, Godzilla: Final Wars, the last instalment of the Millennium series directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and released in 2004 for the 50th anniversary of the franchise.
Release Info
Directed by: Ryuhei KitamuraStarring: Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei Kikukawa, Maki Mizuno
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title ゴジラ ファイナルウォーズ Runtime: 125 min
Synopsis Godzilla has been defeated and buried in ice imprisonment beneath the South Pole. However, the world was plagued by many disasters and wars that caused the awakening of many monsters. All of a sudden, an alien race calling themselves Xiliens arrives and neutralises the monsters. The aliens want to negotiate a treaty with humans. However, the real motive of the aliens is to conquer Earth. When the monsters get unleashed, Godzilla breaks free from the South Pole as well. Operation Final War is set in motion.
Out with a Bang After the release of Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, the Toho Studios arrived at a conclusion that Godzilla movies are no longer that profitable as they used to be in the past, so the executives considered axing the franchise. However, producer Shogo Tomiyama decided it would be a good idea to end the series on a high note with a commemorative movie that would retire the King of Monsters for a decade or longer.
To fill in the director’s chair, Tomiyama hired a young director Ryuhei Kitamura who was already known for such films as Versus (2000), Aragami (2003), and Azumi (2003). However, Kitamura had no experience with the Tokusatsu genre, even though he was a Godzilla fanboy since childhood.
Kitamura’s personal auteur style and enthusiasm for the series allowed him to create a unique take on the Big G. Together with writers Wataru Mimura and Isao Kiriyama, he developed an action-packed story that functions as a stand-alone movie in the franchise. At best, you can regard Final Wars as a multiverse finale, but I like to think of it as the missing 16th movie of the Showa era because it follows the wacky science-fiction style of these movies from the 1970s.
It goes without saying that Final Wars is very divisive among the fanbase. Many viewers embrace the batshit craziness that oozes from the screen, whereas others just can’t stand the shifts in tone that alter between the Matrix vibes and traditional monster rumble. I admit that even for me watching this film for the first time ten years ago was just too much. It felt like a sensory overload with too many characters and too many bombastic subplots, but as I matured, I learned to appreciate it for what it is. By no means it is a standard Godzilla flick, but an event film, the purpose of which was to celebrate the 50 year-long legacy of the King.
I have to say that I appreciate top-notch action and special effects helmed by Eiichi Asada that preserved the traditional suitmation technique while utilising CGI in demanding shots. The same kind of praise, however, cannot be said about the music score composed by the late Keith Emerson, Nobuhiko Morino, and Daisuke Yano. The music is more all-over-the-place than the film itself, which really affects the viewing experience. There are some nice action cues, but on the whole, the score is bland and uneventful. Final Wars would have benefited more from Akira Ifukube’s classic themes.
With regard to performances, the leading stars of the film do a great job indeed and they are quite memorable in this whole shabang of insanity. Masahiro Matsuoka does okay as the standard hero who strives to save the day. Rei Kikukawa and Maki Mizuno rock as the Otonashi sisters. Interesting fun fact is that Maki Mizuno is the granddaughter of the legendary Kumi Mizuno who has a small supporting part in the film. We can also spot other Tokusatsu veterans: Kenji Sahara, Masato Ibu, Jun Kunimura, Koichi Ueda, Akira Emoto, and Akira Takarada. Kazuki Kitamura is simply too outlandish as the main villain, but I love him anyway. Last but not least, Don Frye plays Captain Douglas Gordon, and this character is simply too-cool-for-school with his over-the-top gigachad demeanour.
Even though Toho made money from the buzz surrounding the movie (merch, video games, re-release of the 1954 original, etc.), Final Wars itself was a box office failure, recouping approximately half of its original budget. Still, it appears that director Ryuhei Kitamura was satisfied from the movie he delivered.
Personally, I was dying to see the film back in 2004, but there was no theatrical release in the land of forgotten ghosts where I live. However, a distribution label Monolith did issue the film on DVD in a special edition, but the price for it was insane. It was not until 2023 that I was able to get this DVD edition which includes a making-of documentary as well as featurettes from the LA premiere of the film. Unfortunately, the audio on the release is either English or Polish. So, I still have to rely on a bootleg DVD from Hong Kong just to be able to hear the unaltered Japanese audio track.
Recommendations All things considered, the aim of the Millennium series was to keep the flame of Big G’s popularity going and to attract new fanbase, but the results were mixed. Godzilla: Final Wars marks the end of an era whether you like it or not. This is the last film that used the suitmation technique. This is the last film that features so many cameos from Tokusatsu veterans. This is the last film that was shot on Toho’s famous pool and backlot before these got restructured. This is the last film that was dedicated to the memory of Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Tomoyuki Tanaka, the creators of Godzilla. It was not until the year 2014 when Godzilla was reintroduced into the public spotlight with the American remake that ushered in the MonsterVerse series. However, this is a story for another time.
Overall score: 6/10
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Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack; or, Post-War Trauma Godzilla is passé. This week is provide my penultimate review of my Godzilla Millennium series rundown. To be specific, I want to focus on a film about which I have mixed feelings. This is Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack from the year 2001, directed by Shusuke Kaneko.
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title: ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ 大怪獣総攻撃 Runtime: 105 min
Synopsis The Japan Self-Defense Forces are alerted about the American nuclear submarine that went missing. In the meantime, a TV reporter Yuri Tachibana (Chiharu Niiyama) films a documentary piece near Mount Myoko, which is hit by a mysterious earthquake. It turns out that Godzilla might have returned and the only way to stop the creature is to reawaken the so-called Guardian Monsters: Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah.
Anger and Hatred Contrary to common misconceptions within the fandom, this movie did not come about because of the poor financial and critical reception of Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000). During the production of the aforementioned film, producer Shogo Tomiyama was still keen on developing the idea of revisiting Godzilla in an alternate universe with each new motion picture. Therefore, he recruited the services of an experienced Tokusatsu director Shusuke Kaneko.
Kaneko was a major Godzilla fanboy since childhood, and it was his lifelong dream to actually make a Godzilla movie. Already in the 1990s, when the Heisei movies were at their peak, young Kaneko contacted Tomiyama, but the producer politely refused his pitch to direct. Consequently, Kaneko honed his craft in the Tokusatsu genre by directing for Daiei the now-extremely popular Gamera Trilogy (1995-1999).
When Kaneko was approached with the offer in 2000, he developed several script ideas for the potential film, but the one closest to his vision involved Godzilla as the ruthless villain facing off against protectors of Earth: Varan, Baragon, and Anguirus. Toho accepted the idea, but gave the ultimatum to replace the original monsters with King Ghidorah and Mothra in order to make the film more bankable because the previous outings were box office bombs.
The movie itself certainly feels different in tone and its subject matter from other Millennium flicks crafted by Masaaki Tezuka and Takao Okawara. The GMK film is Shusuke Kaneko’s attempt to bring the King of the Monsters back to his roots, to make him not an anti-hero, but an unforeseeable force of nature that detests humans and wants to destroy all forms of life.
What is more, Kaneko not only changed Godzilla’s modus operandi and his appearance, but also gave the monster a spiritual dimension of origin. Of course, the nuclear aspect of Godzilla remains intact, but Kaneko heavily implies that the Big G is also an embodiment of souls of Japanese soldiers who were left to die by the Imperial Army during the war. In consequence, Godzilla becomes a demon that haunts Japan not only for its trauma stemming from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also for the country’s war crimes. Godzilla’s mercilessness is especially telling in a scene where he slams to the ground a hospital filled with innocent people, including a girl who survived the monster’s previous attack.
It goes without saying that Mothra is always the Kaiju heroine, and she always rocks on that front, but it is impossible for me to picture King Ghidorah as the benevolent dragon who saves the day. This is the major cognitive dissonance that ruins this movie for me. King Ghidorah time and time again, for decades, was Godzilla’s arch-nemesis, not the saviour of mankind.
In terms of cinematography and special effects, the GMK movie is the most 2000-like looking production of the Millennium series. I’m not sure why it’s the cause of this apart from that Kaneko is definitely a modern filmmaker, whereas Tezuka and Okawara feel more traditional with their approach to Godzilla. There’s nothing wrong with both approaches. In fact, GMK has many cinematic nods to Godzilla from 1998, as if Kaneko was indirectly throwing shade at the American production. In addition, the special effects director Makoto Kamiya does a fine job with blending classic miniature work with CGI.
With regard to performances, Chiharu Niiyama and Ryudo Uzaki really carry the film with their performances. Uzaki is especially memorable as the army admiral who undergoes a fantastic voyage deep into the belly of Godzilla. The movie also features appearances of the veteran actors such as Shiro Sano, Masahiko Tsugawa, Hiroyuki Watanabe, and Hideyo Amamoto. There are also cameos done by Masaaki Tezuka, Koichi Kawakita, Ai Maeda and Aki Maeda (as twin sisters) as well as Mizuho Yoshida, Akira Ohashi, and Rie Ota (who were the suitmation actors for the titular monsters).
Last but not least, Kow Otani provided a truly menacing music score for the film. I will always cherish the composer’s soundtrack for the Outlaw Star anime, but his addition to the Godzilla franchise cannot go unnoticed as well. “His music was so emotional and classical; it reminds me of old-fashioned kaiju movies, (Akira) Ifukube’s sound. His music makes me excited. It makes your heart beat,” stated Shusuke Kaneko (source).
Recommendations Undoubtedly, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is a film that stood the test of time and can be watched with having the knowledge of the rest of Godzilla films. However, it is very dark indeed, so it does not have a lot of rewatch value for me. The movie was released on Blu-Ray in 2014.
Overall score: 7/10
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Godzilla: Tokyo SOS; or, Ménage à trois Sayonara, Kiryu! A couple of months ago I posted my review of Godzilla X Mechagodzilla (2002) on the blog, so I relentlessly come back to my revisitation of Godzilla movies, and this time I am taking a look at the film’s direct sequel which came out a year later; that is, Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS.
Release Info
Directed by: Masaaki TezukaStarring: Noboru Kaneko, Miho Yoshioka, Mitsuki Koga
Language: JapaneseOriginal Title: ゴジラ×モスラ×メカゴジラ 東京SOS Runtime: 91 min
Synopsis A year after defending Japan from Godzilla’s attack, Kiryu undergoes necessary repairs. However, Mothra appears and warns the authorities that they should dismantle Kiryu and return the remains of the original 1954 Gojira to the sea. Mothra offers to take Kiryu’s place as the Kaiju defender if these terms are fulfilled. Nevertheless, the Big G reawakens and proceeds to initiate a monster rumble in Tokyo. Kiryu is dispatched to the scene and Mothra together with her offspring rush to join the fight.
Kiryu Returns After the successful release of Godzilla X Mechagodzilla, director Masaaki Tezuka was immediately given a green light to make a new entry in the Millennium series by producer Shogo Tomiyama. The director was allegedly given four potential story treatments, but he rejected all of them, opting to write his own screenplay. The final result became Tokyo SOS, a movie that is a continuation of Godzilla X Mechagodzilla, but most of the time, it throws out the window the style of the previous film and tries to be its own thing.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Tokyo SOS is the fact that it does not continue the storylines of Godzilla X Mechagodzilla. Yumiko Shaku reprises her role as Lt. Akane, but her role is unfortunately marginal, and she is only there to pass the baton to the real heroes of the movie, who are Yoshito Chujo (Noboru Kaneko), Lt. Azusa Kisaragi (Miho Yoshioka), and Kiryu Operator Kyosuke Akiba (Mitsuki Koga). What is more, the characters of Professor Yuhara and his daughter are completely missing in the film, even though Yuhara was the co-constructor of Kiryu and he was in love with Akane.
Therefore, this movie can be regarded as a very loose sequel that strives to be more action-packed and bombastic than its predecessor. In addition, the presence of young cast members and Tokusatsu veterans cannot go unnoticed. Apart from the appearances by Akira Nakao and Koichi Ueda, there is also Hiroshi Koizumi, who reprises his role as Doctor Shinichi Chujo from the original Mothra (1961) movie. He does an excellent job in the film even though his storyline is a bit limited. What is more, Chihiro Otsuka and Masami Nagasawa herself play the new incarnations of the twin fairies who look after Mothra.
Although Tokyo SOS does not attempt to recreate the grandeur of Godzilla X Mechagodzilla. I can’t help but appreciate the film for what it is. Undoubtedly, it is a solid Tokusatsu spectacle with an awesome blend of miniature and CG special effects as well as the magnificent music score by Michiru Oshima. Additionally, the third act is one massive battle between the titular monsters that really leaves you out of breath.
My favourite monster of the Millennium era, Kiryu, gets a bit overshadowed in this film by Mothra, but it is understandable since the picture focuses on three monsters this time. It is a shame though that there is not just more of him in the story. Still, there is a wonderful, touching moment involving Kiryu towards the end that really made me teared up when I watched the film for the first time.
Oddly enough, it seems that I am not the only viewer who underwent such an experience with Tokyo SOS. In an interview, director Tezuka stated that during the screening of the film in the US, some lady came up to him, shook his hand, and said that this was the first Godzilla flick that made her cry (source).
Interestingly, as in the case of other Millennium movies, Tokyo SOS has an intriguing post-credits sequence, which may have possibly served as lead in for a new movie had Tezuka directed it. Unfortunately, this was not the case because Toho decided to go in a new direction for the Big G’s 50th anniversary, but more about this some other time.
Recommendations All in all, I greatly like Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo SOS, but I think the story would benefit more from Kiryu action. I believe that this movie often gets omitted in the fan discussions because it came out in between highly-enjoyable Godzilla X Mechagodzilla and highly-controversial Godzilla: FInal Wars. The movie was originally released on DVD by TriStar in 2004 and it was re-released on Blu-Ray in 2014.
Overall score: 7/10
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