Gojira tai Mekagojira (2002) Directed by Masaaki Tezuka

Now that Gojira is a full blown villain again, he of course needs to be stopped and who's better equipped for the job than MechaGodzilla!

It's funny how the series keeps reinventing itself, even if that means omitting some of the previous films. This actually is the fourth time Gojira faces MechaGodzilla, though the circumstances under which they met were always different; Sometimes Gojira was the good guy and MechaGodzilla the bad guy but at other times the roles were switched around. Also MechaGodzilla's looks and origins vary drastically in each movie. Sometimes he's an alien build machine, at others he's build and fully operated by humans. In this case, he's a human build and operated machine again, with some great new powers. MechaGodzilla basically always have been a great and awesome adversary to Gojira but it's also definitely true that he never has been as great and awesome as he's in this movie!

Normally I like Gojira best when he's helping the humans out and is kicking some kaiju butt. But I have to say that I quite like Gojira's transformation in these 'milenium series' movies, in which he's a more classic monster and villain again. It makes him come across all the more threatening and awe inspiring, whenever he's destroying yet another city or just simply is stomping around.

This yet again is not a movie that's all about Gojira but one that focuses on other story lines and characters instead. And really, this movie has a great story in it, that above all things truly helps to turn this movie into a both fun and spectacular one to watch. The story makes the movie a fast paced- as well as interesting one. It's of course not a hyper-realistic movie but I appreciate how they try to make sense of things and create a certain realism within its story. If you compare this to most of the earlier Gojira movies from the '60's and '70's for instance, you simply have to say that the newer movies are far more realistic and subtle ones and therefor often also better ones to watch.

It's funny, I really wasn't expecting this but I really have to admit that I like most of the newer Gojira movies better than all of the much older ones. Normally a classic series start to decline, when it's heading into a new and more modern era with its characters and concept. But the Gojira series matured well, without ever forgetting- or betraying its roots. This movie still features all of the classic ingredients in it that you would expect to see in a Gojira movie, such as kaiju fights, guys in rubber suits beating and flying at each other (literaly), miniatures and all of the other usual characters and story developments in it.

The kaiju fights, which of course are always important for the fans of the series, are surprisingly good and spectacular to watch in this movie. Both kaijus (Gojira and MechaGodzilla) display some awesome powers in this movies and they are truly worthy adversaries, in terms of strength and stamina. Not a big surprise of course, seeing how MechaGodzilla is a mechanized version of Godzilla, modeled after his DNA.

I really had lots of fun with this movie! It's great quality entertainment, especially when you are into these type of movies of course.

8/10

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