Godzilla vs. Megalon Review

Ah, Godzilla vs. Megalon, a title fans cringe when hearing it. However, over the years, the fanbase has gained a liking for the film, becoming what the critics call a 'cult classic.' Back in the day I would hear fans call this the worst Godzilla movie ever. Today, things are different. Final Wars has taken its place and is the hated one now. (A lot of people tend to even like All Monsters Attack more than Final Wars, though most agree that it's still better than the 98 film.) Godzilla vs. Megalon is the most low-budgeted Godzilla film since All Monsters Attack. Thought Godzilla vs. Gigan had stock footage? That was nothing. Here the majority of Megalon's 'attacks' on the city are stock footage from Ghidorah and a few others. Also, you'll notice that Japan seems like a ghostown. It's like everyone died in the previous film and it's just these people that are left. Seriously, on the highway, it's just those two cars! This film defines the 70's for Japan. Just look at the groovy outfits and disco music. It's no surprise that this film has a slight comedy undertone. The monsters are representing the 70's with energetic moves and personality that put the Heisei era to shame. There are car chases in this man. You just can't dislike this movie, it's too entertaining.

I remember many years ago when my dad put on the Sci Fi channel, there was a Godzilla marathon airing. (Those were the days.) The scene that had always stayed in my head was when Gigan and Megalon did their monster 'high five.' The film never got an official North American DVD release, until now of course. Fast forward over ten years later and the awesome people at Media Blasters has released the first ever official American release of the film. Besides it being a bare-bone release with no special features, the video and audio are impressive. (Yes, you get to hear the horribly dubbed kid's high pitched voice in all its glory.) The story is also not something that would usually be found in these movies. Atlantis, I mean Seatopia, has decided to take revenge on the surface world for doing atomic tests. So they send their 'god' Megalon to cause destruction. It's a lot more silly than it sounds, trust me. While Zone Fighter is a second rate Ultraman, Jet Jaguar is pretty awesome. (The only Godzilla film where a robot gives a thumbs up.) Eventually Seatopia sends a message to Space Hunter Nebula M so they can borrow Gigan for a bit. (Apparently undersea people has connections with outer space.) With Megalon and Gigan ganging up on Jet Jaguar, Godzilla arrives to even the score and the stage is set for the most colorful battle in all of Godzilla history. If you're one of the people only remembering Godzilla has a hero of Japan, this is the film defining that. No longer do the people fear Godzilla, in fact, they welcome him!

First of all, there are three main characters. Goro, his kid brother Rokuro, and Hiroshi. The relationship between the two main guys is not explained. Friends? Roommates? Cousins? They never explain it. Whereas all the previous films had people living in the cities with traffic and everything, here it's like open country. Only once we're shown people, a little bit before Megalon attacks the dam. (Which was a pretty great scene.) Besides that, it's like these three guys are the last surviving members of the human race. At least they're funny to watch. (I'll take funny over boring, Heisei era.) The 'antagonist' I guess you can say is some guy that belongs in Rome. The dub's voice, you're going to die laughing at how seriously sad he sounds. In the end, he turns out to be the most laughable human antagonist in the series. With some character development, things could have been better. Then again, this guy just fits the film. He's really serious, and that's the funny part.

This is the first new Godzilla look in awhile. (The previous one lasted four films starting in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.) Isn't he just cute? It's amazing to think how far (or behind) the series has come in terms of tone from Gojira. There Godzilla was a horror icon, people feared him, he was scary. Now here he has a Pug-like face and people cheer him on. C'mon, this is good stuff. Godzilla is acting all 70's with his gestures and boxing like moves. He's really into it, in fact, this is the first time when he starts acting all karate like. This is the heroic Godzilla a lot of people know. He's there, ready for a fight, no retreats and helps his teammates. This Godzilla has so much personality, he's just a blast to watch on screen. This is also Jet Jaguar's film. Created in a contest, the robot is pretty darn awesome. For awhile fans disliked him, but over the years he's been more liked. Who doesn't love a robot that can magically 'program himself' to increase size? Despite what you might think, Jet Jaguar (love how Hiroshi just thinks the name out of the blue) has a lot of personality. When he's getting doubled by Megalon and Gigan, que sadness from the audience. Megalon is the new monster this time around. Excellent and unique concept, a giant beetle thing with drills for hands. (Gotta love TOHO and its crazy creations.) This weakling of a monster fits right in with this era. (Really should have been him instead of Hedorah in Final Wars.) The giant cyborg chicken Gigan returns. This guy is just awesome with his 'I-enjoy-killing-you' persona. He actually threatens to Godzilla that he will chop off Jet Jaguar's head if he comes any closer! (Godzilla then just blasts him away with atomic breath, good stuff.)

The final fight is what makes the film. It actually has a lot less stock footage than I remember. The actual battle is much better choreographed than the battle in Godzilla vs. Gigan. There it felt like it dragged on too much, the fight in this film is long enough, fun enough, and awesome enough. There's just so much energy and personality in the fight! You gotta love the monster expressions, like when Megalon watches Jet Jaguar in awe as he turns monster size. My personal favorite is when Gigan and Megalon think they have Godzilla and Jet Jaguar trapped in a ring of fire, they're dancing around mocking the two heroes, then Godzilla grabs hold of Jet Jaguar and they fly out! Gigan and Megalon stop dancing and look in disbelief to see the two flying. They're like "You've got to be kidding..." Man I LOVE this stuff. The soundtrack takes some ques from Godzilla vs. Hedorah. (Yes, Godzilla's goofy theme returns.) I was not a fan of the soundtrack in Hedorah, but here it sounds good cause it fits the non-serious, slightly (let's change slightly to very much) humorous tone. (At the end you'll hear Jet Jaguar's song, it is worth the wait for its amazingly cheesy lyrics.)

Godzila vs. Megalon is the type of film hardcore critics hate. It's not the most well-made movie, with stock footage throughout and non-existent character development and a pretty poor (but funny) human antagonist. However, as a fan of the genre and one who likes a fun time with a film, I, as many others, enjoy this movie. It's just too much fun, you will be left smiling. Critically it deserves a 4/10 because of its low production values, but it gets a 7/10 from me for having personality, fun, and most of all, heart. Plus it has Godzilla defying gravity with his famous and infamous double kick. (He's Godzilla after all.)

7/10

Monster of the Week: Gigan (Showa)

Gigan is the giant cyborg chicken that hails from Space Hunter Nebula M. Alright, maybe he's not a chicken, but it's always fun to refer to him as that. Gigan as you know is a cyborg, which could only mean one thing: he was originally a creature that lived on Nebula M. Obviously it was destroyed and the 'Nebulans' rebuilt him as a cyborg. Probably when he 'died' he had lost all his sanity. Yes, Gigan is the serial killer of the Godzilla world. He stabs and keeps stabbing, the sight of blood just makes him want to keep going. As you can see, he's the most unique looking monster in all of Godzilla. No history is really given before the events of Godzilla vs. Gigan, there's just speculation. The way they talk of him in the film means that he must have existed on Nebula M for awhile. The Nebulans were giant cockroaches in disguise. Their plan? Use Gigan and Ghidorah to take over earth, that's where the events of Godzilla vs. Gigan take place....

The Nebulans had infiltrated Earth, and it wan't long after that they sent a call for Gigan and Ghidorah. Usually these two wouldn't be teaming up, but the Nebulans needed them to, so they mind-controlled both of them so there wouldn't be any problems. The only thing they didn't fully anticipate was the arrival of both Godzilla and Anguirus. Godzilla of course went for Ghidorah, them being the biggest rivals. Our friend Gigan went on to completely beat up Anguirus. Gigan is a taunter, as seen when he openly taunted Anguirus to try and save Godzilla while is buzzsaw was going. (Anguirus eventually did run straight into it, not with pretty results.) As the fight raged on, somehow the human characters managed to destroy the mind control device. Gigan and Ghidorah now had free will again. Upon seeing Godzilla on the ground, Gigan went for him. Either the Nebulans had told him about G, or he just likes attacking downed people. See, Gigan is a bully at heart. He's not quite the bruiser like Ghidorah, he attacks the weaker ones or when monsters are weakened. Upon seeing Godzilla weakened, that's where he showed his true serial killer persona, repeatedly stabbing the King of Monsters to the point where his head opened up. Saying the cyborg chicken is brutal would be an understatement. He then presided to drag Godzilla to Ghidorah, who then slammed him away with his cackling heads. Gigan was obviously enjoying this, putting on his victory dance and clapping Ghidorah on the wing. That alliance was short-lived when Godzilla got Gigan to bang into Ghidorah. The two presided to argue while Godzilla and Anguirus began to plan. Thus began the downfall of the two monsters. Gigan is not like Titanosaurus, he's cowardly. At the FIRST sign of major trouble, he's out. The humiliating part for him is that he tried retreating twice yet kept getting shot down by Godzilla. Eventually the two monsters retreated into space and went their separate ways. However, it wouldn't be long before ol' Gigan ran into Godzilla again...

The year is 1973, when a lot of Japan was strangely empty. That, or no one went out of their houses that particular day. What's special about this day and year is the rise of the Seatopians...or so they had hoped. They had sent their 'god' Megalon to terrorize Japan. Unfortunately for them, Megalon wasn't the brightest or strongest of monsters. Jet Jaguar was making short work of him. The Seatopians couldn't have this, so they asked the Nebulans if they could borrow Gigan for a bit. (Apparently lost civilizations has connections with outer space.) Gigan is apparently very loyal to the Nebulans and will do as they say. They must also have a way with communicating with the monster, since he knew exactly where to go. Now this was interesting, instead of Gigan being basically the lackey for a bigger monster, it was the other way around. He would be calling the shots. Right when he arrived he was telling Megalon that they would be teaming up. He then precided to show the Seatopian god how to REALLY beat up on someone. In one particular scene he really clawed into Jet Jaguar the way Jason would hatchet people to death. Megalon was pretty much enjoying this, he and Gigan shared the iconic scene of a monster high five, claw to drill. Of course, Godzilla appeared, scaring the living daylights out of both Gigan and Megalon. What would follow is the famous 2 on 2 tag team battle. Gigan is a cunning monster, even teaching Megalon the trick of playing dead. Of course, being a bit on the cowardly side, the cyborg doesn't hesitate to take hostages, case in point when he grabbed Jet Jaguar and threatened to cut his head off to Godzilla. What follows is another humiliating scene as Godzilla just plainly blasts him away. The roles would be kinda reverse when Jet Jaguar breaks Gigan's arm and grabs him like a police offiver would a robber. Eventually he would retreat into space since Megalon was defeated. However, that wouldn't be the end for our cyborg friend...

Gigan would have a true one-on-one fight with Godzilla in the show Zone Fighter. Here he's given an upgrade by having parachutes. Yes, it looks cheesy as heck. See, Gigan thinks he's pretty awesome. After he lands, he tries to 'impress' Godzilla by slashing some rocks. Of course he's knocked down by G in the next minute. At least here the cyborg shows some of his true strength. After Gigan puts up a decent fight, he is later confronted by Zone Fighter himself. After humiliating Zone Fighter for a bit, the latter finally destroyed him. Yup, Gigan wasn't destroyed with dignity in a movie by Godzilla, he was destroyed in a show by a second rate Ultraman.

That would be the end of the Showa incarnation of Gigan. While not the strongest of monsters from that era, he proved to be the most memorable. With his taunting gestures and cowardly tactics, you can never get bored of this guy. Despite all that, he's by far the most brutal when it comes to fights, right next to Destoroyah. He's the Nebulan's assassin, and we're left wondering why he doesn't ever use his eye laser. Could have been effective in these fights. Ah well, while he's been humiliated on more than one occasion, he's still a monster you do not want to mess with if you're a beginner at the system. He's quite the contrast from his calm and collective Final Wars counterpart. Still, there's no denying that the Showa version of Gigan is one awesome monster in design, concept, and persona.