Godzilla against Mechagodzilla

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Movie
German title Godzilla against Mechagodzilla
Original title ゴ ジ ラ X メ カ ゴ ジ ラ ,
Gojira X Mekagojira
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
Publishing year 2002
length 85 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Masaaki Tezuka
script Wataru Mimura
production Shōgo Tomiyama
music Michiru Ōshima
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessors
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah

Successor  →
Godzilla: Tokyo SOS

Godzilla against Mechagodzilla ( Japanese ゴ ジ ラ X メ カ ゴ ジ ラ , Gojira X Mekagojira ) is a Japanese monster film ( Kaijū Eiga ) from 2002 and the 26th Godzilla film. Directed by Masaaki Tezuka . Like its predecessors, this Godzilla also plays in a different timeline and ignores the previous films.

action

Japan 1999: Due to a typhoon, the army is on its way to the city of Tateyama to evacuate the residents. Not only the typhoon, but also a second Godzilla appears and wreaks havoc in Tateyama. The army uses Maser tanks, whose unit includes the young soldier Akane. But an attack on Godzilla fails because of the rain, which reduces the effects of the measles. A panic reaction results in an accident in which Akane knocks an army vehicle over a slope. The occupants are killed when Godzilla crushes the car.

Akane, who has to face an army control committee because of the deaths she has caused, takes responsibility and is transferred to the archives. Meanwhile, the government is trying to find ways to stop Godzilla. To do this, she invites some scientists, including the genetic engineer Tokumitsu Yuhara, to a remote base, where, to her horror, the skeleton of the first Godzilla, who was killed using the oxygen destroyer in 1954, lies in a huge pool. The government's plan, in collaboration with the army, is to use the DNA and skeleton of the first Godzilla to build a giant combat robot. But Yuhara refuses.

The government officials persist and manage to convince Yuhara when they offer him a special clause in the contract for his daughter. The project will be worked on over the next three years. In 2002, at the same time as Hayato Igarashi was inaugurated as the new Prime Minister of Japan, a Mechagodzilla with the code name Kiryū ( 機 龍 , "machine dragon") was completed.

For Kiryū a special unit is set up within the army, to which Akane is ordered back into active service. Also in the unit is Hayame, a brother of one of the soldiers killed in Akana's accident, who has not forgiven her to this day. Yet it remains in unity. A presentation will show the public the functions of Kiryū, which is controlled remotely from three special aircraft. Its most powerful weapon is the Absolute Zero cannon, a weapon that freezes molecules so much that anything it hits crumbles.

However, during the presentation, Godzilla reappears and threatens Yokohama . The event is stopped immediately and Kiryū is made ready for use. Kiryū attacks unsuccessfully with rockets and cruise missiles, but these do not work on Godzilla. Only the masher cannon can harm him. As Akane prepares for Absolute Zero, Godzilla roars so loudly that he influences the DNA structure in Kiryū so much that it turns against its creators. Godzilla flees, but Kiryū instead attacks Yokohama and devastates large parts of the city until his energy stores are exhausted.

Kiryū is being returned to the dock for repairs and fault analysis, while Prime Minister Igarashi faces his political end due to his pushing ahead with the Kiryū project. Yuhara discovers the mistake and suggests exchanging the DNA of the first Godzilla for conjugated DNA in order to prevent Godzilla from influencing him again. But the project is being put on hold. There are also problems in the Kiryū unit because of the differences between Akane and Hayame, whose plane crashed during the Kiryū attack. He can't stand that she saved his life. But the leader Lt. Togashi and the rest of the unit take sides with Akane.

Meanwhile, Godzilla is on his way to Japan again and threatens Tokyo . However, the use of conventional weapons such as missiles or tanks cannot stop him and so he paves his way to the Shinagawa district of Tokyo . Prime Minister Igarashi hesitates to use Kiryu again, so that Lt. Togashi personally asks him for the deployment order, which is ultimately granted to him. So Kiryū is made ready for use and Akane and the unit set off. However, Godzilla is on the verge of destroying a hospital with his heat rays, so that Akane decides to disconnect from the air due to time constraints and thus brings Kiryū to ram Godzilla in flight and thus save the hospital and many lives.

The fight is now in full swing. Kiryū and Godzilla are equals and the battle never ends. However, Shinagawa is destroyed. When Akane wants to use the Absolute Zero, Godzilla counters with his heat beam and can thus incapacitate Kiryū, as he has no more energy due to the failed Absolute Zero attack. Godzilla threatens to win, since the burl armor cannot do anything either. The scientists therefore want to feed Kiryū with new energy using microwaves, but the remote control is damaged.

Akane decides independently and despite the danger of ionizing radiation to enter Kiryū in order to control it manually, which she succeeds despite all circumstances. It can set the manual control in motion and thus activate the reception of the microwaves for the regeneration of Kiryū's energy reserves. Even if the power goes out in the entire Kantō region, Kiryū can stop the weakened Godzilla. He clings to the dinosaur, flies with him out to sea, where Akane activates Absolute Zero.

The water around the place where Godzilla and Kiryū sink turns to ice. Godzilla seems defeated, but he can blow up the iceberg and free himself. However, he suffered a serious chest injury from the attack and then withdrew. Kiryū also has severe damage to the Absolute Zero cannon and the left arm, which is completely severed. Akane watches the retreating Godzilla.

background

The film was released directly on DVD in both the USA and Germany . In Germany, the film was released on August 25, 2006 by Splendid Entertainment.

Japanese professional baseball player Hideki Matsui , interestingly nicknamed Godzilla , made a cameo here and played himself while standing on the pitch with a youth team hovering over the kiryu.

Several scenes from older Tōhō films were shown in the film. These include the first Godzilla from 1954, the first Mothra from 1961 and the Frankenstein - a duel between the giants - published in 1966 .

The robot was referred to as Mechagodzilla only three times during the entire film, otherwise it was always called Kiryū.

reception

The film had a budget of approximately one billion yen (equivalent to approximately € 8.6 million) available for filming. It premiered on November 2, 2002 at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was released in Japanese cinemas on December 14, 2002. The film grossed 1.91 billion yen (the equivalent of 16.2 million euros) and had 1.7 million viewers.

The lexicon of international films judged that the film was a "[i] low-deen orgy of destruction" . It falls “at best because of the dominance of female decision-makers out of the ordinary” .

The film was well received by the audience. The audience rated the film 70 percent positively.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Approval for Godzilla against Mechagodzilla . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2006 (PDF; test number: 106 547 V / DVD).
  2. ^ Godzilla against Mechagodzilla. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. Jump up ↑ Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (Gojira tai Mekagojira) (2002). Retrieved August 7, 2019 .