Released briefly in the United
States as Godzilla vs. The Bionic Monster before changing its title to Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster after
the rights-holders of the Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman
franchise complained, this film is more widely known by the title Godzilla
vs. Mecha-Godzilla.
Here, there’s a significant air
of mystery as the kaiju action commences. Godzilla begins acting in
uncharacteristically destructive, violent and evil fashion, even attacking a
friend from Monster Island, the spiky Anguirus.
But it is soon revealed that evil
aliens who appear human but are really simian in nature (think Planet
of the Apes…) are behind the attack, using an impostor Godzilla -- the robotic Mecha-Godzilla -- and hoping
to conquer the Earth.
In this case, Godzilla requires
the assistance of King Caesar -- a kind of glowing dog/bat kaiju who has slumbered
for generations inside a mountain cave on Okinawa -- to defeat the aliens’ “ultimate weapon!”
Okinawan prophecy, re-counted by
the descendants of the royal family of Azumi Castle, foretells of a day when a
black mountain will appear, the sun shall rise in the west, and two monsters
will rise to defeat a grave threat to humanity.
The symbols of this prophecy
begin to come true in the late 20th century when aliens “from the third planet of the black hole,
outer space” land on Earth, and launch their cyborg, Mecha-Godzilla from
their underground base.
Godzilla rises from the sea to
stop his merciless and malevolent duplicate, but fails on the first
attempt.
Now, Princess Nami (Lin) must
sing a song from ancient Azumi history to wake the great King Caesar from his
longer slumber, to join forces with Godzilla and save the world.
Although King Caesar looks a bit
like a Muppet gone mad, Godzilla vs. The Bionic Monster
introduces one of the great villains of the Godzilla canon: the giant robot,
Mecha-Godzilla. This silver titan can
shoot missiles from its finger tips, and fire beams of energy that ravage
Godzilla.
Given the robot’s impressive
arsenal, perhaps it is not surprising that this is an especially gory
installment of the long-lived saga.
For example, in one scene red
blood veritably fountains out of Godzilla’s neck as Mecha-Godzilla
attacks.
In another scene, two aliens take
bullets to the head, and greed fluid bursts out of their wounds. In keeping with this more savage tone, the
evil alien leader is absolutely merciless in nature, ordering his giant cyborg,
at one point, to “beat Godzilla to
death!” rather than merely destroy him.
So the stakes are pretty high in
the film, and again, one feels while watching it that -- again, it’s almost
like a 1970s James Bond film. It comes replete with an evil-talking villain who
loquaciously shares his plans, and reveals his secret subterranean
headquarters. There are also the
requisite action sequences. In this case, Godzilla somehow transforms himself
into a “magnetic pole” during battle, and attracts Mecha-Godzilla to his scales. That’s a new one.
Similarly, there’s an “imposter”
Godzilla in the film’s opening, a reflection of certain Bond tropes seen in
series entries such as From Russia with Love (1963) and The
Man with The Golden Gun (1974).
Although this film is not as
strong as Godzilla vs. Hedorah since
it lacks the social context of that film and the 1954 original, it certainly
features a great villain and a unique guest-star in King Caesar. It’s always
nice to see Anguirus, as well.
One logical question does arise,
however: how did the Azumi family know this threat from space would come? What forces gave rise to the ancient prophecy?
Just think of the “second sight” necessary, in ancient days, to imagine aliens
from space, Godzilla, Anguirus, Mecha-Godzilla and aliens from space.
Otherwise, Godzilla vs. The Bionic Monster
is good fun, if occasionally absurd. The
moment when the alien leader spits out his home address (“the third planet of the black hole, outer space,”) is one example
of the latter. And you just have to love
the fact that the villain is such a trash-talker, always boasting about his
robot and seeking to diminish Godzilla’s chances.
Finally, it is also never
explained why the same supreme leader is always smoking a cigar and drinking
liquor.
Aren’t smoking and drinking human vices?
And simple human vices don’t seem
likely from an outer-space ape man who cackles his way through lines of
dialogue like “Goodbye, Stupid Earthlings...”
The intro of my all time fave G enemy.
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