Although it was produced in 1973,
Godzilla
vs. Megalon was not released in the United States until 1976, the very year
of King
Kong’s return to the silver screen under the auspices of Dino De
Laurentiis.
Accordingly, this Japanese
monster mash was a huge success in an America primed for a new monster movie.
Godzilla
vs. Megalon’s
success may have been due in part to the evocative and colorful poster art of
the film which dramatically aped King Kong’s and showed Godzilla and
Megalon standing astride the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.
Needless to say, in the actual
film, Godzilla and Megalon never got close to Manhattan, or anywhere
in the Western Hemisphere, for that matter.
Still, that poster is gorgeous.
After an incredibly successful run
at the American box office, Godzilla vs. Megalon took another
victory lap, airing on prime-time NBC in 1977 -- in an hour-long slot -- and it
drew impressive ratings. John Belushi hosted the presentation.
In the early 1990s, the Mystery
Science Theater 3000 (1988 – 1999) gang riffed on Godzilla vs. Megalon to
great comedic effect, and for years the series’ opening credits showed a clip
of Godzilla’s impressive -- and bizarrely
humorous -- jump kick in the movie.
Despite all the pop culture
success and sense of nostalgia that surrounds this election year entry of the
Godzilla saga, Godzilla vs. Megalon has never struck me as a particularly good
movie, or a particularly strong entry in the Godzilla canon.
The reason why is simple: the
movie needs more Godzilla and less Jet Jaguar.
The underwater kingdom of
Seatopia sends a giant creature called Megalon, to destroy the surface world,
which has been conducting dangerous nuclear tests for years, and therefore is
threatening all life on the Earth.
Meanwhile, a Japanese scientist,
Goro and his young nephew, Rokuro test an amazing new robot called Jet Jaguar
that becomes of great importance to the Seatopians and Megalon.
Realizing that their robot can
help save the world, Goro and Rokuro summon Jaguar to call on the help of
Godzilla, who is now living on Monster Island.
But the Seatopians also call for
reinforcements, and tag the monstrous Gigan to help Megalon destroy Godzilla.
With the survival of Tokyo and
the world hanging in the balance, Jet Jaguar grows to enormous size to team up
with Godzilla.
With apologies to my seven year
old, Joel -- who loves Megalon with a passion -- as well as my Facebook friends
who also adore this movie, Godzilla vs. Megalon is not one of
my favorite Godzilla movies.
In terms of the James Bond
standard I enunciated in my previous review, we do great villain here, I must
admit, in the giant, bug-headed, drill-handed menace known as Megalon. Joel loves Megalon with a passion, and when
we play together and wrestle, he is always Megalon, and I’m always Godzilla.
Yet in part, Godzilla vs. Megalon
fails because Godzilla does not even appear until late in the action, and seems
to be an after-thought in the narrative. Instead, the film functions largely as
origin story for the unknown and new hero: Jet Jaguar, a robot with the
baffling ability to grow to Godzilla-esque proportions and then shrink back.
How on Earth (or Seatopia for that
matter) is his metal so flexible that it can stretch to giant size and then
retract to human size?
Alas, even putting aside such
question of logic, Jet Jaguar -- a kind
of poor man’s Ultraman -- just can’t carry the story on his silver
shoulders, or make-up for Godzilla’s frequent absence. Imagine a James Bond film in which 007 didn’t
appear until sometime late in the second act, and you get the idea.
Godzilla
vs. Megalon
is not entirely bereft of good ideas, to be certain. Though barely enunciated, there’s absolutely a
critique here about nuclear arms that fits in with the franchise’s noble
tradition of questioning atomic power and man’s usage of it.
Here, the Seatopians send Megalon
to the surface because of the nuclear testing performed by the nations of the
world.
The Seatopians’ final solution to
a world risking destruction…is to destroy that world. Thus, they attempt to wring peace out of war,
a metaphor very clear to audiences in the Vietnam Era of “You have to destroy the village to save it.”
Still, this message does not
transmit nearly as powerfully as the anti-pollution message of the superior Godzilla
vs. Hedorah.
I would be a curmudgeon if I didn’t
note that the movie features some really fun battles.
That aforementioned Godzilla jump
kick, for instance, is just so bizarre, gravity-defying and over-the-top. I don’t know how it could elicit anything but
laughs, but it is a clear indicator that the films of this era have moved
definitively into fantasy territory.
I’m okay with that, because I
watch these films with my aforementioned seven year old, and he loves them with
unbridled passion. There is something so
imaginative and wondrous about these Godzilla films, I see that strict realism
isn’t necessary. I have seen with my own
eyes how even a movie that I don’t consider very good, like Godzilla
vs. Megalon, ignites Joel’s creative play. He loves the variety, powers and natures of
Godzilla’s adversaries.
In the final analysis, however,
this film looks like a TV pilot for a Jet Jaguar series, with Godzilla coming
in for a cameo tag team, and that fact doesn’t do the big green dragon any
favors.
People go to see Godzilla movies for Godzilla, and in some
critical sense, Godzilla vs. Megalon breaks (or at least severely stretches…) that
contract with the audience with its bait-and-switch strategy.
Not top notch, but hella fun. And significant as the first G film not to feature Haruo Nakajima.
ReplyDeleteTrue, my sons, when they were both under 10 years old or so, thought this movie was the greatest thing ever. I also agree that it feels like a backdoor pilot episode for Jet Jaguar, but I don't think that ever happened.
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