Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

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Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla

The Poster For Godzilla against MechaGodzilla
Directed by Masaaki Tezuka
Produced by Takahide Morichi
Shogo Tomiyama
Written by Wataru Mimura
Starring Yumiko Shaku
Shin Takuma
Kana Onodera
Music by Michiru Oshima
Cinematography Masahiro Kishimoto
Editing by Shinichi Fushima
Shinichi Natori
Distributed by Toho
Release date(s) December 15, 2002
Running time 88 min.
Language Japanese
Preceded by Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
Followed by Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla, released in Japan as Godzilla × MechaGodzilla (ゴジラ×メカゴジラ Gojira tai MekaGojira?), is a 2002 Japanese film directed by Masaaki Tezuka and written by Wataru Mimura. It once again follows the original Godzilla timeline, in which the original Godzilla was killed by Dr. Serizawa's secret weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer. However, in this film, the bones of the original Godzilla remain intact.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Yet another direct sequel to the original Godzilla movie, this film features other monsters attacking the city of Tokyo as well. When a second Godzilla shows up in 1999 and then 2003, Japanese representatives settle on building a robot constructed from the original Godzilla's bones, with help from Japan's top scientists. Three years later, the cyborg, known as "Kiryu" (機龍 kiryū?, lit. "machine dragon"), is finished. At the same time, Godzilla shows up once again. Kiryu is used, but the soul of the original Godzilla deep inside the cyborg's circuits is revived and it starts destroying the city itself. Kiryu is brought back to HQ for further work. Meanwhile, one of the pilots, a lonely female, tries to settle matters involving another pilot, one of the scientists and his distressed daughter.

[edit] Staff

  • Directed by Masaaki Tezuka
  • Writing credits Wataru Mimura
  • Produced by Shogo Tomiyama
  • Music by Michiru Oshima
  • Cinematography by Masahiro Kishimoto
  • Film Editing by Shinichi Natori, Shinichi Fushima
  • Production Design by Shinji Nishikawa
  • Special Effects Director Yuichi Kikuchi

[edit] Cast

  • Yumiko Shaku as Akane Yashiro
  • Tokumitsu Yuhara as Shin Takuma
  • Sara Yuhara as Tokumitsu's daughter Kana Onodera
  • Togashi as JSDF Colonel Koh Takasugi
  • Hayato Igarashi as Prime Minister (2003) Akira Nakao
  • Hayama as JSDF 2nd Lieutenant Yusuke Tomoi
  • Sekine as JSDF 1st Lieutenant Jun'ichi Mizuno
  • Machiko Tsuge as Prime Minister (1999) Kumi Mizuno
  • Hishinuma Yoshikazu as Kanou
  • Hitoyanagi as JSDF Chief Takeo Nakahara
  • Dobashi Koichi as Ueda
  • Kaori Yamada as Midori Hagio
  • Shinji Akamatsu as Akira Shirai
  • Goro Kanno as Doctor Naomasa Rokudaira
  • Hayama as JSDF 1st Lieutenant (Brother of Hayama, 2nd Lieutenant) Shinji Morisue
  • Tsujimori as Nurse Misato Tanaka
  • Hideki Matsui as himself
  • Takehiro Murata as a pedestrian
  • Type 90 Maser Cannon Pilots: Kenji Suzuki, Tsutomu Kitagawa, Hirofumi Ishigaki
  • Hkasakia Sakoraie
  • Godzilla ............ Tsutomu Kitagawa
  • Mechagodzilla ............ Hirofumi Ishigaki

[edit] Alternate Titles

  • Godzilla X MechaGodzilla
  • Return of Mechagodzilla (US Working Title)

[edit] Trivia

  • Many Godzilla fans have pointed out that the original Godzilla's skeleton was completely vaporized in the original. Also, the references to both Mothra and Gaira (the Green Gargantua) being killed by the military (in the English dub of the film anyway) are also not true. Mothra did not die in the original Mothra, and Gaira was killed with his brother Sanda (the Brown Gargantua) in an underwater volcanic eruption in War of the Gargantuas. Furthermore, Mothra would go on to make a starring appearance in the sequel, Godzilla: Tokyo SOS. However, in the original Japanese dialogue, it is stated that an atomic heat ray was invented to use against Mothra, not that she was killed by it.
  • Kiryu is only referred to as MechaGodzilla three times in the movie, for the rest of the film it is referred to as Kiryu.
  • Japanese Baseball star Hideki Matsui starred as a cameo for the movie due to his nickname "Godzilla".
  • This is the first Godzilla film since The Return of Godzilla not to feature any of Akira Ifukube's music.
  • One thing that is always noted about this film in comparison to all the other MechaGodzilla films or any films featuring a Mechanical Kaiju, is the use of more realistic elements, such as Kiryu actually having the flaw of only being able to fight for a certain amount of time before its power runs out and the main weapon (the "Absolute Zero Cannon") also being able to compromise that time, in other films the mechas always seem to be able to fight forever. Another realistic element added is the fact that it takes nearly 3 or 4 years for Kiryu to be built and that the government had to pass a law allowing it to be built with approval also from the rest of the world. In the previous films (Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla II and Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla) the mechas always seemed to have been built in a heartbeat and there was no debate from the government or the rest of the world on its use.

Mothra seemed not to be involved yet perhaps not knowing about Kiryu as she did in Tokyo S.O.S

[edit] Box office

Budgeted at roughly $8,500,000, Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla opened in Japan on December 13, 2002, and earned $2,253,231 in its opening weekend.[1] It went on to gross approximately $16,000,000[2] in Japan, making it the second biggest of the Millennium Godzilla films at the box office. It sold approximately 1,700,000 admissions.

[edit] DVD Releases

Sony Pictures

[edit] External links

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