- Directed by: Ishiro Honda, Jun Fukuda
- Written by: Yukiko Takayama
- Stars: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7M7upe_WCs
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Mechagodzilla was destroyed in the last movie, but those pesky aliens are back. They found the pieces and rebuilt it even stronger and better. With another big critter in the mix this time too, will Godzilla be able to save the day? Will humanity give the aliens the boot once again? You can probably guess how things come out in the end. It’s more of the same as before, not quite as well put together as some of the previous ones, but still pretty good.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on scenes from the previous film, reminding us about what Mechagodzilla is as credits roll. We also get a reminder of just how bloody the previous film was.
We cut to a submarine, diving deep to find the wreckage of Mechagodzilla. Meanwhile, a strange woman sits on the beach but can see what’s happening with the sub in her mind’s eye. They can’t find it– the wreckage is gone! They do, however, run into some kind of giant creature down there that destroys the sub.
At Interpol, the experts discuss the loss of the sub. There are photos of flying saucers that may have been involved. Akira is a marine biologist who’s been brought in to help. Could the sub have been wrecked by… a dinosaur? The alien leaders, also from the previous film, talk about how stupid humans are. They talk about recruiting Dr. Mafune, a disgruntled human, to assist their plan. He was a promising scientist until he claimed he could control Titanosaurus, a type of dinosaur that no one believed existed. He’s been an outcast ever since.
Akira and his friend Wakayama go to find Dr. Mafune who lives in a “haunted house” that the locals avoid. Mafune’s daughter Katsura comes to the door, and she says the old doctor died five years ago. She’s the one we saw on the beach earlier. She says she doesn’t know anything, and the two men don’t believe her.
We cut to Dr. Mafune and the alien leader’s bearded second-in-command, Tsuda, drinking a toast to the Titanosaurus control device being finished. They all go down to the secret alien lab beneath the ground, and they see Mechagodzilla there being rebuilt and repaired. Supreme Leader Mugal wants to use Mafune’s dinosaur control device on the big robot.
Akira goes back to Katsura and talks about her father’s work. He says they’re preparing another sub, and she warns him not to be on it. Later, Tsuda reminds her who saved her life a few years back, and then we get a flashback showing us what happened.
Tsuda tells Katsura to make Titanosaurus attack the sub, and the big monster is soon chasing it. The sub uses ultrasonic weapons to make the monster flee.
Matsura and her father discuss Titanosaurus’s weaknesses. Akira and Wakayama discuss the possibility that their enemies may be from Black Hole Planet Three. Katsura takes some of her father’s notebooks to Akira to discuss, and they have tea. He tells them all their plans, and she relays that to the baddies. Old Dr. Mafune is tired of helping the aliens, and he thinks Titanosaurus could defeat Mechagodzilla in a fight.
Titanosaurus comes ashore and everyone panics. Wakayama spots Katsura there, where she shouldn’t be and suspects that she’s in league with the aliens. The aliens, on the other hand, want to see Titanosaurus fight the real Godzilla. The two monsters will fight and use all their strength on each other, and nothing will be able to stop their attack on Tokyo with Mechagodzilla.
Godzilla shows up very quickly to defend Tokyo, and the two dinosaur-like creatures do what they do best: fight. Katsura gets caught by soldiers and is shot, which makes her father call off the attack for now. Except we see that she’s a robot and simply in need of repair. It turns out, she personally is the Titanosaurus control device, and she’s being upgraded to control Mechagodzilla as well.
Akira is taken prisoner and meets all the bad guys. Katsura activates Mechgodzilla, and he rises up out of the lair. The Interpol agents are right outside, and they sneak in just before the place self-destructs.
In Tokyo, Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus both attack the city in an orgy of destruction (their words, not mine). Godzilla shows up just in time to save some kids, and the tag-team battle is on! The pair gang up on Godzilla, shoot him repeatedly, and then bury him.
The Interpol scientists fly in a helicopter with an ultrasonic device that distracts Titanosaurus, just as Godzilla rises up to blast Mechagodzilla.
Meanwhile, the alien’s base is under attack, and Akira has slipped his bonds. He kills Tsuda and pulls off his artificial face. Katsura pulls a pistol on Akira, but the Interpol agent shoots her first, much to Akira’s disappointment. Her father dies, and she begs Akira to destroy her, which will deactivate the creatures outside. She ends up shooting herself.
Outside, Godzilla rips off Mechafgodzilla’s head once again, but this time, it’s just a mask and there’s another head inside. Godzilla tears up what’s left of Mechagodzilla.
The alien leader escapes in his flying saucer, but Godzilla shoots it down. Godzilla kills Titanosaurus and then wades back out into the ocean.
Brian’s Commentary
This is the final movie of what’s called the “Showa Era,” and there wouldn’t be any more Godzilla movies for nearly a decade.
This one took a little too long to get to the guys in rubber suits. It’s almost an hour before Tokyo gets attacked, and what we see before that is very brief. Still, it’s a direct continuation of the previous film, and it’s a decent wrap-up of the “Black Hole Planet Three” plotline.
Kevin’s Commentary
I thought the pacing was a bit off in this one. There was a long stretch of people doing stuff, but it seemed a little clunky this time around. Then it gets to some creature battles of course. The alien helmets were especially impressive. It was okay, I thought, not my favorite and not a strong finish to the era.