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Post by Xenorama ™ on Oct 5, 2008 11:37:25 GMT -8
Katsuhiko Sasaki ... Biologist Akira Ichinose
Tomoko Ai ... Katsura Mafune
Akihiko Hirata ... Dr. Shinzô Mafune
Katsumasa Uchida ... Interpol Agent Jiro Murakoshi
Goro Mutsumi ... Alien Leader Mugal
Tadao Nakamaru ... Interpol Chief Tagawa
Shin Roppongi ... Yûichi Wakayama
Tomoe Mari ... Yuri Yamamoto
Toru Ibuki ... Tsuda (bearded alien)
Kenji Sahara ... Army Commander Segawa
Kotaro Tomita ... Professor Ôta
Ikio Sawamura ... Mafune's Silent Butler
Masaaki Daimon ... Submarine Captain Kusakari
Toshio Kirishima ... Alien Henchman #2
Kazuo Suzuki ... Alien Henchman #1
Masayoshi Kikuchi ... Alien Henchman #3
Takuya Yuki ... Alien Henchman #4
Jun Nishihara ... Alien Henchman #5
Akinori Umezu ... Boy # 1
Toru Kawai ... Godzilla
Ise Mori ... MechaGodzilla 2
Katsumi Nimiamoto ... Titanosaurus
this is it, the last of the great Godzilla movies. i saw it first on tv, complete with extra prologue. years later, when i saw the movie in the theater (the TERROR OF GODZILLA print) the guy who showed it was playing that prologue and it looked like a whole new and weird Godzilla movie.
amazingly enough, without that, Godzilla doesn't appear for almost an HOUR into the movie. i used to like this one more than the previous one, but that has reversed. still, pretty good.
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Post by Gwangi on Oct 7, 2008 12:28:57 GMT -8
Yes, I also saw this one for the very first time on T.V. back in 1980 (T.V. Guide had a great picture of Mechagodzilla in the advertisment, and I was stoked! I never saw a robot that looked like Godzilla before!). And it also featured the prologue, and in hearing the recent commentary, I could understand why it was inserted, because as you said David, Godzilla did not appear until an hour later!
This is the Mechagodzilla movie that I saw first and I always thought it was the better of the two. But David, just like you, I now prefer the first movie. It's just more lively, and looking at it now, I wish we could have seen Akikiko Hirata in a better role in what would become his final Godzilla movie.
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Post by Torgaman on Oct 7, 2008 13:14:08 GMT -8
Has the distinction of being the only classic G film not mentioned in Ian Thorne's book. Just thought I put that out there.
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hastur
Jungle Patrol
Posts: 42
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Post by hastur on Oct 10, 2008 9:31:37 GMT -8
The end of the Mighty Showa era Godzilla films ....
And a muddled, bizarre effort. Usually viewed once a year in the Dead of Winter after school here in Chicago (Where it's already Night Time at 4:00 PM) That negative connotation and memory will always be connected to it unfortunately. But also working aginst this movie in my opinion is it's dreary storyline, the fact that it's a sequel to a great film that just turned out "o.k" , some weird performances, Hirata going balls out KFC in his Col. Sanders costume, and an all around feeling that this was the bitter end back then for Godzilla even when I was a twerp and just assumed that there would be more Godzilla movies coming. I don't know .... This movie always got me down. It really is NO FUN compared to earlier films and that kinda lead me to rank it dead last so long ago. To this day I avoid it more often than not when I reach for a Godzilla movie to watch. Godzilla seemed so tired, along with the whole cast who turned in a Ho-hum acting job, while Honda's directing seemed Forced. Am I the only one who get's a bad vibe from this one??
Danny T.
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Post by RedKing on Oct 10, 2008 21:47:01 GMT -8
I'm with hastur on this one. It is my least favorite Showa Godzilla and I think, the most over rated Godzilla film. The plot is rather thin and full of dull or hammy characters (Akihiko Hirata especially-sheesh! What an over the top performance from such a usually understated actor!) ,Katsura being the only interesting character, and while Tomoko Ai was certainly very hot (fake plastic boobies and all!) she was definitely not a very good actress. Ichinose is such a stupid clod I wish Godzilla stepped on him! The bad english dub only makes it worse. And as mentioned, it takes nearly AN HOUR before Godzilla shows up with almost no monster scenes at all before that!! That's not that bad if the movie has an interesting plot and/or good actors (look at SEA MONSTER for instance), but this snoozer fails on both counts there!! The FX are also a big let down with Godzilla looking tired and shabby(this suit now having been used in 2 previous films and the ZONE FIGHTER TV show), MG looks like a dumpy rubber suit here rather than the graceful gleamimg titanium titan he was in the last movie and Titanosaurus is really not very memorable. Worst of all, the monster scenes are dull-when MG and Titanosaurus attack Tokyo, they march stiffly in unison and really do very little -I know they are supposed to be under alien control, but no monsters previously so controlled in Toho movies acted this dopey. The fights are full of dumb things like Godzilla being punched in the chin while Titano bites his upper lip and this cause the BACK END of Godzilla to rise in the air!! Even Ifukube delivers a mediocre score, the only really compelling pieces being his heroic reworking of the 1954 Godzilla March as G's theme and his stately MG theme. The rest of the music is maudlin sounding. One good thing about the Heisei films is they gave Ifukube the chance to deliver a few final Godzilla scores that are a much better ending to his career than this score. All in all a very boring, dull and inglorius end to the first era of Godzilla's career!
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Oct 11, 2008 9:41:50 GMT -8
i gotta say the finale, Godzilla wading out into the ocean with the music playing behind him works really well, if not as a closer to the movie, but as a good bye to this first series. it's very touching.
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hastur
Jungle Patrol
Posts: 42
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Post by hastur on Oct 13, 2008 5:06:16 GMT -8
Yes I agree that the end scene is touching. .....
And depressing. A good shot like that is something to always remember for sure, but then when I think of things like the scene of Titanosaurus bouncing up and down holding his arms behind his back it makes me sad so I get a different one out of the vault to view and Godzilla fandom is all shiny and happy again!!!
I don't hate this movie. But there's lots of negatives to it.
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Post by Torgaman on Oct 13, 2008 9:01:13 GMT -8
The movie needed to have done a better job dispersing thefight scenes throughout the movie as opposed to having one long fight at the end. Most of the film is a cinematic sleeping pill.
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Post by RedKing on Oct 14, 2008 19:50:29 GMT -8
That ending scene was great, and Godzilla's initial appearance is also with the light slowly revealing him and Ifukube's heroic Godzilla march swelling. Unfortunately, as Raul said, most of the rest is a cinematic sleeping pill!
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Jan 9, 2010 12:48:18 GMT -8
this is one I want to like more than I do. plenty of good stuff here, but this was the wrong way to present it for the intended audience.Attachments:
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