User Reviews

I thought the movie was pretty decent, but from what I hear true Godzilla fans think it was his worst film, not true. The worst is the inane "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah". Space Godzilla looks VERY impressive, kinda like Godzilla with crystals grown into it's skin. One thing about Godzilla fans, they drum to a beat all their own. I mean, they are so critical about the human casting and character progression, viability of the story as well as other things. Uh, HELLO............it's a Monster movie so rational thinking goes out the window because of it's very premise! Who cares about the characters? In these types of flicks the Monsters and special effects are what drive the movie, and the special effects are generally pretty good. (Except for the initial scene of Space Godzilla heading to earth, surrounded by the fakest-looking asteriods this side of earth) Oh, and the "Robot" looks silly also. Anyway, Space Godzilla is no joke as he commences to kicking BOTH Godzilla's *ss as well as the Robot's posterior. This movie won't win an Oscar, but it's a solid addition to the series.

I was nine-years-old when "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla" was released to Japanese theaters in December of 1994. I even vaguely remember seeing a special on my local TV news station about this film's impending release - and thus me being me, a life-long devoted fan of Godzilla, I knew right away that I wanted to see it. Unfortunately, this would not happen for another five years, not until "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla" was finally released stateside on VHS (remember those?), along with several other Heisei-Era "Godzilla" films finally seeing their debut in the United States.

But I have to admit, I was let down by this film upon first seeing it in 1999. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Watching "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla" today for the first time since then, I now think I know why.

The first Heisei-Era "Godzilla" film was "Godzilla 1985"/"The Return of Godzilla" (1984), which saw the return of mutant fire-breathing dinosaur Godzilla after a nine-year hiatus following his last appearance in the Showa-Era classic "Terror of Mechagodzilla" (1975). In that last film and throughout the later half of the Showa Era, Godzilla was a superhero. "Godzilla 1985"/"The Return of Godzilla" saw Godzilla returned to his roots as a rampaging menace and later on in the Heisei Era, something more closely resembling an anti-hero. "Godzilla 1985"/"The Return of "Godzilla" got the Heisei Era off on the right foot, and it was followed up five years later by the vastly superior - and Heisei-Era high point, and my personal favorite "Godzilla" film after "Gojira" (1954) - "Godzilla vs. Biollante" (1989).

But despite earning largely good reviews and having received a special cult status with most hardcore Godzilla fans, "Godzilla vs. Biollante" was a box office disappoint for Toho - which has produced every single "Godzilla" film made in Japan from 1954 until now, in 2019 - who blamed its poor box office performance on a darker, more adult tone and a lack of familiar monsters. They thought they would remedy that with the horrendous "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" (1991), by re-introducing one of Godzilla's oldest foes (the three-headed fire-breathing dragon King Ghidorah), and having a lighter tone. After "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah," this trend would continue for the next four films in the Heisei Era - seemingly reaching its "family-friendly" high point with "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II" (1993), and this film.

But "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla" does have some things working in its favor to distinguish it from its predecessors, though not by much. It does have a very strong emphasis on character development and humor, its female characters play significant parts in the film's events and there's even some chaste romance in there, too.

But it does not make a picture that is really all that compelling in the end - especially since one would expect that the injection of fresh new talent both behind and in front of the camera would make the proceedings here a markedly different experience from past Heisei-Era entries that were causing the series to falter tremendously after such promising beginnings.

To begin things, Godzilla and his adorable - ADORABLE! - adopted son Little Godzilla (first seen in the previous "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II") have retreated to their peaceful home on Birth Island. But the Japanese government, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and the United Nations are already implementing plans to defeat Godzilla once and for all, but the two plans are fundamentally at odds with one another.

The first plan, the "T" (Telepathy) Plan, led by Dr. Chinatusu Gondo (Towako Yoshikawa) wants to control Godzilla, by planting a device at the base of his skull that would allow him to receive telepathic commands from the young psychic Miki Saegusa (Heisei series regular Megumi Odaka, finally given her first starring role and is able to effectively carry the film on her own). The other plan, the "M" Plan, has involved the construction of a second gigantic fighting "mech" to kill Godzilla, "M. O. G. U. E. R. A.," a massive, heavily armored, heavily armed successor to Mechagodzilla (and functions in ways that are similar to the Zords from the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" TV series); as an aside, this film marks the first time that Moguera has appeared on-screen since its debut in Toho's "The Mysterians" (1957).

But Miki Saegusa has an alarming vision: she is warned by the Cosmos (Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa), the miniature twin fairies last seen in "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth" (1992), that a horrific new monster is on its way to Earth from deep in outer space, and it's up to her to try to stop it. But it won't be easy because of her dual involvement with the competing "T" and "M" Plans. This new monster is later revealed to be the Spacegodzilla of the title, a hideous beast created by Godzilla's cells being carried off into space by either Biollante or Mothra (both of whom appear here via stock footage from previous films), falling through a black hole, and finally emerging from a white hole as a highly evolved and psychically-charged mutant version of Godzilla that is able to draw energy directly from outer space - giving it almost unlimited supernatural powers and abilities.

So, Chinatsu and Miki are forced to team up with two young JSDF officers - Lt. Shinjo (Jun Hashizume) and Lt. Kiyo (Zenkichi Yoneyama) - as well as the disgruntled Major Yuki (Akira Emoto), who has a personal grudge against Godzilla that's become a major obsession for him (think, like Captain Ahab from "Moby Dick"); his best friend, Colonel Gondo (Toru Minegishi, from "Godzilla vs. Biollante"), was killed by Godzilla in 1989 and - SURPRISE! - Chinatsu also happens to be Gondo's sister. Yuki's willingness to endanger his comrades on his personal vendetta makes up the core of much of the film's emotional drama - along with some of the touchy-feeling romantic stuff, too, that develops between Miki and Shinjo.

Like all the films made during the Heisei Era (1984-1995), it does have some astonishing special effects by the late Koichi Kawakita, who first began working on the series with "Godzilla vs. Biollante." But as the series went on, I couldn't help but notice a stark shift in the quality of the special effects; I'm reminded of the dedication and effort put into "Godzilla vs. Biollante," but everything else afterward in the series was something of a mixed bag. For example, I couldn't help but notice the obvious use of wires in some of the scenes where Spacegodzilla is psychically levitating either Godzilla or Little Godzilla - which seems odd given the extensive use of mattes, miniatures, forced-perspective photography and of course, the less-obvious use of wires in "Godzilla 1985"/"The Return of Godzilla" and "Godzilla vs. Biollante." The use of special effects in those films was much more convincing for some reason - so what gives, Toho?

Aside from that, there is also the noticeable shift in tone to a more "family-friendly" enterprise, which was done at the insistence of long-time series producer Tomoyuki Tanaka (who sadly passed away in 1997 and produced every single "Godzilla" film made in Japan from 1954 to 1995), and "Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla" director Kensho Yamashita. While it may have made the films more commercially successful for Toho, it also compromised the integrity of the films, as well - since it is worth noting that Kensho Yamashita had a background in directing music videos for Japanese teen idols and even more alarmingly, long-time Godzilla suit-mation performer Kenpachiro Satsuma went on the record to state that a highly emotional (and heart-breaking) scene involving Godzilla furiously trying to free Little Godzilla from the crystal prison constructed by Spacegodzilla was cut from the final version of the movie because of its "seriousness," much to his and our disappointment.

On the plus side, the performances are pretty good, for the most part. Megumi Odaka really grows in this picture, showing the audience how much her character has matured since her first appearance as a 17-year-old in "Godzilla vs. Biollante." (The cinematography by Masahiro Kishimoto does give way to one beautifully shot sequence of Odaka on the beach watching the sun set over the horizon, and then having a short conversation with co-star Jun Hashizume.) The other really great performance belongs to Akira Emoto as Yuki, whose personal obsession with killing Godzilla is both understandable and lamentable, as it has alienated him from most of his comrades and made him particularly despised by his superiors. But still, one cannot help but like him because he gives one of the strongest performances of any actor in the entire series.

"Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla" was a commercial success in Japan, but received mixed reviews; it isn't hard to see why it got a mixed reception but performed well at the box office. But I'm glad that the Heisei Era really redeemed itself with the next film after this one, which was the final entry in the series, the epic closer "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah" (1995).

6/10.

This film marks Godzilla's 40th anniversary. So Toho decided to make it special by making a space version of him. The film effects are good ( until the seen when MOGUERA fights Spacegodzilla in outer space ). This film in my opinion is the one of the worst in the Hiesie series. The plot, G-force builds a new robot after Mechagodzilla failed to kill Godzilla. Then in trying to kill him they try to bring him under control using telekinesis. Then G-cells that were taken into space by Biollante and Mothra travel through a black hole and out a white hole creating Spacegodzilla. MOGUERA is sent up to stop Spacegodzilla in the worst fight of all time. The film continues in the same direction, only unlike all the others this film has no twists are surprises. In the end Godzilla gets enraged and fires his heat ray and blows up Spacegodzilla and MOGUERA and then returns to his island.

This is one of the best of the Heisei movies. Unfortunately thats not saying a lot, but this one really is worth every minute. The 'suitmation' is excellent; from the city rampages to the landscape fights on infant island. The models are well made and the destruction is complete. Godzilla is cool as always, Moguera is OK. I'm personally a bit tired of giant robots, and mecha versions of monsters, but on the other hand it's nice to see the humans playing along with the big boys ;) Spacegodzilla on the other hand is a bit of a let down. hard to imagine when he's basically a Godzilla clone huh? But those two crystals on its shoulders looks like two enormous pimples. How about giving it a crystal ridge down its back to resemble Godzilla's fins?!? Now that would have been cool. He's a worthy opponent none the less.

And now for the cheese. There's plenty of bad acting and crazy characters in this one, ridiculous one-liners and if you have the dubbed version, that just add to the fun. Also plot holes are a plenty. Like the explanation on Spacegodzilla's birth. G-cells released by Biollante when it dissolved and went into space and floated around and went through a black hole. If the cells could float around in space and reach a black hole within 4 years, the earth would be in a whole lot more danger than what the intergalactic Godzilla wannabe presented.

A worthy installment in the Godzilla saga.

The Heisei series is kind of frustrating. It started off so well with 1985's Return of Godzilla and 1989's Godzilla vs Biollante, but then got steadily worse until spiking up again with Godzilla vs Destroyah. This is one of those movies I'd pass up if you haven't seen a few of Godzilla's better movies first. Surprisingly for a G flick, not even the music is a redeeming quality.

The first problem is the stinkin' pacing of the movie. It's has huge gaping pieces of the film that are dull and make you want to just fast forward to get into some action because nothing of any remote importance is happening and the characters are boring. Then you get to the action and you're totally underwhelmed. The action basically boils down to three scenes. In the beginning Moguera (Japan's semi-replacement for Mechagodzilla, which was destroyed the year before by the Big G) briefly tangles with Spacegodzilla in space ... which looks unquestionably like a black background with giant brown foam balls meant to look like rocks floating in space. It's simply awful, even compared to some of what we've seen in the Showa series. You know it's bad if hardcore Godzilla nerds like me are poking fun at it. The second is a battle between Spacegodzilla and Godzilla himself. The battle is quite brief and nothing happens aside from the two engaging in a beam spam war for a few blasts before SG decides to leave, having taken Little Godzilla hostage. The third battle is the long one with Godzilla and Moguera teaming up against SG. It's an improvement, but it's still mostly just a beam spam fest.

The monsters themselves are a mixed bag. Little Godzilla looks rather cute, which wasn't the theme they were going for with him in the prior film nor the succeeding film. Godzilla looks fine, other than perhaps being too chunky; in fact, the suit is so big and bulky that this is the reason that many of the Heisei series monsters relied mostly on their beams, as physical combat was too challenging to do much. Spacegodzilla is a split for me. He looks good other than for the crystal spines, which are just goofy, not that the giant shoulder crystals or the whole crystal aspect to him are much better. Moguera looks lame. He didn't look good in his first appearance (The Mysterians, 1957) and he doesn't look good in this second appearance.

In the end, I'm forced to give this one a low score. It has virtually no redeeming qualities and almost all of the bad ones for which Godzilla naysayers can lay claim. The theories of SG's origins with Biollante and Mothra are actually interesting, but then they fail to follow through with it at all. Just disappointing. Watch this one once (even for free on Crackle!) just to say you've seen it, but don't expect all too much.

As a final note, in the plot hole for this movie, it is said that the events of previous movies could not have happened due to the time travel plot of 1991's Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. This is actually not the case, and if you care enough you can read why below. Just connect all of the below link.

http:// www.scifijapan.com /articles/2007/08/16/ godzilla-vs-king-ghidorah -time-travel- and-the- origins-of- godzilla/

this is a decent movie. it doesn't sport the obvious & somewhat pathetic shortcomings of previous monster movies ( EG the Guargantuas & the smog monster ones ). As i say, these are not the movies for you if you seek tremendous FX resources and-or terrific acting: go watch star wars VI or a Shakespeare play. However this movie is definitely 90-ish. The plot is quite straight: on Godzilla island there is some warped soldier reminding of those Japanese soldiers left behind on some tropical island, who never learnt the war had ended; this freak wants to kill godzilla with some blood clotting medicine ( Blade the vampire vs deacon frost, anyone? ), land mines etc. Two military nerds meet the warped man on the island; stay behind with the psychic girl, then rescue her from the mafia...as soon as they enter the main door, they are requested to pilot Mogera...when did they actually learn it? On the island all they did was to dig sand!

Some scientists wants to control godzilla remotely via an head implant. The first experiment looks like a success, then three minutes later everybody says it's a failure & goodbye. There is little godzilla, whom i liked much more than the other one looking like Mickey Rooney. Then a silly John Woo subplot about the psychic girl being kidnapped by the mafia...bangbangbangbang! The score is a distinct plagiarism of major Hollywood hits, such as Robocop (Poledouris), Bond Movies (John Barry etc ;you only live twice etc), James Horner (Star Trek) OSTs etc.

There is Mogera [ exhumed from "the mysterians ], a robot able to convert into an airplane and a tank...it looks very static, like those $19,99 kid toys from the 80's...it got legs & arms but cannot walk & barely lifts the forearms 90 degrees to shoot drill missiles. A real loser even compared to the pretty active 1974 mechagodzilla. The fact 20 years later they couldn't come up with anything better makes you wonder.

Overall a decent monster movie with the usual clichés of the monster franchise: cartonbox cities being stepped upon by men in suit; monsters heading south, then suddenly eastwards, etc; lots of grave looking senior Japanese in uniform; lots of decently crafted sets with plenty of blinking colorful lights & buttons.

I'll cut right to the chase I don't like space Godzilla considering the monster of a monster movie is rather important it's a rather big blow against it. I kind of like the way he looks kind of like if Godzilla had a mega evolution. But he's also one of the least original monsters in the series, Godzilla from spaaaaccccee. His name is a bit too stupid to take seriously and this is coming from someone who watched the entire showa era. His backstory is just so dumb, it's and I paraphrase, "either Mothra or Biolante, left a G-cell in space, which fell into a black hole came out a white hole, landed on alien crystalline life forms and then grew hyper fast by absorbing the power of exploding stars." What the sig hell? Again I watched the showa movies so don't say well it's a "Godzilla movie what were you expecting?" I can deal with silly it's when you say something like that and then expect me to take you seriously. It's kind of a problem with Heisei era in general Showa had the good sense too leave their monsters origins vague most of the time well Heisei felt the need to explain things with bizarre pseudo science. The other major problem with space Godzilla is how little is done with the concept he is a mixture of Godzilla, his brother so to speak and the fist and only alien life forms of the Heisei era. Nothing is done with either, he's neither a reflection or foil to Godzilla and nothing is done with their connection. In the final battle between the Godzilla's more focus is put on freaking Mogera, then them. He could easily be a totally different monster perhaps named Crystilax, and nothing would change, hell he could be freaking Gigan working for a group of crystalline life forms and nothing would change, which raises the question of why even make him an evil(or maybe eviler), Godzilla? His motives are also vague which is usually fine as monsters can usually be assumed to be territorial and vicious but he seems specifically spiteful and malicious and I have basically no idea why he's any more malicous then Godzilla. I guess alien equals evil. Then you have the throw away line about how he's a sign of the evils of polluting space even though humans had next to nothing to do with his creation and it was a total fluke.

Okay enough ranting about space Godzilla the truth is everything else is pretty good, well okay the human characters Yuki a crazy yet strangely likable G-force member obsessed with killing Godzilla by shooting him in the armpit, naturally he's fun to watch, and Miki is good I guess even if she went straight from being willing to kill Godzilla albeit reluctantly to being pissed at everyone who wants to do the same, she's also sort of on board with turning him into a puppet in this movie which is kind of worse, so I'm not really sure what moral high horse she thinks she's riding on. Theirs's definitely a push to make Godzilla more sympathetic but he's killed so many freaking people at this point, and even destroys a few building for the crime of being inconviant for him to walk around in this movie so it doesn't really land for me. There's a plot about Yakuza trying to control Godzilla that goes freaking no were. Mogera the next era of anti Kaiju mecha is pretty cool however. All in all it's not a terrible movie but it's not up to the standards of the other Heisei films,