A technologically advanced undersea civilization (but not advanced enough to make their own robots apparently) called Seatopia has lived in peace with the above world for over three million years. After a new series of nuclear weapon tests near the Aleutian Islands however, they have decided to wage war with the above world, and send their ‘God’ Megalon to get some payback!
Released in 1973 and directed by Jun Fukuda; Godzilla vs. Megalon the 13th film in the Godzilla series, and the third film out of five Godzilla films made in the 1970’s. The film features Katsuhiko Sasaki as an inventor who builds a robot called Jet Jaguar, which is hijacked by the Seatopians to guide Megalon around Japan, but also in turn call for help from Godzilla when he (Jet Jaguar) becomes un-hijacked. The film also features Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Kôtarô Tomita, Robert Dunham, and Gigan in supporting roles.
This time around we find ourselves smack bang in the middle (OK 1973 is not in the middle, but it’s the middle produced film out of five films) of the 1970’s; which means it’s time for the defining trait of the 1970 produced Godzilla films – Stock Footage! Godzilla vs. Megalon actually has a lot of problems other than it’s use of stock footage, but when compared to the four productions either side of it, this film’s use of stock footage is practically criminal!
Compared to the other productions, Godzilla vs. Megalon actually uses stock footage from less films than it’s predecessor; Godzilla vs. Gigan. Megalon uses footage from nine films, to Gigan’s use of twelve. However, Gigan’s use of stock footage uses them far more sparingly. It uses them either to refer to previous events, or just fill in scenes of tanks driving around, and people evacuating homes. And yes it does use some fight scenes from earlier films rather than shoot new footage, but again uses them sparingly enough so that they can almost be ignored entirely.
Godzilla vs. Megalon meanwhile goes the whole hog, and works hard not to hide it! People running away, and military vehicles moving around is all well and good, but then it shoves in the most ridiculous points possible. Firstly it rams in stock footage from it’s own self just to show Megalon rapidly firing bombs, rather than filming a more fluid attack sequence (as well as several shots in a row of Godzilla picking Jet Jaguar out of a pit, and both monsters backing up to each other when encircled by fire). It then uses footage from Godzilla vs. Gigan to show Gigan falling onto an office building that is oddly placed in the middle of what looks like the countryside. But worst of all; the plane attack sequence. Megalon is under attack from some jet fighters, but the scene awkwardly cuts to footage of Gigan’s own hook based claws attacking the planes. Now there is nothing wrong with this, other than it takes place several minutes before Gigan even shows up. His name is mentioned, but he’s not on his way yet. And yet somehow Megalon’s drill hands have been suddenly switched to Gigan’s hooks, and then switched back to drills…curious?!
Godzilla vs. Megalon is a poor entry in the series, but amazingly, not ‘the worst’. It does have it’s moments, few in number, but again some good points, and they mostly happen towards the midway point. The best way to describe this film, is, well; like this. Comedian Don McMillan did a stand-up show highlighting the things people most commonly do when hosting a PowerPoint presentation, and one of the points he makes is: “The number of PowerPoint slides you have in your talk, the less useful your talk actually is”. That’s what this film is like. It starts off rather poor with a lack of information regarding a second series of nuclear tests, but says nothing of the first, before then going into that scene with the ridiculous fish boat.
But once we get to the kidnapping, and when a Monster finally shows up, it starts working, and becomes rather OK, with the scene at the dam being the film’s peak of interest (and possibly the first scene in the series where a Monster has gone to the toilet, given how the water rises behind the dam, with Megalon just standing there). But from this point forward, we get this slow uninteresting piece, lashed together with nothing but stock footage, and the wrong soundtrack. The fight is overly long, and rather boring, and ends with the Seatopians taking their ball and going home, like a bad loser! The longer the film goes on, the harder it becomes to watch, and you just wish it would just end!
It probably doesn’t help that Megalon doesn’t come across as strong. The 1957 Monster Movie The Giant Claw frequently referred to it’s monster as being like a ‘flying battleship‘. Well, from looks and abilities alone, you could say the same thing about Megalon. He is for all intents and purposes a giant monster that can fly. His Beetle/Wasp design is actually rather cool and menacing, and he comes with an array of offensive weaponry, from his horn which can fire electrical bolts, to having drills for hands, and the ability to fire bombs from his mouth. He is from looks alone, pretty powerful.
In combat though it’s a different story. He seems to lack intelligence, as he needs a small robot to guide him around, and when it’s not, he’s just pointlessly slapping the ground. He’s also rather cowardly, as at one point, he hides behind a bush from the attacking military, and when it comes to the final fight he leaves most of the heavy lifting to Gigan, before then running away. It’s a shame really, because from looks alone he looks imposing, but in reality, he’s just tragically weak!
It probably doesn’t help either that the film has the wrong soundtrack. Composed by Riichirô Manabe, the soundtrack is made up of rather light variations on the classic themes from the series thus far. Some of the earlier jazz like pieces actually feel cool and welcoming compared to the film’s later pieces. Godzilla’s arrival looks near epic, but the soundtrack just feels off, awkward, and very silly. And these themes continue throughout the rest of the film, and you just want something a bit crispier, or darker, especially given the mood lighting. It just feels like it’s a soundtrack written for an entirely different film, or more a TV series. The music used for the military vehicles deployment was pretty cool though.
Godzilla vs. Megalon is a weak film, and a hard one to watch. Seriously; I struggled re-watching it for this post: because I knew from experience what was coming. It has a silly soundtrack, it over does the exercise of stock footage placement, the fight sequence is a bit too long, and it features some very ridiculous scenes. But much like I said before it does have it’s moments. Once you get past the bad setup, something resembling a film starts to come out to play, and we get treated to an OK human story, leading up to a pretty cool monster reveal, and terrific scene involving the destruction of a dam. Yes, it is one of the worst films in the series, but to it’s credit, it tries hard to not be the absolute worst!
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