Mothra is back, in a movie once again written by Kazuki Ōmori but this time directed by one Takao Okawara. The main man Kenpachiro Satsuma remains the animalistic version of Godzilla, with Mothra being played by a puppet (as always!). This movie's direction was much more family-friendly and fantastical than the earlier days of the Heisei era, but in line with the approach the previous film, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, took. There's not a whole lot to explain about this movie except to emphasize that Mothra is awesome and movies with Mothra in them tend to be pretty good, so let's get to it.
If You Haven't Seen it Before
- A trio of explorer's find a giant egg, belonging to Mothra. The Mothra Twins, in this movie called the Cosmos, explain that Mothra has an ancient enemy named Battra.
- Battra was created by the Earth itself to take down an ancient civilization that tried to control the climate, but eventually lost control of itself and aimed to destroy all humanity before being stopped by Mothra.
- The discovery of the egg appears to wake Battra, who goes on a frenzy while the Mothra egg is transported to the mainland for protection (until Mothra can hatch).
- Godzilla also awakens, attacking the ship on which the Mothra egg is being transported. The egg hatches just in time to avoid total disaster. Battra also appears here, lured by either Mothra or Godzilla.
- Larval Mothra, Godzilla, and larval Battra all fight in a 3-for-all. Battra and Godzilla take the fight to the bottom of the ocean while Mothra escapes to fight another day.
- Battra and Godzilla are swallowed by the earth when they cause a fissure in a tectonic plate and fall inside.
- The Cosmos being kidnapped (predictable, like the 3rd time this has happened), they sing Mothra's song and summon her. Mothra begins to return to Japan to retrieve her priestesses.
- Mothra destroys some of Japan as she searches for the Cosmos, until they manage to eventually call her off once they are freed. Hilariously, she destroys as much leaving as she did coming in.
- Mothra is attacked by the JSDF as she attempts to return home to Infant Island, eventually being weakened by the barrage of bullets and missiles. She wraps herself in an impenetrable cocoon attached to the Japanese Diet Building.
- Godzilla is back, baybee!
- Mothra emerges from her cocoon as Godzilla wrecks everything. She heads to confront Godzilla when a fully formed Battra emerges from the sea as well. Looks like another 3-for-all is beginning, but this time the two moth kaiju are in their final and most powerful forms.
- Battra manages to take down Mothra as Godzilla approaches them. Not able to finish her off due to Godzilla's intervention, Battra is then knocked down and injured by Godzilla's Atomic Breath. Before Battra can be finished off, Mothra recovers and interrupts Godzilla.
- Mothra flies over to Battra and they appear to communicate while the Cosmos sing. Godzilla rallies and attacks again, defeating Mothra and nearly crushing her with a ferris wheel.
- Despite being enemies just minutes before, Battra saves Mothra. He distracts Godzilla long enough for Mothra to launch a counter-offensive. She's eventually joined by Battra and they tag team the G-man.
- Godzilla is utterly defeated by the two working together. When he rallies and tries to win this fight, both moths drag him to the sea and Battra sinks with him, critically wounded already.
- Mothra uses some sort of Mothra magic on the area before heading home with her Cosmos.
- Before leaving, the Cosmos warn that Battra was supposed to wake up in 1999 to save the planet from an approaching meteor. Mothra has now inherited this mission, having spoken with Battra about it before his death.
Kaiju Notes
- Mothra seems to look better every time she's in one of these movies. Larval form was not as juicy this time, which is my preference, because gooey Mothra is upsetting to me.
- Battra is actually a better designed larva than Mothra. She's... boring, but larval Battra is kind of badass. Combined with his horn, it makes larval Battra almost seem like he could be a final form.
- Imago Battra is a very cool interpretation of him as a a dark reflection of Imago Mothra. Where she looks cute and heroic he appears edgy and evil, which makes sense given their background as ancient enemies and Battra's specific origin as a manifestation of the planet's rage.
- The kaiju powers in this movie are relatively common: Battra having purple beams of energy as opposed to Mothra's gold and Godzilla's blue. As is often the case with flying kaiju, the flying makes the most significant difference.
The environmental message of this movie is clear. It's not quite as beaten over the head as it was in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, but the monster that is Battra is just "the rage of the Earth itself" that has lashed out to destroy all humans in order to prevent us from destroying the Earth first. This is not subtle. That said, it plays into the various kaiju as metaphors rather than outright villains or heroes. Ghidorah, excellent as he is, is a bit dull because he's always just the strongest minion of some other group with no real thought needing to be given as to why he exists. Battra, Mothra, and to a lesser extent in the Heisei era Godzilla, are all creatures that exist for a purpose even if that purpose proves detrimental to humanity. Mothra is a great example: a protector of humanity and humankind but absolutely willing to turn her awesome power against us should we violate her principles or desires. Unlike Godzilla she does not willingly destroy a city, but she's absolutely willing to cut a straight path through buildings to get to her Shobijin and then leave the same way. It allows kaiju to all be representative of different things and give them individual wills without having to insert some human character to explain it to us, which is the worst trope in the genre.
While it's unclear if this has happened in the past "canon" of the series now, I am tired of seeing human kidnap the Shobijin/Cosmos and think everything is going to be okay. On at least 3 separate occasions now we have seen human character trying to profit off of the Shobijin and it always ends disastrously for them. Even if we assume the new timeline has made this the first appearance of Mothra, the writers have to come up with a new trope. Somehow kidnapping them with the intention of getting a particular city destroyed is one random idea, and would at least create some new dynamic to play with rather than the greedy businessman we're always stuck with when Mothra is in one of these movies. Businessmen are evil, I agree, but this is fiction and sometimes we gotta mix it up. It's why Spider-Man has villains that aren't The Shocker, despite The Shocker being the best one.
Of note: Mothra and Battra become allies only after they appear to agree to save the planet from the approaching meteor and realizing that they won't survive against Godzilla if they don't work together. The three monsters initially fighting each other only weakens them all, and since Mothra and Battra share a purpose in protecting the planet they appear to make a shaky alliance to do that, knowing it will probably kill one of them. It's more characterization than most kaiju get, and I am into it. On the other side of things, the human story here is almost entirely forgettable, and I don't mind at all. While I can appreciate a good human side of a kaiju movie, I have said many times now that a kaiju movie should be about the monsters and this one manages that very nicely. The human story never seemed to last too long or be obtrusive, really just giving some additional context or stakes while allowing the monsters to do the real work.
The Heisei era is honestly pretty good so far. It doesn't seem to be the most popular series in Godzilla's timeline so I wasn't sure that it was going to be any good, but there have been no stinkers yet. Some are better than others, of course, and some (vs. Biollante) don't live up to their own potential even if still being really good, but there have been none of the era so far that have been unenjoyable or not worth seeing. Godzilla vs. Mothra is no different, managing to add enough new elements to make it a worthy successor to the original Mothra vs. Godzilla. Battra is a very cool monster with an interesting backstory, and Mothra remains the Queen of the Monsters.
No comments:
Post a Comment