Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

Today we're talking about the only film in Godzilla's Millennium series that is a sequel to another from the same series. While every Millennium series movie takes the original Gojira as a past event, none of them besides Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.has acknowledged any other film since 1999. Better still, this one also includes an acknowledgement of 1961's Mothra. So, if you haven't seen Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (or read the awesome blog post) you'll want to bone up before getting into this one.

On technical notes things are pretty much exactly the same as last time, Masaaki Tezuka directs, Tsutomu Kitagawa is Godzilla, and Kiryu returns. This time, however, Kiryu is played by Motokuni Nakagawa. There's not much stunning background info for this one except the fact that the director was presented with four screenplays to work with and found them all too "boring." So, he wrote the plot (screenplay?) for this one overnight and that is the movie we've got on our hands! It's an impressive feat, but the most important question is whether it pays off. So let's get to talking about Tokyo SOS.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In the opening, the Japanese Xenomorph Self-Defense Forces (JXSDF) combats Mothra despite Mothra clearly focusing on simply getting away.

- Kiryu (MechaGodzilla) is still under repair from the events of the last movie.

- Mothra's representatives, the Shobijin, appear to MechaGodzilla scientist/engineer Yoshi and tell him that they must return the bones of the original Godzilla to the sea or Mothra will declare war on the human race. They don't want that, and neither does Mothra. If they do return the bones, Mothra will replace Kiryu as the protector of Japan against Godzilla.

- As an intimidation tactic? Mothra appears outsides Yoshi's house as this message is delivered, apparently meaning business. For context, in the continuity of this film Mothra was last seen 43 years ago and destroyed Tokyo (possibly a reference to the original Mothra movie).

- Yoshi's uncle who was present when the Shobijin appeared, tries to convince the prime minister but he refuses because both Godzilla and Mothra are both still (theoretical) threats.

- A dead Kamoebas (giant tutrtle) washes up on the shore, and the only culprit could be Godzilla.

- Godzilla's back for more after the last movie, and he destroys a submarine before Mothra eventually confronts him. As she begins to lose the fight Kiryu, mostly operational but missing its Absolute Zero weapon, joins the battle.

- Mothra loses, as always, and sacrifices herself to keep Kiryu safe. Fortunately, she has laid an egg and two Mothra larvae emerge from it.

- Though the twin Mothra's attempt to support him, Kiryu is defeated and completely shut down when it runs out of power. Yoshi has a plan to restore power to the robot, however.

- With some help from the Shobijin, JXSDF, and Mothras, Yoshi makes it to Kiryu and has time to work his engineering magic. 

- Despite not being a Mecha G pilot, Yoshi is inside Kiryu when it reactivates and is now along for the ride

- As Kiryu turns the fight around and begins to win against Godzilla, the memories of the bones inside Kiryu begin to affect it and it loses the will to fight. Godzilla is weakened enough for the twin Mothras to encase him in their silk.

- Given an order to finish off Godzilla, Kiryu's pilot attempts to follow orders but Kiryu is no longer responsive. It approaches the helpless Godzilla and activates its rockets to take them both to the sea.

- With Yoshi still inside, Kiryu is headed to the Japanese Trench where it intends to sink both itself and Godzilla. Yoshi accepts his fate, being inside the robot which is on a murder-suicide mission.

- Fortunately for Yoshi, Kiryu has some affection for him and orients itself so that he can escape and be rescued by his comrades in the JXSDF before sending him a final message on its computer: Sayonara Yoshito (a nickname).

- Godzilla and Kiryu plunge into the Japanese Trench, the pressure almost certainly being enough to finish them both.

- The Shobijin thank Yoshi and the others for their bravery and close with the message that humanity should never lay theirs hands on the soul of other beings.

- In a surprise post credits scene, a DNA lab announces the commencement of a "bioformation" experiment with an extinct creature, as we see the collected DNA of the original Godzilla. dunDunDUN

Kaiju Notes 

- Mothra tech is at it's absolute finest here. Mothra has fully flappable wings for what I think is the first time! She also seems significantly larger than previous versions. Besides the advancements in Mothra puppet technology (or CGI) and the increase in size (or decrease in Godzilla's size?), Mothra looks exactly as expected. This isn't a bad thing, Mothra is dope.

- Because the kaiju in this movie are literally just the same ones as last time, it's a bit difficult to think of anything much to say about Godzilla or Kiryu that I didn't already. Kiryu's arsenal is still awesome, and Godzilla's Atomic Breath seems a little faster. Shrug.

- Having lost the Absolute Zero weapon from the last film, Kiryu does now have the Hyper Maser, which is essentially just an enhanced version of the maser cannons the JXSDF uses. It looks like some combination of lightning and/or King Ghidorah's gravity beams, and seems effective but nothing like Absolute Zero.

So, first things first: I mentioned in the Against MechaGodzilla post that that movie felt like a setup for a sequel. Tokyo SOS is that sequel. And... if we're being honest... it doesn't really deliver on the promise of that one. This is not by any means a bad film, but I was hoping for a sequel on par with the 90s series of Gamera films because each was unique and great while managing to stay connected. Tokyo SOS does not succeed in balancing that, both entirely reliant on knowledge from the previous film but refusing to use the potential that one set up to make something great. Kiryu being without its Absolute Zero cannon is a great example: the thing that made Kiryu such a force in the previous film simply being discarded in this one so that any victory Godzilla pulls off seems hollow. And Godzilla does win, the first round at least, but we know its against a for he's been beaten by before which is not currently at its best. One could argue that Mothra makes a kind of equalizer, but I don't see it. If Godzilla was going to get a win over Kiryu, it should've been 100% Kiryu.

That said, on its own terms Tokyo SOS is aggressively fine. The ending is actually quite fitting and good, with the classic story of a man and a robot falling for each other. Kiryu and Godzilla going to hell together is also an excellent cap on the story line set in the 3 move lineage, and so the film does stick the landing. It's just the "getting there" part that lacks luster. Mothra, as much as we love her here, was a wasted addition to a movie which not only could have done without her but would have been better without her. She distracts from allowing the film to deliver on the promise of its prequel and only comes into the movie to die and be replaced by its twin progeny. It's entirely predictable and utterly unnecessary. But when the movie is working (and Mothra is uninvolved), it works pretty well. It's just disappointing that we have to spend so much time with the middling Mothra plot instead of the legitimately fun and interesting developments involving Kiryu.

As is often the case with kaiju films, Tokyo SOS is a mixed bag but relatively entertaining. I'll confess to finding this one overall underwhelming. That ultimately makes it disappointing on several levels: lack of followup from the previous film, Mothra's unnecessary addition making the movie relatively uninteresting on its own terms, and largely wasting the promise (and excellence) of Kiryu. Disappointing. If you're a completionist it's worth a look, but skipping this one would barely be noticeable.

Next: Godzilla: Final Wars!