Motra, Godzilla and 10 Japanese schoolgirls After a terrible typhoon, the coast languishes in ruins, but the energetic mayor promises to restore everything on time and make even better. Meanwhile, fishermen find in the waters a huge egg brought to shore by currents from the remote island of Infant, where nuclear tests were conducted. The tycoon buys the egg from them in the hope of bringing tourists from all over the world to him and enrich themselves, but Godzilla wakes up on the coast.
The nicest difference from Motra is that the film is no longer a family comedy. No comedians, no silly scenes, not even an abundance of humorous sketches from King Kong vs. Godzilla - the characters are serious, not comical and not absurd. The film came out a serious fantastic adventure with a large interspersion of the action movie.
Seriously, there are so many explosions here that Michael Bay himself would be jealous, Ishiro Honda clearly intended to blow up just everyone and everything on the set, and whatever to blow up is to break, destroy, sink or burn. Although the picture can hardly be attributed to the genre of the disaster film, like Godzilla or Radona.
But there is still no unnecessary sentiment. No love line, no blood, no betrayal, no murder, no wise message of retribution for your sins. Godzilla appears as a punishment to humanity, like the first picture, but his appearance no longer causes the proper awe.
Not the worst of the costumes, quite decent and successful, but the desire to give Godzilla a more vicious look due to the frowns played with his appearance, perhaps, a cruel joke. He looks a little ridiculous because of this, although for his release year, until the sixties have not yet begun to break with him thrash comedy, very decent.
His energy beam is really a beam here for the first time! This is the transformation of “atomic breath” into what now seems to be an integral part of the image. It is no longer steam, no smoke, but a sparkling energy beam. But with “Godzilla vs. King Kong” it took only two years to call this step a leap in special effects.
As for Motra - in fact, Godzilla's rival in the title of this picture - she (in the Russian voiceover of Motra - "he") appears already in the twentieth minute, but looks to a little bewilderment some shabby and dented, as if the model from the last film was found in a dump. Fortunately, the logical explanation is that Motra is old and preparing to die. Waiting for the appearance of offspring from an egg and spends the last days on his island.
Naturally, people refuse to return the egg. “Bill’s greed ruined” because after Godzilla’s awakening, Mothra is the only one who can stop him. In this plot, of course, similar to the previous match of Goji, when he brought Kong.
Motra has his own wings and can fly himself. That's just that fairies and their savages agreed to help - you have to push heartwarming speeches about innocent lives, hope for the future and even that evil people deserve the right to life (he among themselves, interrupting each other, apparently, with this in the root disagree, but fine).
Ishiro Honda, who has already made a name for himself not only on Kaiju films, but also on various Japanese fiction, works hard here, not wanting to repeat himself too much and tries to open new facets of Kaiju action. Starting with the very idea of the battle of a giant moth (butterfly) with an atomic lizard, ending with exclusive finds.
Surprisingly, in the film at least directly scenes of the destruction of cities, they Honda here are not as interesting as shooting new interesting places. Thanks to the typhoon and the destroyed coast, Godzilla, for example, gets a “sandy” action, as if walking through deserts.
In addition, Honda, in addition to his love for the Japanese army, gets the opportunity to shoot various other equipment - fire engines, boats, building mechanisms and all the like, competently alternating real people at work with miniature models, most of which do not give any hoax.
Miniatures, as always, at a height in all the details - shingles, light bulbs, boards, glass - everything is done with great love and attention, and, perhaps, importantly, with the same love and is destroyed, so that action, spectacle, explosions, shots are always created in the frame! As an action movie, the film is as good as ever!
With the solo "Motra" picture is very weakly connected. But, like, everyone in the plot knows who is or is Motra, just as if from those events passed such a decade. Who knows what year is shown here on the screens, and so between the films the difference is only four years.
And for the first time, the conflict between two monsters looks unattractive. If the battle with Angirus in Godzilla Attacks Again was not clear at all why, apparently for territory, and with the Congo they were completely pitted against people, then Motra has at least the motivation to protect his offspring. However, requests and persuasion from people also take place.
When it comes to hatching, we are in for a surprise. Two Motra larvae appear from the egg at once! Twin babies! Moreover, their re-design turned into much more creepy insects than was presented in the solo picture. They barely retained some charm, but now look very specific.
Fortunately, their main ability - the release of the "web" here serves not for the cocoon with subsequent rebirth, but as the main force against Godzilla - to entangle it with sticky threads, twist and throw the sea to the bottom. It is also a very interesting scenario to complete the picture. The shape of the butterfly has a new ability with pollen.
One of the larvae even manages to grab Goji's jaws by the tail. And in general, the entire final act of the battle with Motras here was successful with a hurrah, and the due serious tone and tension he adds stuck on the island group of children, followed by the main characters. The triumphant rescue of ten little girls and their teacher, while the maggots distract and envelop Godzilla, brilliantly completes a great blockbuster film.
It turns out, fighting as if with one monster, according to the plot of the film, Godzilla fights as much as three - with Motra-butterfly and with two Motra Maggies. Ishiro Honda shot a magnificent spectacular blockbuster full of action and special effects. He revealed his heroes, both people and monsters, presented many bright and memorable moments and managed to keep the tone of serious fiction in its entertaining vein without unnecessary nonsense. The film surpasses many of its predecessors and followers, truly impressive and delighting.
10 out of 10
Original