Godzilla vs. Motra and vs. Batra Initially, Kazuki Omori was going to make a solo movie about Motra, the motives and numerous traces of this first version find echoes in the most different details of the film. It was more about Mothra than Godzilla. But Toho's studio was aimed at international distribution and believed that Motra, as a kaiju, was not popular outside Japan. Although in the end and allowed to shoot a whole trilogy “Revival of Motra” in the late nineties, but this is a completely different story.
The master of special effects, the outstanding Koichi Kawakita personally rewrote the draft in the history of Godzilla vs. Gigamoth, where Motra fought her dark doppelganger. Most of the general ideas of this scenario were in Godzilla vs. the Destroyer, and for this picture Gigamot was renamed Batra.
In the story, the corporation, which owns the rights to Infant Island after the fall of a meteorite and a number of cataclysms, wants to get one rare and unusual stone, for which it hires an expedition of three people - its secretary, to lead the operation, a treasure hunter and his ex-wife. An unusual stone on the island turns out to be Motra’s egg, cataclysms awaken the monster Battra, and a fallen meteorite raises a sleeping Godzilla.
Three giant monsters will first take turns storming the cities of Japan, and then meet in a spectacular final battle after a series of metamorphoses. Like its predecessor, Godzilla vs. King Gidora, this film is set in homages to Toho’s early paintings, regularly quoting them in a variety of elements.
There is a villain-magnate who wants to get rich on small fairies, and an expedition to the island, an underwater volcano, a union of monsters and even a fight in an amusement park. Everything is painfully familiar, but at the same time successfully updated and served in new colors. There will be a procession of Godzilla past the towers of power plants, and biting on the tail, and at the same time even a powerful homage to “Indiana Jones” in the prologue of the picture.
The music has also been updated. The great composer Akira Ifukube rewrote his melodies about Godzilla and other kaiju for the film, and remade all three main songs of Motra to a more modern and high-quality sound.
Takao Okawara, as a director, is comparable in the greatness of his works to the best works of Ishiro Honda in the Shova era. Moreover, Honda and planned to shoot this film, but died in 1992, several times having had time to attend the shooting. Okawara took Toho’s legacy so seriously that he made the film the way Honda would, with all its favorite elements and angles.
Godzilla is shown in the opening credits as he wakes up underwater. This time the atomic lizard is fierce, angry and cruel as never before. The new costume is amazing! The most lively eyes of all, the chic design of the muzzle, movement of the mouth, facial expressions, manipulation of the paws - the entire appearance of the Monster King here is standard and the best in its history!
The film itself is a real masterpiece of the Heisei-era, a work of art in which there is absolutely everything you need, and every detail of it is perfect and impeccable, ranging from grandiosely written characters and ending with the aforementioned fresh and updated music.
The special effects are high, too. Even in the Shova-era, the best monsters were always arthropods - crayfish, spiders, all sorts of insects, and the monstrous Battra absorbed the best that could be in such an image. The new monster is magnificent in both its forms, both in the form of a caterpillar with a chitinous coating, and in the form of a creepy butterfly, more like some spider with wings.
And if Motra's larva is still just a caterpillar-worm with a braiding web and sharp biting teeth, then Battra even in the first guise was endowed with not a small number of abilities in the spirit of a beam of horn and lilac lightning from the eyes.
Starting as an adventure film, the film quickly recalls the origins of the genre, when Kaiju films were representatives of horror films. The picture as a whole, of course, can not be attributed directly to horror - it came out very multi-genre, absorbing all the best elements of Kaiju films of early years, but in the scenes of destruction you can feel the pomposity, hopelessness and horror with which monsters were presented in the most serious genre samples.
There is an incredible abundance of bright and memorable moments. Starting from the steps and the leaving floor in the prologue, continuing with a bitten tail, the sailing of the Motra larva through the battleship, the hatching of Motra-butterfly, the episode with the Ferris wheel and much, much more. Not every genre film leaves in the soul, heart and memory such an indelible and pleasant mark as this great masterpiece!
The updated Motra, by the way, has not changed, although the shape of the caterpillar with blue eyes here, perhaps, is made the most charming for all its film appearances. The duo of fairies this time can fly, called Cosmos, and everything else is not played by twins.
For the first time in the films about Godzilla as the child of the main characters, not another fanatical boy appears, but a cute little girl who gives the film more charm and soulfulness thanks to her lines and scenes.
Pictures about Godzilla has repeatedly raised the theme of the harmful influence of man on the planet, there is nothing really new in the general theme of the main thoughts and ideas, but it is presented many times better than before and played very competently. Moreover, the film raises a number of other social and moral messages.
In some places, even with a double bottom, where, for example, in the topic of reconciliation, alliance and friendship, Motra can be considered a cunning manipulator. So many elements can be considered here from different sides.
Spectacles here enough, even though active action from Godzilla have to wait quite a long time. The other two monsters do well without him. The Atomic Lizard here serves as a reason to stop the enmity. Evil is greater and more terrible than Batra. Thus, it continues to carry its status and symbolism, preserving the image of a natural disaster.
The battle of butterflies among themselves also turned out to be an excellent air battle. Batra got lasers, Motra-butterfly in general, in addition to pollen, received a huge arsenal of tools such as the best of antennae or energy lightning from the wings. The blue and sparkling atomic ray in Haysey-era is always good and this film is no exception.
In addition, it turned out to be very instructive and moral. So a number of the most acute and emotional scenes here always hit the target or, at least, make you worry. Even the army is exposed not helpless, almost destroying the Motra caterpillar. And the stronger the desire to let down a tear, when even military generals wave at the end of the departing kaiju-butterfly!
Godzilla and Motra: The Battle of the Earth was smarter, more emotional, and deeper than even the original 1954 film, which focused on nuclear catastrophe. This time the film went further, combining several problems, each presented acutely and sometimes multifaceted. One of the best movies of all time!
10 out of 10
Original