Tweet
Released by: Sony Entertainment
Released on: May 6th, 2014.
Director: Various
Cast: Various
Year: 1991/1992
Purchase From Amazon
The Movies:
Sony offers up a pair of later era Godzilla movies on Blu-ray for the first time in North American and each on their own disc. Here's a look!
Godzilla Vs. Destroyah:
Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah, from 1995, follows Godzilla Vs. Space Godzilla and, to a certain extent at least, continues that story - but honestly even if you haven't seen that earlier movie, you probably won't have too much trouble following the story here. The island where Godzilla was discovered in that earlier film has since melted. Why? Because apparently it was a hot bed of uranium, and this same uranium has caused some sort of mutant reaction in Godzilla and caused him to start glowing in strange ways.
While working on a way to diffuse the situation, a team of scientists use the oxygen destroyer device to shrink down oxygen bubbles to 'micro-oxygen' status (they basically make it super tiny and therefore more concentrated?) but while experimenting with that inadvertently create some mutant crab monsters. These mutant crab monsters combine into one giant monster dubbed Destroyah, which poses its own set of problems. Throw two different psychics into the mix, Japan's Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) and an Americanized woman named Meru Ozawa (Sayaka Osawa), and things quickly get complicated for G-Force, the team put together to try to stop Godzilla from constantly destroying Japan.
This one ties into Space Godzilla and the original Godzilla from 1954 in interesting ways and it does a good job of tying up some loose ends from the movie that came before it and setting up what would be, at least for the period, the 'final' Godzilla movie. Of course, we all know he came back a few years later, we'd expect nothing less, but the story sets the big guy's fall up in fairly curious terms. The problem with the film is that it spends so much time explaining the monsters, their respective origins, their respective weaknesses and the ways in which the human element hopes to scientifically best them that that same human element is sorely underplayed.
The monster mash side of things does go a long way towards making up for that though. Destroyah is an interesting foe with a cool backstory and we get to see he and Godzilla go at it full tilt and with some solid effects work too. The emphasis here is definitely on action rather than character development but it's an enjoyable (if imperfect and slightly cold) movie that wraps up this particular storyline well.
Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus:
Proving that you can really never teach an old dog new tricks, Godzilla is back to demolish Japan once again. But taking a few cues from the last gazillion times that Godzilla has stomped Tokyo into the ground, this time they've got two brand spankin' new super-weapons to use against the giant monster.
The Gryphon is a highly technologically enhanced cruise ship, and the Dimension Tide is a fancy creation that somehow manages to make black holes appear at convenient times. While out testing the Dimension Tide, some mysterious eggs begin to appear in the Shibuya, a decent sized city, and of course, they hatch and sprout into Meganeurons! The Meganeurons require water to grow and so they decide to flood Shibuya by destroying the many underground water mains that run throughout the city. The monsters begin multiplying and soon they being feeding off of the human energy that the city is ripe with. Eventually, they are able to secure enough energy from the unlucky denizens of Shibuya that they are able to transform a second time, this time into the giant metallic dragonfly, Meganeuras!
Now the creatures have to target Godzilla as he is the only victim they can use to accumulate enough energy from to sustain the larva of their queen. Eventually, it hatches into Megaguirus, a monstrous creature that goes gunning for Godzilla so that it can absorb every last ounce of his energy. Godzilla and Megaguirus go at it, toe to toe, with the entire population of Shibuya hanging in the balance as the movie reaches its climax and the inevitable giant monster brawl ensues, just like we all knew (and hoped!) that it would.
While 2000's Godzilla Versus Megaguirus is not the strongest of the recent Godzilla films to come out of Japan post-Americanization (that honor has to go to Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah - Giant Monsters All Out Attack!), it's still a really solid entry with some great special effects and a very memorable monster mash finale.
Director Masaaki Tezuka (who also helmed the recent disappointment that was Godzilla X Mechagodzilla) keeps the visuals coming fast and furious and it was nice to see a foe for Godzilla that wasn't Mothra, King Ghidorah, or Mechagodzilla. Being of the opinion that those characters are woefully overused in the series, the mechanical dragonfly creatures on display here are a breath of fresh air, even if sometimes the CGI effects are a little bit too obvious for my tastes.
Godzilla himself, looking sufficiently sinister in this incarnation, is more or less just an unstoppable force in this entry. While the story lags a bit, he is given plenty of opportunity to strut his own bad rubber suit self and plenty of urban destruction ensues courtesy of Godzilla and the various incarnations of his foe(s) in this film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Godzilla Vs. Destroyah and Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus arrive on Blu-ray from Sony in 1.85.1 and 2.35.1 widescreen respectively in AVC encoded 1080p high definition with each film on its own 50GB disc. These look better than the nineties era Godzilla movies that are being released on the same day but suffer from some of the same flaws, mainly a somewhat flat looking image. While there's no denying that we get a noticeable improvement over past DVD releases, it looks like once again Toho have supplied Sony with some older masters to work with. Grain can sometimes look a little clumpy and black levels more of a dark grey. Detail in the close up shots isn't bad and color reproduction is okay though. These aren't abominations of anything, but you get the impression that they could have looked better (particularly when compared to the transfer we saw on the Kraken Releasing Blu-rays of the older titles).
Each film is given English and Japanese language options in DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio with optional subtitles (which seem to translate the English language track, so call them dubtitles if you prefer) in English, English SDH and French. There isn't a whole lot of channel separation here to note but the levels are properly balanced. Hiss and distortion are never an issue and while more depth and surround activity certainly would have been welcome (and probably made some of the bigger set pieces a bit more fun), there aren't really any problems here with the audio even if it's a bit underwhelming.
Extras are limited to trailers for each of the two movies and a few promo teaser spots. Menus and chapter selection are included on each disc and inside the keepcase you'll find a download code for a digital copy of each film.
The Final Word:
Godzilla Vs. Destroyah and Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus are both enjoyable monster movies and while neither is likely going to top anyone's 'best of Godzilla' list they're fun, both featuring some cool villains, some nice monster design and some decent effects work. The transfers on Sony's set won't blow you away but they do offer a visible upgrade over the past DVD releases. Fans should appreciate this release.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
