Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

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Overview

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla was made in 1974, the 20 year anniversary of the first Godzilla movie. It boasted a higher budget and production value that the previous few films in the series, and is regarded as one of the best Godzilla films of the 1970s.

Plot Summary

On Okinawa, while putting on a show for tourists, Nami as a vision: A monster is going to attack. The vision is so terrifying it causes her to faint. As the tourists come to her aid, her grandfather comes running. As she recovers, she tells her grandfather of the vision. Two brothers, Shimizu and Masahiko, are witnesses to this, and they discuss it as they drive off. Shimizu has been working on a marina for years, tells the other brother that the old man and Nami are descendants of the Azumi royal family. Shimzu drops his brother off at Gyokusen Cave, but he can't join him inside as he has to get back to work. The brother wanders around inside the cave, where he finds a finds a strange piece of shiny metal.

Returning to his work site, Shimizu sees that work has stopped: the crews have uncovered a cave. As the crews struggle to keep the press out of the, a woman the archaeology department of Shuri University named Saeko arrives to investigate the cave. Shimizu goes with her. Inside the cave, they discover an ancient mural. Saeko studies the mural: it shows a back mountain floating in the sky, two suns, and figures the archeologists can only assume are demons. Shimizu shows her a small statue near the mural that looks like one of the "demons" on the mural. She says that it represents King Caesar, a huge monster which, according to legend, saved the royal family of Okinawa when people from mainland Japan came to conquer it.

Saeko returns to her office with her notes and the statue.. There, she deciphers to mural: When a black mountains appears above the clouds, a monster will destroyer the world. While she is working, she does not notice that a strange man is watching through the door to her office. As footsteps approach, the man leaves, and another man with sunglasses and dressed in black appears, and watches Saeko from the hallway.

Unable to unlock the mystery of the statue, Saeko boards a plane to Tokyo, to ask a Professor Wagura. She meets Shimizu on the plane, who is going to Tokyo to take time off. As they talk about Professor Wagura, they are interrupted by the man in sunglasses. He identifies himself as a freelance reporter, and claims he wants to follow the story of the statue. Several of the other passengers talk excited as they look out the window: A large black cloud, bearing a strong resemblance to the black mountain on the mural, is floating in the sky. As the man in sunglasses eavesdrops, Saeko tells Shimizu the full legend on the mural: "When a black mountain appears above the clouds, a huge monster will come forth and try to destroy the world. But when the red moon sets, and the sun rises west, two monsters will appear to save the people." Shimizu can't help but remember Nami, who's vision matches with the mural prophecy.

Shimizu takes Saeko to Professor Wagura's home. It turns out that Wagura is Shimizu's uncle. Shimizu asks about his brother, Masahiko, and Wagura tells him that he has gone to a Professor Miyajima to help identify it. At Miyajima's lab, after running a series of test, Miyajima identifies the metal as "space titanium". Before Masahiko can ask any questions, a small earthquake strikes, and Miyajima's daughter, Ikuko, comments that it is the tenth earthquake in ten days. Back a Wagura's home, Shimizu listens to a news report about how the series of quakes have a moving epicenter. In another room the archaeologist and Wagura are trying to decipher the symbols on the statue when they are attacked by a man with a gun, demanding the statue be given to him. Shimizu hears the commotion, and struggles with the gunman. In the fight, the gun is dropped, and Wagura picks it up. Breaking free from Shimizu, the gunman makes his escape. As Shimizu looks for him, the man in sunglasses watches from the shadows.

Near Professor Miyajima's lab, Mount Fuji erupts, revealing Godzilla. Wagura and the archaeologist watch this on TV, and come to the conclusion that Godzilla must be the monster from the legend who will destroy the world. Shimizu decides to go to the location to check on his brother. Back on Okinawa, Nami and her grandfather hear the news. The grandfather says that only King Ceasar can stop Godzilla, but they lack the key to awaken the monster. Instead, the old man pleads for Godzilla to punish the people of Japan for trying to destroy the Azumi family line.

Godzilla with metal patch

As Godzilla moves away from the ruined mountain, Anguirus appears from underground, and attacks Godzilla. Shimizu, witnessing this, knows that something must be wrong for Anguirus to attack Godzilla, as the two monster have become allies. As the two monsters fight, Godzilla is wounded, revealing a patch of metal under his skin. Godzilla proves to be the stronger, ending the battle by breaking Anguirus's jaw, forcing the monster to retreat.

Shimizu is blocked by a portion or road that has been destroyed. As he makes he way through the block, he finds a block on metal. He makes it to Miyajima's lab, and the Professor says that the block of metal is also space titanium. Shimizu comments on Miyajima's strange metal smoking pipe. The Professor says that he made it himself. When the sections of pipe are separated, they generate a magnetic field that will destroy electronics between the two pieces. Miyajima decides he wants a closer look at Godzilla, and Ikuko, Shimizu and Masahiko agree to accompany him.

Mechagodzilla

They find Godzilla attacking a shipping yard and oil refinery. However, as Godzilla continues his attack, another Godzilla emerges. The two Godzilla's attack each other. The Godzilla that came out the mountain is wounded, showing more metal under the skin. Miyajima theorizes that this Godzilla is a cyborg, and dubs it Mechagodzilla.

beam battle

In some sort of control room, a man comments that the earth people must be confused to see two Godzillas, and comments that Godzilla's power cannot match that of Mechagodzilla. The need for disguise gone, the man flips a switch that burns off the fake skin and reveals Mechagodzilla's true form. The two monsters briefly clash, Mechagodzilla's eyebeams and Godzilla's atomic breath combine to explode. The blast throws Godzilla into the ocean, wounded, and forces Mechagodzilla to retreat for repairs. Miyajima says that they will travel to Gyokusen Cave, where he is sure the piece of space titanium found there will prove to be a clue.

At the headquarters of Mechagodzilla, the spacemen whom control Mechagodzilla plan to find a man who knows space technology to help repair Mechagodzilla. He also orders his agents to steal the King Caesar statue, lest the monster awaken.

Back at Wagura's house, he has finally deciphered the statue: "when the sun rises in west, then place this statue on the sacred shrine above the gate of Azumi castle." It appears to say how to awaken King Caesar. Shizimu and Saeko travel to Okinawa by sea, hoping to avoid the spacemen. However, the man in sunglasses is aboard the boat as well, watching them. The rest of the group arrives in Okinawa before them. Masahiko takes Miyajami and Ikuko to the cave, and shows him where he found the fragment of space titanium. However, they are captured by spacemen in the cave. Taken to the headquarters of the spacemen, the man in charge says he is the Command for the Conquest of Earth, from the third planet of the black hole, and that Mechagodzilla is their weapon for conquering Earth, and that they have captured Miyajami to repair mechanical monster. Miyajami refuses until the spaceman leader threatens to kill Ikuko and Masahiko if he does not.

Alien from the 3rd planet of the black hole

Meanwhile, another spaceman agent sneaks into the room of the archaeologist while she is sleeping, and steals the statue of King Caesar, and flees to his own room. However, he is followed by Shimizu. The two men struggle, and Shimizu is forced to shoot the spaceman. The spaceman partially reverts to his natural state, and now has a half-human, half-gorilla face. Shimizu is shocked by the transformation and the spaceman takes the statue and runs. Shimizu chases him, and the two of them struggle on the deck of the ship. Shimizu loses the spaceman, and as he searches for him, the alien ambushes him, taking the gun. Before the alien can kill Shimizu, he is shot from behind, and the alien goes overboard with the statue. The man in sunglasses appears, and walks below deck as Saeko catches up with Shimizu. Upon arriving at Okinawa, Shizimu retrieves the real King Caesar statue from the ships safe: the one that Saeko had was a fake. He didn't tell her about the switch to make sure that the spacemen didn't know about the fake. They go to where the rest of the group is supposed to be staying, only to find that they have not returned to their hotel for several days. Shimizu goes to the cave to try to find them.

At the cave, Miyajami has finished the repairs on Mechagodzilla. He demands that the leader of the spacemen free Ikuko and Masahiko at once. However, he imprisons Miyajami with the two instead, and the room they are in beings to fill with steam and intense heat, slowly scalding them to death. In the cave, Shimizu finds Miyajami's pipe, which was dropped when he was captured. A spacemen gets the drop on him, and almost shoots him, when the man in sunglasses appears and disables the spaceman, The man reveals himself as Nanbara, and Interpol agent. He has been following the spacemen for six months, trying to find out what they were up to. Nanbara wakes the alien up, and forces him to take them to the spaceman base. Shimizu and Nanbara enter the base, and knock out both the alien they captured as well as the guard, stealing their uniforms. They find where Miyajami, Masahiko, and Ikuko are being tortured and free them.

King Caesar awakened

Back at the hotel, Saeko waits nervously for the others to return. As she paces, she looks outside: the moon is red. At the cave, the group manages to escape. Shimizu's car had been booby-trapped by the aliens, and Nanbara purposefully trips it, making the aliens believe that they are dead. Nanbara says that he is going back into the cave to take care of the aliens, and Masahiko and Miyajami go with him. Ikuko and Shimizu pick up Saeko and the King Caesar statue at the hotel, and travel to Azumi castle. However, by the time they arrive at the castle, the spacemen already have the old man and Nami prisioner, and want the statue in exchange for their lives. Before the trade can be made, however, the aliens are shot. Another man appears and says his name is Tamura, and that he is Nanbara's partner in Interpol. As they place the statue, they notice that it appears that the sun is rising in the west because of a mirage. With the statue in place, two beams shoot out of it's eyes and destroy the side of a nearby mountain, revealing the real King Caesar.

Back at the alien base, the alien leader orders Mechagodzilla to destroy King Caesar before the other monster can awaken. Nanbara's group is unable to stop the launch, decide they must go to the control room to try to stop Mechagodzilla from there. As Mechagodzilla approaches, Nami runs to the beach. Shizimu tries to stop her, but the old man blocks his way, saying only a descendant of the Azumi royal family can awaken King Caesar. Nami sings a song to awaken the monster, and King Caesar is revived before Mechagodzilla can kill him. At the alien base, Nanbara's group rushes the control room, only to be caught in a force field upon entering. They are captured and bound with their hands behind their backs.

Godzilla and Caesar vs. Mechagodzilla

King Caesar and Mechagodzilla begin to fight, however, it becomes clear that King Caesar alone is not strong enough to challenge the cyborg. Before Mechagodzilla can kill King Caesar, Godzilla emerges from the ocean. The lead alien orders Mechagodzilla to destroy Godzilla. With this reprieve, King Caesar recovers, and both him and Godzilla battle Mechagodzilla. However, Mechagodzilla proves to be a match for both monsters. As the battle rages on, Godzilla finally turns the tide of battle by turning himself into a powerful magnet, pulling Mechagodzilla close to him, and Godzilla grabs hold of Mechagodzilla in place, allowing King Caesar to attack Mechagodzilla freely. Finally, Godzilla defeats Mechagodzilla by wrenching the cyborg's head around, and then ripping it off.

In the alien HQ, Nanbara has used his ring to pick the lock on his handcuffs, and Miyajami has slipped him the his metal pipe. As the spacemen are distracted by Mechagodzilla's defeat, Nanbara throws the pieces of pipe to either end of the control panels, and overpowers one of the aliens, taking his gun, and killing their captures, including the spaceman leader. The magnetic field from the pipe beings to destroy the control panels, and the men make their escape from the alien base. As the base explodes, so does Mechagodzilla.

Godzilla

The battle over, Godzilla returns to the ocean, and King Caesar returns to his resting place, sealing himself back in. The King Caesar statue is return to it's rightful in Azumi castle, with the old man saying that, finally, the ancestors of the Azumi family can rest in peace.

US Release

The rights to Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla were bought by Cinema Shares International. Cinema Shares gave the movie a limited theatrical release under the title "Godzilla vs The Bionic Monster". However, the title was changed to "Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster in response to a lawsuit from Universal Studios claimed that the title "Bionic Monster" was similar to the TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man" and it's spin-off, "The Bionic Woman". The US version edited out several instances of violence in order to obtain a "G" rating.