Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla: Godzilla moves further from his fearsome roots and adds more cutesy elements along with some mild romance in what is perhaps unfairly dubbed the worst of the Heisei (or second series) Godzilla films. It breaks away from the dark tone the previous films had (save for Godzilla vs. Mothra) and has a decidely different approach and feel in that it tries to tone down the level of violence for more of a family style film in the mold of the 70s Godzilla films.

Space Godzilla himself has to have one of the worst backstories a monster ever had. While other Heisei era monsters at least had the benefit of science that almost made sense, Space Godzilla was created by some of Godzilla's cells going into space via Biollante and going through a black hole and coming out a white hole and somehow getting back to earth before ten million years passed. He does look cool enough, though beig the sort of Godzilla's evil-twin with a more reptilian look and crystals instead of Godzilla's stegosaurus-like spines. He can also fly and use telekinesis, neither of which is ever explained. Still he is pretty nifty nonetheless and is interesting by himself.

I do think this film does get a bad rep, though. I can fondly remember the day I went to Sam Goody in Aviation Mall in Glens Falls NY and seeing this and Godzilla vs Destroyah on the VHS shelf and so wanting these so badly that as a broke 16 year old I asked my dad if he could loan me the money. I remember that he finally gave in and loaned me the money which, by the way, I insisted on paying back even at a few dollars at a time.

Once I bought this film it certainly was watched. I remember when I was back in highschool with an endless amount of free time and a very limited budget and film collection I had the ability to rewatch things to death and yes, Space Godzilla was watched a lot. So much so that watching it now is a little tedious. Still, it's a good movie and no Godzilla fan should miss this one. Also for it's cleap price (HK$35) anyone with a region free player won't have to.

Labels: Godzilla, Horror, sci-fi