Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

This is one of the newer films of our generation exploiting the destruction and terror caused by Godzilla. This is the film before Final Wars sealed the franchise temporarily so I went in expecting a film with a heavy dose of CGI, military action, and abnormal and awesome fight scenes. I got what I wanted but I found the basic alignment of the characters to be unnecessary and tedious.


When I bring about positions of war, Godzilla is once again a villain-esque creature after about a 50 year year waiting period. He quickly affirms to old traditions and destroys most of Tokyo before Mothra and the military controlled MechaGodzilla comes onto the battlefield. Just as Puppet Master did with volumes 4 & 5, this film comes as a surprise and vastly differs from previous entries. Perhaps the honorable mention that this film deserves is for stepping on the chaos scale and creating miniature buildings that crumble and break off into a stone like texture which compliments the panic of Tokyo being leveled....again.

Instead of being able to root for Godzilla in the slightest – Which was always possible due to his cemented anti-hero status – I found that the new Godzilla didn’t have a purpose and was just used as the backbone of another Monster Island Faerie Twins driven plot line of some intense hallucination highlighting a disaster that is forthcoming. Supporting the story is a cast of rather annoying pests that swing around hopeless morals as they scurry around the screen; in other words; bad actors.


The fight scenes in question feature an array of personalized combat skills that are relevant to the dire situation these creatures and machines are caught in. Godzilla whipping his tail attempting to wag off one of Mothra’s larvae is a scene that comes to mind. I thank the special effects team greatly for increasing the production value which in turn boosts the fluidity of the monster movements and creates for a visually stunning Kaiju film.


Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is a conflicted film unsure of how it views its country’s own mascot. Godzilla is a tender soul driven mad by the scum that inhabits his world. This is a great action popcorn sequel but I find nothing that could be used to drive the lore of Godzilla further other than the incredible scar that lines his rib cage or the after credit sequence which leaves an Alien Resurrection feel to it morphing a Godzilla film into a true Science-fiction mythos.

-mAQ