Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla (1994)

	Director: Kensho Yamashita
	Starring: Megumi Odaka, Jun Hashizume, Zenkichi Yoneyama, Akira Emoto
	Run Time: 108 mins
	Certificate: PG
	Rating:

Plot
During one of Godzilla's previous encounters on Earth, some of his cells were blasted out into space where they were sucked into a black hole and merged with a crystal-like entity to create a new monster, dubbed Space Godzilla. This monster then heads straight for Earth to destroy Godzilla. Meanwhile, the anti-Godzilla force known as G-Force have created a new robot to destroy Godzilla: MOGERA. Can Godzilla stop this duel threat?

Review
Coming so hot on the heels of Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla, one of the best in the entire series, comes Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla, commonly seen as one of the worst and it's easy to see how. Where did it all go wrong? I mean the last entry featured some of the best special effects in the entire series, plenty of monster action, the return of fan favourite Mechagodzilla and all played out to the amazing score of Akira Ifukube. It was Godzilla's twentieth film appearance but should have been the starting point for a new era of kick ass Godzilla films. Instead, we get the remnants of whatever scripts the previous films didn't want to use and all wrapped into a not-so-neat little package.

Like the majority of the Heisei Godzilla films, Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla suffers from a script which seems to have been given the green light on the first draft. So much is left underdeveloped or simply forgotten about. A large portion of the first half of the film is devoted to Project T, another human attempt to stop Godzilla in his tracks, but as soon as Space Godzilla shows up, this is pushed aside. There's a daft plot about a rogue scientist who teams up with the Japanese Mafia and plans to kidnap a telepath so that they can control Godzilla. But she's rescued really quickly after being kidnapped and again this thread is rendered useless. It's little things like these (and believe me, there's a whole bunch of ten-minute sub-plots) that all add up and just pad out the film between monster fights. Heck, even Mothra knew when to get out of Dodge, making a brief cameo appearance to warn the human cast of the impending arrival of Space Godzilla before upping sticks and leaving. Regular series composer Akira Ifukube didn't score this one either and Takayuki Hattori just doesn't cut it when it comes to the music. There's a distinct lack of the traditional Godzilla themes throughout and the replacement themes aren't nearly as memorable. It's amazing how much impact a decent score can have on films and the Godzilla series is living proof. Watching Godzilla kick ass just isn't the same without his signature theme tune.

Once again the Japanese come up with the most original names for their monsters and Space Godzilla is no exception! Apart from crystals protruding out from its shoulders and sporting a nastier set of teeth, Space Godzilla looks exactly like Godzilla and it's disappointing that the design wasn't a bit more original. You'd think that the fact he at least he gets some superpowers like being able to project a force field around itself would lead to some really original battles. However due to the weak script, Space Godzilla hardly uses these powers and simply acts without motivation or direction - why does he want to kill Godzilla anyway? He's also made out to be of a shady character too, kidnapping Godzilla's son to lure the big man into a fight. The fight scenes aren't too bad as the two monsters trade beam weapons across Japanese cities but they rarely get down and dirty and exchange physical blows which was always what I loved to see in the original series. It's the fights with MOGERA that make the whole thing look absurd too. The robot monster is sort of a hybrid between an electric drill and a penguin. I really don't see the need to include this lightweight Mechagodzilla wannabe in the film - having the two Godzillas fight a bit more would have been more than ample. One particular fight in an asteroid field in space looks extremely low budget - you can see the dodgy cardboard backgrounds wobbling and the foam and plastic 'asteroids' won't convince anyone that they're supposed to be massive chunks of drifting debris. The least said about Baby Godzilla's appearance, the better I say.

Verdict
It's not the worst of the series, but having come hot on the heels of Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla, I was hoping for more with Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla. It seems as though the creative team faced a dilemma of how to follow-up such a great entry but they didn't even try here. Lame special effects, a terrible score, plotting all over the place and wasting such a cool idea are all crimes that this is guilty of.