The last of the original wave of Zilla movies.

It has a mixed reputation among the fans, but Terror of Mechagodzilla is a romp of a sequel, one that's not without deep emotional heart.

Plot is bonkers of course, aliens are plotting to rule the world and have recreated Mechagodzilla after Godzilla shredded it to pieces in the previous meeting of the two beasts (Godzilla V Mechagodzilla). There's Interpol agents running around not exactly in control of anything, a vengeful scientist with an agenda who aids the aliens, while his daughter has become a cyborg designed to control Titanosaurus, a gigantic amphibious dinosaur that teams up with Mechagodzilla to stomp on Tokyo. All is lost for mankind, until Godzilla climbs out of the ocean to hopefully protect his domain.

The return of Ishirō Honda to the director's chair is a reassuring presence, and it helps the film retain a classy production level. The monster smack-downs are neatly choreographed, the model work is wonderfully 1970s, and Akira Ifukube's thunderous score gladdens the spirit as it simultaneously rocks your bones. Yukiko Takayama's screenplay contains intelligence, where the sci-fi boffin speak is spliced with deep observations on humanity and what it means to be part of such a race etc.

Fan division usually comes down to who likes super-hero Godzilla or who likes Godzilla in destroy everything mode. This is the former, and it's cheer worthy, the atomic lizard in a bad mood would not surface again for 10 years, and by then the direction of Zilla's fortunes got increasingly silly. This marks "Terror" as something of a franchise closure to be cherished, and rightly so because it has all the good parts that made the first Toho wave so enjoyable. So turn up the volume, open your screens out and indulge. Wonderful. 8/10

I've been on a quest to watch all of the Godzilla movies. As I've mentioned before, I am finding them not to be very good at all which still kind of surprises me as the portion of my mind that remains youthful was very fond of them once upon a time. My quest continues as I review here, the last of the original of "Showa" series Godzilla movies.

A submarine looking for the severed head of Mechagodzilla is attacked and crushed by a dinosaur called Titanosaurus. Enter Dr. Mafune, who 15 years earlier had experimented with controlling animals minds, which he said he was going to do with Titanosaurus. But poor Dr. Mafune. No one believed him. He was shunned by the scientific community and kicked off his own project.

Next, as is often the case with Godzilla movies, hostile aliens land on Earth. Their own planet is about to be destroyed by something called the "The Black Hole Third planet". I think something is lost in the translation but that's what the subtitles called it. The aliens claim they are going to conquer and rebuild Earth because humans have polluted it. However, they seem a little on the malevolent side to be looked upon as treehuggers.

As the attack on the sub is investigated, two detectives find that Dr. Mafune died five years earlier or at least that's the story his daughter gives. Dr. Mafune has somehow hooked up with the aliens and is successfully mind-controlling the Titanosaurus. Dr. Mafune is insanely set on taking revenge on humans, who years earlier had rejected his work.

Well, little does Mafune know that the aliens have actually been rebuilding Mechagodzilla in an underground base. Strangely, the entire alien base is colored silver as are the uniforms of the humanoid aliens within it. This has absolutely no significance that I can tell. A couple of other oddities struck me, including the alien's funky shielded helmets with antennas sticking out both sides and how much the aged Dr. Mafune was a spitting image of Colonel Sanders.

Mafune then gets an unexpected ally in Dr. Ichinnose who wants to prove that Mafune was not nuts and sets out to find Titanosuarus with Mafune's daughter. So, half an hour in and there has been no mention of Godzilla. But then again this movie has "MECHAgodzilla" in the title, not "Godzilla".

Next, an awkwardly-inserted surprise reveals that Mafune had accidentally killed his own daughter in a poorly acted lab accident, and was brought back to life by the aliens.

A mind-controlled Titanosaurus then attacks a Japanese city that I can't remember the name of. The aliens also detect that Godzilla is on his way to fight off Titanosaurus and they appreciate the distraction. They believe Godzilla will become fatigued which will leave them an additional advantage to attack him with their newly remodeled Mechagodzilla. Godzilla's first appearance is a silhouetted one. He lumbers out of the darkness to deliver a right-hand body blow to the mid-section of Titanosaurus. At this point the whole movie becomes a scientists-versus-aliens-versus-Mafune mess with the monsters acting as each party's fighter.

Then, a shocking twist is revealed. We find out that the aliens had saved Mafune's daughter by turning her into an cyborg. Even more shocking is the nudity shown during the operation. Come to think of it, earlier there had been a man viciously gunned down in a bloody assault. Not exactly the first-grade fare committed to film in "All Monsters Attack" or "Son of Godzilla"

Mafune ends up getting double-crossed by the aliens and with about 20 minutes left in the movie, Mechagodzilla controlled by Mafune's robot daughter, joins Titanosuarus in the attack on the city. Terrible destruction ensues including a rather cool shot of Mecha-G blowing up a city street.

Thankfully (and predictably), Godzilla stifles the attack. And I have to mention this particular battle is a pretty good monster melee. There's a lot of gravity defying moments during the fight, but overall it's one of the better battles of the original series.

In the end, the mind-control of Titanosaurus is alleviated by the pesky good guys leaving Mecahagodzilla to tangle with Godzilla on his own. Dr. Mafune's daughter simultaneously shutdowns along with Mecha-G. Godzilla then excuses himself after cleaning up yet another Toho mess.