The first Heisei era Godzilla film of the countdown, 1994's Godzilla vs Space Godzilla is a somewhat lackluster film depicting the battle between Godzilla and basically his clone from space. First off, Heisei era refers to the series of 90's Godzilla films that are widely regarded as the best cluster of Godzilla movies thus far. They are all very good and entertaining, with the exception of this one, which is why it is the obvious choice for the worst of the Heisei era. The Showa era is from the original movie in 1954 to 1975. And the Millennial era obviously refers to Godzilla 2000 and beyond. Back to Space Godzilla, the reason it is so low on the list for a Heisei era film is the film's make shift plot and pacing. Almost nothing happens except a big monster fight at the end. In the beginning, there are two programs taking place that contrast one another and create conflict in the core group of characters. One program, Project T, seeks to control Godzilla telepathically, the other seeks to kill him. Project T is semi successful but literally doesn't factor into the final conflict of the film whatsoever. G vs SG gets off to a decent start, with an interesting island scene where the two projects and the group of characters conflict. The character Yuki, who is dead-set on killing Godzilla as revenge for one of his fallen comrades, is one of my favorite Godzilla characters in any movie ever. He is funny, but also very intent on his goals, and the scene where he crawls up next to Godzilla as he roams across a beach is widescreen brilliance. This island scene also features an awesome panoramic shot of Godzilla entering shallower water with his far off roar. It is beautiful. I also get chills when Godzilla rises up out of the water for the first time. All this aside, the island scenes linger on a little too long, culminating in Space Godzilla arriving and defeating Godzilla, while imprisoning Little Godzilla, who is a cute and chubby lizard resembling Godzilla, a larger version of the Baby Godzilla seen in the earlier film Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2 from 1993. Space Godzilla was formed by a long process from events in earlier movies, but basically a Godzilla cell gets morphed with a diamond material in a black hole and spits out Space Godzilla, whose only intent is to return to Earth, but not before defeating the robot Moguera in a deep space fight that can only be described as terrible looking. Moguera has my vote for worst robot ever in a G movie. Even though the robot harkens back to an earlier Toho creation, it just looks silly in an up to date movie such as this one, and even though it and its pilots help Godzilla to defeat Space Godzilla, Godzilla destroys it anyways, thankfully. Godzilla and Space Godzilla duke it out in Fukuoka in a generally monotone fight. The two monsters rarely exchange blows, opting for a ranged battle instead, until Godzilla destroys SpaceGodzilla's power crystals around the city and blasts the alien clone with a supercharged red atomic beam. At this point in the movie, you're almost glad it's over, because it's so drawn out. Lots of scenes are unnecessary and don't expand on the action happening, or don't hit you with anything unexpected. Godzilla wins, Space Godzilla loses, man loses machine, Little Godzilla is freed, both projects fail, end credits. I think this was an awesome idea for a Godzilla movie, but it would've been better had it come earlier in the Heisei era I think. A new Godzilla movie had come out each year before this one since 1991, and I think it may have been a matter of exhaustion for Toho. Space Godzilla at some points of the film is made out to be the ultimate adversary for Godzilla, since they are the same, yet you never get a feeling of how bad he is or of a personality for the beast at all. These critiques in mind, the movie does have great special effects (the occasional obvious wire withstanding) and some awesome shots of Godzilla, such as the previously mentioned island landfall scene, another where he walks through Kagoshima bay, and several other scale scenes where Godzilla is pictured next to large buildings or mountains. It looks real, as if you were actually standing there watching Godzilla stroll past you.
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| Space Godzilla attacks Godzilla. |
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| Moguera tries to attack Space Godzilla in Fukuoka. |
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