The Godzilla series came to a dramatic end with the death of Godzilla (after 22 films and 41 years) in GODZILLA VS. DESTROYER (spelled in the U.S. release as DESTOROYAH) in 1995. The survival of little Godzilla, grown up from Baby Godzilla in the two previous films, paved the way for a sequel. Instead, sequel plans were squelched by Sony's planned American version, which came out in 1998, and Toho Pictures instead produced a series of three new Mothra movies. After Godzilla fans expressed supreme disappointment with the Hollywood remake, Toho revived the franchise in Japan with GODZILLA 2000, which dispensed with all of the history and events of every Godzilla movie since the first one and was touted by Toho as a sequel to the very first Godzilla movie (1954). Some Godzilla fans bought this and some didn't, causing great debate over the film's merits or lack thereof. Leaving aside the issue of where the film fits in the Godzilla timeline, G2K still came up short in the areas of monster battles and urban destruction. MEGAGUIRUS is a half-hearted effort to keep the franchise alive until someone can come up with new ideas. It offers a bit more action and urban rampage than G2K and features a couple of no-nonsense women as the leading characters. It has no real relation to any other Godzilla movies and simply treats Godzilla as a monster menace who needs to be stopped at all costs.
The military and government agencies charged with the task of stopping the Big G come up with a device called Dimension Tide that's designed to create a black hole that will presumably suck in Godzilla. In the course of testing it, they somehow create giant dragonflies which morph into an awkward, clunky, flying insectoid monster dubbed Megaguirus by some handy old male scientist whose only role in the film is to tell us this. Before the morphing, the dragonflies invade Tokyo, causing a devastating flood which inundates the Shibuya district. What causes the dragonflies to transform into the monster is never explained. G and MegaG eventually battle it out in Tokyo to great destructive effect.
The human cast is, thankfully, rather small and they keep to their assigned roles efficiently, in contrast to the overbearing busybodies in G2K who kept getting into G's face (sometimes literally!). Interestingly, the two female lead characters, one an officer (Misato Tanaka) devoted to neutralizing Godzilla, and the other an older scientist (Yuriko Hoshi) overseeing the Dimension Tide project, dominate the action with their resolute behavior and forceful personalities. The actresses are quite good and one wishes they'd been given a little more to do with their characters (but not too much).
While this film decidedly breaks no new ground, it does offer enough action and destruction to please the less discriminating Godzilla fans. Although its effects are not sophisticated enough for the jaded palates of today's JURASSIC PARK-weaned monster fans, the film's bursts of imagination might well surprise them.
