Seeing 'Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla' in 4K!

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) at Toho Cinemas. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Tuesday, February 24, I took in a screening of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) at Toho Cinemas Susukino in Sapporo. It's often reviled as one of the worst Godzilla movies of all time, but I've never considered it that bad, so I was eager to give it another look, especially in 4K.

The picture quality was phenomenal -- the visuals were crystal-clear. The only flaw was that the composite shots often looked blurry, almost as if they were shot on video. Other than that, the film has never looked better.

Going into it, I knew the final battle would be a slog, so I tried to force myself to pay closer attention to it this time than my previous viewing a few years ago. It was a respectable objective but ultimately futile. It's easily one of the worst, most boring monster battles in any Godzilla movie, and my mind started to wander early on. Well, it was worth a shot.

One ticket to paradise! Photo by Brett Homenick.

It's a shame the kaiju scenes are so lethargic when the human sequences are actually pretty fun. I remember having a conversation with John Rocco Roberto in which he commented that all SpaceGodzilla does is fly over some cities and set off a few car alarms. If only Koichi Kawakita had been on his A-game here . . .

On a personal note, it was pretty cool seeing the Sapporo TV Tower in the flick for a brief moment when it was literally just a few blocks from where I was watching the movie.

Not much else to say. SpaceGodzilla is a bit disappointing mostly due to the lackluster monster scenes. But it was still a blast seeing it on the big screen in a wonderful 4K presentation.