Gigantis, el monstruo de fuego

The best (in my opinion) 'Godzilla' around, is definitely 'Godzilla Raids Again', otherwise know as 'Gojira No Gyakshu' in Japanese. And yes, I like the Japanese version and the dubbed American version. (Please stop disrespecting it.)

The story tells of Shoichi Tsukioka, a Japanese pilot, who works for a big fishing industry. One day, when Tsukioka's best friend Koji Kobayashis plane went down, he set out to find him. When he was found, he was stranded on an island. And on it, the two awesomest monsters imaginable; Godzilla and Anguirus. Tsukioka and Kobayahi leave in a hurry, but soon the two prehistoric creatures find their way back to Osaka, and bring ultimate destruction with them.

This the second Godzilla movie ever made, is in black and white, and, you can believe it because it was made in the 50's and there weren't that great special effects then. I think the Japanese really hit the jackpot with this one. But in this movie, it explains so much about Godzilla and why he can breathe fire, and why he looks-like a dinosaur.

This is also the first movie Anguirus stars in. And trust me, he's been in a LOT of Godzilla's. Let's have a count shall we? Oh, I'll just tell you the answer. He was in 5 movies and one TV show.

So if you are a fan of the classic 'Godzilla' series, I definitely recommend this action packed Friday Flick to YOU!!! After all, it is the best Godzilla around. Heh, heh, heh.

Another of Godzilla's species is discovered on an island, along with a spiky creature called Angilusaurus (or Angilus for short). Before long the two monsters are wrecking havoc.

Though this film was rushed out, it has the advantages of being made in the age when Godzilla films were serious-themed. The scenes in which city populations are told to turn their lights off to avoid Godzilla's attention at night are atmospheric and recall World War 2, when city lights were turned off to avoid the attention of enemy bombers. The music is haunting and the scenery, especially on the island, is suitably eerie. The film does tail away towards the end, but it's still one of the stronger sequels.

As with the original, and most other Godzilla films, the original non-dubbed version with subtitles is recommended.

Not the overpowering mandate against technological advances that Gozilla was, but nonetheless a good sequel that treats the Godzilla story reverently with realistic horrors of destruction, subtle humour, and interesting characters. The movie has some pockets of slow moving action, but the finale is a beautifully filmed scene of the creature being thwarted on an island of mountains and ice. The film has a Godzilla with a different look as well as another creature with a spiked back that destroy Osaka together. Characterization, as with the first Godzilla, lends the film some seriousness and realism. The destruction scenes in particular are nicely filmed, as they show a city in fear...and then destroyed. The film lacks Inshiro Hondo's directorial flair, but is well-shot and has a nice musical score to enhance it.

The Two pilots Kobayashi and Tsukioka must land on a remote Pacific Island and become witnesses of the fight between two giant monsters. After the battle, they both disappear into the ocean. Tsukioka informs scientists (including Dr. Yamane from the first "Godzilla" film) and the army about Godzilla and an unknown monster that looks like a prehistoric Ankylosaurus. The new monster therefor is named Angilas. Meanwhile, some bandits escape near Osaka and cause a car crash that is followed by large explosions. The fire attracts Godzilla to Osaka. The Japanese army tries to stop the monster using tanks, missiles and the air force. Then Angilas shows up too! The two monsters fight each other in the middle of the city in a brutal battle which is won by Godzilla. In order to stop him, the Osaka Defense Corps (and the two friends Kobayashi and Tsukioka) follow Godzilla to a snowy island near Hokkaido in northern Japan. Many pilots die in the final battle against the monster, as the army tries to cause an avalanche to bury Godzilla...

This is the little-known second film of the legendary Japanese Godzilla series, and the last that was filmed in black & white. It lacks, of course, most of the metaphoric meaning the first film had and is just a very entertaining, classic monster movie. The beautiful music score was composed by Masaru Satô, the favourite composer of Akira Kurosawa. It sounds a bit like a softer version of Akira Ifukube's great theme music for the first film. Like in the first "Godzilla", the black & white photography adds to the plausibility of the special effects, therefor they work really good most of the time. Probably the biggest problem with the effects is that the monsters move by far too fast in their fight scenes. But fortunately "Gojira no gyakushû" was the only Japanese monster movie ever to use this technique. Please note that this commentary is based on the original, uncut Japanese version of the film which really is the ONLY way to see it!! The American version is badly dubbed, has half of the movie cut out, inserts new scenes that don't make ANY sense, and has special effects footage stolen from other movies... it's just total crap. Everybody who is interested in seeing this film should look for the Japanese version, it's definitely worth the effort. Unfortunately, it is probably very hard to find. Despite the success of the film in Japan, the next "Godzilla" movie was not made for seven years.

This film is a decent follow up to the original film. It pretty much shows that you don't have to be a scientist or a major military figure to be a hero. The only thing negative criticism I have about it is that it tends to slow down when it gets to the scenes that feature only the human characters. However, the film really picks up steam when the fight between the two monsters begins.

Also, there is an interesting fact about this film. When it was first proposed that this film would be released in the United States, the title was for the American version was to be called "The Volcano Monsters" and it was to be written by noted schlock master Ib Melchior, the man behind such B classics as "Reptilicus" and "The Angry Red Planet", and his partner Edwin Watson. The proposed production would have used some of the footage from "Godzilla's Counterattack." The premise for the story was to involve the discovery of a tyrannosaurus (Godzilla) and an ankylosaurus (Angillas) in a cave on a remote island. The two monsters are then brought to San Francisco (the Japanese buildings would have been explained as being San Francisco's Chinatown) and then escape and start to fight all over the city. The ankylosaurus is killed during the battle and the tyrannosaurus is then left to rampage all over the city until it escapes to the Artic Circle where in the climatic battle it is covered in ice and preserved forever.

An interesting note, Melchior used several of the intended plot devices for "The Volcano Monsters" in Reptilicus, including the ending which showed the claw of another monster, which was poking out of the cave where the two monsters were found.