El regreso de Godzilla

This Godzilla (Gojira) film holds a special place in my heart, for it is the first Godzilla movie I've watched. When I was a little kid, I was a dinosaur fanatic. My mom used to rent a dinosaur cartoon movie (made by some unknown studio) and I would watch it all the time. However, when that movie was unavailable for rental, my mom introduced Gojira to me. The film was titled "Godzilla 1985" and understandably, as I didn't understand subtitles back then, it was the US version of the Japanese 1984 film (the one with Raymond Burr in it). Though I heard the original Japanese version contains numerous scenes that were cut from the US version, the US version is still pleasant to watch. I would never have thought that this movie would lead me into years of collecting Godzilla and other Toho sci-fi movies, and even soundtrack CDs. The video version of this movie I rented included the short "Bambi Meets Godzilla" cartoon. Poor Bambi!

I think Shuichi Nagahara wrote a nice screenplay, depicting suspense, humor, power, and politics. Koji Hashimoto did a good job directing(keeping the plot intact), and Teruyoshi Nakano did great on the special effects (probably his best work). Reijiro Koroku provided a terrific music score, creating what I think is one of the best non-Ifukube scores.

Even though this movie features Godzilla only, it remains one of my all-time favorites. The scenes of Godzilla rising out of Tokyo bay, rendering the military helpless, and causing a path of destruction in Tokyo as citizens run for their lives are powerful. The scene where Godzilla derails a train with people still in it is still appalling for me to watch. I used to fast-forward the sea louse scene, for it scared the heck out of me. Now, the scene it pretty tamed to watch. The part where Godzilla falls inside the volcano was sad to watch, and aroused my sympathy in the monster. When the character Professor Hayashida said that "when mankind falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born," I think it is a really moral message (thinking back that it was nuclear bombs that brought Godzilla's wrath). And, the part where Burr said at the climax of the film that hints Godzilla is a natural force better explains Godzilla's purpose.

Overall, a great way to revive the Godzilla series after a 9-year hiatus, and a great introduction to the Godzilla "Heisei" series, which ran from 1984-1995. Also, it is a great introduction for me into the world of Godzilla.

Grade A

Godzilla returns in a (somewhat) serious vehicle with a (somewhat) big budget. Americans yawned or laughed this off the screen, for the most part, but if you dig Godzilla you should dig this, his most respectable film since the 1954 original.

Yes, it's not that fast paced. No, Godzilla doesn't fight with other creatures. So what? After about twenty lurid, cheap movies that involved Godzilla in mortal combat with rubberized foes, it was nice to see him get back to menacing basics here.

While the special effects are not quite up to the Hollywood standard, they're still entertaining and reasonably convincing. American critics who slammed the film's look were being just a tad intolerant - all foreign films tend to be cheaper than ours, so inferior effects are a given. My bottom line for judging SFX is not, "are they realistic?" but "are they fun?", and the shots of Godzilla laying waste to Tokyo are indeed fun.

Godzilla fans often complain about the film's overtly political concerns and somber mood, but I have to disagree with them; I like a bit of realism, a bit of credibility. I do think that there are several better, faster-paced Godzilla films (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, GMK), but this is still a standout entry in the series.

Who knows when we'll get another solo vehicle for the big G? The upcoming Godzilla: Final Wars will apparently feature a total of ten monsters. At least in this movie, Godzilla had the spotlight all to himself.

Despite bringing back director Ishirô Honda and toning down the child-friendly antics that were plaguing the series, 1975's "Terror of Mechagodzilla" was a financial failure and the big guy was put on waivers for a decade. His triumphant return in 1984, his 16th outing, was a big-budget, one-monster show that was very much a return to the roots of the series (literally, as all of the intervening sequels were ignored as well as was the obvious death of the monster at the end of the original). As in the '54 version, the story opens with an attack on a ship, from which there is a single survivor, who claims to have seen a giant monster. People are generally disbelieving (which seems odd, as only 30 years have passed since Tokyo was first flattened by a giant monster), but come around when Godzilla wades ashore and destroys a nuclear power plant. Although nods are made to environmental concerns, the background issue in this film is the cold-war, as the Soviets and the Americans push to be allowed to use nuclear weapons against the monster. The Japanese prime minster is all quiet dignity, reason and principles while the Americans and the Russians blustering war-heads, which led to accusations of anti-Americanism in the Reagan-era U.S.A. (at one point in the discussion about using nuclear weapons near Tokyo, the American representative says "This is not time to be talking about principles", a line apparently changed in the American version of the film). Most of the special efforts are very good, with Godzilla back destroying cities rather than thrashing around on some inexpensive deserted island set, and although he's increased in height to 50 meters, he himself is dwarfed by Tokyo's towering (but apparently fragile) skyscrapers. Some of the back projection sequences are weak and the diminished scale of the city models limits the details that enhanced the realism of the sets in earlier films, but overall the film looks good. The Godzilla suit is excellent, very saurian and predatory looking, with internal mechanisms that allow for more facial expression than earlier versions and, in addition to the usual tanks and missiles, the JDF deploys laser cannon (nicely done) and the first of a series of improbable looking flying fortresses, the X1 - all of which is effective and exciting. The film's score, although not as good as Akira Ifukube's iconic original, is quite good, especially the ominous opening music. I watched a subtitled Japanese version of the film and parts of an English-dubbed version (but not the American release, which I've read has a number of alterations). The dubbing in the version I saw was not very good, with poor syncing and sometimes silly sounding voices (esp. the Russian ambassadors 'accent'). Remakes of classics are rarely classics themselves (1959's "Ben Hur" notwithstanding), and this incarnation of Godzilla is not as good as the 1954 original, but it is a watchable and entertaining film in its own right, both for fans and for the uninitiated.

-Note; this is based on an English dub of a non-edited, non-Americanised version of this movie. Ergo, without the Raymond Burr scenes and the hefty changes made (why do those yanks always insist on messing with Japanese originals?). The box called it "the Return of Godzilla"-

As a kaiju film on it's own, it's nice enough. As a big 80's-90's return to the screen for Goji, it's dreadfully underwhelming.

There are quite some good things in here; the film does a good job of establishing a more dark and menacing atmosphere. Godzilla is a proper monster in this movie in that he should be feared, and with no other big monster to battle against him around, he's suddenly lots more tricky to get rid of.

Alas, he's also a little dull on his own in this film. There's a long and slow build-up before the destruction actually begins. But when Goji does finally reach Tokyo, the city-stomping that ensues in much more sedate and uneventful than what the viewer's been hoping for, and doesn't manage to really satisfy one. Instead, Goji spends a lot of time just standing around, and leaving lots of large buildings simply untouched (while you very badly -want- to see him smash them up). Once he's killed off in a rather daft way, you're left with a pretty empty "was that everything?" feeling.

Furthemore, the Godzilla suit doesn't look all that slick and modern. In facial close-up shots, his eyes look painfully plastic-like, for instance. The numerous scenes of people excitedly running about, trying to avert or escape from more catastrophes do add suspense (there's the whole atomic missile subplot as well), but we were hoping for a good new Goji flick, not a cold war drama story.

Although disappointing on the whole, as a curiosity, it's worth a go for kaiju fans, and shows an interesting darker, more menacing side of Godzilla that rarely surfaces outside of the original 1950's film (and perhaps Godzilla vs Destroyah). One really has to feel sorry for the over-stressed prime minister in this movie. The man deserves a good vacation in Okinawa after all that ^^. Despite it's shortcomings, kaiju die-hards can still enjoy this more or less (others needn't bother, there are better giant monster flicks for them out there). And of course, even this rather low-level Goji entry can still wipe the floor with that pathetic Tri-Star Godzilla travesty any day. Granted, that's not saying very much, but oh well... If you must see this, try to go for a non-edited version, as I'm told the US release had some very hefty changes that strongly marr the film.

I firmly believe that Godzilla is criminally misunderstood in America. Much of this comes from the horrendous dubbings that we are often exposed to. The Americanized version even features Raymond Burr and a giant Dr. Pepper product placement. This makes it tough to take the film seriously on any level. I encourage you to search out the original version. You might be lucky enough to find it on ebay as a region 0 DVD. You won't find it in Blockbuster or most video stores.

Admittedly, it takes a special kind of person to search out the original, then look past the `special' effects and see the metaphysical implications of a giant monster destroying mankind. This may or not be worth your time, but if you decide to watch this film, watch it, not as `Godzilla 1985,' but as `Gojira 1984.' Otherwise you might as well stick with the Devlin/Emmerich remake that's just as funny as the dubbed versions, but for all the wrong reasons.

Also, an excellent score is turned in by Reijiro Koroku, it takes inspiration from the classic Godzilla theme but adds some real depth.