Le retour de Godzilla

Picking up 30 odd years later and ignoring all the films that were made in between, Godzilla returns to trample Tokyo. The Tokyo natives think up all sorts of goofy plans to get rid of Godzilla, one which involves a highly advanced flying tank called Super-X, the other involving the use of birds to activate an often unused portion of Godzilla's brain that resembles a bird's to lead him out of Tokyo and into a volcano, where he remains until the sequel, "Godzilla VS Biollante".

The "1985" American version includes scenes of us damned Americans trying to figure out what do and features Raymond Burr reprising his Steve Martin character from the American version of the first film. However, his first name is never used on account of comedian Steve Martin's then hot popularity. This version also gives Russians a bad name because they made the Russian commander launch the missile before he died when in the original version he died heroically trying to stop the missile's launching but failed. The death of the tramp is also shown in the original version.

Maybe it's the lighting or lack there of, the smoke, or just the dated quality of my VHS tape, but this is a very dark and atmospheric monster on the rampage epic and one that I hold very close to my heart for reasons I can't quite explain. Special effects run the usual gamut from good to ridiculous, and the music is pretty good. Whether or not the original version will ever be released in America remains to be seen. I'd settle for just being able to see this one on DVD somewhere.

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.

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.

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.

Godzilla 1984 stands out as one of the best and most politically imbued Godzilla films ever made and deserves more credit for what it accomplished. Godzilla

1984 single-handedly revitalized the Godzilla franchise into the machine it is today and ushered in a new concept for what the monster could be; gone are

the kiddie children and the super-robots, the monster melees and monster

dancing - here is a return to what Godzilla truly is: and unstoppable force of nature. The original Japanese version is far superior to the butchered American cut and their political agenda is far more subtle than the American's tactless editing of the Russian nuclear launch sequence. Fans would do well to view

the original as it retains the history and dignity of the first Godzilla film.