Godzilla 1985

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.

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.

I have seen this film many times when I was young, but only the Raymond Burr version named "Godzilla 1985" which I later realized that the Raymond Burr scenes are entirely pointless and some of his lines are off and don't make sense, including ridiculous scenes in the American base where there's a Pepsi machine and a character drinks Pepsi when a serious moment happens just for advertisement, bad dubbing, bad dialogue, and the people working on the film removed the scenes with horrors of nuclear devastation, but I'm not giving an eight to the American version, I'm giving it to the Japanese version, which I have seen recently on DVD and I got to say this version is more superior. First of all, you can take the film more serious, and the film doesn't add crappy humor, and no Raymond Burr scenes. I also like the haunting score by Reijiro Koroku, and the fact that they makers of film brought Godzilla back to his roots, and the film also has a bigger budget so, the special effects, Godzilla suit, and miniatures are more better made (not perfect though). This is in my opinion, this is second greatest Godzilla movie next to original un-cut Gojira.

I would recommend that anyone who has only seen one version of this film make an effort to see whichever version you haven't seen. The changes that have been made between the Japanese/International version and the American version are very telling, in themselves.

Quite a few people criticize the suit design in this movie, but I think it's my favorite out of all the suits from 1954-1995. It looks the least like any 'real' reptile and more like a maddened, nuke-scorched monster. Or maybe just a big, green charcoal briquette with eyes. Anyway, it's feral and mindless, which is what Godzilla originally was. None of this superhero-friend-to-children-single-dad B.S. He's indestructible, he's angry, and he's going to destroy things. Why? Because.

I agree with the criticism of the FX. Even though we don't expect miracles from a Godzilla movie, this one had some rough spots that typically didn't appear in even the cheapest of the series' offerings. One scene in particular comes to mind: when Godzilla does a firesweep of the military equipment firing on him as he comes out of Tokyo bay, the angle of the animated firebreath doesn't match the aim of the monster's head.

I also agree that there isn't enough city-smashing. Some people prefer monster vs. monster battles, some prefer monster vs. military, I'm one of the group that likes to see major metropolitan areas levelled. Frankly, this movie didn't fully satisfy ANY of the three groups, as far as I can tell.

All that said, this is my second-favorite Godzilla film, after the original King of the Monsters and before Godzilla vs. King Kong. De gustibus non est disputandum.

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.