Godzilla

For those who are mildly interested in this movie, you must understand the seriousness of this movie. More than a movie about a guy in a rubber suit breaking toy buildings, Gojira is a very serious consideration about the horrors of nuclear war.

A few items to watch for include:

The first scenes of Tokyo after having been leveled by Gojira (Godzilla) almost mirror the photographs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings.

The images of the injured people in the hospitals again, mirror the photographs of "survivors" of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Look for references to the American nuclear tests on the Bikini atolls (they are abundant).

Finally, keep in mind that Gojira is a symbol of nuclear war. The reason that tanks, planes and heavy artillery don't stop it is because once a nuclear bomb is dropped, nothing can stop the devastation. The only way to avoid it is to not be there in the first place.

Gojira (Godzilla, King of the Monsters) is a definite must-see for anyone interested in film-making at its best.

A film that works because of its campy monster and its budget-limited special effects (they couldn't afford stop motion so it's all a dude wearing a rubber suit tromping on miniatures), but is made special because of its deep meaning and the warnings and questions it has for the nuclear age.

It's telling that it was the most advanced scientific breakthrough made by the most brilliant minds on the planet, the harnessing of the atom, that led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in turn, in this movie, to the unleashing of a two million year old monster. It warns humanity that in stepping forward in its understanding of the universe, it was also taking a step backwards, and unleashing irrational, destructive violence upon the world. That's all pretty obvious I guess, but the scenes of fleeing people being incinerated by Godzilla, women and children huddling together in fear, and the destruction of Tokyo looking like an atomic bomb had gone off must have reverberated especially with the original audiences of the time. It certainly did for me. There is something deeply painful about this film.

In a fascinating development, it's a Japanese scientist who has to wrestle with the morality of having developed a weapon of mass destruction called the 'Oxygen Destroyer', knowing that its use to stop Godzilla in the short term may lead to its use to further horrific destruction in the long term. It seems to put the Japanese in the same position as the Americans in 1945, one where there are no easy answers. How does one put the lid back on the box of an arms race, where one technology or act of violence leads to another in a crazy, unending spiral? The solution offered may or may not be all that realistic, but I thought just raising the question in the way the film did - and so soon after the war - was incredibly thought-provoking and brave. The film thus works on emotional and philosophical levels that one normally wouldn't get in a monster film, or at least, with this level of meaning and intensity. Definitely recommended.

When seventeen vessels blow-up and sink nearby Odo Island, Professor Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura), his daughter Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kôchi), and the marine officer Hideto Ogata (Akira Takarada) head to the island to investigate. Soon they witness a giant monster called Gojira by the locals destroying the spot. Meanwhile Emiko meets her boyfriend, the secluded scientist Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata), and he makes she promise to keep a secret about his research with oxygen. She agrees and he discloses the lethal weapon Oxygen Destroyer that he had developed. When Gojira threatens Tokyo and other Japanese cities and the army and the navy are incapable to stop the monster, Emiko discloses Serizawa´s secret to her lover Ogata. Now they want to convince Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer to stop Gojira.

"Gojira" (1954) is a surprisingly good Godzilla film, with well-developed story, screenplay and characters. Despite the dated effects and the behavior of Emiko, the plot is engaging and holds the attention of the viewer to the last scene. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Godzilla"

The original Japanese version of Godzilla is a breathtaking classic. A giant monster is awaken by the over abundance of nuclear radiation and goes on a rampage across Japan. What follows is an unforgettable experience that stands as the greatest giant monster film of all time, if one does not count King Kong that is.

Japan was best fit to make a film about the effects of nuclear radiation since they had experience the atomic bomb first hand nearly a decade earlier. It was a powerful statement for the time. I really wish more people would give this movie a chance and realize how smart it is.

Besides the powerful message, the film is best known for its pioneering special effects. Yes, by today's standards, the suits and miniatures are pretty archaic. But they still look great over sixty years later. The destruction that Godzilla causes is both exciting and horrifying. Few monster movies have the emotion and smarts that this one has. Of course, their is the monster himself. What a sight. The design has changed greatly over the years but this one is the most iconic of course. The menacing eyes, roar and towering size make him a sight to behold. I highly recommend checking out the behind the scenes features that talk about the making of the famous suit, it's really interesting.

Then there's the most underrated part of the movie, the cast. Most Godzilla fans will recognize Akira Takarada as the lead. He's very good here and would continue to Star in the series for many years. The biggest name here is Takashi Shimura. He's of course best known for appearing in several Akira Kurosawa classics such as Seven Samurai and Ikiru.

Godzilla gets a bad rep because of some mediocre to atrocious sequels with some gems here and there. But the original stands above them like a atomic breath breathing monster. Godzilla is essential cinema that can be enjoyed for many different reasons.

Trying to convince somebody that isn't wholly invested in cinema, or somebody simply not willing to learn about the culture, that the first Godzilla film was actually a film littered with commentary and played nothing like the idea we all have in our heads about the towering monster is a daunting and almost thankless task in itself. Once you grasp the idea of a postwar Japan that was left demilitarized and financially and structurally battered, fearful of invaders, nuclear repercussions, and the country's future in terms of basic economic prosperity, the original, 1954 Japanese film (known as Gojira in Japanese) becomes a film ripe for thoughtful dissection and analysis by just your average cinephile or history buff.

Little needs to be explained in the way of the film's story, I feel, but the basic idea concerns the awakening of a towering behemoth thanks to prolific nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese are petrified of the destruction possible with this creature lurking around, find their government is content on hiding and obscuring facts related to the issue, and see a dissenting country in the mix of deciding what to do with the monster. While a good majority of the people, understandably, want this monster extinct and destroyed as soon as possible, Dr. Yamane Emiko (Momoko Kōchi) finds the possibility for research and analysis on Godzilla invaluable and has the ambition to try and capture him alive. Dr. Emiko is in the minority on this view, but he sees the long-term value in the creature, while the townspeople, acting on impulse and responding to an immediate conception of fear, want nothing to do with the creature.

This ignites an idea brought on by classic Universal monster movies of the 1930's and 1940's about humans' role in these man-made disasters, or whether or not humans have the responsibility to "play God" in any way. This idea, in conjunction with relativistic looks at the Japanese mindset in the 1940's and 1950's, after the repercussions of World War II, the basic elements of human fear, and what Godzilla metaphorically represents, are all relative in analyzing this particular piece, and it may indeed be the only franchise where the first film is looked at and critiqued in an entirely different light than its successors.

Following the boom of the Japanese film industry in the 1950's and 1960's, American activities such as golf were beginning to become prominent in Japan, along with the ubiquity of home Television sets, which saw exponential sales from a few thousands to two million during the mid to late 1960's. As a result, Japan's successful film industry became short-lived, as less and less people flocked out to the theaters due to the lack of popularity of the establishments comparative to the United States. The company that released Gojira, Toho and its director Ishirō Honda, began catering to the lowest common-denominator, not filling their follow-up efforts to Godzilla with thought-provoking commentary on Japanese culture and topical events, but instead, loading them with the kind of cheesiness and glitz expected to attract young children or a late-night audience. The Godzilla films became more concerned with the sounds-and-lights aesthetic, ridiculous and often ludicrous monsters that were totally geared towards selling action figures, and a line of comic books and video games to license the everlasting hell out of Godzilla name.

This kind of franchise and international ubiquity obscured the original film not only for its datedness but made its justifications for social commentary laughable to those uninformed about Japanese culture at the time . This is one of the many things licensing does to hurt a brand or product in the long-term sense, for it alienates consumers because they can't seem to escape it no matter which way they turn, but the reasons for the greatness of the original product become lessened or forgotten due to the constant influx of new material related to the original work.

Gojira may find itself crude in parts, with its assembly of miniatures optimistically passing off as a rogue monstrosity devastating a large community, or its evident aspects showcasing overacting, but it's nonetheless enjoyable on an entertainment level and thoughtful on a commentary-level. This is one of the few films that can be so relevant and topical while playing one of the most simplistic but effective instrumental tracks, and that in its own right is uncommonly beautiful.

Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, and Takashi Shimura. Directed by: Ishirō Honda.