The Japanese government suppresses news of Godzilla's resurrection as political tensions increase between the US and USSR, both of whom willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.The Japanese government suppresses news of Godzilla's resurrection as political tensions increase between the US and USSR, both of whom willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.The Japanese government suppresses news of Godzilla's resurrection as political tensions increase between the US and USSR, both of whom willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOriginal series director Ishirô Honda declined Toho's offer to direct this film, opting instead to work with Akira Kurosawa on his film Ran (1985). Honda had been dishearten by what became of the Godzilla series but he did recommend that Kôji Hashimoto be named the film's director. Hashimoto had been Honda's assistant director throughout the 60's and was enthusiastic to make a Godzilla film that returned to the series' true origins, hearkening back to Honda's original film.
- GoofsThe appearance of Godzilla's face changes throughout the film, primarily in closeup shots. This is because a mechanical Godzilla puppet head is used in many closeup shots and does not completely match the Godzilla suit's head design.
- Quotes
Prime Minster Seiki Mitamura: If Godzilla appeared in your countries, the US and Soviet Union, would you have the courage to use nuclear weapons in Washington, D.C., or Moscow without hesitation?
- ConnectionsEdited from La Dernière Guerre de l'Apocalypse (1961)
- SoundtracksGodzilla: Love Theme
Performed by The Star Sisters
Featured review
Was very excited today to realise that there was a Japanese Godzilla film I TECHNICALLY hadn't seen.
When I was churning my way through the franchise in 2017-2020, I came across Godzilla 1985, and I guess I thought it was just a dubbed version of The Return of Godzilla. At the time it was the only version I could find, and so I thought it was good enough (even though I much prefer subtitles over dubs) and watched it, ultimately finding it decent but definitely not great.
Recently I learnt Godzilla 1985 and The Return of Godzilla were actually quite different, and today when I realised they were both listed separately on IMDB and had quite different runtimes, I figured I needed to watch Return ASAP.
Long story short, it's definitely not the best Japanese Godzilla film, but it's also far from the worst. I liked the political focus for the most part (though this approach was ultimately handled better - and in a more satisfying/satirical way - in 2016's highly acclaimed Shin Godzilla) and a lot of the monster action is highly satisfying, despite some inconsistencies in the special effects.
Pacing isn't always great, and the human characters are typically thin (it's a Godzilla movie; the human characters are like that 80-90% of the time) but I still enjoyed it a lot.
I've missed watching the adventures of my scaly boi, and I think I will rewatch the entire series soon. Picked up that glorious Criterion set on Bluray a couple of months ago, so am looking forward to seeing those older ones in better than DVD quality.
When I was churning my way through the franchise in 2017-2020, I came across Godzilla 1985, and I guess I thought it was just a dubbed version of The Return of Godzilla. At the time it was the only version I could find, and so I thought it was good enough (even though I much prefer subtitles over dubs) and watched it, ultimately finding it decent but definitely not great.
Recently I learnt Godzilla 1985 and The Return of Godzilla were actually quite different, and today when I realised they were both listed separately on IMDB and had quite different runtimes, I figured I needed to watch Return ASAP.
Long story short, it's definitely not the best Japanese Godzilla film, but it's also far from the worst. I liked the political focus for the most part (though this approach was ultimately handled better - and in a more satisfying/satirical way - in 2016's highly acclaimed Shin Godzilla) and a lot of the monster action is highly satisfying, despite some inconsistencies in the special effects.
Pacing isn't always great, and the human characters are typically thin (it's a Godzilla movie; the human characters are like that 80-90% of the time) but I still enjoyed it a lot.
I've missed watching the adventures of my scaly boi, and I think I will rewatch the entire series soon. Picked up that glorious Criterion set on Bluray a couple of months ago, so am looking forward to seeing those older ones in better than DVD quality.
- Jeremy_Urquhart
- Oct 14, 2021
- Permalink
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $6,250,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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