GalacticPetey
Donkey Kong
The new Godzilla is coming up and I am fucking pumped. To celebrate, I will be watching a reviewing a Toho kaiju film a day from today until May 15th. I will be covering every Godzilla film that I own as well as some of Toho's other films like Rodan and War of the Gargantuas. Unfortunately, I don't own Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster or The Return of Godzilla, so they'll have to be skipped. I will give each film a rating out of five. I hope this possibly gains your interest in this genre.
Without further ado, here's my review of Gojira, the original 1954. I'm just going to post my review from another thread. Just know that none of the other reviews will be this long. This film is a very special exception.
Okay, so what's the plot? The year is 1954 in Japan. The film opens with a ship being destroyed. All we see is a blinding flash of light, and suddenly the bout is on fire and sinking. Soon, several more ships begin sinking. One man who works at the shipping company who own several of the lost ships is named Ogata. He is currently in love with a girl name Emiko Yamane. She is the daughter of the famous paleontologist Dr. Yamane. A journalist named Hagiwara and several others take a helicopter to Odo Island. This island is very close to where all the ship disasters occurred and the islanders are the only ones to have seen a survivor from one of the attacks. The night that Hagiwara and the other journalists stay on the island, they watch an ancient ritual that was performed long ago. The elder tells them the legend of a monster called Godzilla. He tells them that when fishing was poor, a girl would be sent out as sacrifice to the monster. That very night, a typhoon hits the island. However, there is something else wreaking havoc. An islander named Shinkichi goes out to see what it is. Not long after he leaves, Shinkichi watches in horror as an enormous creature destroys his house and kills his family.
The journalists return to Japan, along with several islanders. They tell their story to the politicians and scientists. All of them mention a large creature attacking the island. Dr. Yamane decides to send a research team to the island to investigate. Ogata, Emiko, Yamane, and Hagiwara are all on the research ship. As they leave, a mysterious man watches them. We soon find out that the man is Dr. Serizawa. He was arranged to marry Emiko long ago. While Emiko loves Ogata and not him, she still sees Serizawa like an older brother. When the research team arrives, they make several startling discoveries. First is that there are traces of high radiation everywhere, especially meat the buildings that looked like they were crushed from above. Second, Yamane finds a trilobite it a large impression in the ground. Trilobites were a species of animal that went extinct long before dinosaurs even existed. By the way, that large impression in the ground where the trilobite was found, Dr. Yamane soon discovers that it's an enormous footprint. Suddenly, people been screaming and bells are being rung. Dr. Yamane and the others quickly run to the hill where several people claimed to have seen something. When they arrive, something massive appears over the side of the hill. We get are first look at Godzilla. Everyone flees in terror as Godzilla roars. Almost as quickly as he appeared, Godzilla disappears from behind the hill and goes into the ocean. All that's left are colossal footprints in the sand.
Dr. Yamane presents his discoveries in a meeting of Japan's top scientists and politicians. Yamane explains his theory as to why the traces of radiation were found. According to Yamane, Godzilla has appeared due to the repeated testing of the Hydrogen Bomb in the South-Pacific. This soon causes an argument. Since it has been nine years since the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, how should the government act? Should they keep the info on Godzilla confidential, or should it be known to the public? The truth ends up getting out. Later, the military decides to use depth charges to kill Godzilla. It is believed to be a success and a party ship goes out on Tokyo Bay. The passengers are soon horrified when Godzilla rises from the waters of Tokyo Bay before going back underwater. This causes panic across the country. Yamane is now very conflicted. The government wants Godzilla dead and soon. Yamane, however, wants Godzilla to be left alive so he can studied.
Meanwhile, Hagiwara goes to Emiko because he wishes to talk to Serizawa. The two visit Serizawa. Hagiwara asks him several questions about what he's working on because it is rumored Serizawa is helping formulate a plan to defeat Godzilla. Serizawa is very secretive of his work and kindly tells Hagiwara he has no info to share. Hagiwara leaves, but Emiko stays. She planned on telling him that she is now engaged to Ogata. Before she does, Serizawa asks Emiko if she wishes to see what he's working on. She says yes and they both head on down to Serizawa's lab. The scientist puts a small device in a fish tank and tells Emiko to stay back. Emiko shields her eyes and screams at the horrible sight (shown offscreen) that unfolds. Dr. Serizawa asks her to make sure no one finds out about it. She agrees and leaves without telling him about her relationship with Ogata. Emiko returns home very solemnly to Ogata, her father, and Shinkichi who has moved in because his family and home were both lost. That night, Godzilla is sighted in Tokyo bay. The monster briefly comes ashore, causes collateral damage (including and excellent sequence with a train), and returns to the ocean.
The next morning, the military begins to erect huge electrical towers all around the perimeter of Tokyo and evacuates areas of people. That night, Godzilla comes ashore again. He briefly stares at the high tension wires before ripping through them with ease, despite being shocked with 50,000 volts of electricity. Godzilla also showcases another of his abilities, a stream a pure radiation like a flame. Godzilla proceeds to lay waste to Tokyo. Buildings are burned, crushed, and people are killed by the thousands. After his rampage, Godzilla returns to the ocean, leaving a sea of fire that was once a city behind him. The next day, hospitals are completely overrun with the dead and dying. People who did not die right away have horrible radiation burns. The sights are too terrible for Emiko to look at anymore. She pulls Ogata aside and tells him about Serizawa's invention. The device the scientist placed in the water is called an "Oxygen Destroyer." When placed in the water, it reduces all life to mangled skeletons. Serizawa came across this while studying oxygen. Until he can find a way to stabilize it, Serizawa does not want the world to know about it. He is terrified of what might happen if it falls into the wrong hands and is used as a weapon.
Ogata and Emiko arrive at Serizawa's house and ask to use the oxygen destroyer against Godzilla. Serizawa angrily refuses. He knows that if his device is shown to the world, countries will do anything to get it and weaponize it. It isn't until Serizawa watches a news broadcast that shows footage of the ruined city and the hospitals while playing a prayer for peace sung by a choir of girls that he finally agrees to use the Oxygen Destroyer. Emiko looks on crying as Serizawa burns all his research and life's work away.
A boat goes out into Tokyo Bay, carrying several soldiers, reporters, and scientists, along with Yamane, Ogata, Emiko, and Serizawa. Ogata and Serizawa both put on diving suits as they go down to put the oxygen destroyer into place. Once they see Godzilla start to get up, Serizawa places the Oxygen Destroyer down. Ogata is lifted back up to the boat, but Serizawa stays. The tortured scientist wishes his secret to never be discovered, so he takes his own life by cutting his oxygen supply and the rope that was used to send him down there (diving suits worked differently in the fifties). As Serizawa dies, he tells Ogata over the radio to be happy with Emiko. Godzilla surfaces one last time and gives out a final roar, and sinks to the bottom. The monster is reduced to skeleton, then to nothing. The film ends on somber note as the crew mourns Serizawa's death and Yamane ends with a haunting line about the possibility of another Godzilla appearing if nuclear tests continue.
Wow, that was a mouthful, and that was just the plot! Now I'll go into the specifics.
Like in Jaws, there is more to the movie than the monster. Sure, the monster is great, but we really get attached to the characters. One of the best parts about this movie is the fact that their is no one main character. The focus shifts. At times, Ogata is the focus, at others, it's Serizawa, or Yamane, or even Emiko. All the actors do a great job. The two best performances are Yamane and Serizawa. Dr. Yamane is played by Takashi Shimura. He does a great job portraying the scientist. Yamane really wants to keep Godzilla love so he can be studied. Shimura does a great job of making the character very passionate about his beliefs. You feel the pain when Yamane watches the military use the depth bombs on Godzilla. He gets up and leaves from the TV to sit down in his study to think about everything that's happening. Despite having a little dialogue in the scene, you can just feel the weight of the scene when he quietly asks Emiko to leave him alone so he can think. The final scene with Yamane on the boat results in one of the best quotes from a Godzilla film ever and ties into the message well, but more on that later. Akihiko Hirata does and outstanding job of playing Dr. Serizawa. You can just see and feel that this man has been through hell. He lost one eye in WWII and knows a horrible secret that me must keep from the rest of the world. He never comes off as arrogant when he speaks of keeping the secret from everyone. You can agree with every point he makes about what would happen if the power fell into the wrong hands. We get attached to this character and get genuinely sad when he takes his life at the end of the movie.
Now, let's talk about Godzilla himself. This is one of my favorite portrayals of Godzilla. There's something about the permanent downwards stare that is terrifying. Godzilla is played by Haruo Nakajima in a rubber suit. You have to give this man credit, he went through hell while filming this. The suit weighed nearly 200 pounds (90 kg) and it was nearly impossible to breath in. He could only film seconds at a time. There were pools of sweat in the feet of the suit after filming. Throughout the movie, Godzilla is filmed from low angles, which makes him seem huge. This Godzilla causes some major destruction. Other than the 2001 Godzilla, this is the only Godzilla that I feel is just pure evil. He burns and crushes several thousand people. The roar is fantastic and terrifying. Other than the 1984 roar, none of the other roars give off the same feeling of power and terror. When I saw the movie as young kid, this Godzilla terrified me. Eiji Tsuburaya really outdid himself when creating this suit.
Music is a huge part of every Godzilla movie. Even the terrible movies can be saved by their amazing musical scores. Akira Ifukube's score for Godzilla is one of his best. This is the first appearance of the Godzilla theme and the Japanese Army March. Both would be used a ton in later films. A lot of songs like the city destruction music and the "Godzilla Under the Sea" theme are haunting and memorable. It's a shame they didn't come back in future films. Well, the latter did for a brief scene inGodzilla vs. Destoroyah.
Now for the best aspect of this movie, the message. Contrary to popular belief. The Godzilla series did not start off as a camp movie. Oh no. This film is one of the grimmest and most somber films I have ever seen. This film came out less than a decade after the atomic bombings. The horrors were still fresh in the mind of the Japanese people. Godzilla is a metaphor for the atomic bomb. There are several callbacks to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in this film. During the city destruction sequence, a mother holds her children close. She whispers that they will "be with daddy soon" as Godzilla looms overhead. This scene in very disturbing, but it doesn't end there. I still have a hard time watching the scenes in the hospital. People lie everywhere with very little room due to the sheer amount of injured and dead people. Most of them have horrible radiation burns. There's a scene where a little girl sits by her unmoving mother. As two nurses take the mother away, the girl begins screaming and crying as Emiko tries to console her. It's hard to watch because the screams are so intense. Another powerful moment is the choir of girls singing the solemn "Prayer for Peace" over the images of the ruined city and dead hospital patients. The imagery combined with the quiet music is incredibly intense. Director Ishiro Honda was very much anti-nuclear weapons and it shows in this film.
Bottom line, this is my favorite movie of all time. The creative team of Ishiro Honda, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Akira Ifukube created a masterpiece here. If you have not seen the original Japanese version of the 1954 Godzilla, go do yourself a favor and buy the Classic Media 2-disc DVD. It comes with tons of behind the scenes stuff and commentaries, plus the vastly different American version.
Wow. That was a ton. What can I say, I love this movie.
TL
R- Don't skip to the end. Go back and read.
Final Score: 5/5
Without further ado, here's my review of Gojira, the original 1954. I'm just going to post my review from another thread. Just know that none of the other reviews will be this long. This film is a very special exception.
Okay, so what's the plot? The year is 1954 in Japan. The film opens with a ship being destroyed. All we see is a blinding flash of light, and suddenly the bout is on fire and sinking. Soon, several more ships begin sinking. One man who works at the shipping company who own several of the lost ships is named Ogata. He is currently in love with a girl name Emiko Yamane. She is the daughter of the famous paleontologist Dr. Yamane. A journalist named Hagiwara and several others take a helicopter to Odo Island. This island is very close to where all the ship disasters occurred and the islanders are the only ones to have seen a survivor from one of the attacks. The night that Hagiwara and the other journalists stay on the island, they watch an ancient ritual that was performed long ago. The elder tells them the legend of a monster called Godzilla. He tells them that when fishing was poor, a girl would be sent out as sacrifice to the monster. That very night, a typhoon hits the island. However, there is something else wreaking havoc. An islander named Shinkichi goes out to see what it is. Not long after he leaves, Shinkichi watches in horror as an enormous creature destroys his house and kills his family.
The journalists return to Japan, along with several islanders. They tell their story to the politicians and scientists. All of them mention a large creature attacking the island. Dr. Yamane decides to send a research team to the island to investigate. Ogata, Emiko, Yamane, and Hagiwara are all on the research ship. As they leave, a mysterious man watches them. We soon find out that the man is Dr. Serizawa. He was arranged to marry Emiko long ago. While Emiko loves Ogata and not him, she still sees Serizawa like an older brother. When the research team arrives, they make several startling discoveries. First is that there are traces of high radiation everywhere, especially meat the buildings that looked like they were crushed from above. Second, Yamane finds a trilobite it a large impression in the ground. Trilobites were a species of animal that went extinct long before dinosaurs even existed. By the way, that large impression in the ground where the trilobite was found, Dr. Yamane soon discovers that it's an enormous footprint. Suddenly, people been screaming and bells are being rung. Dr. Yamane and the others quickly run to the hill where several people claimed to have seen something. When they arrive, something massive appears over the side of the hill. We get are first look at Godzilla. Everyone flees in terror as Godzilla roars. Almost as quickly as he appeared, Godzilla disappears from behind the hill and goes into the ocean. All that's left are colossal footprints in the sand.
Dr. Yamane presents his discoveries in a meeting of Japan's top scientists and politicians. Yamane explains his theory as to why the traces of radiation were found. According to Yamane, Godzilla has appeared due to the repeated testing of the Hydrogen Bomb in the South-Pacific. This soon causes an argument. Since it has been nine years since the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, how should the government act? Should they keep the info on Godzilla confidential, or should it be known to the public? The truth ends up getting out. Later, the military decides to use depth charges to kill Godzilla. It is believed to be a success and a party ship goes out on Tokyo Bay. The passengers are soon horrified when Godzilla rises from the waters of Tokyo Bay before going back underwater. This causes panic across the country. Yamane is now very conflicted. The government wants Godzilla dead and soon. Yamane, however, wants Godzilla to be left alive so he can studied.
Meanwhile, Hagiwara goes to Emiko because he wishes to talk to Serizawa. The two visit Serizawa. Hagiwara asks him several questions about what he's working on because it is rumored Serizawa is helping formulate a plan to defeat Godzilla. Serizawa is very secretive of his work and kindly tells Hagiwara he has no info to share. Hagiwara leaves, but Emiko stays. She planned on telling him that she is now engaged to Ogata. Before she does, Serizawa asks Emiko if she wishes to see what he's working on. She says yes and they both head on down to Serizawa's lab. The scientist puts a small device in a fish tank and tells Emiko to stay back. Emiko shields her eyes and screams at the horrible sight (shown offscreen) that unfolds. Dr. Serizawa asks her to make sure no one finds out about it. She agrees and leaves without telling him about her relationship with Ogata. Emiko returns home very solemnly to Ogata, her father, and Shinkichi who has moved in because his family and home were both lost. That night, Godzilla is sighted in Tokyo bay. The monster briefly comes ashore, causes collateral damage (including and excellent sequence with a train), and returns to the ocean.
The next morning, the military begins to erect huge electrical towers all around the perimeter of Tokyo and evacuates areas of people. That night, Godzilla comes ashore again. He briefly stares at the high tension wires before ripping through them with ease, despite being shocked with 50,000 volts of electricity. Godzilla also showcases another of his abilities, a stream a pure radiation like a flame. Godzilla proceeds to lay waste to Tokyo. Buildings are burned, crushed, and people are killed by the thousands. After his rampage, Godzilla returns to the ocean, leaving a sea of fire that was once a city behind him. The next day, hospitals are completely overrun with the dead and dying. People who did not die right away have horrible radiation burns. The sights are too terrible for Emiko to look at anymore. She pulls Ogata aside and tells him about Serizawa's invention. The device the scientist placed in the water is called an "Oxygen Destroyer." When placed in the water, it reduces all life to mangled skeletons. Serizawa came across this while studying oxygen. Until he can find a way to stabilize it, Serizawa does not want the world to know about it. He is terrified of what might happen if it falls into the wrong hands and is used as a weapon.
Ogata and Emiko arrive at Serizawa's house and ask to use the oxygen destroyer against Godzilla. Serizawa angrily refuses. He knows that if his device is shown to the world, countries will do anything to get it and weaponize it. It isn't until Serizawa watches a news broadcast that shows footage of the ruined city and the hospitals while playing a prayer for peace sung by a choir of girls that he finally agrees to use the Oxygen Destroyer. Emiko looks on crying as Serizawa burns all his research and life's work away.
A boat goes out into Tokyo Bay, carrying several soldiers, reporters, and scientists, along with Yamane, Ogata, Emiko, and Serizawa. Ogata and Serizawa both put on diving suits as they go down to put the oxygen destroyer into place. Once they see Godzilla start to get up, Serizawa places the Oxygen Destroyer down. Ogata is lifted back up to the boat, but Serizawa stays. The tortured scientist wishes his secret to never be discovered, so he takes his own life by cutting his oxygen supply and the rope that was used to send him down there (diving suits worked differently in the fifties). As Serizawa dies, he tells Ogata over the radio to be happy with Emiko. Godzilla surfaces one last time and gives out a final roar, and sinks to the bottom. The monster is reduced to skeleton, then to nothing. The film ends on somber note as the crew mourns Serizawa's death and Yamane ends with a haunting line about the possibility of another Godzilla appearing if nuclear tests continue.
Wow, that was a mouthful, and that was just the plot! Now I'll go into the specifics.
Like in Jaws, there is more to the movie than the monster. Sure, the monster is great, but we really get attached to the characters. One of the best parts about this movie is the fact that their is no one main character. The focus shifts. At times, Ogata is the focus, at others, it's Serizawa, or Yamane, or even Emiko. All the actors do a great job. The two best performances are Yamane and Serizawa. Dr. Yamane is played by Takashi Shimura. He does a great job portraying the scientist. Yamane really wants to keep Godzilla love so he can be studied. Shimura does a great job of making the character very passionate about his beliefs. You feel the pain when Yamane watches the military use the depth bombs on Godzilla. He gets up and leaves from the TV to sit down in his study to think about everything that's happening. Despite having a little dialogue in the scene, you can just feel the weight of the scene when he quietly asks Emiko to leave him alone so he can think. The final scene with Yamane on the boat results in one of the best quotes from a Godzilla film ever and ties into the message well, but more on that later. Akihiko Hirata does and outstanding job of playing Dr. Serizawa. You can just see and feel that this man has been through hell. He lost one eye in WWII and knows a horrible secret that me must keep from the rest of the world. He never comes off as arrogant when he speaks of keeping the secret from everyone. You can agree with every point he makes about what would happen if the power fell into the wrong hands. We get attached to this character and get genuinely sad when he takes his life at the end of the movie.
Now, let's talk about Godzilla himself. This is one of my favorite portrayals of Godzilla. There's something about the permanent downwards stare that is terrifying. Godzilla is played by Haruo Nakajima in a rubber suit. You have to give this man credit, he went through hell while filming this. The suit weighed nearly 200 pounds (90 kg) and it was nearly impossible to breath in. He could only film seconds at a time. There were pools of sweat in the feet of the suit after filming. Throughout the movie, Godzilla is filmed from low angles, which makes him seem huge. This Godzilla causes some major destruction. Other than the 2001 Godzilla, this is the only Godzilla that I feel is just pure evil. He burns and crushes several thousand people. The roar is fantastic and terrifying. Other than the 1984 roar, none of the other roars give off the same feeling of power and terror. When I saw the movie as young kid, this Godzilla terrified me. Eiji Tsuburaya really outdid himself when creating this suit.
Music is a huge part of every Godzilla movie. Even the terrible movies can be saved by their amazing musical scores. Akira Ifukube's score for Godzilla is one of his best. This is the first appearance of the Godzilla theme and the Japanese Army March. Both would be used a ton in later films. A lot of songs like the city destruction music and the "Godzilla Under the Sea" theme are haunting and memorable. It's a shame they didn't come back in future films. Well, the latter did for a brief scene inGodzilla vs. Destoroyah.
Now for the best aspect of this movie, the message. Contrary to popular belief. The Godzilla series did not start off as a camp movie. Oh no. This film is one of the grimmest and most somber films I have ever seen. This film came out less than a decade after the atomic bombings. The horrors were still fresh in the mind of the Japanese people. Godzilla is a metaphor for the atomic bomb. There are several callbacks to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in this film. During the city destruction sequence, a mother holds her children close. She whispers that they will "be with daddy soon" as Godzilla looms overhead. This scene in very disturbing, but it doesn't end there. I still have a hard time watching the scenes in the hospital. People lie everywhere with very little room due to the sheer amount of injured and dead people. Most of them have horrible radiation burns. There's a scene where a little girl sits by her unmoving mother. As two nurses take the mother away, the girl begins screaming and crying as Emiko tries to console her. It's hard to watch because the screams are so intense. Another powerful moment is the choir of girls singing the solemn "Prayer for Peace" over the images of the ruined city and dead hospital patients. The imagery combined with the quiet music is incredibly intense. Director Ishiro Honda was very much anti-nuclear weapons and it shows in this film.
Bottom line, this is my favorite movie of all time. The creative team of Ishiro Honda, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Akira Ifukube created a masterpiece here. If you have not seen the original Japanese version of the 1954 Godzilla, go do yourself a favor and buy the Classic Media 2-disc DVD. It comes with tons of behind the scenes stuff and commentaries, plus the vastly different American version.
Wow. That was a ton. What can I say, I love this movie.
TL
R- Don't skip to the end. Go back and read.Final Score: 5/5
