Directed by Ishiro Honda
Starring Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura
This statement will come as no surprise to people who actually know me in real life, but here it goes again: I hate modern films. At least modern blockbusters, which are the only films that people go to see in theaters anyway. I recognize that they're difficult to make and that studios and creators put a LOT of effort into making $250+ million worth of stuff blow up in front of a green screen. But that's all that they are. All sizzle, no sausage. More than anything, it just depresses me how all of the resources go to these soulless cash grabs and how all of the talent involved in making them, both in front of and behind the camera, seemingly goes to waste.
I dreaded watching this film for that reason. I've seen a few other kaiju films including two or three of the older Godzilla movies, and based on everything that I'd seen of them they were essentially the 1960s equivalent of Marvel movies. All destruction, no construction. I was slightly surprised that I got a fair amount of enjoyment out of this original film in the franchise. It's not a masterpiece, but it's definitely got its moments and is worth checking out once in your life. But probably only once. Snarling roar.
The movie opens with a series of boats in the Japan Sea being incinerated by an unseen source, followed by an unseen attack by an unseen beast on an island fishing village. The Japanese government responds by sending Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) to said village to investigate. It doesn't take long for the Jurassic Park sound of massive footsteps to be heard, followed by some amazing forced perspective camera work showing a massive reptile's head emerging over a nearby mountain. The monster is over 50 meters tall, it's impervious to weapons, and it's here to stay.
And now for a few words on the human element on this original iteration of the familiar Godzilla story. Everyone knows what one of these films entails: mythical creature Godzilla invades mainland Japan, wrecks shit, leaves, is eventually driven away and/or killed. What THIS movie has going for it is an interesting little batch of main characters. Dr. Yamane's daughter Emiko (Momoko Kochi) is the arranged fiance of brilliant scientist Dr. Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata), but she is really in love with boat captain Ogata (Akira Takarada). It comes off way better than how I just typed it, believe me. There is also a strangely environmental angle to the story, as most of the military-industrial-science complex depicted in the film wants to kill Godzilla while the elder Dr. Yamane wants to study the creature, which he believes was born of H-bomb testing.
That about brings us to the AFOREMENTIONED "wreck shit" part of the proceedings. While initially limiting his attacks to the open sea and sparsely populated villages, he eventually makes his way to Tokyo. The military guys have erected a GIANT ELECTRIC FENCE (not kidding) to keep him at bay, which not surprisingly fails to do anything. Cue the tail swipes, punches, and fire breath spews. This sequence is pretty well done by 1954 standards, with the only thing that elicited a chuckle from this reviewer being the toy trucks with stationary army men figurines that get swiped off the road. Having said that, there is also a stirring series of shots showing the after-effects of the destruction that look eerily like leveled World War II-era Japanese cities.
The ending sequence is also effective if not a little out there, even for a movie about a giant reptilian dragon. It involves the use of one of those magic movie-ending pieces of technology that one of the characters has conveniently invented solely for script purposes. It DOES, however, end with a pretty damn good piece of emotional sacrifice and a didactic speech from Dr. Yamane that I surprisingly did not hate.The movie worked with me on an unexpected level. The script and the acting are both pedestrian and the special effects are only adequate. However, it's got a subtext that really resonated with me. War is bad, m'kay? By the way, all three people who read my previous blog were aware of how much disdain I held for films that beat you over the head with a message. Well, the current age of corporate-sponsored wokeness, gender-swapping reboots and rewriting the histories of all your favorite characters has actually given me more appreciation for older films where the social commentary was at least genuine and not primarily concerned with pandering to mobs and demoralizing fan bases. Hell, the antiwar stuff was actually my FAVORITE thing about this movie.
Imagine this version of Godzilla: The opening attack scenes, followed by a solid 30 minutes of dealing with an Emiko/Shizawa/Ogata love triangle. A bit more enmity between the two male characters in that triangle rears its head at the end of Act One just as the monster begins to rampage in the tiny village. The tension builds as the characters go on the trail of the creature as it eventually makes its way to Tokyo, with Shizawa unearthing his hidden Oxygen McGuffin Machine during the low point/stand up script beat. A few minor changes, and this would have been a really effective and emotional monster movie. At least in my eyes; plenty of other folks enjoy these movies, so don't let me stop you.
Rating time: ** out of ****. It was WAY better than I thought it was going to be. Still not as good as a film version of this would have been:
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