Mutant Reviewers from Hell do
"Then you have a responsibility no man has ever faced. You have your fear, which might become reality; and you have Godzilla, which IS reality."

1954 NR / Scifi Action Directed by: Ishirô Honda Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi, Akihiko Hirata

Tagline

Incredible, unstoppable titan of terror!

Summary Capsule

There some part of "giant monster flattens city" you don't understand?

Mutant Meter

Movie Store [proceeds go toward monthly MRFH upkeep]

Amazon.com: DVD | Amazon.com: Soundtrack

Drew's Rating: Wait, where was Matthew Broderick? Did I miss something?
Drew's Review: Here's what I want to know: how exactly did Godzilla come by the title of "king of the monsters"? I mean, that's a pretty hefty claim for some 60,000 ton watery newt to be making. Shouldn't supreme executive power derive from a mandate from the masses, not be arbitrarily awarded to the first fire-breathing mutant that wanders by? Maybe the other monsters would rather exercise due process and elect a President of the monsters, did anybody think about that? For that matter, would you even want to rule a bunch of people who are about 1/400th your size? For God's sake, just shaking hands with your constituents would be a logistical nightmare. Godzilla's pretty stupid.

"Maybe the other monsters would rather exercise due process and elect a President of the monsters, did anybody think about that?"

Nonetheless, he's the focus of our review today, so let's give the guy his props. The plot of the Big G's debut is a familiar one: while visiting Japan, reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) bears witness to an epidemic of ships mysteriously vanishing. Investigating a nearby island whose natives tell of a massive creature that rises from the sea at night to wreak havoc, Martin and government officials encounter the monster that the natives call "Godzilla." Theorizing it to be a prehistoric reptile that lay dormant until awakened by atomic testing, scientists watch helplessly the next night as Godzilla emerges on the shores of Tokyo and lays waste to the city with tooth, claw and radioactive fire. With thousands dead and military force useless, only one hope remains: the Oxygen Destroyer, a weapon designed by Dr. Serizawa that eliminates oxygen from water, killing everything within range. But can Serizawa overcome the horror he feels toward his invention and use the Destroyer on Godzilla… and even if he can, is the weapon itself more dangerous than the monster?

It's interesting to note that the original film does NOT star the kid-friendly, puppy dog "defend Tokyo from evil aliens with my sweet kung fu moves" monster of the 70s. No, this is your grandfather's Godzilla: an inhuman, mega-pissed-off, "I'm going to tear the $#*% out of every damn thing I can get my claws on" leviathan. He doesn't march in a straight line accidentally stepping on stuff; rather, he literally seems intent on annihilating each and every last thing within sight. Far from a misunderstood animal lashing out on instinct, in his first cinematic endeavor the big guy is quite literally a force of nature, sent to punish Japan in a clear allegory to (and condemnation of) the H-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki a decade earlier. All I know is, for some reason that carries a little more weight than Godzilla fighting a giant moth.

The special effects are, as you'd expect, quite cheesy in certain parts… one minute a ship is floating on the waves, then a blinding flash and a model has suddenly been reduced to smoldering timbers. On the other hand, I was surprised by the realism of the monster itself; not in close-up, but the wide-angle shots are relatively good. What I think helps is that Godzilla only comes out at night. Later movies featured a lime-green goon parading around in an obvious costume in broad daylight, but in black-and-white the monster looks dark and terrible, far more frightening because you don't get as close a look at him. Additionally, the underwater cinematography of the end sequence is impressive for the era.

To be honest, there's not a whole lot else to say — it's a good movie for what it is, a 50s sci-fi monster movie with serious, thought-provoking antiwar undertones. (And if you knew how hard it is to type that with a straight face…) The acting's decent, the message is a good one, and despite a slow build-up, it maintains your interest for most of its brief running time. Plus it's cool to see the big guy's origins and compare what he eventually became to the destroyer of worlds he started out as. I can't say it's a film I'll be running back to watch anytime soon, but as someone who saw a LOT of Godzilla movies in his youth, I can honestly say it's one of the few that doesn't fall into the category of "fun, but a complete waste of time." Give it a rent some dark and stormy weekend, see what you think.

"Dude, G, no more trains… they're high in cholesterol, man." The #1 cause of dropped calls in Japan All your Godzilla are belong to us!

Didja Notice? [some sources: IMDb]

• I give them credit for remembering to put a dragging tail mark in between the footprints.
• A newscaster says "It looks as if we are thrown into the world of two million years ago!" The last dinosaurs actually died out 65 million years ago.
• In this film, Godzilla is said to be a "lost link" between dinosaurs and sea reptiles. In later movies, it was decided he was actually a previously undiscovered dinosaur: the Godzillasaurus. Clever.
• Speaking of dinosaurs, the Big G is said to be over 400 feet long, nearly 10 times the size of a T.rex.
• I can understand why removing oxygen from water would kill everything, but why would it strip them down to bare skeletons?

Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?

If you can find any, knock yourself out.

Unnecessary Background

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is a recut of the 1954 Japanese film Gojira. The most notable change is the addition of actor Raymond Burr to the American version, but there are others; the Japanese version provides a slower build-up to Godzilla's attacks and is generally considered darker and more thought provoking, with the emphasis less on Godzilla's rampage and more on the nuclear power allegory.

"Gojira" is not a Japanese word, but rather a combination of two words: Gorira, meaning "gorilla," and Kujira, meaning "whale." The name is meant to suggest size, power, and aquatic origins; an unsubstantiated rumor holds that it was originally the nickname of a massive stagehand at Toho Studios.

Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]

For the role of reporter Steve Martin, Raymond Burr shot scenes over a period of just 24 hours on an American sound stage, then was skillfully edited into the Japanese version of the film made two years earlier.

Groovy Quotes

Steve Martin: This is Tokyo. Once a city of six million people. What has happened here was caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination. Tokyo, a smoldering memorial to the unknown, an unknown which at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world.

Martin: Godzilla has turned the heart of Tokyo into a sea of fire. Beneath the flames thousands lie dead or dying. Nothing can save the city now.

Serizawa: The Oxygen Destroyer must not be used!
Ogata: If we do not defend ourselves from Godzilla now, what will become of us?
Serizawa: And what will become of us if a weapon such as I now have falls into the wrong hands?
Ogata: Then you have a responsibility no man has ever faced. You have your fear, which might become reality; and you have Godzilla, which IS reality.

DVD Review

The version I got has nothing but the bare minimum: the movie itself and, oddly, a promo for a Godzilla game on GameCube.

If you liked this movie, try these:

• King Kong
• Destroy All Monsters!
• Godzilla 1985