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Gojira (1984)

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40 comments in total

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
unfairly maligned, 7 March 2004
Author: dr_foreman from Staten Island, NY

Godzilla returns in a (somewhat) serious vehicle with a (somewhat) big budget. Americans yawned or laughed this off the screen, for the most part, but if you dig Godzilla you should dig this, his most respectable film since the 1954 original.

Yes, it's not that fast paced. No, Godzilla doesn't fight with other creatures. So what? After about twenty lurid, cheap movies that involved Godzilla in mortal combat with rubberized foes, it was nice to see him get back to menacing basics here.

While the special effects are not quite up to the Hollywood standard, they're still entertaining and reasonably convincing. American critics who slammed the film's look were being just a tad intolerant - all foreign films tend to be cheaper than ours, so inferior effects are a given. My bottom line for judging SFX is not, "are they realistic?" but "are they fun?", and the shots of Godzilla laying waste to Tokyo are indeed fun.

Godzilla fans often complain about the film's overtly political concerns and somber mood, but I have to disagree with them; I like a bit of realism, a bit of credibility. I do think that there are several better, faster-paced Godzilla films (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, GMK), but this is still a standout entry in the series.

Who knows when we'll get another solo vehicle for the big G? The upcoming Godzilla: Final Wars will apparently feature a total of ten monsters. At least in this movie, Godzilla had the spotlight all to himself.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
The Birds, 13 April 2004
Author: DarthBill from United States

Picking up 30 odd years later and ignoring all the films that were made in between, Godzilla returns to trample Tokyo. The Tokyo natives think up all sorts of goofy plans to get rid of Godzilla, one which involves a highly advanced flying tank called Super-X, the other involving the use of birds to activate an often unused portion of Godzilla's brain that resembles a bird's to lead him out of Tokyo and into a volcano, where he remains until the sequel, "Godzilla VS Biollante".

The "1985" American version includes scenes of us damned Americans trying to figure out what do and features Raymond Burr reprising his Steve Martin character from the American version of the first film. However, his first name is never used on account of comedian Steve Martin's then hot popularity. This version also gives Russians a bad name because they made the Russian commander launch the missile before he died when in the original version he died heroically trying to stop the missile's launching but failed. The death of the tramp is also shown in the original version.

Maybe it's the lighting or lack there of, the smoke, or just the dated quality of my VHS tape, but this is a very dark and atmospheric monster on the rampage epic and one that I hold very close to my heart for reasons I can't quite explain. Special effects run the usual gamut from good to ridiculous, and the music is pretty good. Whether or not the original version will ever be released in America remains to be seen. I'd settle for just being able to see this one on DVD somewhere.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Far superior in its original, Japanese version, which I can only describe as a masterpiece, 8 December 2006

Author: jmgalvan-1 from United States

For a long time, when it came to Godzilla's famous 1984 return, I was only familiar with the Americanized, box office-failure version dubbed "Godzilla 1985", starring Raymond Burr. It wasn't until much later that I realize I was watching a butchered, practically raped version, of a classic allegorical monster movie.

The original, Japanese version, called "The Return of Godzilla" is by far superior. It just has so much more power than the Americanized version, symbolizing the horrors of nuclear war and violence in a fresh new perspective almost as powerful as that achieved in the very first Godzilla film. First of all, it has a lot of more scenes involving the characters, thus leading to more plot and character development. So many questions are answered, including the origins of the giant sea louse on board the ship, and most importantly of all, why Godzilla would suddenly appear out of the blue after thirty long years of absence. And acting is a plus, a rare thing found in any Godzilla film.

And as for the main star himself, Godzilla, he looked great! True, he didn't look perfect in every single scene (he is after all a man in a rubber suit). So to make up for this, Godzilla was only shown in two scenes of the movie and to make it more dark and terrifying, they were both at night. Throughout the rest of the movie, as a result, it brings this more chilling feeling where you know the monster's out there and that it truly is dangerous. It's not the old feeling where monsters appear almost every day. The graphics used for Godzilla's death-ray are perfect, just as realistic as the effects used for the plasma beams in "The Terminator" which was made at the same time. Godzilla's final attack on Tokyo is spectacular, also with great new scenes, and no longer is Godzilla stomping through a cardboard city!

The music score, conducted and composed by Reijiro Koroku, is arguably the best in any Godzilla film to date. The soundtrack is a collection of pieces of all emotions: horror, emotional, love, tranquility, sadness. The ending theme is heartbreaking, even to non-Godzilla fans.

The Americanized version had scenes of Raymond Burr and other American actors (who were terrible at their job) inserted and they ruined the overall power of the film. And also, subtitles spoken by the Russians were altered in the Americanized version, to make the Soviet Union seem like the enemy of the world. But in the original masterpiece, nobody is the enemy. Not even Godzilla, who is just an innocent creature trying to survive and is bringing the world together in an ironic way.

There are only two aspects to the Americanized version that were good: one, a replacement of sound effects. I have to agree that some of the sound effects, mostly explosions, needed replacing. Including the scene where Godzilla fights the jets in Tokyo Bay. That, and also Raymond Burr's somber speech at the end. Although this is a cool feature, it really wasn't necessary. And the original, silent ending of the Japanese version is by far better.

Overall, "The Return of Godzilla" is an underrated classic and it definitely deserves more recognition in the U.S. Critics and audiences just need to put the campy Godzilla films of the 60s and 70s behind them and learn that the series had changed. This 1980s classic is definitely one of the best monster movies ever made and it has everything a Hollywood movie has. Highly recommended.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Godzilla as a natural disaster film., 30 September 2002
Author: cochese911 from Carlisle, PA

I firmly believe that Godzilla is criminally misunderstood in America. Much of this comes from the horrendous dubbings that we are often exposed to. The Americanized version even features Raymond Burr and a giant Dr. Pepper product placement. This makes it tough to take the film seriously on any level. I encourage you to search out the original version. You might be lucky enough to find it on ebay as a region 0 DVD. You won't find it in Blockbuster or most video stores.

Admittedly, it takes a special kind of person to search out the original, then look past the `special' effects and see the metaphysical implications of a giant monster destroying mankind. This may or not be worth your time, but if you decide to watch this film, watch it, not as `Godzilla 1985,' but as `Gojira 1984.' Otherwise you might as well stick with the Devlin/Emmerich remake that's just as funny as the dubbed versions, but for all the wrong reasons.

Also, an excellent score is turned in by Reijiro Koroku, it takes inspiration from the classic Godzilla theme but adds some real depth.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Return to Godzilla's roots, 28 June 2002

Author: knsevy from KCMO

I would recommend that anyone who has only seen one version of this film make an effort to see whichever version you haven't seen. The changes that have been made between the Japanese/International version and the American version are very telling, in themselves.

Quite a few people criticize the suit design in this movie, but I think it's my favorite out of all the suits from 1954-1995. It looks the least like any 'real' reptile and more like a maddened, nuke-scorched monster. Or maybe just a big, green charcoal briquette with eyes. Anyway, it's feral and mindless, which is what Godzilla originally was. None of this superhero-friend-to-children-single-dad B.S. He's indestructible, he's angry, and he's going to destroy things. Why? Because.

I agree with the criticism of the FX. Even though we don't expect miracles from a Godzilla movie, this one had some rough spots that typically didn't appear in even the cheapest of the series' offerings. One scene in particular comes to mind: when Godzilla does a firesweep of the military equipment firing on him as he comes out of Tokyo bay, the angle of the animated firebreath doesn't match the aim of the monster's head.

I also agree that there isn't enough city-smashing. Some people prefer monster vs. monster battles, some prefer monster vs. military, I'm one of the group that likes to see major metropolitan areas levelled. Frankly, this movie didn't fully satisfy ANY of the three groups, as far as I can tell.

All that said, this is my second-favorite Godzilla film, after the original King of the Monsters and before Godzilla vs. King Kong. De gustibus non est disputandum.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
"Godzilla 1985", 25 July 2005

Author: dee.reid from United States

I may be one of few, if only, people to say I actually liked "Godzilla 1985," the first in the second generation of kaiju-eiga films that began after a 10-year hiatus, since the last Toho-backed "Godzilla" effort "Terror of Mechagodzilla" (1975), which concluded the first generation of movies.

Godzilla is the most popular movie monster from the East and I've been watching these films since I was five. Of course, in "Godzilla 1985" (which is 1984 in Japan time), Godzilla returns to his old stomping grounds of Tokyo. He first attacks a fishing boat and kills everyone on-board except one, then a Soviet submarine, a nuclear reactor (which is where we see the glorious Big Guy for the first time), and finally has his eyes set on Tokyo. What hinders this film big time, especially in the American version, are the ugly Cold War-era politics that played into many of the film's changes in order to accommodate polarized audiences in the United States. Russians are portrayed as being inherently evil and the Japanese are shown as being weak and totally dependent on America. But by making America the hero in this picture, Americans are shown as being quite pigheaded and arrogant, with the exception of Raymond Burr, who also appeared in the American version of the original "Godzilla" (1954). (So it looks like the American producers really screwed themselves big time with this transition.) This seriously makes the movie dated and draws attention from away from the stronger, more relevant issues the original Japanese screenwriters had envisioned. On the plus side, Toho created a rather terrifying and truly menacing Godzilla, whose presence is made all the more frightening by those blood-red eyes and thunderous roar of his. This Godzilla is the embodiment of true screen menace, in a return-to-form from the previous incarnation in the '70s. Even though he is the villain in this picture, one could shed a tear at the film's ending (which you wouldn't need to do if you care to watch the superior 1989 sequel "Godzilla vs. Biollante"). The special effects are magnificent, though dated; one of my particular favorite sequences is Godzilla's showdown with the Super X attack fighter and his attack on the nuclear reactor.

I'd recommend this entry only if you're a die-hard kaiju-eiga fan; if not, you should probably skip this one and go straight to "Godzilla vs. Biollante," which is my personal favorite "Godzilla" film from the second generation. But it's a shame that "Godzilla 1985" was ruined by American intrusion in its transfer from Japan to the U.S.

5/10

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
The Japanese version is better!, 28 December 1998
Author: Jenova Synthesis from Black Crater

I seen both the International and Asian versions of this.If you do NOT want Ramond Burr's preaching nor Dr. Pepper lovin' hicks, stick to the original Japanese version.I personally like the original version myself.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Godzilla returns and he is mad, 2 May 2007

Author: gojiramatthew from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

After the low box office for Terror of MechaGodzilla, Toho didn't make another Godzilla film, until 1984 they got the Big star to return in a film known today as "The Return of Godzilla" A.K.A Godzilla 1984 or 1985.

This film returned Godzilla and ignored all of the sequels in the Showa era (Godzilla Raids again to Terror of MechaGodzilla).

Godzilla is now back to being a dark monster again and has a message like the first film did, The Godzilla suit was an improvement from the showa films, it has the four toes again and the fangs, but the suit does have a problem with the eyes (They look upwards in some scenes making Godzilla look bored), the Effects were an improvement as well, but some scenes do look fake, but heck no film is perfect. The Building minutures look great and look more real then before and The Super X looks awesome, there is one other creature in this film a giant sea louse named "Shockirus" which added a bit of horror to the film, also there are scenes which make this film great they are:

1: Godzilla first appears and attack's a Nuclear power plant.

2: Godzilla vs The planes.

3: Godzilla vs The military at the docks.

4: Godzilla vs The Super X.

The ending of the film was sad, but Godzilla does return in "Godzilla vs Biollante", which is a better film.

Now I recommend People to watch the Japanese version, The American Version isn't that good compared to the Japanese version.

8/10 - The Japanese version. 5/10 -American version.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Godzilla is finally the bad guy again!, 3 July 2006

Author: PresidentJennings from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Some of my favorite movies of Godzilla were when he was the bad guy. This movie has returned him to former evil self and I love it! The end of the Showa series was composed of only the heroic Godzilla. Don't get me wrong I love the Showa series, but an evil Godzilla is much better.

The Americans are back in this movie. All they do is stay in Washington DC why Japan calls all the offensive shots. I thought that Japan could no longer be an offensive nation and they have a warship called Super X.

The best part of the movie was the end when, in the version I saw, Burr gave his small speech. One thing I did not like was when America made the Russian look like a bad guy launching a nuclear missile. He was actually a hero. He died trying to stop the missile, but could not do it.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
An Underrated Classic, 15 February 2004

Author: Skaiton from Worcester, Massachusetts

Godzilla 1984 stands out as one of the best and most politically imbued Godzilla films ever made and deserves more credit for what it accomplished. Godzilla

1984 single-handedly revitalized the Godzilla franchise into the machine it is today and ushered in a new concept for what the monster could be; gone are

the kiddie children and the super-robots, the monster melees and monster

dancing - here is a return to what Godzilla truly is: and unstoppable force of nature. The original Japanese version is far superior to the butchered American cut and their political agenda is far more subtle than the American's tactless editing of the Russian nuclear launch sequence. Fans would do well to view

the original as it retains the history and dignity of the first Godzilla film.

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