Sometimes,
when a series goes on for too long and sees a new installment released every
year, it’s clear the series needs to take a break, and that was the case with
the Godzilla series in the late 60’s
and early 70’s. After the release of Destroy All Monsters, which was intended
to be the last installment, the series kept on going and releases such as Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Godzilla vs. Megalon dragged the quality
of the series down. Eventually, the
original series of Godzilla films
ended on a high note with 1975’s Terror
of Mechagodzilla, but it was clear that the King of the Monsters needed a
break after so many yearly releases. Nearly
ten years after the release of Terror of
Mechagodzilla, Godzilla returned to the big screen in 1984 with the release
of Godzilla, or The Return of Godzilla. A
year later, New World Pictures, a studio founded by infamous B-Movie director
Roger Corman, picked up the rights to release the movie in the U.S. In the process, new scenes were added in
while scenes from the original cut of the movie were altered, deleted, or
rearranged, and thus, America got Godzilla
1985.
The
movie is a restart to the series, acting as a sequel to the original Godzilla, and ignoring the sequels that
came after it, something that would be taken to the extreme in the Millenium
series of Godzilla movies, where most
of the installments didn’t have any connections to each other and instead, used
the original Godzilla as the jumping
off point.
The
movie begins with a fishing boat caught in the middle of a raging storm, and
the boat captain is having a hard time trying to prevent the boat from
sinking. What the boat and its crew
don’t know is that on a nearby island, Godzilla is in a slumber, and it isn’t
before long that he wakes up and attacks the boat. After the attack, a journalist, who is out at
sea looking for the boat, manages to find the boat and its mostly dead crew,
save for one survivor. The survivor explains
to the reporter that Godzilla arose and attacked the boat. When the Japanese government learns of his
return and attack on the boat, they try their best to keep it a secret, but it
doesn’t work when news breaks out that a Russian nuclear submarine was
destroyed, which was the work of Godzilla.
This creates global tension and members of the American and Russian
governments get together with the Prime Minister of Japan to discuss the
possibility of using nuclear weapons against Godzilla, should he appear in
Japan. The Prime Minister says no to
that option, knowing that trying to use such weapons won’t work. Later on in the movie, Godzilla makes his way
to Tokyo to cause chaos and destruction, much like what the first Godzilla did
thirty years ago.
The
plot is straightforward and nothing to write home about. In many ways, the movie’s story feels like a
retread of the original Godzilla’s
plot, the difference being that this time there’s the presence of other nations
who are trying to help Japan stop Godzilla, but the methods they suggest aren’t
the best ideas. This is made up,
however, by the movie’s tone and direction.
After Godzilla had become a heroic and kid friendly monster in the
latter half of the original series, this movie re-establishes him as an
unstoppable force of destruction and a metaphor for the dangers of using nuclear
weaponry, which is what Godzilla represented in the first movie. The redesigned look he has in this movie
makes him look menacing, as do several close up and low angle shots of him
whenever he’s onscreen.
As
I mentioned earlier, when the movie was released in the U.S., certain scenes
from the original cut were either deleted or altered, and music from one of New
World Pictures’ other movies, Defcon 4,
was also inserted into certain scenes in the movie, such as the scene with the
Russian nuclear submarine encountering Godzilla. New scenes were also added set in the
Pentagon which featured actor Raymond Burr reprising his role as journalist
Steve Martin from the re-edit of the first Godzilla
movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. For me, the new scenes and changes they made
to the movie don’t bother me. Unlike the
re-edits of other Godzilla movies
such as Godzilla Raids Again and King Kong vs. Godzilla, where the changes
and scenes added in negatively affected the pacing and story of the movie, such
edits that were done to this movie don’t bother me because they don’t detract
from the movie itself. That’s not to say
I have a couple of problems with the new scenes added in. Certain scenes feature blatant product
placement for Dr. Pepper and one of the new characters in the added scenes
seems to only function as bad comic relief.
The
characters, both in the original footage and new footage, are pretty
bland. Though the performances from the
actors who dubbed the characters in the original footage are good and Raymond
Burr’s character does say some interesting things regarding Godzilla and how
unstoppable he is.
Since
the previous Godzilla movie, the
effects have received an update and even today the movie holds up well in the
effects department. The miniature work
looks good with the highlight being the combat scenes between the army and
Godzilla, as well as the fight scenes with the Super X, a flying vehicle created
by the Japanese government to fight off Godzilla. As I mentioned before, the Godzilla suit has
been updated and altered to give him a more menacing look. However, in some close-up shots of Godzilla’s
face, the eyes can get lopsided, making Godzilla look stupid when it happens.
The
movie’s music reflects the dark tone of the movie by being dramatic and
ominous, which reflects the role of Godzilla in this movie. Even the music from Defcon 4 sounds pretty good when it’s used in the movie.
Something
I want to address before I end this review is that as of 2015, this movie is
the only Godzilla movie to not have
an official release in the U.S. on either DVD or Blu-Ray. If you want to see this movie or the original
cut, you either have to track down a VHS copy of Godzilla 1985, which is how I saw the movie...
...or go for the pricier
alternative of importing the original cut of the movie. I’m not sure why this movie hasn’t been
released on DVD yet, from what I’ve heard there are rights issues which are
holding an official release of the movie back; regardless, it’s something that
needs to be rectified.
In
conclusion, Godzilla 1985 does a good
job at revitalizing the series with a movie that manages to make Godzilla feel
like a threat again. While the plot is
nothing special and the characters are bland; this is made up by the dark tone
of the movie, plus the well done effects and musical score. If you can find a copy of this movie, give it
a watch.
Final
Score: 7/10
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