Coming in at number eight in the countdown, The Return of Godzilla is a superb and masterfully crafted movie. This was the first Godzilla movie released after nearly a decade, and it brought Godzilla back to his roots. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) was the last movie to be made, and the last of the Showa series, which featured Godzilla mainly as a protagonist and hero unlike the original film in which Godzilla was the antagonist. The Return of Godzilla brings back that evil persona the King of the Monsters first played, and let me tell you, it is actually scary. This movie was meant to be the direct sequel to the original 1954 film, and thus it omits all the happenings of the rest of the Showa series, making this the first movie of the Heisei series. I think the most important thing viewers can notice about The Return of Godzilla (Godzilla 1985 in American theaters and dvds) is how it delivers an anti-nuclear message through a strong plot featuring the cold war tensions of the time. You have to look back and realize that Japan geographically was right in the middle of Russia and the United States, and had a nuclear exchange actually occurred, they likely would've suffered just as much as any other nation. The fears of such an event are effectively channeled into the movie and create a very disturbing sense of mass catastrophe just around the corner, brought to light by the sudden reappearance of Godzilla as he lurks around unseen in Japanese waters.
The story begins with a Japanese vessel in rough waters during a massive storm. They appear to be running aground near a small island and are radioing for help when the island explodes and a massive roar is heard. The news reports later of a missing vessel off the Japanese coast and by chance, reporter Goro Maki stumbles upon an apparently abandoned vessel while sailing by himself. He investigates and finds several bodies, along with one unconscious man. Suddenly, Goro is attacked by a massive insect, resembling an over grown cockroach (Toho officially lists it as a Shockirus or Giant sea louse). Goro appears outmatched before the unconscious man, Hiroshi, awakens and kills the louse. Hiroshi had captured pictures of the beast that killed the rest of his crew and he along with Goro realize it was Godzilla. Thought to be dead for the last 30 years, Goro tries to break the story at his job, but he is prevented by his boss, who has orders to keep Godzilla covered up so the public doesn't panic. The cover up doesn't last long because suddenly a Soviet submarine goes down in the pacific and Cold War tensions hit a boiling point. Russia assumes the U.S. took down their sub, and the U.S. tries to figure out what could have possibly happened. It appears war is on the horizon until the Japanese Prime Minister reveals the cause of the crash: Godzilla. This is what's great about this movie, because there is sudden worldwide panic. Japan is in uproar over the news and people begin preparing. Russia and the U.S. decide nuclear weapons must be used to prevent Godzilla from destroying everything, but Japan has a strict nuclear policy, and they refuse to allow other nations to use their WMD's against Godzilla should he step foot on Japanese soil. Goro, who was initially instructed to cover up Godzilla, takes his evidence of the beast to a professor, Makoto Hayashida, who verifies it is Godzilla. Suddenly, Godzilla arrives on shore, and attacks a nuclear power plant for it's energy (seen in the above picture). Goro and Hayashida observe a flock of chirping sea birds flying by Godzilla as he feeds, and the monster is distracted by them and follows the birds back to sea. Hayashida assumes Godzilla is attracted to the frequency they chirp at. He attempts to create a machine that can duplicate that frequency, to use as defense if Godzilla attacks a city. Soon enough, Godzilla is sighted swimming into Tokyo Bay, and the city is evacuated. This sequence is the most extensive evacuation scene in Godzilla history I think. It really gets the point across that everyone is in fear. Godzilla meets the Japanese Army at shore and quickly destroys them with his atomic ray, and the waves from his arrival smash a nearby docked freighter into a seawall. However, the freighter is actually a disguised Soviet ship, placed there purposely to defend against a Godzilla attack, and the impact with the seawall triggers a Soviet satellite missile launch, aimed directly for Tokyo. Godzilla marches into the heart of the city, destroying buildings and even picking up a train full of pedestrians. Professor Hayashida tests his frequency device and lures Godzilla to his penthouse laboratory, and before Godzilla can finish him and Goro off, some Japanese Maser tanks and the special weapon, the Super X, a sort of flying tank, attacks Godzilla. The Super X succeeds in firing Cadmium missiles down Godzilla's throat, knocking him out for a period of time. Hayashida is airlifted by the military to Mt. Mihara, a volcanic Island off the coast of Japan, where he intends to lure Godzilla into the erupting caldera.
The Americans fire an intercept missile that successfully impacts the soviet nuke far above Tokyo, but the resulting blast lets out an EMP, which downs the Super X and revives Godzilla. After a short battle, Godzilla pushes a sky scraper over onto the crashed Super X, destroying it. He then returns towards the building with Hayashida's lab, searching for the noise as Goro and Naoko (Hayashida's assistant and Hiroshi's sister) try to escape on foot. A looting mad man is trampled by Godzilla before Hayashida triggers his device on Mt. Mihara, luring Godzilla away from Goro and Naoko just in time. Godzilla arrives on Mt. Mihara and walks to the edge of the erupting volcano. Suddenly the cliff face gives way underneath him and tumbles down the side of the caldera to a lower level. Once inside, the Japanese forces detonate some explosives that drop Godzilla into the heart of the eruption, hopefully sealing the monster away forever. It is a heart wrenching scene as Godzilla falls into the abyss, his trademark roar being morphed into an almost child-like wail of despair, and while watching the incredible scene unfold, you might notice that even the victimized Japanese forces appear sad as Godzilla falls towards his doom. They realize the power of nature and nuclear energy, and that they don't stand a chance against such forces.
The plot is excellent and is a perfect example of a Godzilla movie bringing to light the current events of the world in movie format. This has been done more than several times in the Godzilla series, but this time is probably the most effective. As I stated earlier, this movie is actually scary, being that Godzilla has returned to his antagonistic ways. His footsteps are massive and signify his advance well before he is seen. He appears to kill people when he picks up the train and holds the people helplessly two hundred feet in the air. The whole of Japan and the world for that matter is afraid of his coming and take drastic measures to escape his wake. The music is chilling, and gives you the sense something out there is lurking, waiting to come to the light, and once he's there, all hell will break loose. This truly is the sequel to the original Godzilla. Several shots of Godzilla marching across the city are fantastic, and truly bring the monster to a believable scale nearby the massive modern skyscrapers of Tokyo. For this movie, the production team created a 20 foot tall head puppet and foot, which they used sparingly although it brought a new dimension to the several ways with which to depict Godzilla destroying things. Also, for the American release of The Return of Godzilla, an American actor, Raymond Burr, was spliced into the footage, to provide a character for the American audience. Raymond Burr played reporter Steve Martin in the original Godzilla movie, and he was the only American to witness Godzilla's first rampage, so in the American version of TRoG, he reprised this Steve Martin character to provide the American military with intel on the creature and his weaknesses. Its an interesting addition to the film, but one that I think works well, and also respectfully pays homage to the original movie. The Return of Godzilla is one of the greatest of the series and very strong plot-wise, not just for a seasoned Godzilla viewer, but for anyone. It is engrossing, horrifying, entertaining, and eye-opening, and it is one Godzilla movie that I think is fit for anyone.
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| Godzilla tumbles into Mt. Mihara in what is one of the G series saddest moments. |
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