Gojira (1984) Review

aka The Return of Godzilla aka Godzilla 1985

Radioactive Rampage Month continues with Godzilla’s come back film from the 1980s. Ditching the continuity of all the previous films except the original 1954 classic, this movie featured much ballyhooed new technology and a more serious take marked a new beginning for the franchise. Introducing a bigger, badder, and more feral incarnation of giant lizard, it was a marked departure from the kids films of the 1970s.

When 1975’s Terror of MechaGodzilla performed badly at the box office, it marked the end of two decades of Godzilla flicks. Toho Studios shelved the franchise and years went by until a resurgence in domestic interest in the radioactive kaiju prompted them to develop a new film. Oh there had been proposals and treatments created in the interim, but being in the business of making money the execs wanted to make sure there would be an audience.

Taking advantage of the fading memories of the last film meant they could now move in a new direction with a starting point from the first film. What they came up with was a direct sequel to the 1954 movie and far more serious than the aliens invading using large monsters storyline rut of the ‘70s. However, elements of the prior silliness are still present in this overly verbose story filled with Cold War paranoia.

This review is of the original Japanese version. I’ve never seen the American cut with Raymond Burr and am forced to wonder whether or not his pipe co-starred with him again like in Godzilla, King of the Monsters.

The reboot begins with melodramatic orchestral music accompanying images of bubbling lava to form the back drop for the opening credits. Text onscreen reveals that it is a plot point, not just pretty pictures when we are informed it is now three months after the eruption at Diakoku Island. In a nod to the film that began it all, a lone fishing boat is shown caught in a storm. If things weren’t bad enough for the small crew, they spot an uncharted island at night only to see something emerge from it along with a familiar roar and flash of lightning.

Without fair warning daylight and cheesy ‘80s music assault the senses in a change of focus.  Maki (Ken Tanaka) is a reporter on vacation, looking to relax on his sailboat when the story of a lifetime falls into his lap. Encountering the adrift fishing vessel which was conveniently just talked about on the radio mere moments before, he boards it to look for survivors.

In another unexpected shot, the movie suddenly looks like a late ‘70s slasher flick. Or at least that’s what it seems like Maki has walked into when he explores the dark interior of the boat. Blood stains the walls, mummified corpses with broken improvised weapons are littered about, and the most disturbing find – thick white slime tracks on the below deck are found.

Since there’s always a lone survivor in the closet clutching a knife in slasher movies, the reporter finds one. He also finds one of the most disgusting critters to appear in Godzilla history, a giant blood sucking parasite that doesn’t so much jump around as it appears to fly. With all that silly flying about, the serious mood is compromised more than a little.

After a narrow escape from doom involving tense wrestling with a rubber prop, the sailor reveals what happened to the ship. Hiroshi (Shin Takuma) is soon spirited off by the government with the reporter forced to keep quiet on the story due to national security concerns. Hospitals are bad enough what with the bland food (they claim it’s food), constant invasions of privacy and body apertures, and fluorescent lighting accentuating dismally boring walls -- but adding in questioning while under armed guard?

That’s a bit much.

However, a Godzilla movie needs a scientist to explain things, so Dr. Hayashida (Yoskuke Natsuki) arrives to conduct the interrogation. He has Hiroshi look through a mug shot book to identify what he saw. The whole thing is rigged, since the only photos are that of Godzilla. Of course the battered and now impounded sailor fingers the big guy as being around the night in question.

Okay, my take on that might be askew due to this being the most dialogue heavy Godzilla film I can recall. I may have blocked others from my memory…

Hayashida is important. We know that because he has a laboratory with the name Hayashida Bioscience Institute on the sign outside the door. The camera lingers on the sign for some time, so they must have spent serious money on it. It even has a logo that resembles a stylized scorpion. Why?

I’ve got no clue.

More important to the story is Maki meeting the lovely young assistant to the doctor, Naoko (Yasuko Sawaguchi). What would the odds of her being Hiroshi’s sister be? 100 percent? There are far too many coincidences that demonstrate lazy writing, if you ask me.

Obligatory mild romance content is what the scene leads to, complete with misunderstandings and perceived betrayal. It’s cookie cutter script writing and while she’s rather attractive, there isn’t a hint of chemistry between the two.

I’m ready for the real star of the movie to do something or at least have a cameo.

Once again a nautical mishap is caused by Godzilla, yet we don’t actually get to see him. It’s all a great big tease since the makers of the film knew everyone was coming to see the new mechanical Godzilla heavily touted in press releases. Despite this lack of mutant lizard, the scene does lead to the best part of the plot.

With a Soviet nuclear attack sub missing and believed sunk by the U.S. Navy, World War III is imminent. Faced with the threat of a nuclear apocalypse, Japanese Prime Minister Mitimura (Keiju Kobayashi) is forced to go public with the truth: Godzilla has returned. Spinning newspaper headlines follow for the film is determined to check off as many genre tropes they can.

To me, the political maneuverings and consequences of having to deal with a giant radioactive dinosaur is always entertaining in these movies. Given how poor world leaders are at handling any crisis, watching fictional ones deal with supremely ridiculous situations makes me feel a little better about reality. Alas, these scenes all go on and on unnecessarily in this flick.

Oh and there’s more almost romance woes. Godzilla, please save us from them!

Thankfully, he does just that in his big reveal. First heard stomping behind a hill he is finally seen from the viewpoint of a hapless guard at a nuclear plant. The slow pan gives a good impression of how huge such a creature would be, but man the guard had to be oblivious for not noticing Godzilla until he’s right on the gates.

The new Godzilla is much larger than before, dwarfing the original 164ft or 50m one that destroyed Tokyo in 1954. At 262ft or 80m, he’s almost one hundred feet taller and easily dwarfs the cooling tower of the nuclear power plant. He also appears to huff it like Gamera liked to do with power plants.

Instead of being a nod to his competitor, it turns out the goliath is leaning over while ripping the reactor out with his bare claws! Snack break has begun and he wanders off with the core to eat in private. This twist on the old anti-nuclear bomb message of the first movie reflected the current political climate in Japan which had quite a few anti-nuke protests going on at the time.

Remember the volcano from the beginning? The scientists working for the government send Hiroshi out to assist investigating using it as a trap. Yeah, he’s a sailor attacked by a slimy parasite that fell off of Godzilla, so he’s qualified for this kind of duty. Things like this make it impossible for me to fully accept the serious tone of the film.

TIME TO PANIC!

Not the audience, the fictional populace. After an interminably long series of scenes depicting both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. ambassadors insisting they be allowed to nuke Godzilla, we get to see panicked civilian evacuations of all kinds. Hovering above is the threat of a missile from a satellite. A Soviet one, to be precise.

People who weren’t around for the 1980s probably don’t realize just how paranoid everyone had gotten. The media and entertainment industries kept a steady drumbeat of doom and gloom that WWIII was coming during the Reagan years with many a post apocalyptic movie being made. Where Gojira 1954 caught the emotions and trauma of the survivors of two nuclear bombings and later tests in the Pacific, Gojira 1984 reflects contemporary fears of the Cold War going hot.

Time for stock footage mingled with miniatures in proper Godzilla tradition. There appeared to be a great deal of cooperation from the JSDF as usual. The Defense Forces never miss an opportunity at publicity and Toho’s works have always portrayed them in a heroic light. The models were a step up from those of the past and it is always fun catching glimpses of the real military hardware.

Not all the weaponry shown are replicas of the real thing. Take the fanciful canard equipped version of the Japanese F-1 attack jet above. At the time, there were proposals to build an F-16 variant in Japan with said canards and I vaguely recall a test bed F-1 with them, but ventrally located. Pardon my military aviation geeking out, please.

If you have seen a Godzilla film before, you already know the outcome to the engagement. Rocket launchers and tanks never phase the monster so why do they even try? My fanboy speculation is that they are buying time for civilians to escape.

I just noticed how the new design has buck teeth like the puppet used in ‘54. Close ups of his facial expressions had actual motion thanks to a large animatronic puppet created for the film. This was the much promoted tech that only partially lived up to the hype. All complaints aside, it still was fun to see him snarl, grimace, and show more emotion than his prior incarnations.

 

A lot more happens though most of it is talking. A theory of monsters emerging when the world is in turmoil is broached in passing that adds a metaphysical meditation on matters. Meanwhile, the scientist has figured out a way to end the big “G”’s rampage, so of course the government ignores him in favor of having the military unleashes their mysterious weapon Secret-X. Buildings will be damaged, a train derailed, and a bum will try to loot all of Tokyo in the final act.

One of those things is not like the others, but I promise you that all will happen.

Thoughts

I waited a long time to see Godzilla 85 and ultimately never did since none of the movie theaters in the area played it. Somehow I missed it on VHS and cable TV as well. It wasn’t until I purchased a Hong Kong DVD (the legitimate kind) that I got to see the movie.

Given the quality of the Japanese original and the history of American versions completely butchering the series, suspicions are that it would have been a huge disappointment for me back in 1985. As it is, the film simply isn’t impressive.

The decision to mix a large amount of soap opera elements into the story harkens back to the original Gojira, but here it is not well executed. In fact, the scenes of the humans are drawn out far too long suggesting lopping off ten minutes out the 104 would have improved the pacing greatly. The humans not being interesting or compelling characters does not help things. Contrast the tortured Dr. Serizawa as a character with any of the leads and you will find a vast gulf wider than Godzilla’s maw.

Serious the movie may be, but it is a dull affair with even the action scenes being amongst the most lackluster out of the sixty years of the franchise. That said, there is an oddly charming earnestness to this and the following films categorized as the Heisei era of Godzilla. With the main character restored to being a threat to humanity, it does succeed in getting back to the roots of the series.

It still isn’t a good movie. No wonder the American version has never been issued on DVD, much less Blu-ray.

Of course the big draw was seeing Godzilla done with better effects for there had been a revolution in the field since 1975. Star Wars changed everything so many a kid wondered when the big lizard would get revamped. The special effects were an improvement over the older movies, but shaky in execution in places. Jerkiness made the vaunted animatronic puppet a mild disappointment and miniatures dominated once again, unlike the stop motion being used in Hollywood products.

With a turn towards a darker tone came more blood and imagery too scary for little kids. It’s a grim and unhappy movie that parents will want to screen before letting anyone under ten watch. I believe Godzilla 1985 was rated PG so you can get a rough idea of the content of the Japanese edit from that.

Ultimately, Gojira of 1984 is a curiosity piece for die hard fans of Godzilla and other kaiju, especially since it is so hard to get in any format today. Really, that’s the only group I can recommend the movie to.

Technical

My The Return of Godzilla DVD is a Region 3 no frills edition put out in Hong Kong by Universe Laser & Video Co procured on Ebay. Having an all region DVD player is a must to be able to watch it.

While the video is widescreen, it isn’t anamorphic in that it’s letterboxed 4:3. That lowers the quality significantly as the smaller than normal screen captures illustrate. Released in theaters in 1.85:1 ratio, the presentation here is actually 1.74:1! It may be a difference in TV lines in Asia on the old CRT standards.

Getting the small video to stretch properly on a 16:9 HDTV will require some fiddling around with your set. Scaling up may be an issue if my experience is anything to go by, since my DVD player only deinterlaces and the Westinghouse is terrible at scaling.

Colors are slightly washed out, contrast could be better with black being dark gray, and the low resolution prevents a sharp picture. It reminded me of watching VHS, though not quite that bad. On a 1080p HDTV it does not look great or even good. Being the only game in town, one has to settle for what one gets.

The sound is pretty clear though. Japanese and Cantonese tracks are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (not mono like it says on the case) with subtitles in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese with English. The latter was translated directly from Japanese and seemed pretty good to this non Japanese speaker.

Going back to getting the scaling right on an HDTV, another problem crops up, no pun intended. If you stretch the video to fit the screen, you’ll lose a some of the English subtitles due to their being below the Chinese. This may be player dependent, but it is what happened to me.

The only extra is a trailer for Godzilla vs Biollante.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

 

 

 

 

After all the build up talking about the secret project named SuperX I expected something more… super. Instead it is a flying vehicle that spends most of its time hovering or moving very slowly. Vaguely bug like in looks, it is the final nail in the coffin for taking the film seriously.

To be blunt, SuperX is goofy looking.

Its weapons aren’t all that thrilling to watch either. The special Cadmium rounds are shot into Godzilla’s mouth with only a puff of smoke to show the impact. Godzilla drool follows and the scene goes on far too long.

All those on lookers come to see Godzilla collapsed seemed far fetched even in a voyeuristic society. Thirty years ago he destroyed Tokyo for crying out loud. Not the best compositing on display here.

Dodgy effects haunt the production and the launch of the nuclear missile from orbit is a tad embarrassing. It wobbles off the rail in such a way that you can tell it was on a line.

Better was the fallout aurora from the intercepted nuke. It’s a pity they ruined it by having lightning go through the cloud to revive Godzilla. The cloud itself was plausible enough. Wait, did I just use the word “plausible” in a Godzilla movie review?

Besides, it is King Kong who revives from lightning!

The only humor in the film involves this bum played by Tetsuya Takeda. He’s not funny, but it may be a cultural thing. This shot seems to spoof Raiders of the Lost Ark and all of his scenes could easily been cut to improve the movie.

Really a lot of the finale in Tokyo could have been edited down including the long escape of Maki and Naoko from the office building. Their romance never felt genuine and it made it difficult to root for them to survive.

The suckering of Godzilla into the volcano reminded me of the ending of Godzilla Raids Again but with the other extreme in temperature. Using sped up bird calls to mimic magnetic lines used in migration has to be some of the worst technobabble in the history of movies. Birds? Really?

At least some of the best special effects are to be found in this scene.

Once again, the whole thing goes on for much too long. Baffling to me is that the PM got visibly upset at Godzilla’s imprisonment. It would make sense if there had been a theme of tragedy like in Rodan, but the monster is not remotely sympathetic like in that story. Perhaps this was an element left over from a previous script?

The final tumble of Godzilla lacks dramatic impact, though a good visual spectacle. Naoko, unlike everyone else, has the proper expression in reaction to his apparent death. I like this departure from the standard solemn faces at the end of a kaiju movie. Who wouldn’t be glad to see the murderous beast gone?