After a ten year rest, the King of the Monsters returned to the big screen. It was made in 1984, and released in the US in 1985, hence the title Godzilla 1985. This movie is also referred to as Godzilla Returns, or Return of Godzilla.
One thing the common moviegoer needs to know is that this film is not a sequel to Terror of Mechagodzilla. It does not continue the original series. Instead, this is the start of a new series known as the Heisei era. However, it’s not a remake of the original either. It’s a direct sequel to Gojira, and it ignores all the other movies in between. 14 films down the drain. Wow. But it could be a good thing. A clean slate to the franchise. Let’s see how the Heisei era does, starting with Godzilla 1985.
I would like to make clear that I am reviewing the English version of this film. Interestingly enough, the Americans did the same thing with this movie as they did with Gojira. They edited American actors into the film AGAIN, and even changed a major plot point, but we'll get to that later. I thought it was pretty cool that they got Raymond Burr to come back as the character he played in the American version of the first movie in 1956.
The story is about another of the Godzilla species appearing in Japan. People have a hard time believing that he’s really back, but soon the King makes his presence public when he raids a nuclear powerplant for the radioactive energy. Obviously, he becomes a real problem, and conventional weaponry isn’t solving anything. During a meeting with American and Russian ambassadors, some idiot suggests using a nuclear missile to kill the kaiju. I burst out laughing when I heard that. Godzilla is powered by nuclear energy! The nuke would just make him more powerful… and pi$$ him off. And unlike past Godzilla movies where Japanese officials go straight to suggesting a nuclear recourse, this one has the prime minister, or whoever the guy is, say that Japan cannot use atomic weapons. That’s what I thought, due to their unfortunate history with it. Godzilla vs King Kong and a couple others, at least in the English dubs, kinda felt messed up when they suggested nukes.
In the US cut, the Russians set off a timer to launch a nuclear warhead at Tokyo. It’s probably because of the Cold War tension at the time, where Russians were the bad guys in everything.
So, during his attack on Tokyo, the military unleashes their secret weapon. It’s the state of the art, brand freaking new, high tech, SUPER X!!!! It’s nice to see something new instead of the same old tanks and jets. It fires some cadmium shells into his mouth to slow his heart down. Unfortunately, the timer ends, and a nuclear missile is headed straight towards the city. Fortunately, we Americans launch a nuke of our own to intercept it, and it explodes in the lower atmosphere.
Of course, the radioactive energy wakes Godzilla back up, and he topples a building to crush the Super X. Just when it seems like everyone is doomed, a device is put into play that attracts Godzilla to a volcano, where they set off charges that blast him into the lava. We get a closing narration from Raymond Burr, and the movie ends.
For being the start of a new series, and Godzilla being alone, it was pretty good. The action sequences are cool, and the new Godzilla design is decent. Some close up shots of the animatronics look bad, but for the most part, it’s not terrible. The miniature props are the best out of any Godzilla movie at this point. Extremely detailed and accurately scaled. He looks big in a lot of the shots. As for the humans, they’re not too bad. They’re not stupid, and the dubbing is alright. The worst actors out of the entire movie are the Americans. They ruined every scene they were in. Raymond Burr is obviously a superior actor, but his character has no point in the movie. He was just the narrator in the 1956 film, but here, he’s only here to tell us how indestructible Godzilla is. All he says is “That won’t kill him”, or “Do you really think he’s dead?” and things like that. We don’t need him to tell us how bad@$$ the King is, we can see for ourselves! The Americans should have been excluded from the film entirely. Or I could just get the Japanese version with subtitles.
I liked the new direction they took with Godzilla himself. He’s not a happy, dancing, protector of the earth anymore. He’s a bad guy again, the way he originally was. But Godzilla isn’t really evil, he’s just a short tempered animal who doesn’t care about anything that stands in his way. They showed that fact when a flock of birds flew by, and the sound of their calls lured him away. That’s the device that lured him to a volcano. It matched the frequency of the birds so he would follow the sound. That’s one of the few ‘realistic’ elements of any Godzilla film… and they never use this fact to their advantage again for the rest of the series.
One question I had was a question frequently asked throughout the film; How did Godzilla come back? Where did this one come from? Is it just another one of the species? I have no idea. Raymond Burr's character says "They never found the corpse". Umm... yeah, no. I saw that thing turn to bone, and I saw the bones disappear. There is no way it's the exact same Godzilla. He might have super regenerative powers, but he cannot regenerate from that. I'm just going to say it's another one of the species. Don't trust Burr. He doesn't know what he's talking about.
In conclusion, this movie is enjoyable, excluding American scenes. It’s not the best, but not the worst. If you prefer a more serious approach to Godzilla, then this is the movie for you. It’s a good one, but the Heisei series only gets better after this.
FINAL RATING: 35 / 50
STORY: 3 / 5
ACTING: 3 / 5
CHARACTERS: 3 / 5
SPECIAL EFFECTS: 4 / 5
ACTION: 4 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 4 / 5
TONE: 4 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 4 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 3 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 3 / 5
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