Gojira (1984)

Directors:

Koji Hashimoto
R.J. Kizer

Writers:

Shuichi Nagahara (writer)
Tomoyuki Tanaka (story)

Release Date:

23 August 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Your favorite fire-breathing monster... Like you've never seen him before!

Plot:

Thirty years after the original monster's rampage, a new Godzilla emerges and attacks Japan.

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Monster | Gojira | Submarine | Radiation Revived Monster

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Ken Tanaka	...	Goro Maki
Yasuko Sawaguchi	...	Naoko Okumura
Yosuke Natsuki	...	Dr. Hayashida
Keiju Kobayashi	...	Prime Minister Mitamura
Shin Takuma	...	Hiroshi Okumura
Eitarô Ozawa	...	Finance Minister Kanzaki
Taketoshi Naitô	...	Takegami, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Mizuho Suzuki	...	Foreign Minister Emori
Junkichi Orimoto	...	Director-General of the Defense Agency
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Geologist Minami
Kei Satô	...	Chief Editor Gondo
Takenori Emoto	...	Desk Editor Kitagawa
Sho Hashimoto	...	Captain of Super X
Nobuo Kaneko	...	Home Affairs Minister Isomura
Kunio Murai	...	Secretary Henmi

Also Known As:

Godzilla (International: English title)
Godzilla 1985: The Legend Is Reborn (USA)
Godzilla: 1985 (USA) (closing credits title)
The Return of Godzilla

Runtime:

Germany:82 min | Japan:103 min | USA:87 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | Russian | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (Japan theatrical release) | Mono (US release)

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (DVD) | Finland:K-14 | Australia:PG | Spain:13 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

The first Godzilla film, in its Japanese version, with closing credits.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As Dr. Hayashida's sonic oscillator starts luring Godzilla out of Tokyo to the volcano, there's a POV shot from Goro and Naoko's perspective that clearly shows the wire controlling Godzilla's tail. This almost appears to be an unintentional homage to the scene in the original Gojira (1954), where Godzilla's tail appears outside the window of a partially demolished building (the one in which Raymond Burr's character was reporting from in the American version), and the wire is similarly visible.

Quotes:

Dr. Hayashida: When mankind falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown (1986)

The Birds

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.