Summary
Ships off the coast of one of Japan’s islands are being mysteriously destroyed. When the cause turns out to be an immense fire breathing lizard, all of Japan seems doomed.
My Viewing
I’ve never been a big fan of the monster film but the ones that I have enjoyed have all been Godzilla movies. This first of the Godzilla films, I expected to be longer and more boring than anything. I have seen a couple others which I would describe this way, after all.
My Thoughts
“Godzilla” was a pleasant surprise for me. I didn’t find it boring, it was a nice hour and thirty minutes long, and the characters all had enough depth that they didn’t just fade into the background of screaming and running crowds.
I can’t say that I got super emotionally invested in the characters but they were better than I thought they would be. I even recognized some of the actors (Takashi Shimura, “Seven Samurai,” “Ikuru.”) These characters also do a good job of relating the main themes of the film. To try and discuss these themes without acknowledging the massive impact that the H bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on Japan would be ludicrous. It’s the main thing that this film is grappling with.
It is struggling to make sense of the massive, unexpected loss of life, devastated infrastructure, and the uncertainty of when such a catastrophe might next occur. The scientists all want to study Godzilla but of course this terrifies other people who would rather just destroy him. What is the use of studying him if in the end he just kills us all? If we have a weapon capable of killing him, should we even tell anyone? Could that not simply enter us into another greater trade of weapons fire but on a larger scale than we can even imagine?
Of course, the main area of interest for most people will not be the human characters. It’s Godzilla. How does he look? Honestly, a little rough. Sure it’s his first film and the character would develop with time but the movie definitely struggles when compared to its successors. The model work is really what sells the image, actually. The best looking suit in the world would look dumb if it is simply knocking over obvious models and a pretty rough rubber suit actually gains a lot because the models around him look pretty great.
This is definitely the sort of film that I could envision capturing my imagination if I had grown up at the right time to see it rather than “Jurassic Park.”
I’m not really sure whether to recommend this film or not. On the one hand, it is a piece of cinema history and in some ways mirrors the way America would grapple with the effects of 9/11 through “Cloverfield.” It’s an interesting case study in how art reflects life and film in particular can seek to help an entire culture confront the things that have happened to it.
On the other hand, There are way better Godzilla movies out there and the average person just isn’t missing much if they skip this one.
I think I would have to land on the opinion that while it is a good movie, it really will only be appreciated by film enthusiasts, monster movie fanatic, and cinephilic completionists.
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