Gojira

In the depths of Japan’s seas, something stirs, something unlike anything humanity has ever seen before.  Some have foreseen its arrival.  Most cannot fathom the awesome destruction it is about to bring to Japan.  It is a force of nature; an unstoppable storm; a tower of devastation and death…and it’s name will be forever etched into history.  If anyone can survive its onslaught, they will remember the name of the creature that is the God incarnate…Godzilla.

Gojira might not have been the first real Kaiju film in history, I’d argue King Kong predates it by almost two decades.  But there is no other film like Gojira itself.  Sure it jumpstarted one of the most successful film franchises in history and given us arguably the greatest giant monster ever conceived.  At it’s heart though, Gojira is a powerful, cautionary tale about the future and past events that have led to catastrophe.  This is far before the days of Godzilla duking it out with King Ghidorah, Mothra or Rodan.  And honestly, it’s the pure focus on Godzilla as the unstoppable force that makes this not just a good beginning for his franchise, but also the king of it and it has yet to be overthrown.
 
(Also for simplicities sake, I’ll be calling the big guy by his more well known title and just using “Gojira” when mentioning the films official title, just to be clear)
 
Coming out just under a decade after the end of World War II, the metaphor Godzilla represents is pretty obvious.  He is the walking atom bomb, the demonization of two weapons that wiped out two Japanese cities before the end of the war.  The movie doesn’t even try to present this in a fictionalized Japan where WWII never happened.  No the residents of Japan are still in recovery from the atomic nightmare and to see Godzilla reigning down atomic fire upon several cities is every bit the nightmare reborn.  Indeed, the central set piece of Gojira is the destruction of Tokyo and it is brutal, unrelenting and very well done.  People fleeing in terror, some even tragically accepting their inevitable fates, while the city burns around them, this is pretty deep and intense stuff to look at.  Props defintiley got to director Ishiro Honda for staging such a tragic yet epic scene and not being afraid to show just how bad things can get when a giant monster waltzes through your city with atomic power to spare. 
 
While the story and character dialogue are all fine and good (except maybe for the romantic subplot that was kind of annoying more than impactful), the true power of Gojira comes from its game changing Monster and miniature effects.  The hand puppet for Godzilla used for close ups might look a little silly but the actual monster suit is every bit as legendary as the big guy himself has become.  The extensive use of model sets, houses, fields and tons and tons of tanks and planes to simulate such a momentous event is staggering and Honda damn near perfects the craft in this movie.  All of the special effects are helped by an awesome musical score by Akira Ifukube.  Not only does he provide the Godzilla theme song for the first time, but also numerous other tracks ranging from inspirational excitement to the build up to doom and gloom and finally the somber sounds of the fallout from Godzilla’s attacks. 
 
Godzilla movies can be fun and even at their hokiest, most of them are.  Gojira may be a champion in the realm of giant monster effects but its hardly a film id call fun.  That’s not a bad thing, mind you.  It actually highlights just how well this movie still stands almost 70 years after it first appeared on Japanese screens.  There’s a reason this film is still considered the best of the entire Godzilla franchise.  Sure, he doesn’t fight anyone like he’d come to do.  Instead, Godzilla is the enemy and the very real nightmare that no one wants to experience in real life.  Gojira is chilling, haunting and insightful as much as it is thrilling, awe inspiring and most importantly, history unfolding on the screen.  It proved that as terrifying as he was, there was no doubt who the King was throughout.  And as the old saying goes, “Hail to the King baby.”
 
10/10
 
BUT that doesn’t mean we’re gonna stop here.  Nope, there’s a whole month of Godzilla madness coming your way this month.  Next week, we’ll see Godzilla take on one of his oldest frenemies in Mothra vs. Godzilla.  But first, we’re gonna take a look at the most recent appearance of the Big G with a special three day, three part review of Godzilla: Singular Point, starting Wednesday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.