Godzilla (1954) Review

        Now we look at Japan for this day’s view into horror. It was only years after the country was bombed twice that the scars of what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was still in the consciousness of many people. Godzilla was an idea from the producer Tomoyuki Tanaka when he looked over the ocean as he was flying and pondered what if a monster would rise from the waters. The studio loved it and gave him a lot of money to make the film. With that, the film made a profound impact, and introducing the most beloved monster in pop-culture.

1. Human Story

        Now, I can understand that if you watch the movie, you just want to watch the monster rip and tear across Tokyo. What makes this film great is not just the main star, but the actual human drama that is involved. It’s a series of storylines that overlap when Godzilla is gradually terrorizing the Japanese. What starts as a series of missing ships turns into a monster pillaging a village, and an onslaught of destruction being directed towards Tokyo.

        Most of the people attempt to figure out what is causing all of it. A scientist says that due to repeated Hydrogen Bomb tests, they’ve awakened an ancient creature that is associated with the dinosaurs. Soon the Army arrives and attempts to stop the raging beast. It’s a staple of Godzilla that he’s practically invincible against any artillery directed towards him. 

        The scientist’s daughter soon meets an associate and learns that he’s been developing a secret weapon that can possibly kill Godzilla. Overall, the film’s story continues as everyone tries to survive the attack and the scientist’s daughter trying to tell her fiancé about her acquaintance’s secret weapon. 

        I feel what works to make the monster attack more impactful is by having the film be played straight and serious. There’s never a moment where something stupid happens or someone acts dumb. The whole movie acts like it’s a serious problem, so much so that when he’s terrorizing Tokyo, we see people running in fear. The secret to making it effective is to see the aftermath. There’s a moment where we see a group of nurses caring for the injured, and a quick glimpse of a dead body with a child crying. 

        Like I said, there’s a group of people who watch a monster movie but just want the monster. My rebuttal is that’s ok. But the real detriment is that it be boring to watch a monster just destroy. Having no drama or any real reason to be invested would make any sort of destruction feel hollow because we don’t have a central character or an ensemble to make the devastation feel impactful.  

2. King of the Kaijus

        Now we can talk about the main star. Translated from Japanese, Gojira is the combination of the words Gorilla and Whale. Godzilla has an interesting design, obviously he looks like a dinosaur with his body looking scaly and the dorsal fins which is evocative of the Stegosaurus. This is the first time that the idea of putting the man in a rubber suit was new. Although, the actor had a tough time walking since he couldn’t see in the suit, and it got hot. One last thing is his iconic roar. The producers wanted to use an animal sound, instead they used a leather glove rubbing on a stringed instrument.

        What sells the intimidation of the monster is that we see him mostly from the ground looking up. It’s a classic shot where it’s supposed to communicate that he’s a dominate force of nature. And really, he’s a symbol of what the Japanese had to go through. It’s one thing where we think of the creature as being silly. To put it into perspective, the creature was created from repeated bomb testing. It hits home hard for the civilians who had to live through being bombed. 

 

3. Legacy

        Regardless of the subtext, the film was massively successful. In spite of what happened in the end, a sequel was commissioned, and it was the first time Godzilla had faced another monster. There have been 5 phases of Godzilla films. This film started the series which is dubbed the Showa era. The succeeding ones are referred to as the Heisei, Millenium, and Reiwa eras since they ushered in a different take of the monster. 

        Mostly reinventing the look of Godzilla and introducing new monsters that have become allies and enemies. Some of them have been released in the United States with varyingly rates of success. The American version of Godzilla had extra scenes of actor Raymond Burr being in the film to describe what was happening. And most of the sequels having god-awful dubbing.

        Since the Japanese had made most of the Godzilla films, Hollywood decided to try it. 1998 was the first time an American studio released an adaptation. It wasn’t good and the monster didn’t even look like Godzilla, despite having the name. What’s funny is that the Japanese studio Toho renamed the creature Zilla and have their star kill the American monster in one of his movies. 

        Years later, Warner Bros. decided to be the next studio to try it. They started the Monsterverse films with Godzilla in 2014 and bringing King Kong in his own film. Although, Universal Studios have the rights to the beast and allowed Warner to use him, except referring to him as just Kong. The two beasts from the West and the East fought for the first time in nearly 60 years with their recent film Godzilla vs Kong. Me personally, I never understood the love for Godzilla, although there was a period where he was the hero and we love to root for him when he goes against a different monster or a mechanized version of himself. 

4. Overall

        The film fits in with the 50’s Atomic age of horror films. It utilizes the anxiety of what the Japanese went through and created a reptilian menace that is the representation of destruction. Godzilla ’54 is the best one out of all his films that came out later.