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Godzilla 1985

Godzilla 1985 (1985)

August. 23,1985
|
6.1
|
PG
| Horror Action Thriller Science Fiction

Originally released in Japan as "The Return of Godzilla" in 1984, this is the heavily re-edited, re-titled "Godzilla 1985". Adding in new footage of Raymond Burr, this 16th Godzilla film ignores all previous sequels and serves as a direct follow-up to the 1956 "Godzilla King of the Monsters", which also featured scenes with Burr edited into 1954's "Godzilla". This film restores the darker tone of the original, as we witness the nuclear destruction of giant lizard terrorizing Japan.

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Comwayon
1985/08/23

A Disappointing Continuation

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Chirphymium
1985/08/24

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

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StyleSk8r
1985/08/25

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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Zandra
1985/08/26

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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JLRVancouver
1985/08/27

Despite bringing back director Ishirô Honda and toning down the child-friendly antics that were plaguing the series, 1975's "Terror of Mechagodzilla" was a financial failure and the big guy was put on waivers for a decade. His triumphant return in 1984, his 16th outing, was a big-budget, one-monster show that was very much a return to the roots of the series (literally, as all of the intervening sequels were ignored as well as was the obvious death of the monster at the end of the original). As in the '54 version, the story opens with an attack on a ship, from which there is a single survivor, who claims to have seen a giant monster. People are generally disbelieving (which seems odd, as only 30 years have passed since Tokyo was first flattened by a giant monster), but come around when Godzilla wades ashore and destroys a nuclear power plant. Although nods are made to environmental concerns, the background issue in this film is the cold-war, as the Soviets and the Americans push to be allowed to use nuclear weapons against the monster. The Japanese prime minster is all quiet dignity, reason and principles while the Americans and the Russians blustering war-heads, which led to accusations of anti-Americanism in the Reagan-era U.S.A. (at one point in the discussion about using nuclear weapons near Tokyo, the American representative says "This is not time to be talking about principles", a line apparently changed in the American version of the film). Most of the special efforts are very good, with Godzilla back destroying cities rather than thrashing around on some inexpensive deserted island set, and although he's increased in height to 50 meters, he himself is dwarfed by Tokyo's towering (but apparently fragile) skyscrapers. Some of the back projection sequences are weak and the diminished scale of the city models limits the details that enhanced the realism of the sets in earlier films, but overall the film looks good. The Godzilla suit is excellent, very saurian and predatory looking, with internal mechanisms that allow for more facial expression than earlier versions and, in addition to the usual tanks and missiles, the JDF deploys laser cannon (nicely done) and the first of a series of improbable looking flying fortresses, the X1 - all of which is effective and exciting. The film's score, although not as good as Akira Ifukube's iconic original, is quite good, especially the ominous opening music. I watched a subtitled Japanese version of the film and parts of an English-dubbed version (but not the American release, which I've read has a number of alterations). The dubbing in the version I saw was not very good, with poor syncing and sometimes silly sounding voices (esp. the Russian ambassadors 'accent'). Remakes of classics are rarely classics themselves (1959's "Ben Hur" notwithstanding), and this incarnation of Godzilla is not as good as the 1954 original, but it is a watchable and entertaining film in its own right, both for fans and for the uninitiated.

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Lee Eisenberg
1985/08/28

OK, so I'll admit that I've only seen the version that played in the US (featuring Raymond Burr), but "Godzilla 1985" is still a pleasure. As usual, the big guy stomps his way through Japan wreaking havoc, while the people try to figure out what to do. In the US version, Burr reprises his role as reporter Steve Martin (although they didn't state the name directly due to the existence of a certain wild and crazy guy).Another thing that I notice is that the diverse filmographies of the cast members. Everyone knows Raymond Burr from his TV roles and from "Rear Window". Eitaro Ozawa starred in "Ugetsu" and Taketoshi Naito starred in "The Burmese Harp", both of which dealt with the effects of World War II on Japan. Dubbing Goro Maki is Tony Plana, best known as the dad on "Ugly Betty".But above all, the movie is about the monster himself. No doubt the bombing of Hiroshima gave the Land of the Rising Sun a reason to be suspicious of nuclear weapons. Enjoyable movie.I wonder if Steve Martin the comedian ever noticed that Raymond Burr's character shares a name with him.

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Michael_Elliott
1985/08/29

Godzilla (1984)** 1/2 (out of 4)Thirty years after the the original film, Japan struck back with this direct sequel that finds the government having to team up with American and Russia once Godzilla frees himself from a volcano and finds himself heading towards Tokyo. The Japanese version of this film is certainly much better than what would be done with the American version, which turned into a complete disaster for the studio when released in 1985. However, this Japanese version actually stays closer in tone to the original film from 1954 and I think it's rather interesting that the filmmakers pretty much overlooked every other Godzilla movie except for that original. For the most part I think the film is a success, although there's certainly some flaws to be found including the 102-minute running time, which just has a few too many slow spots. This is especially true early on as we keep waiting for the big guy to appear. Once Godzilla does finally show up we're treated to a pretty good monster flick. Thankfully the Godzilla costume is a lot better than what we had previously seen up to this point with the mouth really benefiting from being more flexible. I also thought that costume design was good for the most part. The special effects on the other hand weren't any more impressive than they were in 1954. The entire stomping on buildings isn't exactly grand work but I think fans will enjoy the charm of them. Performacnes were decent for the most part but do we really come to these movies for acting? Again, I think the film would have benefited from being trimmed down some but there's still no question that the film is fun for fans of the series.Godzilla 1985 (1984) ** (out of 4)This is the American version of the 1984 Japanese film that had the beloved Godzilla returning to the big screen. It should go without saying but overall the Japanese version is the one to watch and it's easy to see why American critics ripped this thing to shreds and why so many people stayed away from the theater. For starters, this film runs just 87-minutes whereas the Japanese one ran 102-minutes. I really don't mind the shorter running time because I found the Japanese version to be too long but the added scenes with Raymond Burr really don't bring anything to the picture except for a connection to the original American version. You can check out various websites (including this one) for the alternate scenes here and there are a few funny changes including the bit with the Russian sub. The biggest problem with this film is obviously the extremely bad dubbing job, which just brings the film down several levels. The seriousness of the Japanese film is pretty much lost through the dubbing.

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Scott Baldwin (Meven_Stoffat)
1985/08/30

While I was never alive until the 1990s, I do get a kick out of the Godzilla movies of old. Sure, they look awful cheesy nowadays as they're either polystyrene monsters or a man in a rubber suit, but I'm able to empathize with the audiences of that age and realize that back then they were the real deal. Ultimately the most highly regarded among fans is the 1984 movie entitled "The Return of Godzilla" (though in Japan originally called Gojira, but later re titled to avoid confusion with the 1954 movie). The film is also set in Japan during the Cold War and attempts to return Godzilla back to his more horrific roots, as a reminder of why nuclear weapons are bad. There's a lot to love about this movie but there's also just a tad too much to hate about it, which is why I find myself split down the middle on this one. It is no secret that the 1970s/1960s Godzilla movies were truly bad at times but were guilty pleasures- but to see this film try to make Godzilla a terrifying natural disaster again is very refreshing. With the dark atmosphere enhanced by its Cold War setting and obvious allusions to the tensions between the US and Russia, sadly what really squanders this film's potential is the horrible direction. The plot is simple and effective, but there's too much of a dissonance between the writers' script and engaging storyline (the government discovers that Godzilla is attracted to birds calling and sets up a sound signal to lure him to a volcano for him to fall into), and that's a problem. In fact, it's almost as if the director thought he was directing a different filmThe attack scenes have tons of potential to be terrifying and sadly they're ruined by threadbare and lazy direction. When Godzilla takes his stroll through Tokyo, we don't get the impression that this event is terrifying mostly because while it's obvious that so much detail went into the suit and the miniature sets, the scene as a whole feels static. In fact, there's also an animatronic Godzilla used for setups and it's easy to tell which scenes use the animatronic Godzilla. Those scenes look oddly too mechanical. And while the finale will jerk some tears from the audience, it's really the only scene that has any impact. Which is a shame because the film could be terrifying. In fact, luckily the goal of making us scared of Godzilla was achieved five years later with Godzilla Vs. Biollante, which is a truly exceptional film.

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