Post by abraxas on Sept 1, 2010 13:05:16 GMT -5
The Return of Godzilla, released as Godzilla in Japan and edited into Godzilla 1985 in America, is a 1984 daikaiju film. The sixteenth film in Toho's Godzilla series, it was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka and directed by Koji Hashimoto with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano.
This was the first in the Heisei Series of Godzilla films, despite being filmed in the Showa Era. It was Tanaka's intent to restore the darker themes and mood of the early films in the series. The film's redesign of Godzilla's facial features, giving him a dark and more sinister appearance, would make the Heisei incarnation the most popular.
Wow I'm I glad I got to see the original Japanese version of this film, unfortunatly they hacked the shit out of it for its American release, it holds the title for being the most heavily edited Godzilla film ever produced. A total of 16 minutes was edited out, its US release shows a film that is completely different from the original.
This is a direct sequel to the first Godzilla movie filmed in 1954, essentially its a 30th anniversary film. However, they never explain exactly how it can be a direct sequel since Godzilla died in the first film, this minor inconvenience would be explained later on in the series, in its third incarnation, if you will.
There is no doubt that Godzilla looks totally awesome in this film, and plot wise it is one of the most intricate and sopisticated Godzilla films of the entire series (with the exception of his film). Thats not to say that Godzilla1985 doesn't have its problems, it in fact has two fairly big problems, the first is the scenes where they show Godzilla's foot as he steps on various objects. Most of the shots are pretty good but the 4th and 5th time they show the foot it looks really fake, I think one was a rear projection shot, the foot was basically put in front of a screen to make it seem as though it was stepping on the ground, you could clearly see that it wasn't making contact with anything, it just look really bad.
The other problem with the film are the scenes with the Japanese bum, which are totally useless, and were obviously put in the film to add a bit of comedy. The shot where you see him being chased by Godzilla down the street, looked just awful. The actor was basically running on one of those treadmills in front of a screen, it was yet another incredibly fake sequence. The giant sea-lice weren't very realistic either. However IMO those are just minor problems, overall the effects are pretty damn good.
There are some beautiful shots of Godzilla walking, and the miniature work is good for the most part, except the train sequence.
Godzilla picks up a train and you can see the silhouette of people inside, this was achieved by using plastic cutouts. They should have just left the windows black, as if the power was out or something.
This film features a plot device whixh will be used in future films, an idea that was established in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla and modified for this film. In this film Godzilla has come to Japan to fill up on nuclear energy which he takes from the reactors of nuclear power plants. In one scene we see Godzilla with his face plunged into one of the towers, I guess he is suppose to be breathing in the radioactivity. He then takes the reactor core and absorbs its power.
Later on in the film an explosion of two nuclear missiles high up in the stratosphere creates lightning which strikes Godzilla and awakens him, this occurs after he is attacked by a flying fortress called the Super X. This floating warship has special missiles made from a material that is normally used in the construction of reactor cores. These missiles are shot into Godzilla's mouth and apparently it fries his insides, after a couple of these Godzilla falls unconscious against a building, that is until the radioactive lightning recharges and revitalizes him.
The Americans and the Russians in the film are portrayed as warmongers who just want to use Japan as a test for their nuclear weapons. Seeing as neither country have ever used them before, for obvious reasons, they are not sure how effective they are. In the US version the film is changed to make it seem as if the Russians deliberately fired one of the two missiles which detonated over Japan.
The plot is simple, after decades of peace the monster from 1954 rises again.......the year is now 1984.
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka offered Ishiro Honda a chance to direct this film, but he strongly rejected the offer, because of what came of Godzilla in the 1970s, and his belief that Godzilla should have been permanently laid to rest after Eiji Tsuburaya's death
Stuntman Kenpachiro Satsuma (who previously played Hedorah and Gigan in the original Godzilla films) played Godzilla for the first time.
Aside from being heavy, the suit was very dangerous (it was not only built from the outside in, but not made to fit him), and Satsuma lost a lot of weight during filming. This mildly mirrored what Haruo Nakajima went through when he played Godzilla in the original 1954 film.
The life-like animatronic Godzilla prop (head and neck probably) used in close-up shots is the 20-foot "Cybot Godzilla." It was heavily touted in the publicity department at the time, even though it was not used in the film as extensively as promoted
New World Pictures changed the title to Godzilla 1985 and radically re-edited the film. New World reportedly planned to re-write the dialog in order to turn the film into a tongue-in-cheek comedy, but this plan was reportedly scrapped because Raymond Burr expressed displeasure at the idea, taking the idea of Godzilla as a nuclear metaphor seriously.
New World's biggest change was in adding around ten minutes of new footage, most of it at the Pentagon, with Raymond Burr reprising his role as Steve Martin from Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. (also heavily edited)
New World added a brief shot of Russian officer Kashirin pressing the launch button to make it seem like he deliberately launches the nuclear weapon. This change is widely believed to be for propaganda purposes.
5 out of 5 roars for this one
This was the first in the Heisei Series of Godzilla films, despite being filmed in the Showa Era. It was Tanaka's intent to restore the darker themes and mood of the early films in the series. The film's redesign of Godzilla's facial features, giving him a dark and more sinister appearance, would make the Heisei incarnation the most popular.
Wow I'm I glad I got to see the original Japanese version of this film, unfortunatly they hacked the shit out of it for its American release, it holds the title for being the most heavily edited Godzilla film ever produced. A total of 16 minutes was edited out, its US release shows a film that is completely different from the original.
This is a direct sequel to the first Godzilla movie filmed in 1954, essentially its a 30th anniversary film. However, they never explain exactly how it can be a direct sequel since Godzilla died in the first film, this minor inconvenience would be explained later on in the series, in its third incarnation, if you will.
There is no doubt that Godzilla looks totally awesome in this film, and plot wise it is one of the most intricate and sopisticated Godzilla films of the entire series (with the exception of his film). Thats not to say that Godzilla1985 doesn't have its problems, it in fact has two fairly big problems, the first is the scenes where they show Godzilla's foot as he steps on various objects. Most of the shots are pretty good but the 4th and 5th time they show the foot it looks really fake, I think one was a rear projection shot, the foot was basically put in front of a screen to make it seem as though it was stepping on the ground, you could clearly see that it wasn't making contact with anything, it just look really bad.
The other problem with the film are the scenes with the Japanese bum, which are totally useless, and were obviously put in the film to add a bit of comedy. The shot where you see him being chased by Godzilla down the street, looked just awful. The actor was basically running on one of those treadmills in front of a screen, it was yet another incredibly fake sequence. The giant sea-lice weren't very realistic either. However IMO those are just minor problems, overall the effects are pretty damn good.
There are some beautiful shots of Godzilla walking, and the miniature work is good for the most part, except the train sequence.
Godzilla picks up a train and you can see the silhouette of people inside, this was achieved by using plastic cutouts. They should have just left the windows black, as if the power was out or something.
This film features a plot device whixh will be used in future films, an idea that was established in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla and modified for this film. In this film Godzilla has come to Japan to fill up on nuclear energy which he takes from the reactors of nuclear power plants. In one scene we see Godzilla with his face plunged into one of the towers, I guess he is suppose to be breathing in the radioactivity. He then takes the reactor core and absorbs its power.
Later on in the film an explosion of two nuclear missiles high up in the stratosphere creates lightning which strikes Godzilla and awakens him, this occurs after he is attacked by a flying fortress called the Super X. This floating warship has special missiles made from a material that is normally used in the construction of reactor cores. These missiles are shot into Godzilla's mouth and apparently it fries his insides, after a couple of these Godzilla falls unconscious against a building, that is until the radioactive lightning recharges and revitalizes him.
The Americans and the Russians in the film are portrayed as warmongers who just want to use Japan as a test for their nuclear weapons. Seeing as neither country have ever used them before, for obvious reasons, they are not sure how effective they are. In the US version the film is changed to make it seem as if the Russians deliberately fired one of the two missiles which detonated over Japan.
The plot is simple, after decades of peace the monster from 1954 rises again.......the year is now 1984.
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka offered Ishiro Honda a chance to direct this film, but he strongly rejected the offer, because of what came of Godzilla in the 1970s, and his belief that Godzilla should have been permanently laid to rest after Eiji Tsuburaya's death
Stuntman Kenpachiro Satsuma (who previously played Hedorah and Gigan in the original Godzilla films) played Godzilla for the first time.
Aside from being heavy, the suit was very dangerous (it was not only built from the outside in, but not made to fit him), and Satsuma lost a lot of weight during filming. This mildly mirrored what Haruo Nakajima went through when he played Godzilla in the original 1954 film.
The life-like animatronic Godzilla prop (head and neck probably) used in close-up shots is the 20-foot "Cybot Godzilla." It was heavily touted in the publicity department at the time, even though it was not used in the film as extensively as promoted
New World Pictures changed the title to Godzilla 1985 and radically re-edited the film. New World reportedly planned to re-write the dialog in order to turn the film into a tongue-in-cheek comedy, but this plan was reportedly scrapped because Raymond Burr expressed displeasure at the idea, taking the idea of Godzilla as a nuclear metaphor seriously.
New World's biggest change was in adding around ten minutes of new footage, most of it at the Pentagon, with Raymond Burr reprising his role as Steve Martin from Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. (also heavily edited)
New World added a brief shot of Russian officer Kashirin pressing the launch button to make it seem like he deliberately launches the nuclear weapon. This change is widely believed to be for propaganda purposes.
5 out of 5 roars for this one
HMaM Global Mod
