Godzilla 1985

 

It's hard to believe it's been 40 years since this one came out - especially considering I saw it at the theater as a teenager. It's special to me for a few reasons: It was the first one I got to see in a theater, the first one I saw at the time of release, and it actually got attention in the press as a big new movie coming out. Prior to this we pretty much had to catch them as Saturday afternoon special features on local independent stations as even getting them on VHS tapes was not easy early on. 

This however, was a big new Godzilla. Prior to this one the last new G-movie was released in 1975 and barring the occasional re-release - which my parents would not take me to - it was a TV-only thing. Now it was big-screen time and it quickly became apparent that there were some differences:

• Most of the action scenes take place at night and this gives a very different feel to things. It's a different look and this version of Godzilla emerges from the ocean in the dark and lays waste to your city in an apocalyptic-looking scene of ruins and smoke lit by fires  as he stomps his way through. It gives them a chance to use the lighting as something other than bright happy daylight like most of the prior movies.
• In the city many of the buildings are bigger than Godzilla. That's not something we really saw before and it adds to the massive scale of what's going on. The city sets themselves are just ridiculously detailed and the amount of moving parts and the lighting is just incredible.
• More attention is paid to the human story, really to the story overall, as a definite effort is made to have a coherent narrative of problem arises, devastation continues as solutions are pursued, a major battle is fought and lost, but then one solution comes together and science saves the day - for now. The main group of human characters is kept small so when they end up in danger it actually matters - we have a reporter, a sailor, his sister, and a scientist ... and possibly Raymond Burr depending on which version you end up watching. It's a solid approach that will be used again in some of the future movies. No aliens, secret aliens, government conspiracies, or time travelers here. Just humans threatened by a force of nature.
• The cold war does make a guest appearance via the U.S. and the Russians and some questionable stances here end up prolonging the problem but it's nice to see a nod to the time in which it was made without going to an outside solution and it directly address the "why don't they just nuke it" question in a satisfactory way.

One of my favorite elements of the movie deserves a separate callout: the Super-X:

Now we had all seen Japan's obsession with giant robots before in various incarnations, most notably Mechagodzilla and Jet Jaguar in the earlier movies, but this was a different take. This little over-armored-flying-Volkswagen-bug-tank-thing was both awesome and hilarious as Japan's secret super-weapon takes on Godzilla and goes toe-to-toe with him in a running fight through a burning city at night in one of the best battles in the entire series. In fact it pretty much wins!

But after knocking him out with some special missiles the Soviet screw-up takes effect and brings him back to life and you can feel the desperation in the crew and in the observers as the tiny defender vehicle fights a losing battle that can only go one way now that it's one special trick has failed. The second part of the fight is great but leads to the end of the valiant Super-X.

(Someone else must have loved it too because we do eventually get a Super-X2 and a Super-X3!)

We do get a nicely done resolution though as the other scientific solution is implemented and leads Godzilla to a  nearby volcano and drops him in - Japan is saved but ... it is Godzilla you know.

It's just a well-done movie. If you have any interest in Kaiju films it's definitely worth watching as it (eventually) kicked off a whole new wave of Godzilla films that ran into the 90's and are pretty decent as a group. It was a ton of fun to know it was back after a ten-year gap - even if it took another 4 years to get the next one and as far as I know most of us could only see it on HBO when it did arrive, not the theater.

My only caveat for this is right up there: you do need to have some love for Kaiju films. It is still a man in a rubber suit stomping around a (awesome) model city even if it does have a decent story and better effects than prior entries. It's not Minus-One: if someone doesn't like this genre this one will probably not change their mind. 

That said I love it - it's one of my favorites and it has me fired up enough that I will probably work my way back through the series and I'm sure I will end up talking more about it here.