Godzilla 1985 (1984)

Godzilla 1985 is the first Godzilla movie since "Terror of Mechagodzilla" in 1975. It is a really good film that starts the Hesei Series of Godzilla films, which is a great series.

The basic storyline is that Godzilla Returns and goes towards Tokyo. Godzilla is once again a threat to mankind and a means to stop him must be made.

Much as King Kong made a come back in the seventies in the remake of King Kong, this film is not a remake of "Godzilla King of the Monsters". Instead the events of this film are set years after "Godzilla King of the Monsters." It ignores what happens in all of the other Godzilla films.

Godzilla becomes a threat to mankind again. That is good. In fact through the entire Hesei Series Godzilla is a villain. I like to think that by making Godzilla a villain that the people in charge of these films are admitting that Godzillla is better as a villain and the whole concept of him being a hero to japan made his popularity decline a bit. Godzilla looks pretty good, he has fangs in this one so he looks pretty scary. There is nothing comical about Godzilla in this one, he is a villain and shows no sympathy for anything in his way.

This film is very similar to "Godzilla King of the Monsters". It is just Godzilla, no other monsters are in it if you do not include a species of sea lice that appears briefly at the beginning. It is just Godzilla going after Japan, not much more to the story. I do like how it flashes back to "Godzilla King of the Monsters", that lets viewers know that it is not a re make. Love how it pays respect to the original and does not try to start a whole new Godzilla series that does not have anything to do with the original showa series.

The action is great with Godzilla attacking Japan. Godzilla and his battle with the super x vehicle is great. Also well done is the suspense in waiting for Godzilla to appear. There are times where you are not sure when he is going to pop up.

This is a really good film and a great start to the Hesei Series. A must see that I highly recommend.

Fmovies: I firmly believe that Godzilla is criminally misunderstood in America. Much of this comes from the horrendous dubbings that we are often exposed to. The Americanized version even features Raymond Burr and a giant Dr. Pepper product placement. This makes it tough to take the film seriously on any level. I encourage you to search out the original version. You might be lucky enough to find it on ebay as a region 0 DVD. You won't find it in Blockbuster or most video stores.

Admittedly, it takes a special kind of person to search out the original, then look past the `special' effects and see the metaphysical implications of a giant monster destroying mankind. This may or not be worth your time, but if you decide to watch this film, watch it, not as `Godzilla 1985,' but as `Gojira 1984.' Otherwise you might as well stick with the Devlin/Emmerich remake that's just as funny as the dubbed versions, but for all the wrong reasons.

Also, an excellent score is turned in by Reijiro Koroku, it takes inspiration from the classic Godzilla theme but adds some real depth.

I love it when artists refer to their other work. In the 'Masters of Horror' sequence 'Deer Woman' directed by John Landis one of the characters mentions the "...giant mutant wolf they shot in Piccadilly Circus back in 1980..." an obvious reference to 'American werewolf in London' also directed by Landis.

The best line in the Americanized release of Godzilla 1985 (or Gojira 1984) goes to Raymond Burr, reprising his role of Steve Martin from the original Godzilla movie. After the American general orders planes to attack the monster one of the observers wonders aloud "Do you think it will work?" And Burr deadpans "It didn't last time..."

Now THAT's Theater!

Godzilla 1985 fmovies. I would recommend that anyone who has only seen one version of this film make an effort to see whichever version you haven't seen. The changes that have been made between the Japanese/International version and the American version are very telling, in themselves.

Quite a few people criticize the suit design in this movie, but I think it's my favorite out of all the suits from 1954-1995. It looks the least like any 'real' reptile and more like a maddened, nuke-scorched monster. Or maybe just a big, green charcoal briquette with eyes. Anyway, it's feral and mindless, which is what Godzilla originally was. None of this superhero-friend-to-children-single-dad B.S. He's indestructible, he's angry, and he's going to destroy things. Why? Because.

I agree with the criticism of the FX. Even though we don't expect miracles from a Godzilla movie, this one had some rough spots that typically didn't appear in even the cheapest of the series' offerings. One scene in particular comes to mind: when Godzilla does a firesweep of the military equipment firing on him as he comes out of Tokyo bay, the angle of the animated firebreath doesn't match the aim of the monster's head.

I also agree that there isn't enough city-smashing. Some people prefer monster vs. monster battles, some prefer monster vs. military, I'm one of the group that likes to see major metropolitan areas levelled. Frankly, this movie didn't fully satisfy ANY of the three groups, as far as I can tell.

All that said, this is my second-favorite Godzilla film, after the original King of the Monsters and before Godzilla vs. King Kong. De gustibus non est disputandum.

This Godzilla (Gojira) film holds a special place in my heart, for it is the first Godzilla movie I've watched. When I was a little kid, I was a dinosaur fanatic. My mom used to rent a dinosaur cartoon movie (made by some unknown studio) and I would watch it all the time. However, when that movie was unavailable for rental, my mom introduced Gojira to me. The film was titled "Godzilla 1985" and understandably, as I didn't understand subtitles back then, it was the US version of the Japanese 1984 film (the one with Raymond Burr in it). Though I heard the original Japanese version contains numerous scenes that were cut from the US version, the US version is still pleasant to watch. I would never have thought that this movie would lead me into years of collecting Godzilla and other Toho sci-fi movies, and even soundtrack CDs. The video version of this movie I rented included the short "Bambi Meets Godzilla" cartoon. Poor Bambi!

I think Shuichi Nagahara wrote a nice screenplay, depicting suspense, humor, power, and politics. Koji Hashimoto did a good job directing(keeping the plot intact), and Teruyoshi Nakano did great on the special effects (probably his best work). Reijiro Koroku provided a terrific music score, creating what I think is one of the best non-Ifukube scores.

Even though this movie features Godzilla only, it remains one of my all-time favorites. The scenes of Godzilla rising out of Tokyo bay, rendering the military helpless, and causing a path of destruction in Tokyo as citizens run for their lives are powerful. The scene where Godzilla derails a train with people still in it is still appalling for me to watch. I used to fast-forward the sea louse scene, for it scared the heck out of me. Now, the scene it pretty tamed to watch. The part where Godzilla falls inside the volcano was sad to watch, and aroused my sympathy in the monster. When the character Professor Hayashida said that "when mankind falls into conflict with nature, monsters are born," I think it is a really moral message (thinking back that it was nuclear bombs that brought Godzilla's wrath). And, the part where Burr said at the climax of the film that hints Godzilla is a natural force better explains Godzilla's purpose.

Overall, a great way to revive the Godzilla series after a 9-year hiatus, and a great introduction to the Godzilla "Heisei" series, which ran from 1984-1995. Also, it is a great introduction for me into the world of Godzilla.

Grade A

I have seen this film many times when I was young, but only the Raymond Burr version named "Godzilla 1985" which I later realized that the Raymond Burr scenes are entirely pointless and some of his lines are off and don't make sense, including ridiculous scenes in the American base where there's a Pepsi machine and a character drinks Pepsi when a serious moment happens just for advertisement, bad dubbing, bad dialogue, and the people working on the film removed the scenes with horrors of nuclear devastation, but I'm not giving an eight to the American version, I'm giving it to the Japanese version, which I have seen recently on DVD and I got to say this version is more superior. First of all, you can take the film more serious, and the film doesn't add crappy humor, and no Raymond Burr scenes. I also like the haunting score by Reijiro Koroku, and the fact that they makers of film brought Godzilla back to his roots, and the film also has a bigger budget so, the special effects, Godzilla suit, and miniatures are more better made (not perfect though). This is in my opinion, this is second greatest Godzilla movie next to original un-cut Gojira.