Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Godzilla Raids Again [Toho Master Collection]


"Gojira" ("Godzilla, King of the Monsters!") was such a hit in 1954 that Toho gave its next batch of filmmakers just six months to crank out a sequel. "Gojira no gyakushu" ("Godzilla Raids Again") was released in Japan in 1955, but didn't make it to American theaters until four years later. And then, it was barely recognizable. Godzilla was mysteriously called "Gigantis" in a film that was marketed as "Gigantis, the Fire Monster." Some speculate it was a copyright issue, but we don't really know. All we know is that the sequel was no equal to the original film. Even bringing on another monster inspired by yet another dinosaur, "Godzilla Raids Again" is a pale imitation of "Gojira."

But fans of the Godzilla series will be impressed by the Japanese version, presented here by Classic Media for the first time. It's far superior to the dubbed American version, though still awfully slight compared to the original.

Once again, the Japanese version has more in the way of anti-war and anti-nuclear statements in the film, which add depth. But there's not much in the way of side plots this outing, and the film beings in media res with no logic to guide it.

Seaplane pilots Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Koji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) are cruising off the coast of Osaka, hired by fishermen to spot tuna. They do, but when one pilot's plane goes down and the other has to put down to help him, they also see two gigantic prehistoric monsters battling each other. Why these creatures are fighting, no one knows. How in the world they're able to live on what's essentially a pile of rocks seems to be an equally pressing question. But we jump right in. No build-up, not character dilemma, just get right to it: two monsters fighting. That's what everybody pays their money to see anyway, right?

But wait a minute. Wasn't Godzilla killed in the first film with an "oxygen destroyer"? Well, it turns out that there's more than one Godzilla, and plenty of monsters where he came from. The new Godzilla squares off against a creature that looks a lot like an ankylosaurus, those four-footed dinosaurs with pin-cushion spikes on their back and a tail that was wicked as a mace.

So without much plot we watch these two battle. What's at stake? Eh, not much. Until, like any Western brawl, these fighters end up in the water . . . only to resurface and continue their fight in Osaka. The first Godzilla trashed Tokyo, and this one levels landmarks like Osaka Castle, which was built in 1583. Only of course, it's a plaster three-sided miniature that a man in a Godzilla suit (worn by Haruo Nakajima) stomps while he's wrestling another man in an Anguirus suit (Katsumi Tezuka).

There's not even as much personal drama this time around, so when everyone starts running around as if Martians were attacking we don't have the same emotions invested as in the first film. Tsukioka has a love interest (Setsuko Wakayama as Hidemi Yamaji), but there's not much going on there. Hidemi mostly stands around and watches the action, like the scientists and military who peer through binoculars. Fans of the original will be comforted to see Takeshi Shimura as Dr. Yamane-Hakase again, but there's really not a lot of plot to report, and zero character development. Two monsters wrestle, people watch, the military tries to divert and then destroy them, and finally when one of them wins (HA! No Spoilers for you!) the other one is chased north to a frigid area in a showdown reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster. In one absolutely unnecessary side plot, three criminals escape and we watch them go here and there, with no real connection to the rest of the film. That's another huge weakness. ow, all that said, there's still something enjoyably campy about the whole Godzilla series, and while this first sequel still takes itself pretty seriously, 50 years after the fact it comes across as campy as any of them. Part of the fun are the special effects, some of which are quite good, given the means, and some of which are laughably as bad as ones on the old "Flash Gordon" serials. There's a lot of cardboard to be spotted, for one thing, and when we see other "monsters" people from America will crack up when one of them is a gila monster. It's like seeing those Flash Gordon monsters (a.k.a. iguanas) all over again!

"Gojira" ("Godzilla, King of the Monsters!") was such a hit in 1954 that Toho gave its next batch of filmmakers just six months to crank out a sequel. "Gojira no gyakushu" ("Godzilla Raids Again") was released in Japan in 1955, but didn't make it to American theaters until four years later. And then, it was barely recognizable. Godzilla was mysteriously called "Gigantis" in a film that was marketed as "Gigantis, the Fire Monster." Some speculate it was a copyright issue, but we don't really know. All we know is that the sequel was no equal to the original film. Even bringing on another monster inspired by yet another dinosaur, "Godzilla Raids Again" is a pale imitation of "Gojira."

But fans of the Godzilla series will be impressed by the Japanese version, presented here by Classic Media for the first time. It's far superior to the dubbed American version, though still awfully slight compared to the original.

Once again, the Japanese version has more in the way of anti-war and anti-nuclear statements in the film, which add depth. But there's not much in the way of side plots this outing, and the film beings in media res with no logic to guide it.

Seaplane pilots Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Koji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) are cruising off the coast of Osaka, hired by fishermen to spot tuna. They do, but when one pilot's plane goes down and the other has to put down to help him, they also see two gigantic prehistoric monsters battling each other. Why these creatures are fighting, no one knows. How in the world they're able to live on what's essentially a pile of rocks seems to be an equally pressing question. But we jump right in. No build-up, not character dilemma, just get right to it: two monsters fighting. That's what everybody pays their money to see anyway, right?

But wait a minute. Wasn't Godzilla killed in the first film with an "oxygen destroyer"? Well, it turns out that there's more than one Godzilla, and plenty of monsters where he came from. The new Godzilla squares off against a creature that looks a lot like an ankylosaurus, those four-footed dinosaurs with pin-cushion spikes on their back and a tail that was wicked as a mace.

So without much plot we watch these two battle. What's at stake? Eh, not much. Until, like any Western brawl, these fighters end up in the water . . . only to resurface and continue their fight in Osaka. The first Godzilla trashed Tokyo, and this one levels landmarks like Osaka Castle, which was built in 1583. Only of course, it's a plaster three-sided miniature that a man in a Godzilla suit (worn by Haruo Nakajima) stomps while he's wrestling another man in an Anguirus suit (Katsumi Tezuka).

There's not even as much personal drama this time around, so when everyone starts running around as if Martians were attacking we don't have the same emotions invested as in the first film. Tsukioka has a love interest (Setsuko Wakayama as Hidemi Yamaji), but there's not much going on there. Hidemi mostly stands around and watches the action, like the scientists and military who peer through binoculars. Fans of the original will be comforted to see Takeshi Shimura as Dr. Yamane-Hakase again, but there's really not a lot of plot to report, and zero character development. Two monsters wrestle, people watch, the military tries to divert and then destroy them, and finally when one of them wins (HA! No Spoilers for you!) the other one is chased north to a frigid area in a showdown reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster. In one absolutely unnecessary side plot, three criminals escape and we watch them go here and there, with no real connection to the rest of the film. That's another huge weakness. ow, all that said, there's still something enjoyably campy about the whole Godzilla series, and while this first sequel still takes itself pretty seriously, 50 years after the fact it comes across as campy as any of them. Part of the fun are the special effects, some of which are quite good, given the means, and some of which are laughably as bad as ones on the old "Flash Gordon" serials. There's a lot of cardboard to be spotted, for one thing, and when we see other "monsters" people from America will crack up when one of them is a gila monster. It's like seeing those Flash Gordon monsters (a.k.a. iguanas) all over again!

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