A Japanese cargo ship is sailing peacefully along somewhere in
the Pacific until it’s blown away by a mysterious explosion. The freighter
manages to send off an S.O.S. before it sinks. The Southern Sea Steamship
Company, which owns the stricken vessel, sends another one of its ships for a
rescue mission--yet the second ship meets the same strange fate as its sister
ship. A fishing boat picks up three survivors from the second vessel, and radios
in the result of their rescue. But before it could reach land, the fishing boat
is also destroyed. A lone survivor washes up on a make-shift raft made of debris.
When the people of a local village pull him out of the water, he tells them that
a monster sunk the boat.
This gets some of the old timers in the village to start talking about a local
legend, a great mythical sea creature named Gojira (Godzilla). In the old days,
whenever the fishing would thin out, the villagers would blame Gojira. They would
sacrifice a young woman in order to appease Gojira and keep him at bay (shades
of Skull Island!). Yet these days, this ritual is no longer practiced--luckily
for the young women in the village! During a bad storm, a house is smashed to
pieces, killing the occupants inside--yet it wasn’t the storm that destroyed the
structure, but something that dwelled within it: for the sound of large
footsteps could be heard before and after the attack. A research party is sent
to investigate, and it’s not long before they come face to snout with Gojira
himself.
The Godzilla films have always been known as being good, campy fun--starting
with the very first film: Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. Ah, but there’s the
rub: the English-language version, with Raymond Burr starring as intrepid
reporter Steve Martin (yep, that was his name), was not the true first Godzilla
film. Outside of Godzilla conventions, the original Gojira had never been widely seen in
the U.S. until now. And it’s a marvel to behold. Gojira is far more somber in
tone, treating its subject--a surviving creature from the Jurassic Age--with the
utmost gravitas, as well as slipping in an anti-war message in the overall
storyline. Gojira himself is not actually seen until over twenty minutes into
the film’s running time, and up to then, the build up to his entrance is a
masterful exercise in suspense.
The film print itself is scratchy in some areas, yet overall it looks good. The
sound is also very clear. Gojira is presented in its original Japanese with
English subtitles, yet the subtitles are a very faint yellow, making them a
little hard to read at times. The butchered American version is also included in
this two-disc set, and people who are deaf and hard of hearing should be warned
that while Gojira has subtitles, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters does not--nor
does it even have closed captions. The DVD set does come in an exquisite package
that includes a booklet, and the special features include two commentaries by
film historians, featurettes on the making of the Godzilla suit and the
development of the story, as well as the original trailers. If you’re a fan of
Godzilla, and have never seen the original Japanese version of Gojira, then you
owe it to yourself to see how it all began.
--SF
Main Review Page | Fantasy Reviews |Buy This DVD Right Here!