Gojira (1984)

Directors:

Koji Hashimoto
R.J. Kizer

Drehbuchautoren:

Shuichi Nagahara (writer)
Tomoyuki Tanaka (story)

Premierendatum:

23. August 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Werbezeile:

Your favorite fire-breathing monster... Like you've never seen him before!

Plot:

Thirty years after the original monster's rampage, a new Godzilla emerges and attacks Japan.

Plot Keywords:

Kaiju | Giant Monster | Godzilla | Sequel | Remake

Filmpreise:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

unfairly maligned

Besetzung

Ken Tanaka	...	Goro Maki
Yasuko Sawaguchi	...	Naoko Okumura
Yosuke Natsuki	...	Dr. Hayashida
Keiju Kobayashi	...	Prime Minister Mitamura
Shin Takuma	...	Hiroshi Okumura
Eitarô Ozawa	...	Finance Minister Kanzaki
Taketoshi Naitô	...	Takegami, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Mizuho Suzuki	...	Foreign Minister Emori
Junkichi Orimoto	...	Director-General of the Defense Agency
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Geologist Minami
Kei Sato	...	Chief Editor Gondo
Takenori Emoto	...	Desk Editor Kitagawa
Sho Hashimoto	...	Captain of Super X
Nobuo Kaneko	...	Home Affairs Minister Isomura
Kunio Murai	...	Secretary Henmi

Alternativ:

Godzilla (International: English title)
Godzilla 1985: The Legend Is Reborn (USA)
Godzilla: 1985 (USA) (closing credits title)
The Return of Godzilla
Godzilla - Die Rückkehr des Monsters (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

Germany:82 Min | Japan:103 Min | USA:87 Min

Produktionsland:

Japan

Sprache:

Russisch | Englisch | Japanisch

Farbe:

Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Dolby

Altersfreigabe:

Finland:K-14 | Finland:K-11 (DVD) | Australia:PG | Spain:13 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Firma:

Toho Company

Dies und das:

Actor Akihiko Hirata, who portrayed Dr. Serizawa in the first Godzilla feature was supposed to have a role in the new update. Unfortunately he had succumbed to throat cancer just before filming.

Pannen:

Handlungsbrüche: In the American version, the American general and his peers keep talking about giving support to the Japanese, but the only real visible thing they "help" with is the stopping of the Russian nuclear missile.

Dialogzitate:

Prime Minister Mitamura: [US version] Godzilla... I was hoping I would never hear that name again.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Ausschnittsweise enthalten in "Svengoolie: Godzilla 1985 (#1.5)" (1995)

unfairly maligned

Godzilla returns in a (somewhat) serious vehicle with a (somewhat) big budget. Americans yawned or laughed this off the screen, for the most part, but if you dig Godzilla you should dig this, his most respectable film since the 1954 original.

Yes, it's not that fast paced. No, Godzilla doesn't fight with other creatures. So what? After about twenty lurid, cheap movies that involved Godzilla in mortal combat with rubberized foes, it was nice to see him get back to menacing basics here.

While the special effects are not quite up to the Hollywood standard, they're still entertaining and reasonably convincing. American critics who slammed the film's look were being just a tad intolerant - all foreign films tend to be cheaper than ours, so inferior effects are a given. My bottom line for judging SFX is not, "are they realistic?" but "are they fun?", and the shots of Godzilla laying waste to Tokyo are indeed fun.

Godzilla fans often complain about the film's overtly political concerns and somber mood, but I have to disagree with them; I like a bit of realism, a bit of credibility. I do think that there are several better, faster-paced Godzilla films (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, GMK), but this is still a standout entry in the series.

Who knows when we'll get another solo vehicle for the big G? The upcoming Godzilla: Final Wars will apparently feature a total of ten monsters. At least in this movie, Godzilla had the spotlight all to himself.