Toho Kingdom

Why is the US title Godzilla's Revenge?

Kaijunator wrote:Why is the US title Godzilla's Revenge?

Because evidently that's what the distributor thought was the best title to sell the film as.

It should've been titled GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND.

ThunderScore wrote:It should've been titled GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND.

Godzilla vs. Gigan was released in the US as Godzilla on Monster Island, ironically enough.

I think GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN should be called GODZILLA'S REVENGE.

Without question, the worst Godzilla film ever made. From the excessively boring and depressing setting to its terrible moral about becoming the alpha ape, it's an absolute disaster.

The movie is actually Godzilla's Revenge against gumanity. For all the times they've managed to drive him off, he can still hurt them in a way they never expected. A really terrible movie smack dab in the middle of his canon- they never saw it coming.

LockBite wrote:Without question, the worst Godzilla film ever made. From the excessively boring and depressing setting to its terrible moral about becoming the alpha ape, it's an absolute disaster.

While I won't disagree that the moral was clumsily handled, I really like the setting. It shows a side of Japan we don't often see in the other movies, and is part of what makes the movie unique. It could be called depressing, yeah, but that was the point: Ichiro fantasized about Monster Island so much because he wanted an escape from his underwhelming reality.

JAGzilla wrote:

LockBite wrote:Without question, the worst Godzilla film ever made. From the excessively boring and depressing setting to its terrible moral about becoming the alpha ape, it's an absolute disaster.

While I won't disagree that the moral was clumsily handled, I really like the setting. It shows a side of Japan we don't often see in the other movies, and is part of what makes the movie unique. It could be called depressing, yeah, but that was the point: Ichiro fantasized about Monster Island so much because he wanted an escape from his underwhelming reality.

The setting was just endlessly bleak, though, and it really doesn't help that nobody acknowledges it. Also keep in mind that what Ichiro escapes to is the dullest version of Monster Island ever, stunningly lifeless in comparison to the islands in previous movies. It seems like everything is covered in a haze of dust.

LockBite wrote:

JAGzilla wrote: The setting was just endlessly bleak, though, and it really doesn't help that nobody acknowledges it. Also keep in mind that what Ichiro escapes to is the dullest version of Monster Island ever, stunningly lifeless in comparison to the islands in previous movies. It seems like everything is covered in a haze of dust.

Again, bleak was what the filmmakers were going for, and we see that Ichiro does acknowledge it, even if he doesn't outright say so: he hates the place so much that he dreams about leaving it. And I never particularly noticed that this take on Monster Island was any different from the others; I'll have to pay attention to that on my next viewing. Low budget would be a factor there, though.

The story and structure are decent enough.

The movie is firmly within it's intended young target audience. Which isn't inherently a bad thing.

Seems people hate it just because some kid imagines the monster scenes.

Plus it has more personality than some of the duller entries like Godzilla Raids Again.

I would say that there are a lot more reasons people hate it than that one in particular. Barney-voiced Minya, obnoxious kid in short shorts, mountains of stock footage, and clunky execution of the moral, for example.

I'm on your side, though; Revenge is actually one of my favorites. This is a very unique, unconventional Godzilla movie that nevertheless manages to feel right at home with the other experimental entries the series was putting out at the time. And it's a lot of fun, so long as you're able to laugh at/with its weirdness instead of cringing, as most of the fandom traditionally does.

The stock footage does grate on me a little, though. I understand that it's a clip show, the stock footage is half the point of the film, but still. I'd rather watch those scenes in the movies they're from. This opinion extends to kaiju-movie stock footage in general, for the record.

I think it’s not as bad as people make it out to be (I’ll argue GRA is waaaay worse), but if anyone on this site had a choice, I’m sure they’d choose even the lesser entries like Godzilla vs the Sea Monster/Ebirah or megalon over this. Most of it comes down to the shit dub and Minya.

The story isn’t that bad, like it’s actually pretty heartwarming, the plot about the robbers, how the kid is alone and even the cliche bullies plot,..but it contrasts way too much with the monster plot, which is mostly stock footage. And yeah, as someone that’s seen all the movies that it takes stock footage from it’s hard to watch without being completely taken out of the film. And ultimately, the plot is just a clipshow. Look how cool Godzilla is as he beats up Ebirah and Kamacuras. On top of that, the whole film is is a total,”it’s all a Dream”. You could have new fights between monsters, and you’d actually have a half decent sequel to Son of Godzilla.

Beyond all the stock footage, Gabara is easily the worst designed monster in the series. Sure, something like megalon is just a group of parts with a bug, but the costume looks really bulky and good. Gabara is a heavily modified Godzilla suit that just looks ugly, gross and lazy. To top that off the action isn’t so great, minus the brief fight of Godzilla vs Gabara. Minya isn’t an interesting monster, because they removed the dynamic of father and son from son of Godzilla, and when he’s size changing and making dumb noise he just isn’t fun to look at. It would’ve been totally acceptable to give him a beam, and make the fight better, even without removing the plot of standing up to bullies.

I also understand the movie was made on a budget, and for some children’s festival or something, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t bad.

TLDR: GRA isn’t bad for starring a child, it’s bad for using way too much stock footage, not having an impressive villain, and not connecting or tying together the two plots so well.

LSD Jellyfish wrote:I think it’s not as bad as people make it out to be (I’ll argue GRA is waaaay worse), but if anyone on this site had a choice, I’m sure they’d choose even the lesser entries like Godzilla vs the Sea Monster/Ebirah or megalon over this. Most of it comes down to the poop dub and Minya.

The story isn’t that bad, like it’s actually pretty heartwarming, the plot about the robbers, how the kid is alone and even the cliche bullies plot,..but it contrasts way too much with the monster plot, which is mostly stock footage. And yeah, as someone that’s seen all the movies that it takes stock footage from it’s hard to watch without being completely taken out of the film. And ultimately, the plot is just a clipshow. Look how cool Godzilla is as he beats up Ebirah and Kamacuras. On top of that, the whole film is is a total,”it’s all a Dream”. You could have new fights between monsters, and you’d actually have a half decent sequel to Son of Godzilla.

Beyond all the stock footage, Gabara is easily the worst designed monster in the series. Sure, something like megalon is just a group of parts with a bug, but the costume looks really bulky and good. Gabara is a heavily modified Godzilla suit that just looks ugly, gross and lazy. To top that off the action isn’t so great, minus the brief fight of Godzilla vs Gabara. Minya isn’t an interesting monster, because they removed the dynamic of father and son from son of Godzilla, and when he’s size changing and making dumb noise he just isn’t fun to look at. It would’ve been totally acceptable to give him a beam, and make the fight better, even without removing the plot of standing up to bullies.

I also understand the movie was made on a budget, and for some children’s festival or something, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t bad.

TLDR: GRA isn’t bad for starring a child, it’s bad for using way too much stock footage, not having an impressive villain, and not connecting or tying together the two plots so well.

The stock footage is the biggest perceived flaw with this one. You either accept it or you don't (I'm pretty used to stock footage in Godzilla movies so it doesn't bother me). I understand your point of you thinking the film is like a clip show. However, I think the biggest thing this film has is something you mentioned: it's a heartwarming story.

I like the cutesy, child-like vibe the film has. It is ultimately a children's film after all. I think I might be a bit biased because I watched this film as a kid and I would find it comforting.

It might not be a big, impressive epic with spectacular set-pieces and high stakes drama like Mothra vs. Godzilla or Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, but it has it's own unique charm because it is so different than the rest of films in the series. It deals with human-centric themes on an individual level not usually seen in these films. This film arguably exemplifies Ishiro Honda's humanism more than any other of the many kaiju films he directed. Which is a big deal, considering he often longed to direct human drama films.

In terms of stock footage, I think this one fares far better than Godzilla vs. Gigan, which has easily the worst stock footage in the Showa series. The tinted footage from Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster made to look like nightfall just doesn't work at all. It's super obvious.

With AMA, at least the footage doesn't look out of place (and the brightness increase for Godzilla and Ebirah's fight is a far better accomplishment).

I think some of the stock scenes, particularly the ones from Sea Monster, play better here than in their original context.

And I would definitely take this flick over Megalon any day. Revenge works around its limitations in inventive ways; Megalon just succumbs to its limitations almost completely.

I think Megalon gives its monsters much more of a personality (or at least, much more of an enjoyable one). Gigan and Megalon have so many quirks and pantomimes that really bring them to life. Jet Jaguar as well, though not as lifelike (which makes sense considering he's a robot).

I will agree that Revenge has a much more tolerable human story and acting, though.

The anthromorphisms of the monsters in Godzilla Vs Megalon are fun. I think my favorite though is Godzilla's Bruce Lee style taunts in Godzilla Vs Hedorah.

UltramanGoji wrote:I think Megalon gives its monsters much more of a personality (or at least, much more of an enjoyable one). Gigan and Megalon have so many quirks and pantomimes that really bring them to life. Jet Jaguar as well, though not as lifelike (which makes sense considering he's a robot).

I will agree that Revenge has a much more tolerable human story and acting, though.

I agree that Megalon's monster scenes are fun, but they're not among the best of the era or anything, and to me they're just not nearly enough to make up for how very, very poor the human scenes are.

The way this movie turned out makes me wish that American producers like Saperstein were kind enough to help Toho to co-produce Godzilla films more often. Imagine what a difference of even just an extra $20,000 could’ve made if added to the film’s overall budget.