| After the immense success of
Godzilla
(1954), Tomoyuki
Tanaka was told by executive producer Iwao
Mori to "make another one." It was a
short five months later that Godzilla Raids
Again was rushed into theaters. Missing from
the previous installment was Ishiro
Honda, both as a writer and director, and
Toho's best known composer: Akira
Ifukube. Their replacements being Motoyoshi
Oda, a man who was promoted in the early 1940's
due to a shortage of directors caused by those
drafted into the war, and Masaru
Sato, only his seventh theatrical score at
the time. As expected from the production values,
Godzilla Raids Again is a fairly lackluster
entry in what would end up being a very long running
series. The story here is adequate, although the
subsequent pacing is horrible, while most of the
other elements of the film are below par.
The story is probably one of the
film's more redeemable qualities, as it focuses
on Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi, a pair
of "fishing scouts" who make routine runs in their
planes searching for schools of tuna to notify
the company's fishing fleet of their locations.
The two pilots are the first witness both the
new Godzilla and Anguirus after Kobayashi has
engine trouble and is forced to land on a, presumed
to be, deserted island. The two pilots stumble
upon the monsters, locked in combat, as both Godzilla
and Anguirus tumble into the ocean as the two
pilots rush back to inform authorities. Eventually,
Godzilla makes his way to Osaka and the SDF attempts
to lead it away using flares; the plan appears
to be working until a group of escaped convicts
crash a stolen vehicle into an oil refinery. The
explosion not only attracts Godzilla to Osaka,
but Anguirus as well, and the two giants battle
once more. Their confrontation destroys much of
Osaka, as Anguirus is killed during the face off.
With his prey gone, Godzilla leaves the devastated
city, and Osaka's residents begin to salvage what
they can from the city while Kobayashi is relocated
to a cannery in Hokkaido.
At his new job, Kobayashi receives
a radio call from both Tsukioka and Hidemi Yamaji,
a young girl who worked the radio at the cannery
in Osaka and current love interest of Tsukioka,
and the three decide to go to an inn together.
By coincidence, at the inn Tsukioka is reunited
with his old commander in the air force, Terazawa.
The reunion is cut short though, with word of
Godzilla attacking the Hokkaido fishing fleet.
A search for the monster commences, as even Tsukioka
joins in on the hunt, who spots Godzilla as he
approaches Kawito Island. Kobayashi arrives to
relieve Tsukioka and monitor Godzilla, as the
nuclear menace ventures into a canyon on the island.
Kobayashi attempts to distract the monster with
his plane, which buys time for the Air Force to
arrive on the scene with a squadron of jets. The
jets unload their missiles at Godzilla, with no
visible effect. Kobayashi, once again, tries to
distract Godzilla by flying his plane low; unfortunately,
Godzilla manages to score a direct hit with his
radioactive breath and sends Kobayashi's plane
into the canyon side, which causes an avalanche
of snow to fall onto Godzilla. Tsukioka, after
seeing the avalanche, informs the Air Force that
firing upon the canyon side with missiles would
bury Godzilla in snow. The Air Force flies back
to base in order to restock, once there Tsukioka
convinces them to let him tag along to avenge
Kobayashi's death. Meanwhile, the SDF quickly
sets up a line of oil drums which seals off the
entrance to the canyon, before they are detonated
creating a small wall of flames. Godzilla shies
away from the fire, heading back into the canyon
just as the jets arrive back on the scene. A long
battle between the jets and Godzilla occurs, until
the nuclear menace is buried in snow and his reign
of terror temporarily halted.
Even though the screenplay is one
of the film's better qualities, it still contains
some questionable aspects. The most notable problem
is the location of the climax, which is indisputably
the Godzilla and Anguirus fight in Osaka. To place
this in the middle is just baffling, as it gives
the viewer very little motivation to keep watching,
as the rest of the film fails to excite. Another
problem, or more of a personal pet peeve, is Godzilla's
reaction to a line of ignited oil drums. The fires
wouldn't even be knee high to Godzilla, and to
have him stopped by this after seeing Godzilla
plow through a large blockade of power-lines in
the previous installment seems ridiculous.
Character development here is rather
poor, although far from the worst the Godzilla
series would be exposed to. What makes the poor
character development more fatal to this film,
though, is the fact that, unlike later entries
in the series, Godzilla Raids Again is
a fairly character driven film. There is very
little emphasis on the monsters for a good deal
of the movie, leaving the human characters to
carry a lot of the film. Sadly, they just aren't
interesting enough to meet that task. We do learn
that Tsukioka questions his own merit in combat,
and that Kobayashi has a hidden love interest
for Hidemi Yamaji (a character who is grossly
underdeveloped). However, not only are they uninteresting,
but they fail to invoke much emotion at all from
the viewer. Take Kobayashi's death, which hardly
sparks much reaction at all because the audience
never really gains much of an attachment to the
character.
As for the acting, it fails to
impress pretty much across the board, which is
pretty problematic here as the film devotes so
much time to the characters. Even Minoru Chiaki,
who plays Koboyashi, delivers a bland performance
here, which is particularly disheartening given
the talents he displayed in both Throne
of Blood (1957) and The
Hidden Fortress (1958) in years to come.
In reality, it's very likely that director Motoyoshi
Oda simply wasn't up to the task. Look no further
than Yamane's presentation on the first Godzilla,
which is mostly cut from the US version, for proof
of poor directing. This scene, which runs totally
quite without music, talking or sound effects,
is a real test of endurance on the viewer's part
as it feels like it stretches on forever.
On a brighter note, Eiji
Tsuburaya returns from Godzilla
(1954) to do the special effects for Godzilla
Raids Again. Once again, his efforts are appreciated
here as Tsuburaya fails to disappoint given the
time period, and certainly given the time frame.
The altered speed on the fight scene, which was
partially unintentional, actually ends up being
an interesting element and gives the battle a
feral like quality to it. Given the technology
at the time, it would be easy to say that Tsuburaya's
effects are easily the film's best aspect.
In regards to the music, new comer
Masaru
Sato was signed on to do the score for this
Godzilla sequel, and while Sato would do some
impressive work later in his career, his work
here certainly leaves a lot to be desired. His
main title theme is rather upbeat here, and doesn't
fit with the overall theme of the film much at
all. A large body of Sato's themes from this film
are readily forgettable, with the only real exception
being the eerie theme that plays when Godzilla
first appears in the waters near Osaka.
Overall, a very rushed and rather
plain Godzilla sequel, which left a lot of room
for improvements to the "formula" in
the years to come.
|
(1.5/5)