| Though Godzilla Raids Again
is the second installment in the Godzilla series,
its American counterpart, Gigantis, the Fire
Monster, is almost a separate movie on its
own accord. Though still classified as a Godzilla
movie, Godzilla's name is changed to "Gigantis"
and many liberties are taken with the original
plot. Unfortunately, this movie is mildly underrated.
This film does excel in a few areas, as a matter
of fact. However, one cannot ignore several negative
aspects that most fans do emphasize upon.
Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi
are two pilots who fly off the coast of Japan
in search of good fishing areas. The two are good
friends and take pride in their work. Unfortunately,
Koji's plane crashes on a desolate island one
day, and Shoichi is forced to save his comrade.
As fate would have it, the two friends witness
two other inhabitants of the island: enormous
reptilian monsters. Worse yet, these two creatures
are locked in combat. The pilots watch dumbfounded
as the monsters continue to fight ferociously,
finally tumbling off a cliff and crashing into
the sea.
When the two pilots return to
headquarters in Osaka, they recite their story.
Scientists come to learn of this occurrence, and
they name the monstrosities. The bipedal reptile
is named "Gigantis" (Godzilla) and the
quadrupedal reptile is named "Angilas"
(Anguirus). Soon, it is reported that Godzilla
is heading towards Osaka. The city is gripped
by terror! The fear subsides temporarily when
a false alarm states that Godzilla has changed
course, but the panic returns when Osaka once
again is revealed to be in Godzilla's path of
destruction. The inhabitants of Osaka are evacuated
as the Self-Defense Force swoops into action and
begins to drop flares out toward the sea. The
creature is attracted by light, and the plan seems
to work for the moment.
Unfortunately, the evacuation
of convicts from an Osaka prison goes awry when
the prisoners escape! They steal a car and crash
into an oil refinery. The explosion that results
not only catches Godzilla's eye, but it also attracts
Anguirus. The two monsters clash near the shore
and slowly push their way toward the heart of
the city. The two fight their way to Osaka Castle,
where Godzilla begins to gain the upper hand.
After biting Anguirus in the back of the neck,
the quadruped begins a hasty retreat. Alas, Godzilla
catches up to the poor creature and bites into
Anguirus’ jugular. The creature falls over
into a river, where Godzilla proceeds to burn
his body, killing Anguirus. As Godzilla leaves
a devastated Osaka, Japan breathes a sigh of relief.
Soon, the hunt for Godzilla is
on! The creature is sighted near Kawito Island.
Godzilla arrives on the island while Koji flies
out in his plane to distract the creature. The
military sends in jets, but their missiles seem
to have no effect on Godzilla. When Koji tries
again to distract Godzilla, he is shot down by
Godzilla’s heat ray. His plane crashes into
the mountainside, causing snow and ice to descend
upon Godzilla. The Self-Defense Force concocts
their next plan of attack: attempt to bury Godzilla
in an avalanche! As the air force restocks, soldiers
load oil drums on the island. Shoichi, yearning
to avenge his fallen comrade, assists the efforts.
Godzilla is eventually buried under snow and ice,
effectively ending its terrible wrath, for now...
The plot of this movie is pretty
good. Unfortunately, it can be quite confusing.
The human action is quite disjointed, and it can
be hard to follow. The monster action isn't very
level either. The big battle between Godzilla
and Anguirus is held relatively early in the movie.
The "true" climax of the movie: Godzilla's
burial, is a far less intense scene. Luckily the
scene is strong enough to keep this movie from
suffering a total anticlimax.
The character development in this
film is relatively average, as well. This movie
is based more on the human story than that of
the battling monsters. The main characters may
start out flat in the beginning, but luckily,
they do seem to become more round throughout the
course of the film. Minoru Chiaki's character's
love for Setsuko Wakayama's character is one aspect
that the movie does begin to emphasize more throughout
the movie's course, even though Setsuko Wakayama's
character is poorly developed. Minoru's character's
death in the film does invoke sadness, due to
the bitter end of blossoming love. Some will argue
that since the character devolopment was minimial
to begin with, this death scene can lack any ability
to garner emotion from the audience and thus hinder
the film. In truth, it is a moment that actually
accentuates the plot, and brings the characters
slightly above the realm of underdeveloped obscurity.
The acting in this movie is pretty
average, as well. Hiroshi Koizumi's narration
effectively draws the audience into the movie,
enhancing the suspense. Unfortunately, where there
is good, there is often bad. Many of the other
actors aren't at their best in this film. There
is no specific culprit, however. All of the actors
seem to show little emotion, and especially lack
an ability to accurately portray sadness. Since
this is the American verion of the film, the American
voice actors who dub the Japanese actors are in
need of mentioning, as well. Unfortunately, the
dubbing in this movie isn’t the best one
can hope for, but at least it isn’t as bad
as future Godzilla movies.
The special effects in this movie
are easily the film's best quality. The techniques
are expertly crafted by Eiji
Tsuburaya, the same man who did the effects
for Godzilla
(1954). There is a scene, during the epic fray
between the main monsters, where the footage is
sped up. Though odd, it is still an intriguing
technique, as it increases the animalistic fury
of the battling behemoths. The suits of the monsters
are very well made. Godzilla's suit is quite menacing.
Anguirus’ suit is also well made, looking
just as powerful as Godzilla’s. The suit
actors expertly portrayed the brutal fight scene.
It looked like how one would expect real monsters
to fight.
The music in this movie isn’t
that great, unfortunately. Masaru
Sato is the man who was brought in to do this
soundtrack, but the entire score is quite inferior
when compared to Akira
Ifukube’s musical score for Godzilla
(1954). The music just doesn't fit this film,
though it is said that the Japanese version of
the movie has better music than its American counterpart.
Overall, this is an average, yet
solid film. It has its strengths and its weaknesses.
It is true that the special effects are one of
the only major strengths, but since this film
can be credited as presenting the first modern
kaiju brawl, this strength should be surely be
emphasized when judging the movie on its merits.
All in all, it is a good movie to watch once in
awhile, and does pose as an enjoyable sequel to
the original Godzilla.
|
(3/5)