Gojira 1954 Film Review

Ladies and gentlemen I cannot think of when the last time was that I talked about a Godzilla movie and so I thought that i'd set that right right now. I know that chances are that i've already taken a look at this film but I honestly can't remember when it was but I know that it was at least more then a year ago which means that my opinion on the film could have changed and so here is my review of the 1954 film "Gojira" enjoy.

The plot of the movie is a creature long thought extinct is brought back to life due to nuclear weapons and so the Japanese government must find a way to stop it once and for all. In all honesty the plot to this movie like any Godzilla movie is rather thinly drawn but what makes this movies plot more interesting is it themes and message both of which are lost when it comes to the later Godzilla movies and yes I will be touching on those themes later on in this very review.

Starring in the film is Akira Takarada as Hideto Ogata , Momoko Kōchi as Emiko Yamane and Akihiko Hirata as Dr. Daisuke Serizawa. Also starring in the film is Takashi Shimura as Dr. Kyohei Yamane , Fuyuki Murakami as Dr. Tanabe , Sachio Sakai as Hagiwara , Ren Yamamoto as Masaji Yamada , Toyoaki Suzuki as Shinkichi Yamada , Seijiro Onda as Oyama , Kin Sugai as Ozawa and Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla.

Anybody who goes into a Godzilla movie knows that the acting is never going to be that good and yeah the same is true for this film. Since the human actors aren't given that much to work with in terms of the script but to this film's credit the film does make some attempt to make them interesting and as such the actors are somewhat able to do the best that they can but like I said they can only do so much with what there given to work with.

We all know that the main star of these films is the king of monsters himself Godzilla and this film does a good job with the character. Since we spend alot of time just setting him up and so when he does finally appear he's everything that he's been built up to be and then some which to me is alot more creepy and scary then just having him appear since now we get to build up in our heads what this creature looks like and what he can do.

As mentioned before what makes this film standout is it's main theme which is all about nuclear bombs and how bad they are. Even Godzilla himself is used as an allegory for nuclear testing but what struck me the most in this film are the little touches that drive this point home be it the speeches about how bad nuclear testing is or the fact that on several occasions we see people suffering from radiation poisoning the film does a solid job of driving these themes home without hitting us over the head with them.

This takes at least thirty minuets until we get our first look at Godzilla and bare in mind the film is only an hour and thirty six minuets long. This as I said before is one of the film's strengths but it's also one of it's biggest weaknesses since the film isn't that long and so having him appear pretty late into the film is a bad thing due to how short the film is and it means that we have to spend alot more time with characters who have no personality trait.

I will fully admit that this film can drag on at times and I have a feeling that's because for large portions of the film nothing really happens to advance the plot it's just characters talking. Which is fine if there advancing the plot or showing character development but alot of the time there not they are just talking for no reason and that can make the film a bit boring in places which is a shame because when they are advancing the plot the scenes work really well.

Now then for some dumb freaking reason when this film was dubbed into and released in America in 1956 they removed alot of the key themes from this film. Which is why I honestly prefer to watch this version of the film because alot of what makes the Godzilla films so good is presented in this 1954 original but at the same time the 1956 cut did introduce something key to the franchise and that's by having a reporter as the main human character.

Now while everyone rightfully praises the scene where Godzilla attacks Tokyo for me there's one scene in that sequence which is even better. It's the scene where the young mother comforts her children by telling them that they will be with there dead father soon that right there really hits home how powerful this film can be because the mother knows that she and her kids aren't making out alive and so the only hope that she can give them is by telling them that they will be able to see there father again.

That being said the attack on Tokyo is easily the best sequence in the whole freaking film if you ask me simply due to how awesome it is seeing Godzilla in action. Seeing Godzilla in action is always a fun thing to watch even more so when your seeing him at full power which he is here since it hits home how powerful this creature can be and how much of an unstoppable force he can be when he's really angry.

Overall I honestly feel that this is the best film in the Godzilla franchise not that the others aren't good but this one does alot of things right that you can't help but love it. Even tho it gets alot of things right it also gets alot of things wrong and sadly those elements continue on throughout the franchise and are still resent to this very day which really shouldn't be the case whatsoever as such this film gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

All images used in this review were gathered from the official Godzilla fandom wiki page and I do mean all of the images since I didn't go anywhere else for them. I will admit I was fully shocked to se how high definition the images were which was something that i honestly wasn't expecting to be the case whatsoever as such I have to say that if you want high definition images from this film that use the official Godzilla fandom wiki page.