Gojira (1954)
93 %
Reviews Counted: 56 Fresh: 52 Rotten:4 Average Rating: 7.6/10
Consensus:
More than straight monster-movie fare, Gojira offers potent, sobering postwar commentary.
Runtime: 2 hrs 55 mins
Theatrical Release: May 7, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: The testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific Ocean triggers the awakening of a dreadful, 400-foot-tall, fire-breathing prehistoric lizard who commences to wreak havoc on the city of Tokyo. The original Japanese version of GODZILLA, without the Americanized addition of Raymond Burr.... [More]
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kouchi, Akihiko Hirata
Director: Inoshiro Honda
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Comment
...surprisingly solemn and bitter. It is explicitly a post-Hiroshima nightmare writ large...
02/13/08
A dark, deeply disturbing film with the specter of World War II and the atomic bomb hanging over nearly every scene.
11/20/07
a pioneering behemoth in the history of Japanese cinema, leaving giant footprints in its trail that many have followed but few have filled so impressively.
07/06/07
The special effects for this re-released 1954 film by Ishiro Honda may now look a bit creaky, but the storytelling is muscular and the post-nuclear parable it offers is passionate and fascinatingly ambiguous.
05/30/07
Por trás da história absurdamente divertida, o filme revela uma sociedade às voltas com o trauma da bomba atômica e a busca desesperada pela promessa de paz entre os povos.
06/05/06
Seen afresh in this cut, with Honda’s pulp poetry restored, this ballad of destruction reveals itself as one of the most exciting, enjoyable and moving of them all.
10/13/05
By today's standards, this may feel rather dull and ponderous, but it's actually a remarkably astute film.
09/30/05
A treasure that should remain buried to all but the most gonzo Godzilla followers.
09/29/04
It wasn't until I revisited the first film in the series, which premiered in Japan on Nov. 3, 1954, that I realized how powerful a political statement it makes.
09/17/04
Honda may not have created the most convincing-looking monster in cinema history, but he managed to give his sci-fi/horror movie a social relevance, particularly in postwar Japan.
08/20/04
Top Critic
The rampaging reptile is back to remind us that monsters have meaning.
08/20/04
Top Critic
Maybe it's 50 years late, but we're finally getting to see Godzilla as it was meant to be seen.
07/22/04
Top Critic
Do we want a monster movie with a social conscience, or do we want to see a guy in a lizard suit smash model trains?
07/22/04
Instead of a disjointed monster movie, this original Godzilla is a masterful statement about humankind's monstrous abilities to inflict harm on itself and the world.
07/15/04
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