Rating of
1.5/4
"Gojira" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 04/16/12
The definitive Japanese monster movie sees mother nature hitting back in the form of a 150ft radioactive dinosaur after atomic tests contaminate the seas around a Japanese island. Considered something of a classic, I was curious as to how this film had stood the test of time, and the answer is...not very well! The script is just full of decidedly suspect pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo, and the characters are pretty stereotypical; only Takashi Shimura's scientist who is the only one who wants to keep the creature alive holds any dramatic gravitas at all. It's really just an excuse for a bit of mindless destruction and because the effects are so poor, the action ends up looking plain silly and rather dull. There is some nice nocturnal photography but by the same measure, the underwhelming "climax" underwater is rubbish. There is some attempt at intelligence as there is a clear analogy between Serizawa's aquatic doomsday weapon and the ethical dilemmas thrown up by the atomic age, but it lacks the character dynamics and pathos of King Kong and the effects are considerably inferior despite the fact that Kong was released over two decades earlier. As a whole it's really only worth it for the nostalgic and those wanting a good laugh at the expense of some dodgy model effects.
