Godzilla and Godzilla 2000

Let's start with one thing. The Japanese name for what we call "Godzilla" is "Gojira." According to The Official Godzilla Compendium (by J.D. Lees and Marc Cerasini -- Random House), the name Gojira was the derisive nickname which some coworkers had bestowed on an overweight press agent at Toho. It was formed by combining the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira). When the producers of the film got wind of the name, they liked it enough to apply it to their monster.

Having decided that we understand the true name for the subject, I will refer to him as Godzilla throughout this writing. Ultimately, this is what he is known as in the West, and although I do consider myself to have purest leanings on this subject in general, I think it's best to stick with the more familiar moniker. Also, when you compare the two names, I believe Godzilla is, at least in English, the more terrifying. So, let's go with that.

The film Godzilla (1954 Toho) is not, to the best of my knowledge, available in this country in a commercial format. It may have been available at one time as a laser disk import. I have two "bootleg" copies, one in Japanese language only and the other in Japanese with English subtitles. It is likely that you will not have the opportunity to view the film in its original form and that is too bad. When taken in its proper context, Godzilla stands out as a stark, brooding film in which Godzilla terrorizes parts of Japan, leaving real death and destruction in his wake. We see the terrible cost his visits wreak on the populace. We may be able to empathize with the creature, as Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura -- more on him later) does, but we never root for him as we are wont to do in later versions of Godzilla, where he is depicted as the cartoonish defender/destroyer of Japan.

What we are left with in the West is Godzilla King of the Monsters which stars Raymond Burr. This film is Godzilla with scenes edited out and scenes with Raymond Burr spliced in. In these scenes, Raymond Burr reports on the action from a distance, talks to an English speaking military guide/interpreter, and speaks to actors that we see only from the back as they are dressed to resemble the original stars of the film. The quality of the film stock and production facilities are enough to differentiate the scenes from the original and they just don't fit. In retrospect, it may be that this was an admirable attempt to adapt a Japanese film in order to make it palatable to the West, but one wonders what may have been if they would have just let well enough alone.

Even if you have never seen Godzilla, it seems instantly familiar upon first viewing. Merchant seamen relax on the deck of their small ship. It is a quiet evening at sea. Someone strums a guitar while others chat softly or play games. Suddenly, what is that bright light from beneath the water's surface? The men scream and move to flee the searing light and heat, but are stopped dead only a few steps into their flight. The radiomen signal desperately for help but die at their stations (somewhat comically, I admit, as they seem to perish at the entrance of seawater in their porthole -- but I'm willing to overlook that).

The shipping company soon discovers they have a missing vessel and a second ship, sent to investigate, disappears as well. A fishing boat from a nearby island rescues survivors of the second attack, but they ultimately meet with the same fate. Soon, the military, the press, representatives of the shipping company, and eminent scientist, Dr. Yamane are dispatched to the island to investigate. As I said, Takashi Shimura plays Dr. Yamane. Godzilla was made around the same time frame as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, perhaps one of the greatest films of all time. Takashi Shimura co-stared in Seven Samurai, with Toshiro Mifune, playing the leader of the samurai. His starring in a film like Godzilla might be likened to having Spencer Tracy or James Stewart play the role in Hollywood. Shimura is the sometimes star, sometimes character actor in many Kurosawa films from Drunken Angel, through Ikuru, Seven Samurai, and Red Beard.

In fact, Godzilla boasted several Japanese filmmaking stalwarts including the director Ishiro (Inoshiro) Honda. Honda had been an assistant director along with Kurosawa, many years prior, at Toho studios. He had been assistant director to Kurosawa in films such as Stray Dog and would be so again later for Kagemusha, Ran and Dreams. Honda directed the best of the Godzilla films as well as several of the other giant monster hits such as Rodan, Mothra and War of the Gargantuas.

It is at the island where Godzilla makes his first on-screen appearance. We see him briefly over the crest of a hill before he retreats back into the sea.

From here on, the film follows what will again seem like a familiar route (it's been 47 years since it was made after all), with Godzilla making appearances in the city, leaving flames, destruction and mayhem in his wake.

The big difference in this film is in the way Godzilla's forays are depicted. We see the victims being treated in the hospital for burns not unlike those inflicted by the atomic bomb. The mourning song, by the assembled chorus at a girls school, wafts over the soundtrack as we see and hear the reports of the toll this uninvited guest has exacted.

Naturally, the general populace and the military want to see him destroyed whereas Dr. Yamane knows that the creature is just acting on his own instincts. He would rather see Godzilla studied than summarily dispatched, but he reluctantly goes along as it is clear that coexistence is not a likely option.

The other main element to this story is the love triangle among Dr. Yamane's daughter Emiko, the youthful shipping company agent Ogata, and the reclusive scientist Dr. Serizawa.

Dr. Yamane, Emiko and Ogata debate Godzilla's fate. Dr. Yamane's disagreement with Ogata threatens the future of Ogata and Emiko's as yet secret love.

Dr. Serizawa. He and Emiko have known each other all their lives and are promised to marry. Serizawa holds the key to Godzilla's destruction. Will he use it?

Though promised to Dr. Serizawa, Emiko has developed a love for Ogata which has been kept secret. Ogata, looking for the right time to approach her father on the topic, nearly blows it given his differing views with Dr. Yamane on Godzilla's future. Dr. Serizawa reveals to Emiko the subject of his research, the oxygen destroyer, and swears her to secrecy. The oxygen destroyer does just that, at a molecular level, and in his demonstration, Serizawa turns a tank full of fish into mere bones by breaking down the oxygen in their cells. Emiko is horrified, and realizes that she is now burdened with the knowledge that her fiancé's invention can bring down Godzilla. To make this known to others would mean the betrayal of her pledge.

Ultimately, she does just that, to Ogata, who battles with Serizawa over the invention. Dr. Serizawa is fearful of what mankind would do with such a weapon, having witnessed the destructive forces of the bomb. He is won over by the realization that without the oxygen destroyer the carnage will only continue, but he resolves to destroy all of his records and himself in the process. His sacrifice is all the more poignant as he also knows that he is giving over Emiko to Ogata as well.

I believe Godzilla succeeds then as now because it was evocative of the true despair that massive death and destruction can inflict, as well as the spirit of survival that can ensue. Made, as it was, not long after the second world war, the people of Japan reacted to the film on a very emotional level. Even in the American release, which was hugely successful, the public must have responded to the themes of the film and the mood it reflected. This was simply not just another monster film.

Godzilla 2000

I regret that I did not take the opportunity to write my thoughts on this film sooner, as I saw it in the theatre some time ago. It has recently been released on video. I have yet to re-watch the film and these comments may seem trite as they are based solely on my distant recollections.

First, I should establish that I am a fan of Godzilla, if that is not already apparent. My collection is relatively small yet boasts the original film Godzilla (Gojira) in bootleg form, as well as Godzilla King of the Monsters, King Kong versus Godzilla, Destroy All Monstors, Godzilla's Revenge (All Monsters Attack), Godzilla versus Mechagodzilla, Godzilla versus King Ghidora (bootleg), and the disastrous Hollywood version, Godzilla.

I saw Godzilla 2000 with much anticipation as it had been reviewed well, and I have to agree that this film, at times, is evocative of the original more that any since the first two Godzilla films came on the scene in the mid-1950's.

I feel that the film falls short in several major ways. First, in the transition from the alien ship to the giant monster, clearly there are processes occurring that defy not only reality, but also the reality in which we must place ourselves to believe the premise of Godzilla to begin with. Nearly every film that is made fashions its own reality and upon scrutiny we can identify many flaws where that reality seems to break down. Obviously, films such as the Godzilla series, require us to suspend belief to a large degree, and accept an alternate reality in which 100 meter high creatures can stomp around, breathe fire, etc. The films can rarely withstand close quarter inspection and the type of nitpicking that we fall into when we are watching the movie for the twelfth time. However, I ask that the weaknesses not present themselves so blatantly upon first viewing. As you watch this transformation take place, you find yourself saying, unh unh, no way. (Don't get me started on the Hollywood version which allows for a monster that can run 70 miles per hour and destroy three of the best military attack helicopters money can buy. Yet, it seems inexplicably unable to overtake a broken down New York cab, with four passengers, lumbering through streets littered with debris.)

Secondly, Godzilla is involved in a great deal of destruction yet we see none of how this is manifest in human toll. The starkness of the first film is dramatically underscored by the face of human suffering that it presents. No, I don't want kids going to bed and having nightmares after a Saturday afternoon matinee, but unless these films show the dark aftermath of a visit from Godzilla, they will ultimately be just for kids.

Third, we are pulled in to rooting for Godzilla as the ultimate protector of the human race against alien invaders. Given the role that mankind has played in Godzilla's birth, and his many interactions with the species, I'm thinking the only protection he affords us is that of a carnivore fiercely defending its hunting grounds.

Lastly, at the film's end, Godzilla has a score to settle with one particular human. This individual has been responsible for ignoring the role Godzilla might have played in preventing the carnage wreaked by the aliens, and treating Godzilla as a hostile, ordering attacks against him. Somehow, Godzilla perceives this and spies the individual, making his way (as only Godzilla can) through the city to confront and destroy this single man. He does so without any others receiving a single scratch despite the fact that he is approximately 100 meters tall and there are people standing in close proximity to his victim. Perhaps the title should have been: Godzilla, this time it's Personal.

All these complaints notwithstanding, I think that Godzilla 2000 stands out as an admirable entry into the field. For me, the standout moment comes during one of the battle scenes where Godzilla strides to meet his opponent and the soundtrack underscores the gravity with the theme music that appeared in the very first film. For me, this tie to the original was evocative of the mood of the earlier film and legitimized this movie in large part.

I did see the film on a Saturday afternoon in a near-empty theatre. The few others in the house were pockets that included typically one parent and one or more small children. I was favored by the presence of a haggard mother and her two ill-behaved young sons. Besides being an annoyance and a distraction, they also illustrate that this is indeed the target audience of Godzilla films nowadays and maybe I am just a big kid after all.