Movie Reviews: Godzilla Raids Again
While searching for shoals of fish for the Kaiyo Fishing Company, Koji Kobayashi's plane malfunctions and has to make an emergency landing on the nearby Iwato Island. Kobayashi is eventually rescued by a co-worker, but much to their surprise they discover Godzilla fighting a creature known as Anguirus. The pair of monsters fall into the ocean, while the humans return home to report their findings. It is later decided to lure Godzilla away with flares during the inevitable attack. Godzilla soon turns up in Osaka and the plan seems to work until a jailbreak gone awry causes a fire that lures Godzilla back to land. Anguirus soon follows and engages Godzilla in battle once more.
Well, this is it. My final ever Godzilla review. I have already stated my reluctance to review the remaining films because they are supposed to be the worst of the series, and the less said about the 1998 version, the better. I felt it would be fine if I stopped watching the series now without going ahead and inevitably spoiling any good feelings I had about the series by watching All Monsters Attack and Godzilla Vs. Megalon.
This film has more of a serious tone like the previous original film. The film also marked the first time that Godzilla would fight another monster. Now it is commonplace for Godzilla to face-off against some other giant threat. Even the new film being released later this year features other monsters for Godzilla to fight. The filmmakers don't have the rights to any of the other Toho creatures, but at least we will get to see Godzilla fight something other than the puny humans.
Like the other early Godzilla films, the American distributor heavily edited this film. I didn't think my sanity would be able to stand another film like the American dub of King Kong Vs. Godzilla, so I decided to watch the Japanese language version. It seems like I chose wisely. By all accounts, the American version of Godzilla Raids Again would have been even worse. The distributors didn't even want to think it was a sequel to the original Godzilla, they called it Gigantis the Fire Monster. It was claimed that the name change was to prevent it being confusing. No, really. If that wasn't bad enough, the running time was bulked out by stock footage that wasn't even remotely related to the film.
The monster action was rather sparse, but it was pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, the fights were rather let down by the surprising decision to speed up the action. It all looked rather silly. That being said, you could certainly do a lot worse in your choice of Godzilla film.
Three pointy hats.
Next time: The Hidden
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