So in 1984, Return of Godzilla hit the stage. It is a very good film for its time. It struggled with many themes some that carried over into the recent Godzilla movie, Shin Gojira.One of those themes being, the americans wanting to launch a nuke at Godzilla which would also hit all of Tokyo. Obviously, if you have seen any of the others after it you could guess what happened.Now in the Americanized Version (more like Cold War Version), many of the scenes were changed with scenes of Raymond Burr.Now the one biggest change they made was when one of the Russian went back to the carrier, he actually was trying to stop the nuke countdown. Just as he was, Godzilla attacked. He still tried to reach for the controls to stop the nuke but the explosion of the ship killed him... That is what happened in the original 1984 movie.Now Americans with their pettiness back then, they edited it to turn "Russian trying to stop the nuke and dies" into "Russian launches nuke and dies".The reason for that edit was "Conservatives Leanings" and because they wanted to paint Russia in bad light and US in a good light.Thankfully I would hope we are past those days of pettiness.Now this version released by Kraken Releasing.It is the Japanese Version with Subtitles. Toho and Kraken Releasing had a hard time getting the distribution rights to the Japanese Version alone. And its almost impossible to figure out if they can actually sell the Americanized version here.Now this dvd does have an English track, it it isn't exactly amazing but thats because the english dub track was made for countries that didn't get Americanized Version but instead got the Japanese Uncut.The movie is worth the money though.It retackles themes showning Gojira, regarding Nuclear Weapons and such. But it also allows Godzilla to have his own flick. Today he only has 3 flicks where its him vs Humans. (Thats of course if you don't count the terrible American take of godzilla known as Godzilla 1998.)Back then, he only had one film where it was hin vs Humans. Until this movie was released.I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes Kaiju movies and never got to see the original Japanese movie, Godzilla 1984.
This is a fantastic Godzilla movie! Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t know what they’re talking about! GET THIS!!!
I'm just overjoyed that we here in the west can finally get this movie on Blu-Ray. It's been held up in legalities and rights issues for decades. I think the last US release was VHS. Even better, we actually get both the Japanese version (very good) and the somewhat changed American version (unintentionally hilarious in all the wrong ways.)The Return of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985 was the first reset of the Godzilla movies. After a decade of no new movies it was a direct sequel to the original 1954 Gojira, and ignored all of the "Showa" era movies. It returned Godzilla to being a dark destructive force of nature, instead of the goofy children's hero he had become. The movie also has some great Cold War themes and plots. Well the Japanese one does. The American one is more Dr. Strangelove by way of a Dr. Pepper commercial (so wish I was joking.) The effects work was outstanding for the time and holds up extremely well. While far from the best of the "Heisei" era Godzilla films, it was a decent start.If you do get this, I strongly recomend the original Japanese version. The American rework seems custom designed for MST3K.
A great movie finally brought to blu-ray and DVD and its well worth the wait, if you have not bought this and your a Godzilla fan, well get to it!That said I will be saying some things that many may not agree with.First off the sub is fine and the actors did well enough given the martial and what they were doing, the dub however, to me is inferior to the original. The dubbers sound wooden and really don't put much into their roles as the original release did and the lack of Raymond Burr is really felt. though more on that in a sec.The only real flaw with this to me, beside the goofy shots of Godzilla in some parts, is the shot that really do nothing for the film and seem to serve to pad out the film.As for what I mean by Raymond Burr, the character he plays is Steve Martian in original American dub of Godzilla and reprises his role for the original release Godzilla 1985, and while i will agree the most of my fellow reviewers that the additions in the 1985 release were not truly needed, Raymond I feel was. As his character, Mr. Martian as he is called in the original 1985 film and how will be referring to him from now on, was a survivor of the original attack and though out his scenes offers a different prescription then all the other characters. This really come into play, with what most fans, myself included remember about this movie, the ending monologue.All the characters from all sides see Godzilla as a threat, as an enemy to kill or defeat, Mr. Martian see him in a different light, as a creature of mans hubris, a creature of great power. a creature to respect and pity, a creature of nature. The ending with Mr. Martian full encases an old quote from Ishiro Honda himself "Monster are tragic beings. They are born to tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice."As the charcters watch Godzilla from all sides as the music swells and Godzilla scream falling into the volcano like an old sage you hear his voice "Nature has away of sometimes showing man of just how small he is. She occasionally throws up terrible offspring's of our pride and carelessness to remind us of how puny we really are in the face of a tornado, an earthquake, or a Godzilla. The reckless ambitions of Man are often dwarfed by their dangerous consequences. For now, Godzilla - that strangely innocent and tragic monster - has gone to earth. Whether he returns or not, or is never again seen by human eyes, the things he has taught us...remain.
I'll be upfront, the five stars is a bit biased, but I think it's an "earned biased." Can that be a thing? We're making it a thing. Anyways, dear god how long did we Americans have to wait? No I'm serious, this was the only Godzilla movie to never see an official DVD release in America. This movie was practically released everywhere else but the U.S. Which if you are like me was heart breaking. Godzilla 1984 (Return of Godzilla) was the first Godzilla movie I've seen before getting into the franchise leaving the second movie being the infamous 1998 that everyone hates, but after that I couldn't get enough and started renting Godzilla movies as much as possible. But it was all thanks to the '84 film that I'm at all into the series. So after all these years, was it worth the wait to get the Blu-Ray release? Truth being it would be more worth it if we got this YEARS ago, but technically speaking, yes it was worth the wait with some minor disappointment. Don't worry this movie doesn't disappoint, I'll explain what I mean.Now assuming if you're like me where you state that this movie too was your first movie of the franchise, more than likely you remember the 1985 American Edit that starred Raymond Burr. I can tell you for a fact that this isn't that version, but it does still contain an English Dub as well as the original Japanese cut with subs. With that being said, you'll not only relive moments in this movie, but you'll get some new experiences as well. However with that said you won't see or hear any of the Raymond Burr moments, which even a hardcore G-Fan would say is slightly disappointing. More specifically never getting to hear the amazing ending speech Burr gives regarding Godzilla. The 85 edit might of had a lot of useless shots that were in no way needed for the movie, but even in an uncut / unaltered movie like this, the speech was not only powerful but fitting.So I confirm that this won't be the exact same as you witnessed before, does that mean that you should skip it? No because as I said that you not only relive moments, you get some new experiences. Also we waited years for this movie and would probably be a sin to any Godzilla fan to not get it. Anyways, some of the moments you'll experience include more of the chemistry between the reporter and the lead female. You also get more of the discussion between using Nukes on Godzilla between America, Russia, and Japan. In short a lot of the unedited stuff is stuff you probably won't care for in a Godzilla movie, but is better than seeing a random shots of American actors discussing if they should help Japan only for Raymond Burr's character to say "No." Which reminds me, some of the edits that were made on Godzilla made him seem a bit of a jerk, well more of an aggressive killing machine I should say. Like when the scientist was testing his machine to lure Godzilla which works only for Godzilla to charge at the building. . . At least that's what happened in the edit. Here Godzilla arrives at the building more on his own, Godzilla never attacks the building holding the main characters. The edit version gave me some nightmares when I was a kid with that scene and in this version, I mean I still remember getting frighten but the impact is not as strong. But when you first see Godzilla, don't matter which version, that always sends chills down my spine.We waited forever for this movie, and it may not be the edit that we all witnessed years ago but it's still the same movie that got many of us in the franchise. I love this movie even if it doesn't have Raymond Burr in it. If you're a Godzilla fan and have yet to see this movie, get this movie whenever you can. Unless this movie falls into a familiar fate as Son of Godzilla or Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla in which case I hope does not happen. I'll feel bad if this movie ends up reaching the +$100 price range.