The Return of Godzilla

The Return of Godzilla

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Koji Hashimoto
Produced by Norio Hayashi
Kiyomi Kanazawa
Written by Hideichi Nagahara
Story by Tomoyuki Tanaka
Starring Ken Tanaka
Yasuko Sawaguchi
Yosuke Natsuki
Keiju Kobayashi
Shin Takuma
Music by Reijiro Koroku
Cinematography Kazutami Hara
Edited by Yoshitami Kuroiwa
Production
company
Toho
Distributed by Toho
Release dates
  • December 15, 1984 (1984-12-15)
Running time
 103 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Russian
English
Budget $6.25 million
Box office $11 million

The Return of Godzilla, released in Japan as Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira), is a 1984 Japanese science fiction kaiju film directed by Koji Hashimoto and a reboot of Toho's Godzilla franchise. It is the 16th film in the franchise and the first film in the Heisei series, despite the film having been produced during the Shōwa period. The film serves as direct sequel to the original 1954 Godzilla film, completely ignoring the events of the Shōwa series, which saw the franchise return to the darker tone and themes of the 1954 film and returned Godzilla to his destructive antagonistic roots. Other than Godzilla series creator Tomoyuki Tanaka and special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano, few people involved in prior Godzilla productions were involved in the making of the film.

In 1985, New World Pictures released Godzilla 1985, a heavily re-edited American adaptation of the film which included additional footage, which featured Raymond Burr reprising his role from Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which was also produced, filmed, and edited with the same techniques.

Plot

After a volcanic eruption on Daikoku Island, the Yahata-Maru Japanese fishing vessel is caught in strong currents off its shores. As the boat drifts into shore, the island begins to erupt, and a giant monster lifts itself out of the volcano. A few days later, reporter Goro Maki is sailing in the area and finds the vessel intact but deserted. As he explores the vessel, he finds all the crew dead except for one young man called Hiroshi Okamura, who has been badly wounded. Suddenly a giant Shockirus sea louse attacks him but he is saved by Okamura.

In Tokyo, Okamura realizes by looking at pictures that the monster he saw was a new Godzilla. Maki writes an article about the account, but the news of Godzilla's return is kept secret and his article is withheld. Maki visits Professor Hayashida, whose parents were lost in the 1954 Godzilla attack. Hayashida describes Godzilla as a living, invincible nuclear weapon able to cause mass destruction. At Hayashida's laboratory, Maki meets Okamura's sister, Naoko, and informs her that her brother is alive and at the police hospital.

A Soviet submarine is destroyed in the Pacific. The Soviets believe the attack was perpetrated by the Americans, and a diplomatic crisis ensues, which threatens to escalate into nuclear war. The Japanese intervene and reveal that Godzilla was behind the attacks. The Japanese cabinet meets to discuss Japan's defence. A new weapon is revealed, the Super X, a specially-armored flying fortress that will defend the capital. The Japanese military is put on alert.

Godzilla attacks the Ihama nuclear power plant. While Godzilla is feeding off the reactor, it is distracted by a flock of birds and leaves the facility. Hayashida believes that Godzilla was distracted instinctively by a homing signal from the birds. Hayashida, together with geologist Minami, propose to the Japanese Cabinet, that Godzilla could be lured back to Mt. Mihara on Oshima Island by a similar signal, and a volcanic eruption could be started, capturing Godzilla.

Prime Minister Mitamura meets with Soviet and American envoys and declares that nuclear weapons will not be used on Godzilla, even if it were to attack the Japanese mainland. Meanwhile, the Soviets have their own plans to counter the threat posed by Godzilla, and a Soviet control ship disguised as a freighter in Tokyo Harbor prepares to launch a nuclear missile from one of their orbiting satellites should Godzilla attack.

Godzilla is sighted at dawn in Tokyo Bay heading towards Tokyo, causing mass evacuations. Godzilla soon emerges and makes short work of the JSDF stationed there. The battle causes damage to the Soviet ship and starts a missile launch count-down. The captain dies as he attempts to stop the missile from launching. Godzilla proceeds towards Tokyo's business district, wreaking havoc along the way. There, it is confronted by four laser-armed trucks and the Super X. Because Godzilla's heart is similar to a nuclear reactor, the cadmium shells that are fired into its mouth by the Super X seal and slow down its heart, knocking him unconscious.

The count-down ends and the Soviet missile is launched. The Americans intervene and fire a counter-missile at the Soviet missile. Hayashida and Okamura are extracted from Tokyo via helicopter and taken to Mt. Mihara to set up the homing device before the two missiles collide above Tokyo. The two missiles collide, producing an electrical storm and an EMP, which revives Godzilla once more and temporarily disables the Super X.

Godzilla finally destroys the Super X and continues its rampage, until Hayashida uses the homing device to distract it. Godzilla leaves Tokyo and swims across the Japanese sea, following the homing device to Mt. Mihara. There, Godzilla follows the device and falls into the mouth of the volcano. Okamura activates detonators at the volcano, creating a controlled eruption that traps Godzilla inside.

Cast

Development

"We went back to the theme of nuclear weapons, since that was the theme of the original film. Japan has now learned three times what a nuclear disaster is, but at that time Japan had already had two. The problem was Japanese society was gradually forgetting about these disasters. They were forgetting how painful it had been. Everyone in Japan knew how scary nuclear weapons were when the original movie was made, but it wasn't like that by the 1980s. So in those meetings, we decided to remind all those people out there who had forgotten."
 — Teruyoshi Nakano[1]

Pre-production

After the box office failure of Terror of Mechagodzilla, Toho attempted to reinvigorate the franchise several times during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first attempt was the announcement of a color remake of the original 1954 film entitled The Rebirth of Godzilla in 1977, but the project was shelved. A year later, it was announced that Toho would develop a film jointly with UPA studios entitled Godzilla vs. the Devil, though this, along with UPA producer Henry G. Saperstein's proposed Godzilla vs. Gargantua, also never materialized.[2]

Godzilla series creator Tomoyuki Tanaka took charge of reviving the franchise in 1979, Godzilla's 25th anniversary, intending to return the series to its dark, anti-nuclear roots in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident.[2] Hoping to win back adult audiences alienated by the fantastical approach to Godzilla films taken during the 1970s, Tanaka was further encouraged in his vision by the contemporary success of adult-oriented horror and science fiction movies like King Kong, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alien and The Thing.[3] A draft story entitled The Return of Godzilla was submitted by Akira Murao in 1980, and had Godzilla pitted against a shape-shifting monster called Bagan in the backdrop of an illegal nuclear waste disposal site, though the project was cancelled without explanation. In 1983, American director Steve Miner proposed directing a Godzilla film at his own expense. Toho approved of the project, and Miner hired Fred Dekker to write the screenplay and paleosculptor Steve Czerkas to redesign the monster. The project was however hampered by Miner's insistence on using prohibitively costly stop-motion animation and shooting the film in 3D, and was thus rejected by major American movie studios. Under pressure from a 10,000-member group of Japanese Godzilla fans calling themselves the "Godzilla Resurrection Committee", Tanaka decided to helm a Japanese film for "strictly domestic consumption" to be released jointly alongside Miner's movie.[2]

Production

Construction of the hydraulic "Cybot" Godzilla

In an effort to disavow Godzilla's increasingly heroic and anthropomorphic depiction in previous films, Tanaka insisted on making a direct sequel to the original 1954 movie. He hired screenwriter Shuichi Nagahara, who wrote a screenplay combining elements of the previously cancelled The Return of Godzilla and Miner's still unproduced film, including an intensification of hostilities during the Cold War and a flying fortress which fires missiles into Godzilla's mouth.[4] Koji Hashimoto was hired as director after Ishiro Honda declined the offer, as he was assisting Akira Kurosawa with Kagemusha and Ran, and felt that the franchise should have been discontinued after the death of Eiji Tsuburaya. Composer Ishiro Honda also refused to participate, as he was embittered over the series' decline in quality and, upon hearing that the new Godzilla's height was to be increased, declared "I do not write music for 80-meter monsters".[3]

The special effects were again directed by Teruyoshi Nakano, who had directed the special effects of several previous Godzilla films. The decision was made by Tanaka to increase the apparent height of Godzilla from 50 metres (160 ft) to 80 metres (260 ft) so that Godzilla would not be dwarfed by the contemporary skyline of Tokyo. This meant that the miniatures had to be built to a 1⁄40th scale, and this contributed to an increase in the budget of the film to $6.25 million. Tanaka and Nakano supervised suit-maker Noboyuki Yasumaru in constructing a new Godzilla design, incorporating ears and four toes, features not seen since Godzilla Raids Again.[4] Nakano insisted on infusing elements into the design that suggested sadness, such as downward-facing eyes and sloping shoulders.[1] Suit construction took two months, and consisted of separately casting body-part molds with urethane on a pre-built, life-size statue of the final design. Yasumaru personally took charge of all phases of suit-building, unlike in previous productions wherein the different stages of suit-production were handled by different craftsmen.[4] The final suit was constructed to accommodate stuntman Hiroshi Yamawaki, but he declined suddenly, and was replaced by veteran suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma. Because the 110 kg (240 lb) suit wasn't built to his measurements, Satsuma had difficulty performing, being able to last only ten minutes within it, and losing 12 pounds during filming.[3] Hoping to avoid having Godzilla move in an overly human fashion, Nakano instructed Satsuma to base his actions on Noh, a traditional Japanese dance.[1]

Taking inspiration from the publicity surrounding the 40-foot tall King Kong model from Dino De Laurentiis's 1976 film of the same name, Toho spent a reported $475,000 on a 16-foot high robotic Godzilla (dubbed "Cybot") for use in close-up shots of the creature's head. The Cybot consisted of a hydraulically-powered mechanical endoskeleton covered in urethane skin containing 3,000 computer operated parts which permitted it to tilt its head, and move its lips and arms.[4] Unlike previous Godzilla suits, whose lower jaws consisted of wire-operated flaps, the Cybot's jaws were hinged like those of an actual animal, and slid back as they opened.[1] A life-size, crane operated foot was also built for close-up shots of city destruction scenes.[4]

Godzilla 1985

Main article: Godzilla 1985

After the film's lackluster performance in the Japanese box office and the ultimate shelving of Steve Miner's Godzilla 3D project, Toho decided to distribute the film overseas in order to regain lost profits. New World Pictures acquired The Return of Godzilla for distribution in North America, and changed the title to Godzilla 1985, bringing back Raymond Burr in order to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Godzilla: King of the Monsters!. Originally, New World reportedly planned to re-write the dialogue in order to turn the film into a tongue-in-cheek comedy starring Leslie Nielsen (à la What's Up, Tiger Lily?), but this plan was reportedly scrapped because Raymond Burr expressed displeasure at the idea, taking the idea of Godzilla as a nuclear metaphor seriously. The only dialogue left over from that script was "That's quite an urban renewal program they've got going on over there," said by Major McDonahue. All of Burr's scenes were filmed in one day to suit his schedule. He was paid US $50,000. The reverse shots, of the actors he was speaking to, were filmed the next day, and the American filming was completed in three days. One of the most controversial changes done on the film was having Soviet Colonel Kashirin deliberately launch the nuclear missile rather than die in attempting to prevent its launch. Director R. J. Kizer later attributed this to New World's management's conservative leanings.[5]

The newly edited film also contained numerous product placements for Dr Pepper, which had twice used Godzilla in its commercials. Dr Pepper's marketing director at one point insisted that Raymond Burr drink Dr Pepper during a scene, and the suggestion was put to the actor by Kizer. Burr reportedly responded by "[fixing] me with one of those withering glares and just said nothing."[5]

Godzilla 1985 was almost universally criticized by North American critics.[6][7]

Reception

The Return of Godzilla was a reasonable success in Japan, with attendance figures at approximately 3,200,000 and the box office gross being approximately $11 million (the film's budget was $6.25 million).[8] In 1985, the film won the Japan Academy Award for Special Effects.[9] WatchMojo.com listed The Return of Godzilla as #8 on their "Top 10 Godzilla Movies" list.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "EXTRA: The Return of Godzilla 30th / ゴジラ('84) 30周年スペシャル〜EXTRA〜 (SciFi JAPAN TV #36)", CHO Japan (December 11, 2014)
  2. 1 2 3 Ryfle, S. (1998). Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G. Toronto: ECW Press. pp. 215–28. ISBN 1550223488.
  3. 1 2 3 Kalat, David (2010). A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. pp. 156–161. ISBN 978-0-7864-47-49-7.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Ryfle, S. (1998). Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G. Toronto: ECW Press. pp. 229–35. ISBN 1550223488.
  5. 1 2 Ryfle, S. (1998). Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G. Toronto: ECW Press. pp. 237–41. ISBN 1550223488.
  6. ↑ Ebert, Roger (September 20, 1985). "Review". Chicago Sun-Times.
  7. ↑ Canby, Vincent. "Review". New York Times.
  8. ↑ Tsutsui, William (2004). Godzilla on my mind: fifty years of the king of monsters. New York, New York: Palgrave MacMillan. p. 65. ISBN 1-4039-6474-2.
  9. ↑ Awards for Godzilla 1985: The Legend Is Reborn at the Internet Movie Database
  10. ↑ WatchMojo.com (February 26, 2014). "Top 10 Godzilla Movies". Youtube. Retrieved March 7, 2016.

Further reading

External links

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