The Return of Godzilla

Starring: Ken Tanaka, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Yôsuke Natsuki, Shin Takuma
Directed by: Koji Hashimoto
Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction
1984

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Thirty years after the original rampage of Godzilla, the creature returns once again.

Review:

Tim: The Godzilla franchise is fascinating to me. The original Gojira is still the best film in the franchise, but it continued consistently from the 1950s to the 1970s. Although it hit very hard times during that span (so many of those films are bad), it enjoyed a very slight uptick in the mid 1970s. That wasn't enough to reverse the box office decline. It was time to put this franchise to bed. The gap between Terror of Mechagodzilla and The Return of Godzilla was 9 years, by far the longest time between films in the franchise since its inception. This movie serves as a sequel and a reboot, wisely ignoring almost all the films before it. The time away was positive, as it gave some perspective on what makes this franchise work. While The Return of Godzilla doesn't return to the heights of the original film's quality, it is easily one of the best of the 16 films in the franchise.

The big critical component was getting back to the darker, horror movie roots. The franchise lost its focus when Godzilla became anthropomorphized and heroic. That never made much sense. This movie is closest in tone to the original and that helps the film immensely. The movie takes a more serious approach to the story, rather than the juvenile quality of many of the most inferior sequels.

Now, while I applaud the film for trying to get back on track and indeed delivering one of the stronger outings, I do still have many complaints about the film. For the 16th film in a franchise, fatigue has definitely set in. The 9 year break helped refresh it, as did the refocused approach. However, this is still a film about Godzilla attacking Japan, full of paper-thin human characters and resulting in human ingenuity collaborating to defeat the creature. This film was darker and more serious, but we've still seen this movie numerous times before. The visual effects might be a little better, but many of the franchise's weaknesses remain. All these movies blend together. While this took a more mature approach to the story, there's not a lot of differentiation besides that. Shockirus, the mutated sea louse is never going to be a very memorable opponent. It does create some tension early in the film, but it's a sea louse. The Super X is likewise not very memorable. Now, the visual effects have certainly improved and a larger budget helped create some cool sequences, but the story feels too generic.

The Return of Godzilla certainly comes back stronger than the last few films, but it's not quite the triumphant return the franchise badly needed. The movie needed more than giant sea lice. Still, we have seen some very bad movies in this franchise, so when a decent movie like this one comes along, you need to celebrate that.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Terror of Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs. Hedorah