Godzilla 1985
Godzilla 1985 is a 1985 kaiju film directed by R. J. Kizer and Koji Hashimoto. The film is a heavily re-edited American localization of the Japanese film The Return of Godzilla, which was produced and distributed by Toho Pictures in 1984. In addition to the film being re-cut, re-titled, and dubbed in English, Godzilla 1985 featured additional footage produced by New World Pictures, with Raymond Burr reprising his role as American journalist Steve Martin from the 1956 film Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, which itself was a heavily re-edited American adaptation of the 1954 Japanese film Godzilla.
Godzilla 1985
- R. J. Kizer
- Koji Hashimoto
- Shuichi Nagahara
- Lisa Tomei
- Uncredited:
- Tony Randel
- Straw Weisman
- Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Tony Randel
- Kazutami Hara
- Steven Dubin
- Yoshitami Kuroiwa
- Michael Spence
- Reijiro Koroku
- Christopher Young
New World Pictures
- August 23, 1985
87 minutes
- Japan
- United States
- English
- Japanese
- Russian
$2 million
$4.12 million (US)[1]
Both the New World Pictures and Toho versions serve as direct sequels to the original 1954 Godzilla, with Godzilla 1985 also serving as a sequel to Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. The same adaptation techniques used to produce Godzilla, King of the Monsters! were implemented with Godzilla 1985, with the original Japanese footage being dubbed and edited together with the American footage. The film retains the original musical score by Reijiro Koroku, while also integrating portions of the score for the 1985 Canadian film Def-Con 4, composed by Christopher Young.
Godzilla 1985 was met with mostly unfavorable reviews upon its release in the United States. Like Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, much of the nuclear and political overtones featured in the original Japanese film were removed from the American version. Godzilla 1985 was the last Godzilla film produced by Toho to be distributed theatrically in the United States until the release of Godzilla 2000.
Plot[edit]
The Japanese fishing vessel Yahata Maru is trying to find its way to shore in a horrible storm, when a giant monster emerges from an eruption on a nearby uninhabited island and attacks the boat. A day later, reporter Goro Maki finds the vessel intact, along with its sole survivor Hiroshi "Kenny" Okumura.
The Japanese Prime Minister, Mitamura, is informed of the attack and that the monster is Godzilla; he orders that this be kept secret from the public. Maki's report is not published by his newspaper because it is "national security risk” and could cause mass panic. Maki is told to interview bio-physicist Hayashida instead. Maki finds Naoko, Okamura's sister working as a lab assistant to Hayashida and informs her that her brother is safe, against the government's orders. She rushes to the hospital.
Godzilla attacks and destroys a Soviet submarine. The Russians believe the attack was orchestrated by the Americans and the situation threatens to escalate into war. Mitamura is informed of the submarine attack and shown evidence that Godzilla was responsible. The media blackout is lifted and the Americans are absolved of blame. The Japanese arrange a meeting with the Soviet and American ambassadors. Prime Minister Mitamura decides nuclear weapons will not be allowed in Japanese territory even if Godzilla were to attack the Japanese mainland. The Americans balk at this, while the Soviets are in full agreement. However, a Soviet Navy officer secretly prepares a nuclear satellite, claiming Moscow has ordered this.
Godzilla appears on an island off the coast of Japan and attacks a nuclear power plant, removing the nuclear reactor and feeding off the radiation. Godzilla suddenly drops the reactor and follows a flock of birds back out to sea. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are deployed to wait for a possible attack by Godzilla at Tokyo Bay. General Kakura of the JSDF briefs the Japanese cabinet about a top-secret weapon known as the "Super-X attack plane" that can be used against Godzilla.
Through the use of "ultrasonic images", Hayashida determines that Godzilla's brain is bird-like, only mutated. Hayashida realizes that Godzilla has a conditioned response to birds chirping and suggests they duplicate the sound electronically. Hayashida assists the Japanese emergency task force and plans to lure Godzilla into Mt. Mihara's volcano by emitting bird sound frequencies. The Prime Minister authorizes both the JSDF plan and the plan to use the volcano against Godzilla.
Steve Martin is brought into the Pentagon to assist against Godzilla. Godzilla is sighted in Tokyo Bay, which is immediately evacuated. Godzilla proceeds to attack Tokyo and the JSDF launch the Super-X. In the attack, Godzilla sinks a Soviet merchant ship which was in actuality an intelligence collection vessel. Before dying of his injuries, the captain launches the nuclear missile.
The Pentagon prepares to assist the Japanese but Martin cautions that weapons will only confuse and antagonize Godzilla further. Hayashida uses the bird signaling device on Godzilla, which works initially, but before it can be tested further, Godzilla is attacked again by the JSDF. The Super-X arrives and defeats Godzilla with cadmium missiles. At that moment, the Soviet missile is detected by the Americans as it draws closer to Japan. When Washington warns that the blast will be 50 times that of the Hiroshima bombing Mitamura permits the Americans to make an interception attempt.
Hayashida and his signaling equipment are evacuated and sent to Mt. Mihara. The Americans launch a counter-missile and successfully intercept the Soviet missile. However, the nuclear blast fallout reawakens Godzilla and it destroys the Super-X. Hayashida relaunches the signal and lures Godzilla into the mouth of Mt. Mihara. Using explosive bombs to cause the mountain to erupt, Godzilla becomes imprisoned after falling into the volcano.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Opening on August 23, 1985, in 235 North American theaters, the film grossed $509,502 ($2,168 per screen) in its opening weekend,[9] on its way to a $4,116,710 total gross.[1]
Over time, Godzilla 1985, though not a hit, became somewhat profitable for New World after including the revenues from home video and television syndication. The film debuted on television on May 16, 1986.
It was the last Godzilla film produced by Toho to receive any major release in North American theaters until Godzilla 2000 fifteen years later.
Critical reception[edit]
Godzilla 1985 was negatively received by critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 27% approval rating based on 11 reviews.[10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31 out of 100 based on six critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[11]
Roger Ebert, who gave the film one star in the Chicago Sun-Times, argued that a film can only succeed as a "so bad it's good" experience if the filmmakers have made a sincere effort to create a good film, and pointed out evidence that the makers of Godzilla 1985 were instead deliberately trying to create a "so bad it's good" film, such as how the dialogue is consistently rather than occasionally awful, the conspicuous lack of synchronization in the lip-synching, and the inconsistency of Godzilla's size. He also derided Raymond Burr's scenes due to his character's lack of dramatic involvement with the plot.[12] Similarly, the film's "dire" plot and dialogue were criticised by The Encyclopedia of Scientific Fiction, despite the review praising the special effects.[13] Tom Long of the Santa Cruz Sentinel similarly derided the inconsequentiality of Burr's role. While he considered the film more successful as a "so bad it's good" experience than Ebert did, he felt the appeal got old after the first half hour: "After that you start thinking about all the other things you could be doing instead of watching the same joke repeat itself for another hour."[14]
Vincent Canby of the New York Times also panned the film. He focused mainly on how it failed to update either its themes or special effects from those seen in the 1950s Godzilla films, elaborating that Godzilla "still looks like a wind-up toy, one that moves like an arthritic toddler with a fondness for walking through teeny-tiny skyscrapers" and "What small story there is contains a chaste romance and lots of references to the lessons to be learned from 'this strangely innocent but tragic creature.'"[15]
Awards[edit]
The film was nominated for a Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Picture[16] and was also nominated for two Razzie Awards, including Worst Supporting Actor for Raymond Burr and Worst New Star for the new computerized Godzilla.[17]
Home media[edit]
Godzilla 1985 has been released in the United States several times on VHS. The first was by New World in the mid-1980s. By March 1986, it had sold 90,000 units at $79.95 each in the United States, generating $7,195,500 in gross revenue and earning $4.5 million at wholesale. It was one of New World's most successful home video releases at the time.[18]
The second was by Starmaker (under license by R&G Video) in 1992, and the third by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 1997. All VHS home video releases include the Bambi Meets Godzilla animated short. While The Return of Godzilla has been released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kraken Releasing, with an additional dubbed version for the international market, Godzilla 1985 has not been released on either format.