The Movie Doctor: Monster-Movie Month Review: "Godzilla"

Monster-Movie Month Review: “Godzilla”

In honor of the month of October I have decided I will be re-watching and reviewing all my favorite monster movies. To start this off I re-watched a movie that I have great memories of watching as a kid the original Godzilla. I used to be obsessed with Godzilla. I still have the whole movie collection on VHS from the original Godzilla to Godzilla 2000. To re-watch the film I had use something I thought I would never use again… my VHS. Watching it again gave me a sense of nostalgia and also reminded my why I loved the movie so much.

Godzilla still is one of my favorite monster movies of all time. The subject of the man-made monster has always interested me. Godzilla is the result of many Hydrogen Bomb tests done in the ocean. After a NAVY battleship and many rescue books seem to disappear Godzilla finally emerges from the water and wreaks havoc on Tokyo and the many other small islands near her. (Yes, Godzilla is a she) After completely wiping out Tokyo after much dispute an almost unethical weapon is used on the creature finally destroying it.

Now it’s common knowledge that special effects have come a long way since 1954. That being said for that time the effects were great. There is a wonderful sequence when Godzilla finally goes to Tokyo that is very well done. She destroys a train station, rampages through the city, and using her fire breath to incinerate many buildings and tanks. There are times of course where you can tell that it is someone in a large suit or it is an animated doll but I don’t think it’s very distracting. After he destroys Tokyo there is a great argument revealed about the weapon to destroy him. Although it is available there are moral and ethical arguments that go back and forth decided whether or not to use it.

Godzilla’s wrath mirrors the horror of the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Godzilla itself symbolizes the horrors of a nuclear holocaust. Like many other amazing monster movies (The Host, The Mist) the film itself is not just about the monster. It’s about the characters and how they deal with the situation. For nostalgic reasons Godzilla is my favorite monster movie of all time. Every time I watch it I get that same feeling I did when I was a kid. Re-watching it only gave me joy and made me realize all the parallels and messages the film was trying to convey. It is a great monster movie.