Horrorfest 2011: Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS! is another in a long list of movies I feel like I've seen that I never actually sat through until today. The giant reptilian monster is so iconic that probably anyone you meet on the street could tell you the basic plot of the movie whether or not they've seen it. I'd seen parts of the original and its many sequels over the years, and I saw KING KONG VS. GODZILLA countless times as a kid since I owned it on VHS. But never the whole original.

I still kind of haven't seen the whole original -- just the American cut. Still, the American cut is probably the most famous version of the original, so close enough. The major difference between the American cut and the original Japanese release of GODZILLA is the addition of a foreign correspondent character played by Raymond Burr (named Steve Martin, oddly enough). The idea was to edit Burr seamlessly into the movie to give American audiences a character to latch onto, and to minimize the amount of voice dubbing necessary, instead relying on other characters translating to Burr, or Burr simply narrating over a scene, summarizing it for the American audience.

Unfortunately this process is not so seamless. Since Burr was nowhere near the sets when the original Japanese film was shot, he spends most of the movie reacting to shit he's not actually seeing. We're meant to believe he's standing in the corner of a room during a big important meeting, or among a crowd during an attack scene, but instead he looks like he's standing in an empty studio staring into a camera. Which he is. The few scenes he is not inserted into play out with Burr narrating over top of them. The American meddling gets so overwhelming at times it's a wonder they didn't just scrap every shot except the special effects shots and just make a whole new movie. But, no. Instead, they try to make it look like Burr is interacting with the Japanese actors.

Godzilla, of course, is a giant dinosaur-ish creature who has been accidentally created by nuclear weapons testing. He first attacks boats at sea, then a remote island of superstitious villagers and finally sets his sites (and atomic breath) on Tokyo. Paleontologist Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) wants to study the beast. His daughter Emiko (Momoko Kochi) is betrothed to another scientist (Akihiko Hirata) who has developed a mysterious and deadly weapon that could be used against Godzilla, but she wants to break off the engagement so she can hook up with a ship captain (Akira Takarada). All the while Raymond Burr carries on broken conversations with doubles playing these characters who carefully keep their backs to the camera.

To the movie's credit, the whole story is approached with an impressive level of seriousness. It's a well known fact that both the monster Godzilla and the first movie he starred in were symbols for the terrors ravaged on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the atomic bombs, as well as the fire bombing of Tokyo. So, unlike many later imitators, GODZILLA actually shows the aftermath and consequences of a giant monster attack and how it impacts the citizens of Tokyo. We get shots of bodies in rubble and makeshift hospitals packed with refugees, and they're effective.

Although for the most part Godzilla is portrayed by a guy in a monster suit stomping on tiny models of buildings, it is important to note that the black and white photography in this film goes a long way to make the creature look as sinister and mysterious as possible. The monster attack scenes are shot in such a way that moody shadows and smoke add to the atmosphere. Later giant monster movies forgot the importance of lighting and shooting your monster carefully so as to cover up the more cartoonish aspects of the whole endeavor. The dark look of the movie, and the way it dwells on the casualties, almost make it feel like a docu-drama about a disaster that really occurred, as opposed to a silly sci-fi flick.

Godzilla, the monster, is mostly frightening as a force of nature. It's creepy how he just pops up with little explanation and goes on a rampage and seemingly can't be stopped. He can't be reasoned with, he has no motivation. He just destroys for destruction's sake. That is a chilling notion, but it is also a slight drawback to the narrative -- since none of the human characters are engaging (Burr can't even be bothered to look scared when Tokyo's burning down), it'd be nice to have a monster with a bit of a personality. But would that personality take away from Godzilla's "act of God" status? Or would it enrich the movie, like the sympathetic monster in KING KONG?

The movie does almost take it to the next level during the climax, in which the humans work together to reluctantly unleash a super weapon, and one character makes an unexpected sacrifice. So, not only is the monster created by and inspired by real life nuclear attacks, but the plot to destroy the monster reveals philosophical questions about whether or not to use a weapon like a nuclear bomb -- when is it okay and can it be done responsibly? Or is mankind doomed to repeat his mistakes? This sequence is set to surprisingly tragic and mournful music, instead of your usual monster movie bombast, and it is that kind of detail that really helps set GODZILLA apart from some of his more brain dead monster colleagues.

That's two movies in a row with an exclamation mark in the title, by the way.