REVIEW - "Godzilla Raids Again" (1955)

Being a fan of Godzilla doesn't mean I adore all 28 movies in the series. Perhaps I can somehow enjoy them all depending on my mood, but even then I can tell whether or not I'm watching a good movie. "Godzilla Raids Again" is probably the very definition of "quicky-sequel". After the Japanese masterpiece "Gojira" (Godzilla) came out in November of 1954 to conquer ticket sales, Toho Studio's chief executive wanted a sequel right away. "Godzilla Raids Again" was released in Japanese theaters April of 1955. Guess what? It shows.

Normally I don't blast a movie about being too focused on its characters, but for God's sake if you're going to have a movie that's so character oriented make them interesting. Ishiro Honda, the director of the first film was doing other projects at this time, so a hand-me-down director, known for getting movies done quick, Motoyoshi Oda was picked to direct. The difference between the directors' styles show. In "Gojira", Honda had a sense of urgency and fear that covered the entire movie. Here the urgency is dumbed down and the characters have moments where they act like Godzilla isn't even a threat anymore. The anti-war message is gone and the fear of nuclear holocaust has left the series all too early.

The film is about two friends. Koji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) and Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi), who are airplane spotters for the Japanese fishing fleet. When Koji sets down on an island due to plane troubles, Shoichi comes to rescue him. There they discover another Godzilla has been born and this time he's not alone. Angirus, the spikey, horned monster, is engaging in a massive brawl with him.

From here we're told that another Godzilla has been born due to the result of nuclear testing and Angirus has been created as a result as well. At first it goes the route of the original film. There's much depression, urgency and fear going on in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the movie, but then it focuses back on this awkward love triangle among Koji, Shoichi and telegraph operator Setsuko Wakayama (Hidemi Yamaji). I can see where they were going with this since the first film had a love triangle as well, but the problem here is none of these characters need to develop. In the first film the love triangle also had a sense of urgency and drama-- All the characters had faults they needed to overcome or atone for. Here, they bumble around TRYING to develop and we get a look at their night lives and card playing days.

The movie's dark atmosphere returns during the fight in the city between Godzilla and Angirus, but after that the movie not only lightens up, but becomes very slow and hard to watch. From there these plane operators feel the need to strike back for the destruction of their homes, but do very little to show for it. They participate in the climatic battle which could've been edited down several minutes, yet their actions don't seem to have much meaning behind them.
Godzilla appears scary at first; coming off the first movie its not a surprise. But by the end of the film the invincibility of the monster is downplayed. On the other hand this is the first movie in film history that features two giant monsters fighting in a city and the special effects for this battle are fantastic.

The American version was brought to the states as "Gigantis: The Fire Monster"-- The producer wanted to make audiences believe it was a different monster just for the sake of it. The movie was butchered with inaccurate, dubbed dialogue, cheap stock footage from other sci-fi films, stock footage of rural, stereotyped Japanese farmers and an almost complete re-write for the story. (But hey! They got the "spinning newspapers" effects man from "Citizen Kane"! That made a lot of difference!)
The original version of the movie had some good moments. There are a few errie scenes that echo the atmosphere of the original film and the special effects had already improved after just six months. But the characters are very cumbersome to the pace and it was painful to see the metaphors that the first film built disappear. On the other hand it wasn't as ghastly as the American version and the monster scenes are pretty entertaining. It's worth a look, but stay away from the American version.

*1/2 out of ****