I may be one of few, if only, people to say I actually liked "Godzilla 1985," the first in the second generation of kaiju-eiga films that began after a 10-year hiatus, since the last Toho-backed "Godzilla" effort "Terror of Mechagodzilla" (1975), which concluded the first generation of movies.

Godzilla is the most popular movie monster from the East and I've been watching these films since I was five. Of course, in "Godzilla 1985" (which is 1984 in Japan time), Godzilla returns to his old stomping grounds of Tokyo. He first attacks a fishing boat and kills everyone on-board except one, then a Soviet submarine, a nuclear reactor (which is where we see the glorious Big Guy for the first time), and finally has his eyes set on Tokyo. What hinders this film big time, especially in the American version, are the ugly Cold War-era politics that played into many of the film's changes in order to accommodate polarized audiences in the United States. Russians are portrayed as being inherently evil and the Japanese are shown as being weak and totally dependent on America. But by making America the hero in this picture, Americans are shown as being quite pigheaded and arrogant and stupid, with the exception of Raymond Burr, who also appeared in the American version of the original "Godzilla" (1954). (So it looks like the American producers really screwed themselves big time with this transition.) This seriously makes the movie dated and draws attention away from the stronger, more relevant issues the original Japanese screenwriters had envisioned. On the plus side, Toho created a rather terrifying and truly menacing Godzilla, whose presence is made all the more frightening by those blood-red eyes and thunderous roar of his. This Godzilla is the embodiment of true screen menace, in a return-to-form from the previous incarnation in the '70s. Even though he is the villain in this picture, one could shed a tear at the film's ending (which you wouldn't need to do if you care to watch the superior 1989 sequel "Godzilla vs. Biollante"). The special effects are magnificent, though dated; one of my particular favorite sequences is Godzilla's showdown with the Super X attack fighter and his attack on the nuclear reactor.

I'd recommend this entry only if you're a die-hard kaiju-eiga fan; if not, you should probably skip this one and go straight to "Godzilla vs. Biollante," which is my personal favorite "Godzilla" film from the second generation. But it's a shame that "Godzilla 1985" was ruined by American intrusion in its transfer from Japan to the U.S.

5/10

Despite bringing back director Ishirô Honda and toning down the child-friendly antics that were plaguing the series, 1975's "Terror of Mechagodzilla" was a financial failure and the big guy was put on waivers for a decade. His triumphant return in 1984, his 16th outing, was a big-budget, one-monster show that was very much a return to the roots of the series (literally, as all of the intervening sequels were ignored as well as was the obvious death of the monster at the end of the original). As in the '54 version, the story opens with an attack on a ship, from which there is a single survivor, who claims to have seen a giant monster. People are generally disbelieving (which seems odd, as only 30 years have passed since Tokyo was first flattened by a giant monster), but come around when Godzilla wades ashore and destroys a nuclear power plant. Although nods are made to environmental concerns, the background issue in this film is the cold-war, as the Soviets and the Americans push to be allowed to use nuclear weapons against the monster. The Japanese prime minster is all quiet dignity, reason and principles while the Americans and the Russians blustering war-heads, which led to accusations of anti-Americanism in the Reagan-era U.S.A. (at one point in the discussion about using nuclear weapons near Tokyo, the American representative says "This is not time to be talking about principles", a line apparently changed in the American version of the film). Most of the special efforts are very good, with Godzilla back destroying cities rather than thrashing around on some inexpensive deserted island set, and although he's increased in height to 50 meters, he himself is dwarfed by Tokyo's towering (but apparently fragile) skyscrapers. Some of the back projection sequences are weak and the diminished scale of the city models limits the details that enhanced the realism of the sets in earlier films, but overall the film looks good. The Godzilla suit is excellent, very saurian and predatory looking, with internal mechanisms that allow for more facial expression than earlier versions and, in addition to the usual tanks and missiles, the JDF deploys laser cannon (nicely done) and the first of a series of improbable looking flying fortresses, the X1 - all of which is effective and exciting. The film's score, although not as good as Akira Ifukube's iconic original, is quite good, especially the ominous opening music. I watched a subtitled Japanese version of the film and parts of an English-dubbed version (but not the American release, which I've read has a number of alterations). The dubbing in the version I saw was not very good, with poor syncing and sometimes silly sounding voices (esp. the Russian ambassadors 'accent'). Remakes of classics are rarely classics themselves (1959's "Ben Hur" notwithstanding), and this incarnation of Godzilla is not as good as the 1954 original, but it is a watchable and entertaining film in its own right, both for fans and for the uninitiated.

-Note; this is based on an English dub of a non-edited, non-Americanised version of this movie. Ergo, without the Raymond Burr scenes and the hefty changes made (why do those yanks always insist on messing with Japanese originals?). The box called it "the Return of Godzilla"-

As a kaiju film on it's own, it's nice enough. As a big 80's-90's return to the screen for Goji, it's dreadfully underwhelming.

There are quite some good things in here; the film does a good job of establishing a more dark and menacing atmosphere. Godzilla is a proper monster in this movie in that he should be feared, and with no other big monster to battle against him around, he's suddenly lots more tricky to get rid of.

Alas, he's also a little dull on his own in this film. There's a long and slow build-up before the destruction actually begins. But when Goji does finally reach Tokyo, the city-stomping that ensues in much more sedate and uneventful than what the viewer's been hoping for, and doesn't manage to really satisfy one. Instead, Goji spends a lot of time just standing around, and leaving lots of large buildings simply untouched (while you very badly -want- to see him smash them up). Once he's killed off in a rather daft way, you're left with a pretty empty "was that everything?" feeling.

Furthemore, the Godzilla suit doesn't look all that slick and modern. In facial close-up shots, his eyes look painfully plastic-like, for instance. The numerous scenes of people excitedly running about, trying to avert or escape from more catastrophes do add suspense (there's the whole atomic missile subplot as well), but we were hoping for a good new Goji flick, not a cold war drama story.

Although disappointing on the whole, as a curiosity, it's worth a go for kaiju fans, and shows an interesting darker, more menacing side of Godzilla that rarely surfaces outside of the original 1950's film (and perhaps Godzilla vs Destroyah). One really has to feel sorry for the over-stressed prime minister in this movie. The man deserves a good vacation in Okinawa after all that ^^. Despite it's shortcomings, kaiju die-hards can still enjoy this more or less (others needn't bother, there are better giant monster flicks for them out there). And of course, even this rather low-level Goji entry can still wipe the floor with that pathetic Tri-Star Godzilla travesty any day. Granted, that's not saying very much, but oh well... If you must see this, try to go for a non-edited version, as I'm told the US release had some very hefty changes that strongly marr the film.