Godzilla (1954) - Liked It - DOUBLEFEATUREPREACHERS

Godzilla (1954) - Liked It

10/13/2017

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada
Director: Ishiro Honda
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | 1954

Godzilla was a big name when it came to monsters when I was a child. All of us pretending to smash down cities and breath fire. It wasn’t until I watched this movie last night that I realized I’ve never seen this film! What?! Or if I had, I was way to young to realize what was happening and of what the actual story consisted.

Godzilla is more or less a Sci-Fi film. The beast was created by nuclear testing and radiation aftermath. The myth says that once all the fish are gone from the sea, he will come to land to feed. Sounds like a good story right? Well, it is, but I don’t know if he actually comes to land to feed. I didn’t see him once eat a person (did I miss it?), all he did was destroy the cities and buildings, killing people in his wake.

In scenes that don’t include Godzilla (which is actually many of them) the scientists rush to find a way to stop him. One man, the lead scientists and expert, wants to study the beast not kill him. Another man, Serizawa, was just doing his own thing until his friends made him use his weapon to vanquish the monster. He became a hero of Japan.

One thing I didn’t like about this film is the ending. I don’t know why, but I felt super super bad for Godzilla in the end. I’m now on Dr. Yamanehakase (so sorry if I butchered this name) side with not killing the monster. There had to be some other way to keep it from terrorizing the town. Feed it a cow or something. That scene was just horrible and sad to watch.

Another thing I want to say, it’s been 20-ish years since King Kong… how have the effects not gotten better? I guess they couldn’t get better until technology was invented. Now, the possibilities are endless. Just like all the other movies, I’m interested to see what it’s like for a film these days to star Godzilla. Guess I’ll find out soon enough as we head over to the “new” portion of the classic monster movies event!!

I’ll give Godzilla a “Liked It” rating. I thought it had a good science fiction story and it was enjoyable to watch. It was strangely similar to Pacific Rim, so I know where they got their inspiration for that movie. (4/5)

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