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The film begins with a story about some Japanese ships that are mysteriously destroyed by something. While the officials have no idea what's going on, a local citizen on Odo Island says that there's a sea monster called Godzilla. After the storm hits Odo Island, a group of investigators go there to find out about it. Surprisingly, they not only discover radiation around the area but also Godzilla itself. A scientist named Yamane later finds out that Godzilla was created by H-Bomb tests around the island and he wants to keep it alive so scientists can study it. Meanwhile, Yamane's daughter Emiko accidentally finds a new "weapon" built by her ex-fiance Daisuke. After Godzilla destroys most of Tokyo and kills lots of people, Emiko has to convince Daisuke to use this weapon to protect the world.
I think we all know how this story ends but Daisuke says something really thoughtful and kinda sums up the movie. He says that he wants to keep his weapon a secret because he wants to use it in a good way, not for wars or killing innocent people. That's why he doesn't want Emiko to talk about it with others. Speaking of war, a lot of the dialogue and visual effects reference World War 2. For instance, after the breaking news about Godzilla's arrival, there's a character that says "Evacuate again? I've had enough!" and "I barely escaped the atomic bomb in Nagasaki -- and now this!". Personally, I consider this to be a horror film because it not only has a dark visual aesthetic and a classic build up to reveal Godzilla, that's right, it takes 22 minutes until we see the head of Godzilla and it takes almost 45 minutes until we see the full body of it. This method creates a lot of suspense and causes the audience to want to find out more about the monster. It's great and many of the destructive scenes look similar to what happened in World War 2. The city is burning, the people are running around in chaos, the families are crying in the street and there's even a hospital montage on the day after the attack. In it you can see kids crying and nurses moving the dead bodies. These scenes reminded me of a somber feeling I had when I watched another great movie about World War 2: Grave of the Fireflies.
Let's go to another aspect of movie, the pacing, which is considered slow by today's standards. Many modern teenagers might find it boring, but as I said before, I consider it a horror movie. This slow-pacing creates more character dimension and increases the tension and suspense at the same time. The special effects (created by Eiji Tsuburaya, the creator of classic hero "Ultraman") look astonishing even by today's standards. The miniatures are realistic, the rubber Godzilla suits look great and the overall atmosphere is genuinely scary. Who could ever forget the scene where Godzilla survives an electrical wire shock and then attacks the city?
Whether you want to watch it for the historical context, its anti-war message or just for the fun, Gojira has all of these things in store for you. One thing I'm still not sure about is the quote from the end of the movie by Yamane in which he says: "I can't believe that Godzilla was the last of its species. If nuclear testing continues then someday, somewhere in the world...Godzilla may appear". If Godzilla existed in real life, I have no idea how long we could live safely before it appeared.
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