#17: Godzilla Returns

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by Terickel

by Terickel

Previously I'd only ever seen this asGodzilla 1985 when I was a lot younger. Since I came in on the ShowaVs movies and wasn't old enough to grasp anything political in thesemovies I had regarded the Godzilla solo movies as rather boring.Seeing Godzilla smash through buildings was kind of fun, though notquite as fun as pretending to BE Godzilla as I stomped through driedout corn stalks in our garden. Somehow conflicts with the militarywere paradoxically boring because they were one sided, yetfrustrating if they weren't so I always wanted them to be aboutmonsters, preferably teams of monsters.

The one thing I did really like aboutthis movie was weirdly enough the mutant sea louse. Ecosystems andanimal interactions like mutualism are just interesting to me andwhile this creature is just a little parasite, it does hint at aworld bigger and more interesting than one lone giant monster. Iabsolutely do not remember it flying all over the room though, wasthat trimmed down in the 1985 edit or is it just really silly of meto forget that somehow?

It's really easy to feel like Super Xis a bizarre jump into Sci-Fi since there's the pattern whereGodzilla movies starting grounded and getting more outlandish withtime despite the fact that it's the second movie in its owncontinuity. I think it somehow feels more like a reboot than sequelto me somehow, which I don't fully understand but the fact they don'treally acknowledge the original Godzilla's death or take the time toretcon it likely has a lot to do with it.

So in this movie Godzilla: passes by aboat and a little parasite riding him kills the crew, he destroys aSoviet submarine, attacks a nuclear plant and leaves, then has a bitof a mainland rampage before being lured away and dropped in avolcano. Even with the Cold War issues making it a biggerinternational deal than the original Gojira, I can't help but feellike it's a downgrade on Godzilla, which started with boat after boatto the island scenes to the utter destruction of Tokyo. The effectsdepicting the destruction scenes are improved for sure, but the scalehas come down and they even succeed in stopping Godzilla for a time.

I also didn't remember Super X lastingso long with its floating between buildings and strafing Godzillawhen it's out in the open. Was that cut down or did I just forget themore visually goofy parts of this movie?

All in all I think as an adult, if Idid scores, I would go for the middle of the scale on this one. Ihave more patience and understanding than I did as a kid, but itwasn't quite enough to rate this movie highly.