Godzilla: Ranking the Heisei, Millennium, and Reiwa Era Films: #14 ‘The Return of Godzilla’ (1984)

#14 in my ranking of the Heisei, Millennium, and Reiwa eras of the Godzilla franchise.

Technically part of the Showa Era since the Heisei Era didn’t start until 1989 but lumped with the Heisei Era because of the ten year gap between the previous Godzilla film (Terror of Mechagodzilla) and this, The Return of Godzilla is much more than just a return of the massive lizard to the Japanese silver screen. It’s a return to the idea that Godzilla is scary and a monster and a metaphor for nuclear power (this time very specifically nuclear weapons, the whole Japanese embrace of nuclear energy having gone way too far), and it’s also a return to Godzilla films being…kind of boring. I know everyone loves the first film, and this one seems to have a healthy reputation with the faithful, but I just see faceless bureaucrats and scientists arguing the ethics of nuclear power on a silly monster and get bored.

Off the coast of Daikoku Island, massive waves mess with the tides and send many boats either missing or to the shore. Among these is the Yahata Maru which shows up empty save one survivor, Hiroshi (Shin Takuma), discovered by the reporter Goro (Ken Tanaka). Hiroshi knows he was attacked by a giant monster, and interviews with government officials make it obvious that it was Godzilla, not seen since the 1950s when it attacked Japan. It seems as though the first film is the only canon at this point, which makes no sense because Godzilla was so completely destroyed at the end of that that Toho originally just had there be another Godzilla monster in the sequel, Godzilla Raids Again.

Anyway, most of the film is government officials, led by the Prime Minister (Keiju Kobayashi) planning for and executing a series of steps on how to get rid of Godzilla again. And this is where all of the unfortunate comparisons I make to the original film come up. I will give The Return of Godzilla one thing in its favor here: It’s significantly less silly than the oxygen destroyer. The whole plan is to find a way to lure Godzilla to a volcano, trigger an eruption, and then bury the monster under the lava. Much better than the oxygen destroyer.

My problem with all of it is that it’s done in this dry, procedural way that ignores all the human stuff it tries to introduce early like Hiroshi’s sister, Naoko (Yasuko Sawaguchi) learning that he’s still alive and her professor, Makato (Yosuke Natsuki) whose parents died in the original attack. It all gets pushed aside for the process and debates around using nuclear weapons (pushed by the USSR and US representatives, a situation that allows a high-government Japanese official to be the voice of reason because Godzilla films are ultimately deeply nationalistic for Japan) and then the attack by Godzilla on Tokyo.

Now, I’m largely fine with the special effects in the film, but I’m disappointed that the only real advance in technology seems to have been dimming the lights a bit more on the miniatures. There’s still no concerted effort to speed up the film running through the camera to slow down the action and create a sense of scale.  Everything still feels small and cute rather than the obvious intention of big and dangerous. Within the context of Godzilla films, it’s quite good looking, the heavy use of shadows giving a certain dangerous feel to the proceedings. So, marks for that. It’s still not the attack on Tokyo from the first film, but it’s pretty good.

And yet, the attack here is structured so weirdly. Godzilla gets to Tokyo, does some minor damage, and coincidentally stops right next to the building where Makato is working on his device to aurally attract Godzilla. It provides Makato with enough time to prove the concept before Godzilla does some minor damage to the building and a hovercraft puts the thing to sleep (honestly…I’m glad we don’t get a lot of explanation around this even if I don’t get it. I’ll take my brevity of explanation in a Godzilla movie when I get it). He then take a nap for like 20 minutes as puny humans do puny human things like…wait for a US missile to intercept an accidentally launched USSSR nuclear missile heading for Tokyo. No one does anything to stop it. They just wait.

Really, this movie is just kind of…boring. It plods. There are no real humans to fill the gaps between special effects. The special effects are pretty good, but I honestly expected better after a 10 year hiatus.

Yes, it’s a return to form for the original Godzilla, but, you know…the first Godzilla isn’t actually very good.

Originally published here