The Return of Godzilla

Watch: The Return of Godzilla

Unrated

9/13/20161h 43m

Physical Release (US)

~ Breaking 30 years of silence comes the anticipated-worldwide latest "Godzilla" work! ~

Overview:

After a fishing boat is attacked, the sole surviving crew member realizes it is none other than a resurrected Godzilla. However, efforts to bring the story to light are suppressed by the Japanese government amid growing political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, who are both willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.

Director:

Koji Hashimoto

Status:

Released

Language:

Japanese

Buget:

$6,000,000.00

Revenue:

$11,000,000.00

Key words:

brother
cold war
soviet union
giant monster
cover-up
reporter
pop music
parasite
creature feature
reboot
kaiju
political unrest
lice
godzilla
tokusatsu

Cast

Keiju Kobayashi

~ as ~

Prime Minister Seiki Mitamura

Ken Tanaka

~ as ~

Goro Maki

Yasuko Sawaguchi

~ as ~

Naoko Okumura

Shin Takuma

~ as ~

Hiroshi Okumura

Yōsuke Natsuki

~ as ~

Professor Makoto Hayashida

Eitarō Ozawa

~ as ~

Minister of Finance Kanzaki

Taketoshi Naitō

~ as ~

Chief Cabinet Secretary Takegami

Nobuo Kaneko

~ as ~

Home Affairs Minister Isomura

Mizuho Suzuki

~ as ~

Foreign Minister Emori

Junkichi Orimoto

~ as ~

Director-General of the Defense Agency

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

John Chard
Written 6 year(s) ago
7
It's good to have the moody atomic beast back!

After an extended break, Godzilla as a movie force made its comeback with this the 16th Godzilla film and the first of what would be the Heisei series. It's a reboot that basically follows on from the original Gojira film of 1954. Plot has Godzilla back as a destroyer of mankind, setting its eyes on stomping Tokyo into oblivion. As Zilla goes about its destructive way, and Tokyo attempts to repel the onslaught, there's a backdrop of a diplomatic crisis reaching boiling point as the Soviets and the Americans get ready for nuclear war. Thankfully the Japanese are able to convince the sane politicians that it is in fact Godzilla at the crux of things. Can the world powers join together to defeat the mightiest of lizards?

If a Godzilla fan you could be forgiven for going into this one fearing the worst, and yet it ticks many of the boxes for those who prefer Zilla as the destroyer of mankind as opposed to the saviour of mankind that the Showa period ended up as. There's the standard amount of miniatures and sets destruction, splendidly constructed as usual, nifty effects work and a whole bunch of iconic images to take from the experience (Zilla atomic breath destruction, stomping through the city, nuclear reinvigoration, back from the dead with awesome carnage following). There's good sci-fi within as well, such as the Japanese scientists having created a super fortress known as Super X, while sometimes all you need is to hear that brilliant roar followed by lizard devastation.

This was a return to the dark roots of Godzilla, complete with anti-nuclear sentiments. It didn't reinvent the wheel, but it did restart it successfully. 7/10