In
honor of the premiere of Godzilla
2000,
marking the Big Guy's return to the big
screen -- with
no Matthew Broderick in sight, I
decided to tackle his debut film. Both
of them -- by taking a look at the
original Japanese version --
Gojira,
and the Americanized version -- Godzilla:
King of the Monsters: Two movies
that share a lot of the same footage,
but are two completely different films.
Gojira
begins in darkness. Slowly, Akira
Ifukube’s familiar "March of the
Monsters" tune, infused with the
most recognizable roar in all monster-dom
rolls over the opening credits. (The
roar was also Ifukube’s creation, made
by rubbing a rubber glove across a bass'
strings.) When the credits expire,
we open at sea with the crew of Eiko-maru
lounging on the deck. Suddenly, the ocean
around them begins to glow, then boil and
churn until a destructive wave of fire
crashes over the freighter, engulfing it
completely. This all happened so fast the
ship barely got a distress signal sent
before it explodes.
The
Eiko-maru was part of the Southern Sea
Shipping line, so they call in, Ogata (Akira
Takarada), their salvage expert.
Ogata must break his date with Emiko
Yamane (Momoko Kouchi)
first, and then reports to work. Finding
the offices jammed packed with relatives
wanting to know the fate of those on board,
they're assured that all that can be done
is being done. A rescue ship has already
been dispatched, and is almost to the spot
where the Eiko-maru went down. But then
that ship mysteriously explodes, too. More
ships and planes are sent in but only find
three survivors. Picked up, they're to be
taken to the nearest port on Ohto Island.
But that ship never makes it either,
another victim of an inexplicable maritime
disaster. Fishermen from Ohto find one
lone survivor among the wreckage. Half
dead, he claims to have seen a monster,
and then passes out. A cranky older gent
claims that it is the mythical Gojira,
come alive to eat them all.
Hagiwara
(Sachio
Sakai), a reporter, comes to Ohto
Island to interview the survivor, but no
one is willing to officially comment about
the shipwrecks -- except the old crackpot.
He tells Hagiwara how they used to
sacrifice girls to Gojira, but now, the
"Exorcism Ceremony" is all that
remains of the ancient tradition. That
night, a
tropical storm whips up and hits the
island hard. But there is a little bit
more than mere thunder and lightning
involved. Something monstrous has come out
of the ocean, and tramples the village
flat.
The
surviving village elders are hauled to the
mainland to testify before a government
committee. After relating the mass
destruction that has befallen them, they
all state, most definitely, that it was no
hurricane that destroyed their village. A
Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura),
Japan’s
most eminent zoologist -- and also Emiko's
dad,
compares the villager's claims of a
monster to the mystery of the abominable
snowman. Seeing a rare opportunity for
scientific discovery, he volunteers to go
to the island and investigate. When the
expedition sets sail for Ohto, on board
are the
Yamanes, Ogata and Hagiwara. (Brave
souls considering what’s happened to
every other boat that’s ventured into
that area.) Oata
and Emiko are in love. The only problem
is, she has promised to wed Dr. Serizawa (Akihiko
Airata). We learn that this
engagement happened before the war, and during
the war, Serizawa was badly injured and
became a recluse. The two never got
married, and probably never will, but
Emiko hasn’t officially broken it off
with him yet. Ogata has his own problems;
he must get consent from Yamane -- who
arranged the marriage with Serizawa --
before they can even think about getting
married...and so are the Days
of Our Lives.
They
find the village in ruins, and detect
traces of radioactivity everywhere. Yamane
believes all the deep impressions they
find are actually the footprints of some
unknown beast. He also finds a trilobite
-- a parasite that was thought to be
extinct. The investigation is quickly
interrupted when the warning bell is
sounded. Hearing huge footfalls, they head
for the hill -- but find they're fleeing
in the wrong direction...Gojira pops his
head up over the hill they're climbing, so
obviously, they turn and flee in terror
but a few brave souls like Hagiwara manage
to snap some pictures of the great monster.
Then
it's back to the mainland to appear before
another committee. Presenting his
startling evidence, Yamane postulates that
Gojira is a living dinosaur that survived
deep in the ocean. He also believes, due
to its immense radioactivity, that the
atom bomb tests are responsible for
driving it to the surface. (Damn
Yankees!) This triggers a
real nasty argument between two officials
on whether to inform the public of
Gojira’s existence, or to keep it a
secret. (We’ve
got to close the beaches!)
Amazingly, they decide to go public and
begin concentrating on finding a way to
kill the monster.
They
start with the most direct approach. While
the "Anti-Gojira" frigates
depth-charge the heck out of the ocean, we
get several different views from several
different people on what is the best
course of action on dealing with the
threat: On
a passenger train, John and Jane Doe argue
about the monster. Jane states that she
"Didn’t survive Nagasaki only to be
eaten by Gojira." Yamane thinks they
should save Gojira for scientific study,
while Hagiwara believes the monster should
be destroyed before it can cause any more
damage. Almost on cue, Gojira surfaces in
Tokyo harbor. He scares the hell out of
some cruiseship passengers, but doesn’t
attack. Just sniffs around a bit, and then
submerges back into the water.
The
direct approach not really working, the
government asks Yamane if there is
anything that can kill Gojira. But the
doctor believes that the monster has
absorbed so much radiation, that he is
virtually indestructible. He also still
firmly believes that they should save and
study the creature. Meanwhile, Hagiwara
receives a tip that a Dr. Serizawa has
made a break through in a weapon to fight
Gojira. He asks Emiko to go with him for
the interview. She agrees, and promises
Ogata that she will tell Serizawa about
them and finally break off their long
engagement.
Serizawa
denies the weapon rumors. In fact -- he
won’t talk about his research at all.
Frustrated, Hagiwara leaves. But
Serizawa does have a secret
discovery, and he decides to show it to
Emiko. Taking her to his basement lab, he
puts a small dose of a chemical powder
into an aquarium. He then throws an
electrical charge into the water, and
Emiko watches the violent reaction in
horror and turns away. (What
happened? We don’t know. Yet.)
Serizawa swears her to secrecy.
Gojira
surfaces again, and this time comes ashore
and tries to eat a train. He stomps around
a bit more, smashing several districts,
and then returns to the sea. With things
rapidly escalating, an
international task-force is assembled to
combat the Gojira threat. But the best
they can come up with is to evacuate the
coast and put up a huge electrical fence --
hoping it will keep the monster out.
Yamane
is in a foul mood over these developments,
and Ogata makes the mistake of picking
that moment to ask his permission to marry
Emiko. Instead, they argue about Gojira.
Since Ogata thinks the monster should be
destroyed, an enraged Yamane kicks him
out. (Oops.)
Before
Ogata can apologize, Gojira attacks again.
He makes quick work of the electric fence
and uses his atomic blast to set the whole
city ablaze. And this time, he sticks
around for a while, stomping and crushing
the things that he doesn’t set on fire,
cutting a wide swath of destruction until
the Japanese Air Force drives him off. Yes,
you read that right -- the military
managed to drive the monster away.
The
aftermath of Gojira’s rampage is
immense. Those not killed in the initial
assault, are poisoned by radiation. At the
hospital, Emiko volunteers to help the
wounded, and is so shook up by all the
suffering, she confesses Serizawa’s
secret to Ogata.
Uh-oh,
flashback...
...We’re
back in Serizawa’s lab.
Emiko
reacts in horror as the water in the
aquarium bubbles and boils furiously
until all the fish inside are vaporized.
All that is left are their skeletal
remains, but they quickly dissolve, too.
Serizawa reveals how his research led to
the discovery of a powerful substance
that liquefies oxygen. (Hey,
Liz? Is that possible?) Swearing
that his research was only for the
expansion of knowledge (sure,
that’s what they all say), the
end result was the deadly "Oxygen
Destroyer."
Serizawa
is terrified of his discovery, but feels
that -- if given time, a beneficial use
for it can be found. So far, he’s the
only one who knows how to create it, and
Emiko, so far, is the only one who knows
about it.
Until
she blabs to Ogata.
They
beg Serizawa to use his invention on
Gojira, but he adamantly refuses to let
his deadly creation be revealed to the
world. Now, with the secret out, Serizawa
begins to destroy his notes. When Ogata
tries to stop him, they fight until Emiko
separates them, and then rushes to
Ogata’s aid. Obviously
seeing there is something between them and
he's out of the picture, Serizawa goes
into a big speech about why he can’t use
the Oxygen Destroyer. (That I'll go
into greater detail later.) But
then they overhear a
televised national prayer of deliverance
by the children of Japan. The children's
cry for help sways Serizawa. He will use
the Oxygen Destroyer -- but just once, and
then proceeds to destroys all his notes to
guarantee it.
Using
Geiger counters, they determine Gojira’s
location -- the monster is sleeping at the
bottom of the Tokyo Bay. Soon enough,
Ogata's salvage boat floats above him.
Serizawa demands to go down with Ogata --
there is only one Oxygen Destroyer, and
only he knows how to trigger it properly.
Ogata begrudgingly agrees and they both
suit up. When
they reach the bottom and find the
slumbering Gojira, Ogata gives the signal
to the boat to haul them up. And he’s
half way up before realizing that Serizawa
is still at the bottom...Serizawa opens
the Oxygen Destroyer and it reacts
violently with water. Ogata surfaces and
orders the others to pull Serizawa up.
Calling though the intercom they plead
with him to surface. Serizawa tells Emiko
to be happy, and then cuts his tow-line
and air-hose. His secrets will die with
him. Guaranteeing that his invention will
never be used for evil intent.
Gojira
is consumed in the reaction: The monster
surfaces briefly, and gives one final
mournful roar, but is skeletonized before
he hits the bottom. But Yamane
warns that there are probably other
Gojira’s in the ocean, and with all the
atom bomb tests going on, it won’t be
long until another one surfaces.
The
end
So
is Gojira,
and it's sequels, an attempt by Toho
Studios to show how Americanism invaded
Japan after the war -- laying waste to old
Japanese heritage and customs? It's
obvious that the monster is meant to
represent the horror of the atomic bomb
unleashed. But if you look a little
closer, there is another, more subtle, yet
no less poignant message that Toho’s
accusing finger was trying to get across.
To
me, it all has to do with Serizawa and his
Oxygen Destroyer. It is with this deadly
invention, not Gojira, that the real
message of the movie can be found. Yes, my
contention is that it's the Oxygen
Destroyer -- not Gojira -- that is the
real "monster" of this picture.
Serizawa is so terrified of this creation
that he keeps it a closely guarded secret.
Feeling that he can someday find a
productive use for it to benefit mankind,
but until then, he's afraid to reveal its
existence now, because in it’s raw form,
it can only be used as a weapon of mass
destruction. The
correlation between the O.D. and the
atomic bombs used to end World War II is
obvious. When scientists started messing
around with energy on the atomic level,
atomic fission was the first big
breakthrough. Splitting the atom released
a huge amount of energy, albeit
destructive, and it had a ton of harmful
side-effects like radiation.
Forgive
me, I’m not exactly sure who exactly
made this discovery, I
know Oppenheimer was in charge of the
first practical use at White Sands, but
Toho makes the argument that perhaps
whoever it was, they should have
kept it a secret until it could be
successfully harnessed for non-destructive
purposes. (Atomic fusion?) But
they didn’t, and now, of course, Gojira
-- or even the threat of Gojira (read
nuclear war) -- is the result. They
let the atomic genie out of the bottle and
the world now lives in fear of it. That is
the message that Gojira
brings out to me -- loud and clear.
To steal a phrase from Uncle Ben
Parker: "With great power, comes
great responsibility." Serizawa
reinforces this contention when he states
that we are in the shadows of bombs and
missiles -- and the world is on the brink
of Armageddon. Afraid that his creation
will tip the scales and plunge the world
into war -- the final war, he wants no
part of it and is content to sit on the
sidelines.
Of
course, Serizawa breaks down and decides
to use the Oxygen Destroyer, after he sees
the destruction Gojira has caused. But what
makes Serizawa different than the gang at
the Manhattan Project, is that he alone
knew the secret of his creation. And
knowing it's horrific potential, he does
the honorable thing by destroying his
notes and committing suicide so his Oxygen
Destroyer can never be made again. Thus
the world will never have to live in fear
of it...
I’ve
been a Godzilla
fanatic for over twenty-five years, but --
and I’m kind of ashamed to admit this --
it wasn’t until late last year (1999)
that I finally tracked down and watched
the original Japanese version. The love
triangle between Emiko, Ogata and Serizawa
is more pronounced in this version. And there
is also the subplot about Dr. Yamane not
wanting to destroy Gojira, but to study
him, that for the most part is completely
absent from the American film. And of
course, Raymond Burr is absent, and the
film was a little disjointed to me the
fist time through. The original sequence
of the film is completely different than
the America version that I’ve seen, oh,
about fifty times. When the film was
imported, it was tore apart and spliced
together so the monster shows up sooner
and the "boring" romantic parts
were mostly left on the edit room floor.
All
told, Gojira
is very somber affair with definite
anti-nuclear feelings, and is more about
its ideas and characters than its title
monster.
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