The Return of Godzilla [Blu-ray] [1984]

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Lost For a Generation ...

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  After years of only being available as the heavily altered "Godzilla 1985", the original version of "The Return of Godzilla" is finally available for U.S. audiences to view. "The Return of Godzilla" is a true follow up to the original 1954 "Gojira" eschewing the light-hearted direction of the previous sequels and returning to a darker and more political toned environment that touches a bit more on the nature of the beast. Godzilla here is no protector of humanity but the original film's vision of an invincible bringer of doom created by mankind's own destructive conduct. Finally seeing their performances in a non-dubbed form I can say the cast do an excellent job making the film more believable especially the cast playing the cabinet members (some of whom you'll probably recognize if you are a fan of Kinji Fukasaku's Yakuza films). The music was great as usual with this series and the end credits song did induce some tears (I doubt there are many Godzilla fans who hadn't cried at least once at the end of this film, usually I can hold off until the Prime Minister starts crying then that sets off the waterworks). Of course it's time to get down to the technical front on this disc. Yes, indeed this does NOT include the American cut with Raymond Burr and Dr. Pepper product placement galore so you might want to continue holding onto your VHS copy if you have one. The English version used is a dubbing which I believe was done in Hong Kong and from the few scenes I did watch isn't quite as fluid as the dubbing done for the 1985 version although the dialogue in said scenes is much more faithful to the Japanese film than the American dub was. Both the English and Japanese audio are lossless DTS-HD 5.1 which means kudos to Kraken for giving fans the most optimal options (to note the film's default audio when pressing play is the English version and it cannot be changed during the film so if you want the Japanese audio remember to select it in the film's audio menu before you hit play). I watched the Japanese version as mentioned above and can attest the audio is very good and I didn't notice any sort of anomalies. As far as the picture quality goes it's a solid enough transfer that fits the tone of the film and doesn't appear to have encoding problems at least on my modest-sized TV. Not much in the way of special features outside of trailers for Kraken's other Godzilla releases and this film's trailer. Overall a wonderful disc. Overall, Godzilla 1985 was my favorite Godzilla film alongside the original and since this film is leaps and bounds above that one in my opinion due to the more complex political nature which was excised from '85 and steadier pace this one's taking the mantle alongside the original '54 classic. Thankfully (as of writing this) another Godzilla in the same apocalyptic vein is set to open in select theaters next month (Shin Godzilla or Godzilla: Resurgence as it was previously called) so luckily we won't be seeing the last of the true King of the Monsters stomping through his native land (no Dr. Pepper product placement reported as of yet). Overall this disc is highly recommended and an essential part of any Godzilla fans collection.

  Posted 9 years ago by DWolfe47

• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  Solid reboot and nice jumping-on point

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  In 1984, Toho wanted to reboot the Godzilla franchise with a more serious tone in line with the original film from 1954. Koji Hashimoto’s THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (released in a heavily reedited version as GODZILLA 1985 in America) is the first entry in the Heisei series, ignoring all other Godzilla flicks besides the original. Featuring a much larger budget than films from the Showa era of the '60s and '70s, the film is mostly successful in reestablishing the King of the Monsters as a genuine threat. After a ship full of sailors are killed by gooey, giant mutated sea lice, the world soon discovers that Godzilla has awakened after thirty years. When a Soviet submarine is destroyed by Godzilla, it leads to rising tensions between them and the USA, with Japan in the middle. A group of scientists are convinced they can lure the monster to a volcanic trap, but can they complete the task before the destruction of Tokyo or before atomic weapons are deployed? The film has a paranoid Cold War flavor to it, lending to the construction of the desired serious tone. Effects and production design are an obvious step up from the campy Showa films, though later films in the Heisei series are much more impressive. The human characters and storylines aren’t bad but not terribly gripping either. Akira Ifukube’s iconic and powerful music is very much missed here, as Reijiro Koroku’s score is unfortunately aggressively corny. I don’t dislike the film, though. Effort is put into framing the destruction from the humans’ perspective, placing an emphasis on tension and thrills as opposed to light sci fi action. My son and I have watched many Godzilla films over the last month. I’d put Koji Hashimoto’s THE RETURN OF GODZILLA in the top half despite having some of the worst music of our marathon. I’d seen the US version in the theater as a kid and never since, so I found myself remembering certain sequences and smiling as it took me back to that age. Heavier than the Showa era films it ignores, but not quite as sophisticated as later Heisei films, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. That being said, it’s successful in its endeavors to make Godzilla scary again. Recommended with caveats.

  Posted 6 years ago by Splatterpunk

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  The Old Lizard Ages Well

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  As always, Toho supports its Kaiju quite well. The movie is an oldie but surely a goodie. Noting like an ol' romp'em stomp'em. All this was thanks to a great order and super fast delivery experience .

  This review is from The Return of Godzilla [DVD] [1984]

  Posted 6 years ago by Jerry