Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Godzilla Raids Again (AKA Godzilla's Counterattack, AKA Gigantis, the Fire Monster) was released in 1955, a short six months after the initial release of the amazingly successful Godzilla. Godzilla Raids Again features the talents of director Motoyoshi Oda and is the first of a long line of giant monster battles, and a rough draft of the Godzilla formula for the next 50 years.

While the original Godzilla was a brilliant piece of filmmaking with a solid story and good characters that you could sympathize with, Godzilla Raids again, well. . . . considerably less so.

The direction by Oda is sluggish and listless, feel to it forcing us to sit through the melodramatic problems of three characters we never care about. It’s like a dour soap opera with some scenes of giant monsters attacking each other bolted on. Fortunately we're spared the presence of a Kenny. Sadly a Kenny would be 75% more character development that we get here.

The story goes something like this:
Several months after the original Godzilla's original onslaught, we catch up with the two pilots: Goofy Sidekick and Heroic Love Interest, who spot schools of fish from the air for their cannery. Goofy Sidekick's plane develops engine trouble, forcing him to land on a remote island (this cant be good). Heroic Love Interest comes to the rescue just in time to see Godzilla! King of the Monsters battling a four legged leviathan named Angurus. Our two heroes hightail it off Monster Island pronto and report their findings to the authorities.

In a nice bit of continuity, one of those authorities is Doctor Yamane (Takashi Shimura) from the previous movie. It's his only scene in the movie, but he delivers his part with a sorrow and heaviness appropriate to everything the poor guy went through a few months ago. It’s a small moment, but it's well done.

Anyway, the authorities don’t do the cliché thing and dismiss the sighting as the ramblings of two drunk or crazy pilots, but assume that the two monsters are on their way to Japan and take action to stop him. They never stop to consider that perhaps they went back to their own island, or will make landfall in another country. No - they giant monsters, therefore are making a beeline directly to Tokyo.

Unfortunately they'd be right.

Godzilla is spotted shortly thereafter making his way to Osaka (and not Tokyo), ready to do the Monster Mash - but not before the Japanese military put in action a plan to thwart his attack: giant flares! Doctor Yamane observed during the first attack that Godzilla was attracted to bright lights, so they black out the city and drop flares from parachutes in order to deflect Godzilla from the city. Surprisingly enough it works, until fate takes a hand.

MEANWHILE, a band of criminals, cutthroats, mendicants and nar-do-wells are being transported to jail at that exact moment. In their escape attempt and resulting chase, a fuel truck crashes out of control into a refinery which explodes in a spectacular manner and drawing in Godzilla. Whoops.

A moment here before we get to the Royal Rumble to heap praise upon Eiji Tsuburaya and the toho special effects team. While the production has all the earmarks of being shoved out the door as quickly as possible, the special effects are exemplary considering the short time frame they had to produce such work. The G suit is improved, with a much more menacing face, the effects matting is fantastic (the flooding of subway, blending live actors with a wall or water, is nearly seamless) and the model work is great stuff. Pity the director totally blew all this great work - but I'll get to that in a moment.

No sooner has G started his rampage, Angilas shows up. The monsters begin their reign of terror while the military withdraws from the scene. If they couldn’t handle one giant monster last time, how can they possibly deal with two of them this time around? The monsters rumble while a terrorized populace flees (more well done matte work). Things take a surreal turn during some of these scenes, thanks to an accident with the film camera's settings. Instead of undercranking the camera to render the monsters as slow, powerful beasts with weight and mass behind them, the cameras were overcranked giving them lightening fast reflexes and movement. Director Oda liked the effect so much that he kept the footage in the film. Unfortunately this gives the overall impression of a Benny Hill skit than a ferocious monster battle.

In the end Godzilla is victorious, Angilas is defeated, and Osaka is in ruins - and the story returns to following the lives of Romantic Love Interest, Goofy Sidekick and Love Interest's Ineffectual Female. If the story was them picking up the pieces amid the destruction and loss, there perhaps would have been some weight to the movie. Some of the most chilling bits from the first movie was dealing with the aftermath of the attack, even with Raymond Burr interspersed with the footage. But no, we get back to talking about weddings and tuna as if nothing had happened. Finally Godzilla shows up again on an ice covered island in the far north (um, aren’t dinosaurs and lizards cold blooded?), Goofy Sidekick is killed and the military causes an avalanche to bury G in a tomb of ice and snow. The End.

The character development is lethargic (although not nearly as bad as what was yet to come - that’s right, I'm looking at you Emmerich and Devlin!), the script is coma-inducing and there are great swaths of the movie where there is very little emphasis on the monsters, leaving the human characters to carry a lot of the film when all we want to see is more monsters beating the hell out of each other. The end result was an overall poor showing on all fronts.

It would seem that Japanese audiences apparently agreed too, because while G Raids Again made money at the box office, the critic and fans panned it, nearly ending the franchise then and there. It wasn’t until a decade later that the G series continued in 1962 with King Kong versus Godzilla.

The American release was an odd story - originally a project called the Volcano Monsters was planned for release in 1957. In this americizaion, all the Japanese actors were to have been edited out, Godzilla was demoted to mere dinosaur and all new bridging scenes were to have been shot. The production never got off the ground, and the film was eventually released under the title of Gigantis the Fire Monster.

Despite voice actors like Paul Frees - Boris Badenov amongst many, many, many others - and Mr Sulu himself George Takei, the voice acting is laughably bad logically inconsistent and scientifically atrocious. The director cant be bothered to call the monsters by their names, interchanging Godzilla with Angilas and Angilas with Godzilla (even mixing up the roars of the beasts) throughout the whole movie.

AND THE WINNER IS: GODZILLA VICTORIOUS
Two falls out of two, Godzilla is the clear winner. He totally p0wns Angilas and the best the humans can do is bury him in snow.

AND NOW YOU KNOW:
The message of out of control science is replayed here, but is mostly lost amongst the wedding plans and lament over the destroyed fish factory. Shame, really

THE KENNY FACTOR: 0%
A cast of underdeveloped characters - but no annoying kids in short pants!

THE END?
Godzilla only buried, not killed? Clearly the door is wide open here.

THE DVD
Like the Godzilla! King of the Monsters set, both the Japanese version and the localized American print are included. Both versions look good, but there is something that you should be aware of. The earlier prints of the Japanese version had a brief instance of some serious interlacing about a hour and a half into the movie. It only lasts a few moments (60 seconds tops), but it was enough for the company to recall the prints and issue replacements. If you wind up with one of the bad copies (unlikely at this point), contact them and they should be able to hook you up with a new print. My replacement arrived in a week, and looked great.

The subtitles are again yellow with a font that's not the best choice for legibility. A "cl" would often look like a d - the word "close" would appear like "dose" - until I got used to the font. Annoying, but not a deal breaker.

THE EXTRAS
Again, we get Godzilla fans and community experts to commentate on the American version of the film. They touch on the changes to the American print, the history of bringing the film over and the social context of the time. It's a well done and informative track. Also included is a documentary: The art of suit acting, a short but informative look at the actors behind the monsters. Finally there's a poster gallery to round out the disc. On the various on-line resources, I've seen mention that the trailer is included - but if its on the disc, I cant find it.

THE BOTTOM LINE.
Poor acting, a bizarre lack of monsters, and some botched shots make for a average movie. However, ddespite all that, it's still more far more entertaining and better well done than the '98 American film.

This review is part of my "Thirty Days of Godzilla" review blitz, where I watch every single Godzilla movie made. Check out the rest of the Godzillathon:
* Godzilla: King of the Monsters
* Godzilla Raids Again
* King Kong vs Godzilla
* King Kong Escapes
* Mothra vs Godzilla
* Godzilla vs the Sea Monster
* Godzilla's Revenge
* Destroy All Monsters
* The Terror of MechaGodzilla
* Godzilla: The Animated Series
* Godzilla vs Biollante
* Godzilla vs King Ghidorah
* Godzilla vs Space Godzilla
* Godzilla vs Destroyah
* The American 1998 Godzilla
* Godzilla 2000
* Godzilla vs Megaguirus
* Godzilla: Final Wars


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12