Godzilla (1954)

Godzilla is a prehistoric monster Asleep on the bottom of the sea, he/she is awakened by mans desire for power and infuriated by our love for pyrotechnics.

Re-watching the Japanese original, this isn't just the explanation as to where Godzilla comes from, but also a perfect metaphor for the excsistence of the entire franchise.

Now that a new Godzilla movie is here, I Take a look at the movies that led to this moment and What we can learn from the past.


The sea is stirring. A fishingboat Cuts theough the waves. On deck, the mood is good, the sailors play games and sings. Then, something happens. A bbright light appeares beneath the surface and in a matter of seconds, the boat is engulfed in flames.

More and more boats get attacked and soon it becomes clear that this is not something natural. Then, something happens on the island of Odo. A giant monster appears, the elders call it Godzilla...

To watch the original Godzilla today is kind of bittersweet. It is a wonderful movie that tackles the issue of nuclear weapons with little to no discretion, much like the original Scarface went after organised crime.
While the message and moral of the story is still pretty easy to re-shape and attach to any major issue to day, the same can't be said about the pacing of the movie. It takes the better part of an hour before we even get to glimpse the monster, and then it is ever so slightly that if you blink you will miss it. The first proper "Godzilla walks in and fucks everything up" Scene happens when there is less than 30 minutes left. In todays movies we are used to a slow burn, because the movies of today are almoat always over two hours long. There are however limits to the exposition, Lone Ranger for instance. Two hours of practicly nothing and then a finale with less excitement than a funeral. But I'm getting sidetracked here, what I'm saying is that the tempo of 1950:s cinema was completely different than it is today and that is Godzillas one major drawback.

The same cannot be said about the special effects. Sure, they look very aged and a guy in a rubber suit feels more comedic than terrifying, but at the same time I found my self saying Things like "wow" and "damn". The scenes of a burning Tokyo with Godzillas sillhouette against the flames is very effective and still looks awesome.

When re-watching any old movie it always comes down to how well it has aged. Some movies are timeless and never age, like The Evil dead and A shot in the dark, that probably never will grow old, and then there are movies that are almost unwhatchable. The original The hills have eyes is a perfect example of a movie that hasn't aged well at all.
Godzilla falls somewhere in between, the story is still some what relevant and the special effects work, more on the symbolistic plane than on the technical one, but the pacing and directing falls shprt and the movie gets bogged down by lengthy scenes of people looking at monitors and talking into radios. Plus the love triangle sidestory does not transfer into modern times, not because we don't have those today but because is slows down an already slow movie. But just like the titular Kaiju, Godzilla is an immortal force that we will never be able to destroy, and 60 years from now, Godzilla will still be the king of monsters.