Gojira went along perfect with the films that we were watching just before this. It had such a direct connection with the fear of nuclear weapon's and their impact on the world and it's people. It also went along with the things mentioned in Sontag's article. There was the old professor, the hero with his beautiful lady friend who never die, the doctor who is mysterious, the whole movie was jam packed with what Sontag was writing about really.
The film starts off with weird explosions and sinking of ships off the coast of Odo Island. The people on the island all start to blame Gojira, the old atomic monster legend, especially after the monster comes to shore one night and destroys some building and kills some locals. People from other parts of Japan, and eventually the world, come to investigate, among them is the old professor and his cute daughter who is lovers with Ogata the navy man, but is also lovers with Dr. Serizawa. Shes two timing these two men and somehow I think they know but don't really care too much. Anyhow, the professor discovers an extinct animal in the foot print of Gojira, implying that the monster could be an extinct creature coming from the depths of the ocean, which in fact is true. The monster is confirmed by other officials once a bit more evidence is found, such as this big monster destroying cities and villages. The old professor wants to use Gojira for research, because when was the last time they had a real live monster around? Never! The rest of the terrorized people don't really see it that way so they all want to destroy Gojira. Dr. Serizawa has a weapon that could destroy the whole sea, he claims. Much like the claims of the death star destroying a whole planet, or the mass destruction an atom bomb can do. Dr. Serizawa only tells Emiko, who then in turn tells Ogata. Once Ogata finds out about the oxygen destroyer he is compelled to speak to Dr. Serizawa and convince him to use it against Gojira because no other weapons will stop him. Gojira just seems to absorb anything they try to throw at him, the nuclear weapons would only make him stronger. Dr. Serizawa is pretty reluctant to use it in fear of it getting into the wrong hands. Once Serizawa is convinced his weapon is their only hope he is set that he shall be the one to kill the monter, but Ogata insists on going with him to help since Serizawa knows nothing about diving. So they both dive down into the ocean and set the oxygen destroyer, Ogata gets pulled up and Serizawa cuts himself loose and is oxygen destroyed along with Gojira, like a captain going down with his ship. And Japan/the world is safe again.
Gojira was really entertaining to say the least, the special effects were pretty hilarious at times but the imagination and amount of work that went into it is great and smart. I thought of these actors to be better actors when comparing them to the actors in such movies as Things To Come. Maybe it was just the context of the film but they just seemed like a better set of actors, and Emiko's character was fun to think about. She was caught in a man forest, she had a father, and two lovers and there were no really any other significant women characters. She was smart and trusted though so it made her character a little more independent. I want to see the newest version of this film to see what major changes have been made. Its interesting to know that different versions were made for different countries in mind. I wonder how much of that could still be found in today's movies...
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