The Return of Godzilla

So in 1984, Return of Godzilla hit the stage. It is a very good film for its time. It struggled with many themes some that carried over into the recent Godzilla movie, Shin Gojira. One of those themes being, the americans wanting to launch a nuke at Godzilla which would also hit all of Tokyo. Obviously, if you have seen any of the others after it you could guess what happened. Now in the Americanized Version (more like Cold War Version), many of the scenes were changed with scenes of Raymond Burr. Now the one biggest change they made was when one of the Russian went back to the carrier, he actually was trying to stop the nuke countdown. Just as he was, Godzilla attacked. He still tried to reach for the controls to stop the nuke but the explosion of the ship killed him... That is what happened in the original 1984 movie. Now Americans with their pettiness back then, they edited it to turn "Russian trying to stop the nuke and dies" into "Russian launches nuke and dies". The reason for that edit was "Conservatives Leanings" and because they wanted to paint Russia in bad light and US in a good light. Thankfully I would hope we are past those days of pettiness. Now this version released by Kraken Releasing. It is the Japanese Version with Subtitles. Toho and Kraken Releasing had a hard time getting the distribution rights to the Japanese Version alone. And its almost impossible to figure out if they can actually sell the Americanized version here. Now this dvd does have an English track, it it isn't exactly amazing but thats because the english dub track was made for countries that didn't get Americanized Version but instead got the Japanese Uncut. The movie is worth the money though. It retackles themes showning Gojira, regarding Nuclear Weapons and such. But it also allows Godzilla to have his own flick. Today he only has 3 flicks where its him vs Humans. (Thats of course if you don't count the terrible American take of godzilla known as Godzilla 1998.) Back then, he only had one film where it was hin vs Humans. Until this movie was released. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes Kaiju movies and never got to see the original Japanese movie, Godzilla 1984.

I'm just overjoyed that we here in the west can finally get this movie on Blu-Ray. It's been held up in legalities and rights issues for decades. I think the last US release was VHS. Even better, we actually get both the Japanese version (very good) and the somewhat changed American version (unintentionally hilarious in all the wrong ways.) The Return of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985 was the first reset of the Godzilla movies. After a decade of no new movies it was a direct sequel to the original 1954 Gojira, and ignored all of the "Showa" era movies. It returned Godzilla to being a dark destructive force of nature, instead of the goofy children's hero he had become. The movie also has some great Cold War themes and plots. Well the Japanese one does. The American one is more Dr. Strangelove by way of a Dr. Pepper commercial (so wish I was joking.) The effects work was outstanding for the time and holds up extremely well. While far from the best of the "Heisei" era Godzilla films, it was a decent start. If you do get this, I strongly recomend the original Japanese version. The American rework seems custom designed for MST3K.

Item arrived in good condition and on the day that was predicted. This is a terrible movie. It is so bad that I loved it.

The Return of Godzilla brings the King of the Monsters back to being an allegory for nuclear warfare during the continuation of the cold war between the United States and Russia. With updated special effects for its time, it is an enjoyable film and I recommend it along with the reedited version, Godzilla 1985.

Godzilla 1984 came out (in Japan) roughly a decade after the last Godzilla movie to have been released before it, "Terror of Mechagodzilla" from 1975. This movie is what is known nowadays as a "soft reboot." They imply that at least a couple of the previous Godzilla movies have happened, but it is unclear how many, and the reference to not having seen Godzilla in "30 years" early in the film implies that, in this film's past, only the first 2 or 3 have occurred. Most experts will tell you only the original Godzilla is in this new film's continuity, but Godzilla is shown escaping from an island, where he had been buried "30 years ago" -- and this is the ending of Godzilla Raids Again, not the first movie. At any rate, it doesn't really matter, because as long as you understand that Godzilla is a giant destructive monster powered by radioactivity, and that he has trashed Japan before with his monster powers, it's all you need to know for this film. In terms of the movie itself, it is pretty good. Compared to the 15 movies of the prior period (the 'Showa' period), this one ranks up there with some of the better ones. The directing is strong and clearly takes inspiration from the Godzilla installments by Ishiro Honda. The music is also reminiscent of the Honda films rather than the Fukuda movies, which had livelier (and often rather ridiculous-sounding) scores. Here, as in the Honda Godzillas, the music is dramatic and haunting. The Godzilla suit has been updated, mostly for the good, although some of the articulations of the puppet head, in close-up, look a little fake. Overall the suit is, I would say, a substantial upgrade. The story is interesting and the characters are decent. The acting is nothing to write home about but then, it generally isn't in Godzilla movies, excepting the original. If you like Godzilla this is well worth a watch. It is a fine reboot, and does justice to the character and the franchise, and is a reasonable setup for future Godzilla movies, many of which have gone on to become classics in their own right, such as Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. In terms of the blu-ray, you can choose either Japanese language with English subtitles (which is the version I have watched), or English dub. The subtitled version is good, although a few times the subtitles go by too fast to read. I never had to pause and go back though -- it only happened a few times and it was easy enough to tell what was going on despite missing a line or two. Sometimes, however, the subtitles are written over the Japanese kanji characters (such as when characters are speaking Russian), and this makes the English impossible to read. The print is a good quality and looked excellent on my 49" XHD TV, despite this being a Blu-ray and not XHD disk. Sound quality is excellent. Overall this is a high quality transfer to disk.

I'll be upfront, the five stars is a bit biased, but I think it's an "earned biased." Can that be a thing? We're making it a thing. Anyways, dear god how long did we Americans have to wait? No I'm serious, this was the only Godzilla movie to never see an official DVD release in America. This movie was practically released everywhere else but the U.S. Which if you are like me was heart breaking. Godzilla 1984 (Return of Godzilla) was the first Godzilla movie I've seen before getting into the franchise leaving the second movie being the infamous 1998 that everyone hates, but after that I couldn't get enough and started renting Godzilla movies as much as possible. But it was all thanks to the '84 film that I'm at all into the series. So after all these years, was it worth the wait to get the Blu-Ray release? Truth being it would be more worth it if we got this YEARS ago, but technically speaking, yes it was worth the wait with some minor disappointment. Don't worry this movie doesn't disappoint, I'll explain what I mean. Now assuming if you're like me where you state that this movie too was your first movie of the franchise, more than likely you remember the 1985 American Edit that starred Raymond Burr. I can tell you for a fact that this isn't that version, but it does still contain an English Dub as well as the original Japanese cut with subs. With that being said, you'll not only relive moments in this movie, but you'll get some new experiences as well. However with that said you won't see or hear any of the Raymond Burr moments, which even a hardcore G-Fan would say is slightly disappointing. More specifically never getting to hear the amazing ending speech Burr gives regarding Godzilla. The 85 edit might of had a lot of useless shots that were in no way needed for the movie, but even in an uncut / unaltered movie like this, the speech was not only powerful but fitting. So I confirm that this won't be the exact same as you witnessed before, does that mean that you should skip it? No because as I said that you not only relive moments, you get some new experiences. Also we waited years for this movie and would probably be a sin to any Godzilla fan to not get it. Anyways, some of the moments you'll experience include more of the chemistry between the reporter and the lead female. You also get more of the discussion between using Nukes on Godzilla between America, Russia, and Japan. In short a lot of the unedited stuff is stuff you probably won't care for in a Godzilla movie, but is better than seeing a random shots of American actors discussing if they should help Japan only for Raymond Burr's character to say "No." Which reminds me, some of the edits that were made on Godzilla made him seem a bit of a jerk, well more of an aggressive killing machine I should say. Like when the scientist was testing his machine to lure Godzilla which works only for Godzilla to charge at the building. . . At least that's what happened in the edit. Here Godzilla arrives at the building more on his own, Godzilla never attacks the building holding the main characters. The edit version gave me some nightmares when I was a kid with that scene and in this version, I mean I still remember getting frighten but the impact is not as strong. But when you first see Godzilla, don't matter which version, that always sends chills down my spine. We waited forever for this movie, and it may not be the edit that we all witnessed years ago but it's still the same movie that got many of us in the franchise. I love this movie even if it doesn't have Raymond Burr in it. If you're a Godzilla fan and have yet to see this movie, get this movie whenever you can. Unless this movie falls into a familiar fate as Son of Godzilla or Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla in which case I hope does not happen. I'll feel bad if this movie ends up reaching the +$100 price range.

Oh Lord this is the best

This is a fantastic Godzilla movie! Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t know what they’re talking about! GET THIS!!!

Vi esta película cuando era niño muchas veces y siempre terminaba llorando. Por fin poder ver la versión original japonesa y no la editada es increíble. Me sentí de nuevo un niño emocionado al ver y recordar muchas de las escenas. La historia continúa después de lo ocurrido en la primera de 1954. Godzilla vuelve a ser esa figura trágica e imponente. Debe de formar parte de la colección.

今までのKRAKENのゴジラシリーズは、タイトルが英語表記の海外版でしたが、今回は日本公開版です。英語、ロシア語の台詞は、日本語字幕が入っています。 リージョンはAですが、国コードが日本では、再生出来ません。プレステ3か、国コードが変更出来るプレイヤーが、必要です。

adatto a bimbi, perchè non ci sono scene violente è vecchia maniera quindi non ci si puo aspettare immagini troppo nitite o rapportabili ai dvd di oggi, ma devo dire il mio di 5 anni ha voluto tutta la serie tanto le è piaciuto

Good movie and okay transfer. Delivered quickly.

At the height of realistic 80s effects, ignoring everything since the first film, his is a must for any Godzilla fan. No longer comical, this is a serious and well executed Kaiju experience.