Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

As a few of us here might know, December 15th is the 20th anniversary of Godzilla 1985, the film that revived Godzilla for the 1980s and would kick off the highly successful Heisei series in 1989.

Use this thread to discuss the film, maybe how and when you first saw it and what you think of it. I'll add my comments later.

Yeah, I like Godzilla 1985 (or as I personally refer to it, The Return of Godzilla - well, that's the title it was released under by Carlton Home Video here in the UK).

The humans were okay in this. I thought Maki was a complete and utter jerk over photographing the reunion of Okamura and Naoko (was that her name? I'm not much good with character names). Hayashida was good, I liked him - I would have thought he'd have been filled with hatred towards Godzilla, but as the good Professor says, he's "just trying to send [Godzilla] home". Oh, and the drunk was cool. What happened to him, by the way? From what I could tell, he just fainted, but I read somewhere he got killed.

As for Godzilla himself, he was neat too. His look really brought a sense of real size to him. The only thing I though was wrong with Godzilla was his eyes. The cybot Toho created was a very neat idea, but I felt it didn't quite gel.

The music was brilliant. I think that covers that aspect.

The special effects were great, especially the chain reaction explosion on the highway (yes, I know it was lifted from an earlier Toho movie, it doesn't make it any less cool) and the whole sequence at the nuclear power plant. The sequence with the red sky after the American and Soviet missles hit in the atmosphere was nice and eerie.

All in all, I like The Return of Godzilla. It has its flaws, sure, but doesn't every Godzilla movie?

I've only been able to see the American version. As much as I admittedly like the fact that Raymond Burr returned to reprise his role from over 30 years ago, I can't say the same for most of the rest of the American cast...

Goofy Redneck Army Kid who can't stop drinking Dr.Pepper- 'Well it looks like Super Lizard is down for the count !!' -

As for what's left of the original Japanese version, I like the film. As a kid I remember actually being moderatly scared by this version of Godzilla, and was impressed by the special effects. The human cast is one of the few from the Heisei series that I wouldn't like to see stomped. And the score is one of my favorite non-Ifukube or Sato sets of music- The Godzilla theme is rather eerie, and creepy in my mind. On top of all of that, as bizarre as the 'bird lure' idea to vanquish Godzilla is, I can't help but feel it's a breath of fresh air from your average Godzilla film ending.. Come to think of it, why the heck didn't G-force ever try to lure Godzilla that way again ?

The film is not without it's flaws, but I'd have to take a closer look again to remember what they were, and heck, it's an 'appreciation' thread.

This is definately a top 10 for me. Its the most realistic since G54, and I like how it has no other monsters. The Japanese version is better, if you can get it I highly recomend it.

I'm 30 years old, and I still get all choked up at the end when Godzilla plummets into the depths of the volcano and lets out a high-pitched screech... *cry* *sob* even though I know he'll return again...
Same thing happens when I watch the end of the King Kong remake from the late 70s. Poor monsters are just misunderstood.

my first godzilla movie......love the malicious way godzilla stalked the super x.....

love the roar and the screen time godzilla received in this movie was great....

only seen US version so the dr. pepper stuff is annoying.

I like Godzilla 85 better than most of the Godzilla films. It reminded me of the first film that came out in 1954. Godzilla 85 really made it seem like it was in 54.