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poster of The Return of Godzilla
Rating: 7.152/10 by 256 users

The Return of Godzilla (1984)

After a fishing boat is attacked, the sole surviving crew member realizes it is none other than a resurrected Godzilla. However, efforts to bring the story to light are suppressed by the Japanese government amid growing political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, who are both willing to bomb Japan to stop the monster.

Directing:
  • Koji Hashimoto
  • Takao Okawara
  • Kensho Yamashita
  • Kunio Miyoshi
  • Hitoshi Hoshino
  • Hiroko Kajiyama
Writing:
  • Tomoyuki Tanaka
  • Hideichi Nagahara
Stars:
Release Date: Sat, Dec 15, 1984

Rating: 7.152/10 by 256 users

Alternative Title:
Gojira - JP
Godzilla – Die Rückkehr des Monsters - DE
Le Retour de Godzilla - FR
Ґодзілла - UA
Повернення Ґодзілли - UA
Godzilla 16 - The Return of Godzilla - US
O Retorno do Godzilla - BR
Godzilla - JP
Godzilla 1984 - US
Return of Godzilla - TR
Godzilla'nin Dönüşü - TR
Godzilla: The Return of the Monster - DE
Godzilla Returns - NO
Godzilla vender tilbake - NO
Destruction of Japan - TW
擊滅日本国 - TW
Jī miè rìběn guó - TW
Godzilla 1985 - US
Возвращение Годзиллы - RU

Country:
Japan
Language:
English
日本語
Pусский
Runtime: 01 hour 43 minutes
Budget: $6,000,000
Revenue: $11,000,000

Plot Keyword: brother, cold war, soviet union, giant monster, cover-up, reporter, pop music, parasite, creature feature, reboot, kaiju, political unrest, lice, godzilla, tokusatsu

Keiju Kobayashi
Prime Minister Seiki Mitamura
Ken Tanaka
Goro Maki
Yasuko Sawaguchi
Naoko Okumura
Shin Takuma
Hiroshi Okumura
Yōsuke Natsuki
Professor Makoto Hayashida
Eitarō Ozawa
Minister of Finance Kanzaki
Taketoshi Naitō
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takegami
Nobuo Kaneko
Home Affairs Minister Isomura
Mizuho Suzuki
Foreign Minister Emori
Junkichi Orimoto
Director-General of the Defense Agency
Hiroshi Koizumi
Professor Minami
Kunio Murai
Secretary Henmi
Kei Satō
Chief Editor Gondo
Shigeo Katô
Captain of the Yahata Maru
Walter Nichols
Rosenburg, Special Envoy for the President of the United States
Alexander Kilis
Chefsky, Special Envoy for the Soviet Union
Takenori Emoto
Desk Editor Kitagawa
Koji Ishizaka
Power plant guard
Tetsuya Takeda
Homeless man
Joe Raznack
Kramer, American Ambassador (uncredited)
Joseph Grace
Zazimov, Soviet Ambassador (uncredited)
Akira Toriyama
Man fleeing from Godzilla (uncredited)
Yuji Horii
Man fleeing from Godzilla (uncredited)
Akira Sakuma
Man fleeing from Godzilla (uncredited)

John Chard

It's good to have the moody atomic beast back! After an extended break, Godzilla as a movie force made its comeback with this the 16th Godzilla film and the first of what would be the Heisei series. It's a reboot that basically follows on from the original Gojira film of 1954. Plot has Godzilla back as a destroyer of mankind, setting its eyes on stomping Tokyo into oblivion. As Zilla goes about its destructive way, and Tokyo attempts to repel the onslaught, there's a backdrop of a diplomatic crisis reaching boiling point as the Soviets and the Americans get ready for nuclear war. Thankfully the Japanese are able to convince the sane politicians that it is in fact Godzilla at the crux of things. Can the world powers join together to defeat the mightiest of lizards? If a Godzilla fan you could be forgiven for going into this one fearing the worst, and yet it ticks many of the boxes for those who prefer Zilla as the destroyer of mankind as opposed to the saviour of mankind that the Showa period ended up as. There's the standard amount of miniatures and sets destruction, splendidly constructed as usual, nifty effects work and a whole bunch of iconic images to take from the experience (Zilla atomic breath destruction, stomping through the city, nuclear reinvigoration, back from the dead with awesome carnage following). There's good sci-fi within as well, such as the Japanese scientists having created a super fortress known as Super X, while sometimes all you need is to hear that brilliant roar followed by lizard devastation. This was a return to the dark roots of Godzilla, complete with anti-nuclear sentiments. It didn't reinvent the wheel, but it did restart it successfully. 7/10


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