The Wasteland Reviewer

The Wasteland Collection: Godzilla (1954)

How much meaning can a giant monster movie truly bear? When it comes to the original Godzilla (Gojira), there are endless layers of meaning and significance. Godzilla revolutionized the monster movie and brought the “Kaiju” film to the silver screen which would stick around for decades to come. Kaiju is Japanese for “strange beast” or “mysterious animal” and has become synonymous with giant monsters that have been populating movies for over 75 years. Godzilla has been the centerpiece of giant monster movies for decades and the films have opened the door to dozens of the wildest creatures ever put on the big screen. The franchise has gotten quite silly and goofy with men in suits brawling in rubber monster suits. They are certainly fun, but a select few films have been elevated to profound cinematic achievements.

What makes Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla such a significant and meaningful cinematic experience all these decades later? The significance of this film starts in its placement in Japanese history. 1954 is less than ten years after the end of World War II. The United States dropped the most dangerous weapons ever used on an opposing people in the history of combat. The atomic bomb obliterated two cities and left them radioactive for years to come. That nuclear power is one of the most terrifying forces in the history of humanity. Honda and screenwriter Takeo Murata channeled that essence and power into a giant lizard that would lay waste to the Japanese yet again. This nuclear-powered beast represented the towering threat of this weapon. This beast was born out of nuclear testing and would then lay siege upon the Japanese and leave destruction in its wake. Only another terrifying weapon (as used in the climax of Godzilla) could stop it. This escalation is a warning shot for humanity and what we needed to do to bring peace back to the world in a post WWII and atomic bomb age. The meaning certainly shifted over the years from a representation of human destruction to being a watchdog and force of nature as a protector of Japan. Either way, this allegorical basis gives a film like Godzilla so much more weight and meaning all these years later.

But the deep meaning and symbolism is not the only significance that Honda’s film has in one cinematic language, is it? There is something quite profound in the way that Honda captures the scale of this creature and the pure and utter destruction that Godzilla causes. The suit used for Godzilla has certainly evolved over the years (and CGI has replaced this more tactile and tangible approach) but there is something special and grotesque about it. This monster is certainly terrifying. The slower, methodical movements make this massive creature feel more authentic. You can tell in later films that Godzilla is a guy flailing in a suit but here, this truly looks like a destructive force. The way that Honda shoots Godzilla within the frame and on the miniature sets makes this beast quite terrifying. Honda leverages miniatures throughout the film to display boats, planes, buildings, and powerlines being destroyed in a more tangible and impactful way. Sure, they look like toys at times, but they are real things being crushed and destroyed. There were certainly films like King Kong before Godzilla, but no film up to this point had quite the scale of destruction and scope of setting. Land and ocean alike, we get to witness this monster doing some terrifying things.

What does Honda’s Godzilla accomplish that so many other monster films fail to do? There are meaningful human characters and dynamics in this film. So many monster films deliver uninteresting and lazy characters and stories that are just an excuse to have giant monsters do some terrible things. Some of those films even make a double death blow to themselves. With the right screenplay, you can minimize the monster’s presence in the film to make its presence more impactful. What do you need to do to make that work? Interesting story beast and characters to fill out the rest of the runtime. Too many attempts to accomplish fails with flat characters and ridiculous stories. That is not what Honda and company are able to do with Godzilla. You have a complex quartet of characters at the center who anchor the experience down and deliver added drama. The most recognizable and interesting character is Dr. Daisuke Serizawa who is an eye-patch wearing, reclusive scientist whose Oxygen Destroyer weapon could kill Godzilla but could destroy humanity in the long run (the Oppenheimer of the story, for sure). Dr. Kyohei Yamane is a paleontologist who is fighting to preserve Godzilla as the incredible relic that he truly is. Yamame’s daughter Emiko is caught in a love triangle between Serizawa and Lieutenant Hideto Ogata and represents the more ground level members of humanity. Ogata is Emiko’s lover who represents the military and action-oriented perspective in the story who wants to take down Godzilla at all costs. Love, conflict, and philosophical dimensions are what makes Godzilla such a lasting classic (not just the monster of it all). Too many other monster movies forget this essential ingredient for cinematic excellence.

Where have the meaningful and layered monster movies gone? Films like Bong Joon Ho’s The Host and Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One pick up the torch that Honda lit with this iconic film. Godzilla is the original Kaiju that launched a fascination for decades to come. This iconic monster is brought to life in such impressive ways by Honda and his crew that it crafted a franchise that is still going on 70+ years later. Honda created a masterpiece that is so much more than a monster film. It was an allegory for one of the most terrifying moments in human history that just so happened to evolve into something that has become a fixture of pop culture.