The Mysterians (1957)

The Mysterians is another sci-fi film from Toho studios, the next after Rodan came out the year before. I had never been able to see this one in any form until very recently when it was finally released by Tokyo Shock, so this is one of the few that I can say wasn't influenced by viewings when I was little. It was certainly one I'd always wanted to see since I knew it had a giant robot in it. The good news here is yes, there is a giant robot, the bad news is, it's only barely there.
The film opens at a Japanese festival with lots of eye candy, lots of bright colors against the darkness of the evening where we meet our characters: Joji, his fiance Etsuko, his fiance's brother Ryoichi, and his fiance's brother's fiance Hiroko. Already I see a problem arising here, where Ryoichi spends most of the movie off screen, he's the axis from which all the characters spin really. It's his friends, family and fiance that are important to the proceedings, but we never really spend any time with him. Most of his character beats, aside from some self imposed distance from his friends are spoken about off screen. For the most part it's Joji's show, even though he's the least interesting of the two.
Anyway, festival, kimono, socially awkward guy, I'm already on board. This is a party I'd go to. The party is crashed soon by what appears to be a distant forest fire. Ryoichi goes to investigate and wisely tries to stop three dudes on bicycles that they shouldn't go riding into a forest fire even though they don't listen to him. It's situations like this where I end up just waiting for the morons to get offed, and I don't have long to wait. They live just long enough to tell us that the trees seem to be burning from the roots up, this is important to hear because....actually I didn't catch why this was important, so never mind, it doesn't come back later anyway. We find the next day that Ryoichi has gone missing, but instead of going out to look for him, or stay with friends/family to perhaps mourn, Joji stops by the astronomy lab that Ryoichi works at. Seems he wrote a report about a bunch or asteroids that he theorizes used to be part of an actual planet, a mystery planet. A mysterious asteroid, a MYSTEROID! Well, at least if the astronomy gig didn't pay off Ryoichi could have found some success in the advertising business. The report however, is incomplete, but that doesn't matter all that much for now because there are more events. Events!
Our characters find that the village Ryoichi was staying in, where we met all those nice people at the festival has fallen victim to a massive earthquake and landslide. More great visuals here once again showing off Tsuburaya's miniature work with the fake landscape convincingly caving in. It's a bit off putting though, because we hear about the event before it happens. But what we do see is very well executed by the effects team.
Joji and a few soldiers go to investigate, finding a huge crater where the town used to be. There's some mention of the ground feeling hot, which is a slight nod to the fire earlier, I suppose, but we don't dwell on it because another landslide occurs soon after. This time however, we get our first sighting of the giant robot and it's. Uh, hmm. It's very poofy. It very much reminds me of Japanese armor, with the horizontal plates and such. But the tiny legs and mole shape of the head provide a very strange silhouette. Mole you say? Yes, Mole. The robot's name is Mogera, which is a "play" on the Japanese word for mole, mogura. Witty. The optical effects, the constant "alien" sound of the bot and the miniature set are very convincing, but the odd design is hard to get past.

I am the mole robot: Mohl!

The next segment of the film plays like a traditional kaiju movie, with the Japanese military trying to destroy Mogera while it trashes a town. There are quite a few very convincing shots here where shadows hide most of Mogera and the odd shape with the spotlight-like eyes make for a very atmospheric look. Mogera is definitely a monster that looks better the less you see of it. Strangely enough they manage to destroy Mogera after a bit with traditional means, which is shocking for a kaiju film, but still somewhat refreshing and outside the box.
Unfortunately we're only half way through the film.
Soon after a giant glowing dome appears out of the ground near Mt. Fuji and the aliens come forth with specific demands. They want a piece of land 2 miles in radius, (okay) and the right to marry Earth women. (wha huh?) Oh, and they have a specific list of which women they want. (what?!) Turns out they've been exposed to radiation to the point that most of their children have birth defects.

We love long walks on the beach, bright crayons, and viable embryos

What I find funny is that they constantly say "marry" it's not "mate," not "breed." It's the right to marry. Until the "we have a list thing" I was imagining human/Mysterian meet and greets and speed dating. What I find less funny is that for the rest of the film, people seem more upset about the land the aliens want and only slightly put off by the fact that they want to force specific women to marry them. It's all "they want our land!? Never! Oh, and place guards on the women folk I suppose."
Of course two of the women they want are the two women we met earlier in the film. I suppose they disappeared from the movie for awhile to make dinner, or whatever women do in this universe while the men/alien folk are talking. As Joji comes to update them on the situation, the tv turns on all by it's self and we find Ryoichi has joined the Mysterians and is even wearing their insanely brightly colored clothing.
He asks them to make the government stop the impending attack on the Mysterian dome, telling them that they can speak with him whenever they want on the tv. Which makes me wonder why he doesn't talk to any government officials or any of his astronomer colleagues who seem to be working with the military. But whatever movie.
The military obviously doesn't comply and goes on the attack. Things don't end well of course as the dome starts shooting a lightning like heat ray at the tanks. It hit me half way through that this reminds me of the fight with the Angel Ramiel in Evangelion. Both feature a stationary geometric enemy with a beam weapon. It's fun for awhile with all the great miniature work, well timed explosions and optical effects. My favorite being the tanks made of wax and put under studio lights to mimic the effects of the heat ray melting metal. Not quite as convincing as the electricity towers in Godzilla, but still pretty cool.

"It's kind of like Evangelion, but it makes sense." "So..it's not like Evangelion at all."

Unfortunately these scenes wear out their welcome as the rest of the film is mostly long similar sequences. Each time there's a new weapon or mech from the humans that gets trounced. There's some neat stuff going on, like the impossibly large rockets, and some impressive composition shots putting real people in shot with miniatures. But without a monster to interact or specific characters in the battle I have to admit to a bit of effects overload. When a Godzilla fan says that, you've got a problem.
Eventually the Mysterians kidnap Etsuko and Hiroko, leading Joji to come across a cave that conveniently leads into the Mysterian base. Everything ends up being resolved as Ryoichi comes to his senses and he and his friend Joji attack the Mysterions from inside while the Japanese military attacks from without.
The aliens are defeated and chased off, and poor Mogera gets a brief and somewhat embarrassing reappearance as a new Earth mech falls on it.
The movie feels somewhat out of control for most of the running time. With not enough time for me to care all that much about the characters, and with no strong villains to fear, the long effects sequences don't feel earned no matter how well made they are.
It's interesting to note however that this marks the first time ever that a sci-fi mech was made to combat a new menace, something that would shape most kaiju films from here on. This time being the giant rockets and the unfortunately named Markalite Farps heat rays. Mogera is also the first giant robot from Toho studios, and I can't help feeling like the makers of the film weren't huge fans because they didn't do another one for 10 years for King Kong Escapes.
It's also worth noting that this film once again sees all the countries of Earth banding together to fight a new threat, and also a showcase of the dangers of radiation. I enjoy seeing this idea as it shows a sort of optimism on the writer/directors part. Not laying the blame on anyone real and showing that all people can work to one common goal.
I just wish there were characters to really care about in this film.

Rodan (1956)

Since I already reviewed all of the Godzilla films on my fb page, I wanted to branch out and do as many of the Toho daikaiju films as I could get my grubby mitts on in chronological order. I've never watched them in this fashion before, so it's going to be a fun way for me to see the medium grow and expand across the board.

Rodan came out a year after Godzilla's Counterattack, and it's the first kaiju film to be in color, or at least to be colorized. I grew up watching the pan and scan English version, so I was happy when Classic Media released the uncut original on dvd a couple of years back. Not as familiar with it as I am the Godzilla films, I thought at a re-watch would be in order before the review and it's a bit of a different experience to be sure. 

The first thing I noticed was the color, while drab and yellowish on the US release, the colors, especially the blues all really pop. A lot of browns and yellows were utilized to be sure, but the cool colors such as blues and greens have a saturated deep look that gives everything a somewhat fantastical tone. 

The second is how real and nuanced the performances are without the blaring dubbing over top of it. The film begins as a kind of murder mystery in a small town, and the mistrust and sideways glances of back ground extras are a great compliment to the main characters obviously upset but doing their best to keep calm. 

The third thing I noticed is someone making a joke about global warning. In 1956. Some people might say this proves that this has been a concern so long that people are silly to ignore it. But sadly I also feel like the argument could go "you're getting your facts from a giant monster movie." *sigh*

Our main characters Shigeru (Kenji Sahara) and his fiance Kiyo (Yumi Shirakawa) live in a small mining town where all the men seem to be getting in a lot of fights. (I am dearly in love with the guy who, after having his fight stopped, walks right up to the guy he's mad at, grabs the man's handkerchief and flings it across the room. I've seen a lot of kaiju movies, but this stands as the most pissy thing I've ever seen in one.) It's hinted that every one's on edge due to the summer heat and humidity, which I understand completely. The fight is broken up and everyone is sent into the mine, because getting trapped in a hot claustrophobic tunnel will soothe any mood. 

Moments later we find that there has been a flood and some men, including the two fighting, have disappeared. As others go into the tunnel to find them, we're introduced to a very effectively creepy tunnel set that's half full of water. The lighting is perfect, the tunnel is dark, and while it's easy to see the action going on, I couldn't  help saying "nope nope nope" to myself as the men walked into the waist deep water looking for their lost co-workers. 

A body is found and it turns out to be one of the fighters from earlier, but he's been slashed to death, seemingly (and the doctor doing the autopsy says this later) by a "Japanese sword." This leads to the sideways glances I mentioned earlier because the other man in the fight, who is still missing, is Kiyo's brother. 

They'll be fine. 

This leads to a scene where the dead man's wife, rocking full on Angry Grieving Wife hair comes to confront Kiyo, because obviously it's somehow her fault that her brother is a katana wielding psychopath running around flooded mines. Kiyo is understandably upset by this and as Shigeru attempts to comfort her, their worry party is crashed by an 8ft long worm/earwig thing called a Meganulon. 

Now, the design on this thing is weird, and somewhat deliriously sculpted with the bags under it's eyes and weird crab claws. So of course I love it. It's especially cool to notice the multicolored spots all over it's shell which all but disappeared in the US version. I wouldn't say it's an effective creature, but it's just insane looking enough for me to get into it as a giant insect stalking around. Also what did those birds ever do to you!?

The somewhat successful design however is destroyed in the miniature creature effects however. As we learn that they're impervious to handgun bullets, they aren't impervious to gravity, or just being clumsy. Two police officers get too close, and as the creature swings around their dolls, I mean corpses, it just falls down the cliff. The choice to have a monster set up to be a stone cold killer just straight up trip on screen is an odd one to be sure, and I can't help but wish they would've utilized the full suits more often. A feeling I'll get again later actually. 

Now that we know that the Meganulon are responsible for the murders it's just a matter of killing them right? Somewhat. 

The police get a Gatling gun, because they're awesome apparently, and take Shigeru along for the ride. The gun has limited effects, but everyone ends up being thankful Shigeru came along as he uses a whole damn line of mining carts full of coal to smash into the creature and kill it. I have to love this scene because I just imagine his thought process, "don't care about the guns huh? How about this? I'll show you to beat up my fiances birds!" Sadly this sets off another cave in, and Shigeru is trapped on the wrong side of the rocks and is believed to be dead. 

So far the movie has been a somewhat moody, very dark story. It almost has a horror movie feel with all of the disappearances and accusations, mixed with the rarely seen monsters. For good or ill (more on that later) the tone here shifts pretty dramatically as it goes from an intimate story to one with a larger cast we don't spend a lot of time with. 

Not long after the cave in, an earthquake occurs, leading to a landslide in which they find an injured and amnesiac Shigeru. Kenji Sahara and Yumi Shirakawa really get to shine together in this scene. Even though he's mute and in shock, he does little twitchy expressions and this perfect dead stare, really selling the fact that this person has seen something he just can't handle. A lesser actor could easily have just become boring shocked dude, but he really sells it. Yumi's performance is equally great as someone who's fiance and only friend is looking right at her but doesn't know who she is. Being much more than "sad lady" you can really see her holding back her hysteria to remain strong for him. It's very well done by both actors, and they steal the show shoving everyone into the back ground with their performances. 

He does eventually get  his memory back, and it's not fun for anyone because he tells everyone about what caused his breakdown in the first place. He was there when Rodan hatched. I love this scene in particular because his performance is great, showing the exact moment his mind breaks. And an incredibly cute (by my standards) Rodan suit is seen flapping it's wings and just having a grand old time snatching up Meganulon in it's mouth to gobble up. Wait, what? I'm truly impressed with this usage of scale here. They just spent an entire movie setting up these super large insects, just to put them next to Rodan and show that they're bite sized. I love it. Immediately we see that there's a whole new playing field.

At the same time, UFO's begin appearing all over Asia, flying too high and too fast to see, but causing destruction in their wake. This is of course our dear Rodan, all grown up, appearing late to it's own movie, and after some visual teases and more murders, we get to see him in all his glory land in and trash the hell out of a nearby city. 

The design is awesome, looking much more realistic than either Godzilla or Angilas, and the reddish brown color really pops. I love the shape of it's head, with it's long mouth which reminds me of a lizard or a dinosaur, and the wings have a kind of cloak feel to it. The wings in particular are a perfect example of something I love about kaiju. Often times a detail, or an action or a look aren't realistic by any means, but they're very aesthetically pleasing. The way the latex billows and folds really looks cool against all of the wind effects and pyrotechnics. 

The chase by fighter planes, leading up to the city destruction is the crown jewel of this movie, all the effects working full throttle together. Particularly fun is how Rodan just drops into the city, remains stationary, but causes as much if not more destruction than Godzilla with just his wings flapping. The wind effects with the insanely detailed miniatures is a true spectacle. 

It's here that the film gives us a new twist when a second Rodan appears, and while we never get it close up like it's partner, it's just so great having two monsters on the same side causing all of this destruction.  

Afterwards, the happy Rodan couple returns to their nest in the nearby mountain and rest, having had their fill of little things shooting at them. Sadly, this is a mistake on their part as the Japanese military decides to close in and bombard the mountain with everything they've got. 

This scene kind of loses me to be honest. While the explosions are very convincing, the lack of music, and the usage of the same sound effect over and over makes my attention wane. I feel like it's longer in the original version, and if the American producers had cut some, it was a good choice. It's really just too much 'splody with not enough drama or kaiju. 

Eventually the explosion montage does end and the mountain erupts, spilling fire and lava everywhere. Leading to a very very sad scene of the Rodan's burning to death. It's just sad to watch every time. Especially when one chooses to throw it's self into the fire when it's mate can't fly away. The scene is somewhat undermined by the fact that small puppets of Rodan are used instead of the suit, or close ups. Like the Meganulon earlier, it would've been better to have more close up action. Or at least more convincing models. It's a testament to the direction and the performances of the onlookers that a scene can be so emotional even though it's basically two vaguely Rodan shaped kites catching on fire. 

You might notice I haven't mentioned Kiyo or Shigeru for some time. And that's actually because they disappear for most of the 3rd act. They barely have any lines once he regains his memory, and don't really have much to do but watch as things progress. 

I can't tell if it's me being tainted by modern, more predictable film making, but I can't help feeling like Rodan is two movies, one with Meganulon, and one with Rodan, but they forgot the human characters in Rodan's film. 

Still, the first half of the movie is moody, and well made, and the last half has two effing Rodans and a lot of explosions and beautiful miniatures. 

All my classic Rodan's! The one on the left is from some multipack I was given years ago, and the two on the right are from the Revoltech line. 

Godzilla's Counterattack!

Godzilla movie number 2! This time it's Godzilla's Counterattack, or Godzilla Raids Again depending on which country you'd find it. In fact, it's original North American release was named Gigantis the Fire Monster. It leads to an incredibly confusing English version because they not only refer to what's obviously Godzilla as "Gigantis" but they give him the other monster's roar. To this day these decisions hurt my mind because there's NO reason for it. 
Regardless, with the success of the first film, a sequel was rushed into production. None of the original crew returned except for Tomoyuki Tanaka as producer.  The plot to this one certainly isn't as dark or complicated as the other, certainly never gets the feeling that it came from the heart like the first one. Much less an ensemble piece, following a small group of people who's lives are interrupted by the monsters. 
Airplane pilots Tsukioka and Kobayashi basically fly the oceans looking for schools of fish for the fishing company they work for. Kobayashi is forced to make an emergency landing on a nearby island and Tsukioka has to go off course to pick him up. While on the island they hear some kaiju happily playing a game called "who can lose their jugular first" and it kind of caught me off guard the first time I'd ever watching it because of how immediately we get to see the monsters. After a short struggle, the monsters fall into the ocean leaving our traumatized pilot to go home and tell everyone.
A new Godzilla suit was made, and while they kept the jagged skin and back plates, the sculpt looks much taller and leaner. I like the design quite a bit actually, despite the somewhat too wide face when viewed from the front. I particularly like the big pointy ears, because I love pointy ears really. Angilas also looks very cool, almost an opposite of Godzilla as a quadruped  who resembles a super spikey ankylosaur dog creature. I like the very jagged rough texture of both the monsters in these early films. Not necessarily realistic, but it makes for some really awesome looking kaiju. 
The next portion of the film is a lot of set up with the characters as well as the growing fear of another attack on Japan. Dr. Yamane from the previous film makes a cameo, and describes the last time Godzilla was sighted, even bringing along a video to show everyone. This clip of Godzilla, played almost in it's entirety, is played with absolutely no sound, with the camera cutting to the onlookers in dead silence. Every time I'm shocked at how powerful this silence is, saying far more about the horror of Godzilla than any dialogue or music could. 
I can't get by this scene without mentioning the fact that Angilas is described, and pictured in a text book here. And oh god are his stubby little legs cute. 

Dr. Yamane suggests that Godzilla is sensitive to light, believing it reminds him of the glow from the nuclear bomb testing. Essentially saying that Godzilla has some sort of post traumatic stress, furthering the idea that the bomb that changed him was a painful experience, much like the idea that Godzilla's skin texture is burn scars. The plan here is to shoot flares out into the ocean if Godzilla attacks to get him to follow them back out to sea, lets see how messing with a kaiju's PTSD works then, shall we?
The movie continues and we spend more time with Tsukioka, his girlfriend Hidemi and the staff of the fishing company, and while that seems somewhat boring by it's self, something I notice is that every scene with these characters is interrupted somehow by the kaiju. An intimate talk with Tsukioka and Hidemi is drowned out by jets flying overhead on patrol, a business meeting is all about what they may lose if the monsters attack, even a party later in the film is stopped dead when news of the kaiju comes up. It's all very interesting to see all of the cast try to live their lives only to have it set aside for the monsters. 
Not a lot of reporters and politicians or scientists going on and on about stuff, this movie is certainly more intimate than the first. It's nice to see that even though this film was rushed into production, it doesn't suffer from too much sequel-itis. 
Godzilla inevitably appears offshore, and the flare plan actually works! Godzilla turns back into the ocean, and everyone is happy. Until some character's we've never met, and will never see again do some damn stupid shit and make things worse for everyone involved. 
This is my one true gripe about this film. We're introduced to a truck full of prison inmates who are being taken to safety from the kaiju attack, and they easily escape from the guards to initiate shenanigans that lead to an even bigger explosion that gets Godzilla's attention, AND attracts Angilas to shore too. Great. Thanks assholes.
While I understand what this chain of events does overall, I can't help feeling like this could have been handled much better. Tsukioka gets hijacked into the chase, but aside from him, all of the rest of the plot and the monsters just disappear for a huge chunk of run time. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and even though there's quite a bit of action, it kills the slow but consistent build up of the rest of the movie. 
At least it leads to our first ever kaiju battle though! Godzilla and Angilas battling with tooth and nail is a joy to watch. The suits look fantastic, the miniatures look great. It's a nice no frills kaiju on kaiju slug fest. It's somewhat undermined by some normal speed action (most of the kaiju scenes were filmed in slow motion to create the illusion of mass, and not having that really hurts the imagery) but the camera work and lighting make for a beautiful sequence. Especially a gorgeous matte painting of the city from far away in flames. It's an incredibly epic shot as the smoke from the fires reach up to the clouds giving the battle a kind of elemental look. Nature it's self seemingly affected by the battle. 

The aftermath of this scene plays out in a very different manner than expected however as people seem to bounce back from the destruction much more easily considering how their lives were ruined and their livelihood destroyed. I was always put off by this when watching it, but a better writer pointed out once that while Godzilla (54) was about a country laid low by a nuclear threat, Godzilla's Counterattack is about a country moving on and rebuilding. This is a movie about people who have grieved, but are ready to move on. 
Just as soon as everyone is comfortable however, Godzilla reappears for one last big set piece. Once again the movie takes us someplace new, instead of another city or the barren rocky environment seen at the beginning, the scene takes place on an island with a snowy mountain range. We're treated to a very fun extended battle with  airplanes dropping bombs and generally getting trashed or set on fire, and after a somewhat out of nowhere sacrifice Godzilla is subdued just in time for the movie to end. 
While not as deep and meaningful as the first film, I feel like there's quite a bit to love about this movie. I suggest avoiding the English version because it adds a ton of crappy cheap stock footage and never effing shuts up long enough for any of the dire circumstances to sink in. The characters are likable if not memorable, and the effects are imaginative and otherworldly. I wouldn't say it's art house like the first one, but it's definitely a solid, well made kaiju film. 

And here I have special edition figures of both Godzilla and Angilas. The Godzilla is inspired by the ice in the final scene, and his sculpt is based on this particular suit. Angilas' paint scheme is directly referencing a scene in the film as well, though the sculpt is from Destroy All Monsters. The Godzilla is pretty accurate, but I'm not a fan of how shrunken Angilas' legs are in this one. Dem stubby legs.

I love Godzilla toys far more than I love money.

He's a little dusty, but I figured that since I have to many of the damn things (I can't stay mad at them) I'll post a little picture of the figures I've collected over the years to go along with the movie I review. This one is Godzilla 1954 by Bandai. It's a pretty good sculpt (as most Bandai figures are) even though he's much smoother and more skinny from head on than the movie version.
I've always loved the airbrushed look of the Bandai figures, even though it's typically large blocks of color, it gives them a very stylized look. I think most of the Godzilla toys have that silver highlight on the chest to mirror the scene in the first film where the electricity towers are reflecting off of his skin.
That or I'm making shit up.

Godzilla 1954

To celebrate the new Godzilla film coming out, and because I like to talk about kaiju whenever I can, I'm going to do a review of each of the films until the screening.
The 1st film of the series, called simply "Godzilla' came out in 1954, just 9 years after the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which (forgive the comparison) would be like coming out with a movie dealing with the fall out of 9/11 in 2010 in the US. What strikes me every time about this film is that while they speak heavily about the dangers of nuclear weapons, there was never any direct blame placed on America, instead putting the blame on the shoulders of all mankind. 
The name "Godzilla" is kind of an Americanized version of the pronunciation of the original name "Gojira." Originally a combination of the words "gorilla" and "kujira" (whale in Japanese) the actual origin of the name has a few conflicting stories from "they made it up on the spot" to there was a big dude called Gojira at the studio. I personally think if someone had this nickname before the movies came out, we probably would have heard of him. 
The three people most important to Godzilla's creation (or to blame depending on your opinions) would be Tomoyuki Tanaka, who did the bulk of the writing, (EDIT: Tanaka is producer, Ishiro Honda and Takeo Murata wrote)  Ishiro Honda, who would direct the overall film, and Eiji Tsubaraya, who is the grand master of the special effects. Also of note is Akira Ifukube, who wrote all of the score. 
Visually the movie it's self is very stark, not just because it's black and white, but because it was filmed somewhat like a documentary. There are no big fantastical set pieces, no unrealistic harrowing action, they even use actual footage of victims from the bombings and it looks to be part of the movie. 
The film works as more of an ensemble piece without any specific main character we follow all the way through. The heart of the story is a young woman named Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi) who was betrothed at a young(er) age to a prominent scientist Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata, work that eye patch) but has fallen in love with a ship captain named Hideto Ogata, (Akira Takarada) What's interesting about this, even by today's standards, it's not traditional in the fact that Dr. Serizawa isn't a bad man keeping the lovely lady from the handsome suitor. Nor is it the type of triangle where she doesn't know to whom her heart belongs, (the worst kind of love triangle because unless you're Escaflowne, we all know where the character is going) she's in love with another man, but she respects the kind, though brooding (heeeey) scientist. We the audience feel for him because he's a good man, he just isn't the one. 
The more plot functional part would be Dr. Kyohei Yamane, (Takashi Shimura) who is Emiko's father, sent to an island to investigate all of the ship disappearances in the area. It's through him that we start to discover as an audience what threat is looming over Japan. They find massive footprints that contain recently dead trilobites, meaning whatever made the prints is from millions of years before, and for even more added enjoyment, the damn things are radioactive. 
It's on this island that we meet Godzilla for the first time face to face, unfortunately he's a less than convincing hand puppet with oddly placed immobile arms. He kind of reminds me of Kermit. 

Luckily, the film doesn't waste a lot of time on having Dr. Yamane convince the government that Godzilla exists, there are pictures, witnesses done. Instead, the focus shifts from non belief to inaction. There are interesting, and almost frighteningly realistic scenes of politicians who would rather argue about what to do than actually do something. Some things never change I guess. 
They eventually decide to kill the beast (it'll totally work, right?) with conventional methods, which doesn't please Dr. Yamane because he would rather study it, the first in a long line of similar stories of people fighting over the ethics of killing giant indestructible beasts. 
It's interesting to point out here that up to this point Godzilla has not attacked Japan, or gone out of his way to kill anything not directly in his path. Something little Paul, having been used to other kaiju films, never quite put together until recently. Godzilla does indeed attack Japan, but it's mostly a walk through to see what's up after they drop some depth charges on him. 
In his second appearance, it's not until they attempt to electrocute him that he starts really breakin' shit and using his flame breath. And wow, when he does it's gorgeous. Once they let loose with the effects, they really let loose. Using any and all things available to them. Animation to show his glowing dorsal plates, puppet controlled closeups, my favorite is actually the giant electricity towers what were actually constructed out of wax then melted under hot studio lights to simulate white hot metal melting. 
Once we finally see the beautiful suit, we see that Godzilla himself self has a jagged rough look, which is actually inspired by burn scars. Yes, that's right, Godzilla has rough skin like that because it's meant to be 3rd degree burns over 100% of it's body. Honorable mention goes to the googly looking eyes on the suit it's self. The combination of low lighting and black and white turns what could have looked really silly into the deathly stare of an emotionless monster. 

It's here and the scenes afterward that the movie really resonates. The destruction combined with the stark lighting and the somber music ends up being a very very long scene. It's beautiful and haunting, and really drives home the fact that this is a terrible event that's leaving thousands dead or homeless. In particular is a scene with a woman holding her young children with the glow of impossibly large flames lighting them while she comforts her children by saying that they'll "be with daddy soon." This scene has always stuck with me. This is a frightening window into what it's like to be a small person caught up in such great violence, be it war or giant monsters.
The aftermath switches gears from horrific imagery to more tragic. The scene of the girls choir singing their insanely beautiful and depressing song is especially powerful, their voices carry more emotion and sadness than any written line can, and it's used to incredibly great effect leading Dr. Serizawa to make his final decision. The music in this situation is so haunting and sad, but I almost feel like there's a bit of an accusatory nature to it. We are all at fault for Godzilla, not just one country, or one event, and similarly we are all at fault for the evils of today. 
Godzilla is a cautionary tale full of imaginative, haunting imagery, and I think anyone interested in cinema or even history and political climate through art should see this film. Please, please, please just watch the original Japanese with subtitles. 
This film not only did extremely well in theatres, but launched and entire genre that, while not going "strong" is still going on tv and film. In fact this one in particular has been released by no less than the Criterion Collection. It's definitely something I'd recommend not just as a monster movie, but a very well made (if not heavy and depressing) 60 year old film.