Godzilla Raids Again
AKA
Godzilla's Counterattack
Gigantis, the Fire Monster
(1955)
Starring:
Godzilla
Anguirus
Richard Attenborough: "Welcome to Jurassic Park!"
Well...close, but not quite. But there are Dinosaurs on this island. Two giant reptiles, one standing upright with spinal plates on his back, and the other on all fours with a rock solid shell of spikes. After trying to figure out just how in the hell they went so long on the island without discovering two giant Dinosaurs fighting to the death, they ultimatly just shrug it off and enjoy the action. The two Dinosaurs tumble into the ocean, and don't arise.
Tsukioka and Kobayashi return to the mainland and tell their story to their employers. Normally, they'd be labled insane, but since a major reptile tore down Tokyo the year before, they caught their attention. A group of scientists are called in, one of which is Dr Yamane from Godzilla, King of the Monsters (w00t! Cameo guest star! We're officially a sequel now!) and he confirms that the creature that walked upright was indeed another Godzilla.
So...there were two? Where was the other one while the other one was having all the fun trampling citizens last year? Perhaps they were seperated to "reflect upon their relationship."
Anywho, the shelled one was described as an agressive species of Anklyosaurus called Anguirus (or Angilas, whatever. He's a monster too good for one name). Forgiving the fact that no such species of Anklyosaurus exists, the plot moves on.
Of course their biggest concern is that Godzilla will find his way to the mainland. And since a sequel to Godzilla, King of the Monsters can't leave out city destruction (comercialize it more! Sell! Sell! Sell!), Godzilla appears outside of Osaka. Instead of combating Godzilla head on like they did last time (and would do many times in the future), the Army actually tries to outthink the monster for a change. They shoot flares into the night sky and try to lure it away from the mainland. It works too...until a bunch of convicts fuck things up. Escaping during the evacuation, a group of prisoners get caught in a carchase and wind up crashing and blowing up. This bigger fire and rosted humans itrigues Godzilla far more than the flickering lights in the sky, and he heads back toward Osaka.
However, the lightshow has caught Anguirus' attention as well, and he surfaces to dance with Godzilla once more. The battle wages and Osaka falls. Godzilla emerges victorious and Anguirus is killed. Satisfied with his work, Godzilla heads back to sea.
During the aftermath, Tsukioka and Kobayashi join the hunt for Godzilla at sea. Kobayashi eventually spots Godzilla on a giant ice island (they have those in Japan?), and he keeps an eye on him until military aircraft and things that blow up real good are brought in. When those are uneffective, Kobayashi goes kamikaze and dives into Godzilla, only to get a face full of radioactive breath and eventually collides with a wall of ice, bringing an avalanche onto Godzilla.
So much for the emotional moment. The sacrifice of his best friend only succeeds in giving Tsukioka an idea. Immediatly the aircrafts begin bombing the walls of ice in hopes of entombing Godzilla.
How a giant lizard that can breath fire can get trapped by ice, I don't know. But we have to have an ending, don't we?
Next Page (Review)
Previous Page