[HorrorScience] Godzilla Strikes Back (1955)

A few weeks ago it was commented in this same section the original godzilla movie, which was very well received by the Japanese public. How good? Well, considering that Godzilla Strikes Back arrived at the cinema in less than 6 months, we could say that it was very good.

As with the original film, this film It had various montages and editions when it arrived in the West., like the version known as Gigantis The Fire Monster where the movie was modified quite a bit or Godzilla Raids Again, much more similar to the original. However, I would like to clarify that this analysis is based on the original Japanese version, which was known in Spain as Godzilla Strikes Back either The King of Monsters (he had both names and that sometimes leads to confusion).

Despite the good work of Ishiro Honda with the previous film, Toho decided to commission the sequel to another director, Motoyoshi Oda being the director of the last black and white film of the franchise.

Oda introduced some changes with respect to the previous film, on the one hand reduced the dramatic atmosphere and on the other added a new monster in the film, with the intention of pitting him against Godzilla. These changes were decisive in the saga of the radioactive monster, since the rest of the films in the series also applied them.

Godzilla Strikes Back It begins when a seaplane pilot who works for a fishing company has to make an emergency landing on a small island. A companion goes to rescue him and when they arrive at the island they hear a loud noise and a slight earthquake, followed by the appearance of Godzilla who seems to be facing a species of armored dinosaur almost as big as him. Fortunately for the pilots, both monsters fall into the sea during the fight, so they can leave the island and report the event.

Faced with the surprising news that Godzilla has returned, experts contact Dr. Yamane (who studied Godzilla in his first attack) to find a solution before the monster attacks any city. Yamane shows them a video showing the original Godzilla's attacks on Tokyo and confesses that there is no way to stop the monster, since even though Godzilla died, the scientist responsible for said feat died with him, thus taking the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon that eliminated them both, to the grave.

Despite everything, Yamane confesses that he is not surprised by the appearance of a new Godzilla, and believes he knows some defensive ways to minimize the monster's damage in case it attacks Osaka, such as causing a blackout in the area that is going to be attacked and attracting Godzilla's attention using flares launched from airplanes, causing the monster to return to the sea.

As expected, the monster is hard pressed, but thanks to Dr. Yamane's preventive plans they manage to distract Godzilla's attention without too many casualties. Unfortunately, some prisoners who had escaped from the van that was transporting them cause an accident in an industrial zone, creating a huge fire and intense explosions that cause Godzilla to ignore the flares and head back to the city.

The situation worsens when the other monster (Anguirus) also appears in the same area, causing a new territorial confrontation between both giants, this time in the middle of civilization, giving a good number of scenes of destruction that fans of monster movies will appreciate. Despite the armored monster's aggressiveness, Godzilla clearly proclaims himself the winner and retreats from the area, leaving only destruction in his wake.

The fishing company to which the pilots at the beginning of the film belonged is one of the many victims of the event, having almost completely lost its facilities in that area. The boss will decide to rebuild the company by focusing on its other branch, so the film makes a change of scenery.

As expected, Godzilla returns to action, so the aviation decides to find an alternative plan to the original to be able to stop the King of the monsters once and for all.

And so ends the first sequel to the monster, an entertaining film but less careful than the original, I suppose because of the rush they had to make it.

Oda had some unfortunate ideas when filming the monster scenes, such as including many close-ups of them in the footage (thus clearly showing their artificiality) and curious decision to film the confrontation between Godzilla and Anguirus in fast motion, causing that instead of appearing to be slow giant monsters, they look like two kittens playing. With this I don't want to say that the fight is bad, because there are some very good scenes, but as soon as you see that frenetic movement the feeling of gigantism disappears immediately.

Three curious facts about Godzilla Strikes Back:

• The fight scenes between Godzilla and Anguirus were initially going to be in slow motion, but due to an error they were shot in fast motion, which is how they were left in the film.
• In the American version of the film, actor George Takei (mainly known for his role as Mr. Sulu in Star Trek) debuted as a narrator.
• Due to the limited time they had, this film reused scenes from the first film (which is often known as Stock-Shots). Lamentablemente este recurso fue una constante en filmes posteriores de la saga, con el fin de ahorrar tiempo y dinero.