Godzilla (1954)

29 October 2019

Criterion releases their movies with a number on their spine, and they recently surpassed 1000 with the Godzilla (Showa Era, 1954-1975) collection. I watched the original Godzilla (1954) this evening, and I don't think I've ever seen it before, in spite of it being such a presence in pop culture for over half a century. It was nice to see the familiar face of Takashi Shimura in the film - I recognize him more from Ikiru, The Seven Samurai, and Rashomon - and the rest of the acting was also fine. The special effects were probably the main appeal for seeing this film, although the sprinkled commentary about the perils of war and the atomic bomb we're definitely topical for the time period. Story-wise it gets a little jumbled toward the end, and you can kinda see where the formulaic structure of Godzilla films starts to form. But I enjoyed it for what it was, and the scientist with the random eye patch was a nice touch. 7/10