Godzilla 1985

I kinda like it when Godzilla's being a huge dick. I also kinda like it when (after a few silly movies) they get a bit serious and have more focus on people being collateral damage'd all over the place. I'm not a sociopath, honest! [Sound of knives being sharpened in the background] This semi-reboot suffers most from being predictable and slow, and its continued insistence on not having female characters worth a damn annoys me.

Some thirty years after the original, and possibly as many movies, they haven't changed the costume. This could be down to tradition, which is fair. I have a dumb tradition. I watch many bad movies in a row (Ironically that's why I've seen this). However! It seems to me they didn't change the actor inside either. This explains why Gojira spends a lot of the movie looking dazed and tired. Someone get this poor giant monster an enormous Monster Energy, parts of miniature Tokyo are still standing!

(Japanese version) I'm surprised at all the hate for this movie. Sure it doesn't have the "fun" factor of some of the most entertaining entries, but neither does the original. I like how mean and nasty Godzilla is. He snarls and glares and just looks absolutely sinister. I admit that without another monster to fight the story feels a bit tedious. I'm glad they didn't stick to this style for the rest of the Heisei series, but I also like really like what they did with this one.

Equal parts awesome and stupid. Godzilla doesn't really bring his A-game and seems less a threat and more like a giant drunk who forgot why he went to Tokyo in the first place. "Ah, pesky lazers. I'll...just...nap here for a minute".

Disliked by Godzilla fans but I got into the somber dark mood of it all. To be honest it was kind of refreshing that no other monster turned up for a brawl.

A good Cold War era Godzilla. Along with the original 1954 film and Shin Godzilla, I'd say this is one of the 3 films that treat the matter seriously and are very much made for a specific Japanese audience of their time. The effects are a bit goofy, and this is definitely the start of the Heisei era because Godzilla barely moves, but it's a great movie.

I have unabashed love for this movie and this is not an attempt to score objectively.

(Japanese cut) Serious attempt to reboot Godzilla that's basically a remake of the original, except with the post-war trauma changed to cold-war drama. As much as I like the attempt to make a serious thriller with some serious concerns, though, the pacing is way off and the movie plods where it should stomp. But the flying roomba that almost manages to take Godzilla down is a fun addition.

The original Japanese print has a wonderfully dark, moody atmosphere. The nine years since the previous film allowed the filmmakers to improve miniatures and the Godzilla costume to a striking degree. With that said, the abjectly poor editing proves extremely detrimental to the film. Several of the effects look laughable by today's standards. I also found the ending both disappointingly anticlimactic and eerily inhumane. Most of all, a one-kaiju film at this point can only accomplish so much.

Not enough Godzilla and too much of boring humans.

76 for Americanised 80 for original Japanese. Split the difference.

Inferior relaunch.

There's no denying the utter silliness of this film, but as a Godzilla fan I appreciate it for reviving the franchise, so it's recommended for fans of the series like myself.

Takes too long to get going but when it does, it's pretty funny at times. Superweapons don't quite compensate for the lack of a rivalling monster.

Fun but absolutely abysmal in every way. Probably fun because of that.

[japan cut] It was pretty fun to watch Godzilla tear things up but it just kind of moves to slowly. There were way to many shots of Godzilla giving a stink face, almost like the director really wanted you to think he was going through his "edgy" phase. I actually liked the human characters but I'm not really sure why. I think Goro and Naoko were pretty cute.

[Distant]

I hated this one as a kid, but you have to sort of be 'into' Godzilla movies to enjoy this one. I still remember the commercials though: GODZILLA! NINE-TEEN EIGHTY FIVE!! The commercial was cooler than the movie was to me.

Hey Godzilla came back! The spaceship thing was radical. The drunk guy insulting the big lug and not being afraid was hilarious. Also I kind of dug the Cold War aspect of the flick. Not as good as the original but still definitely worth seeing for Godzilla fans.

I acknowledge that they were trying to honor the legacy, but this is a complete mess.

Series lost something at this point.

After a decade of slumber, the Big G was back on the big screen to stomp Tokyo once again in this big-budget but rather hollow return engagement. The American version also brings back Burr (now almost as big as Godzilla) and his presence adds a welcome touch of sobriety to a bad re-edit offering tacked on humorous elements (none of them very funny) and an overall muddling of the film's serious intentions, with our guy Zilla now seen as a big green metaphor for nuclear devastation.

This film HAS to be good, they've made it about 30 times now

More boring than it should be. Godzilla flicks are best when there's an outrageous opponent in them, and there is no opponent at all in this one.

not one of the better Godzilla entries.

This reboot of the 1954 film ignores all the previous sequels, which was probably a good idea. Unfortunately it was the only good idea. The plot is bad, stating out with some giant horseshoe crabs, that has nothing to do with the story and seem to belong in a totally different movie, which was then roped in by the Godzilla franchise; something that becomes an even bigger problem in the later films. Oh, and Godzilla seems to be stoned throughout the film. It's not even funny. Okay, it is funny.

While it has definite pacing issues, and Godzilla occasionally seems sleepy i can't help but enjoy it from beginning to "goodbye godzilla" end. Its a great update of godzilla both in terms of taking back his villainy from the showa era and in new effects which maybe haven't aged well but are still fantastic for a kaiju fan.

Godzilla 1985 may be a divisive film among fans. It stands tall as a more worthy sequel to the original than Godzilla Raids Again. The story picks up where it should and intelligently uses only Godzilla himself. No additional monster yet. The dark tone and quieter moments come together well and offset the sometimes exhausting city destruction.