5Q Movie Review: Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Note: I saw Godzilla Raids Again on The Criterion Channel/Filmstruck.

Note #2: This post contains major spoilers for the original Godzilla. You can avoid them by skipping the last Q/A.

Q: When this movie came out, were Japanese critics all like, "Oh, great! All they ever make these days are sequels and comic book movies?"

A: The film was a box office success in Japan in 1955, but I can't say for sure this reaction wasn't common. My Japanese is a little rusty, but I did find some reviews saying, "God help us all if this becomes some kind of endless 'shared universe' deal."

According to Wikipedia, though, critical and popular reception to the movie itself was disappointing, with the consensus that it was a rushed sequel.


Q: Is this just a carbon copy of the first movie? IS it a rushed sequel?

A: Not at all a carbon copy! The tone is a little lighter, and most of the humans are different. The director is different, with Motoyoshi Oda replacing Ishiro Honda. I wish I knew why Honda didn't return; I'd like to say he had creative differences with Godzilla, but Honda did return to direct multiple other pictures in the franchise. It's not a great sequel, but it is entertaining enough in its own right, and in one important respect, it actually improves on the original.


Q: So what IS better about this one?

A: The filmmakers realize that while it's fun to see a giant lizard smash houses, trains, and buildings, it's even more funner to see it smash other monsters. Therefore we see Godzilla clash with Anguirus,  who returns later in the series. Godzilla fights dirty, by the way, but it's hard to hate on him for it.


Q: Is there as much subtext in this follow-up?

A: It's more text-text. The nuclear origins of Godzilla and the problems associated with testing are much more explicit. I don't mean that a professor with a tweed jacket speaks into the camera  about them while occasionally puffing on a pipe, but several characters do discuss them more openly than in the previous film.

It's OK to admit it--I'm kind of envisioning that scene with the professor in tweed, too, and how cool it would be.


Q: Hey, how do they explain the sequel, anyway? Wasn't Godzilla taken out by the Oxygen Destroyer in the first movie?

A: He was, and I have to confess that I did not realize this: THIS Godzilla is...a different monster! I always assumed they weaseled out of the original ending or ignored it, but nope, Raids Again is explicit in declaring this is a second monster. It's kind of amazing I was able to focus and get through the movie, really, let alone enjoy it as much as I did, after learning this.