Godzilla Raids Again / YMMV

Accidental Nightmare Fuel: Due an issue with the camera speed (see Special Effects Failure) the two monsters wind up fighting at what looks like ridiculously high speeds. It can look unintentionally disturbing especially in composite shots of people running for their lives in the foreground at normal speed whilst Godzilla and Anguirus look like they are going subsonic in the background.
Awesome Music:
- The Bert Shefter/Paul Sawtell Kronos cue used for the Osaka Castle duel in Gigantis.
- While not as catchy or memorable as his later work (Godzilla or otherwise), composer Masaru Sato still delivers on some good tracks in this movie, such as the opening title theme which doubles as the military march heard throughout the film. Simplistic, but effective.
Contested Sequel: Being the first direct sequel of the series, the film has mixed views. Many feel that it's lost most of the atmosphere of the original film. It's still a horror film, but it doesn't possess the amount of tragedy and consequences of the original film. Others enjoy the film for having more Godzilla, more sets to show off and wreck, and doing something new by pitting Godzilla against another monster rather than just have him fight the humans. The series would continue on with King Kong vs. Godzilla as a Surprisingly Improved Sequel/Even Better Sequel
Designated Villain: Godzilla here is treated as a serious threat after the disastrous event that happened the year before. However, this Godzilla, who would become the hero later on, doesn't seem to be interested in attacking humans at all. If anything, he is very passive towards humans after fighting Angurius, and most of the damage done in Osaka was the two slugging it out with each other. The only villainous things he's done against humans is when they attack him once he arrives in Osaka, sinks a fishing ocean liner, and kills Kobayashi. The finale even has him fight against the JSDF pilots when he was discovered on an iceberg, and they decide to bury him in ice.
Franchise Original Sin: Regarding the American Gigantis cut of the film, one of the biggest points of contention is the overuse of narration heard throughout the movie. This complaint was also there in the American cut of the original with Steve Martin, but it wasn’t as much of a problem as Martin was a reporter documenting the events of Godzilla’s appearances and the destruction of Tokyo. Plus he only narrated over scenes he was in. It was considered worse here as the narrator talks over every single action the characters take, even when they’re not even present in the scene and especially when it blatantly explains how the characters are feeling instead of allowing the scene to speak for itself.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Warner Bros. distributed this film in the West as a double feature with Teenagers from Outer Space. They would later work with Legendary Pictures to make their own Godzilla movie.
- Doubly so, replace "Fire" with "Radiation" and the MonsterVerse kaiju have nearly an identical origin to the kaiju in the Gigantis dub.
- One for the scrapped Volcano Monsters version: had it been made, it would have starred a square jawed hero named McBain and a female lead named Marge.
- The trajectory charted by the pilots for the final mission to defeat Godzilla, involving a dive into danger to fire missiles followed by a steep climb out of it, is virtually identical to the final mission of Top Gun: Maverick.
Macekre: Seriously, who wrote the English version? Obviously, the Japanese screenwriters didn't when they wrote the Japanese version. While Paul Schreibman gave the excuse that changing Godzilla's name to Gigantis was to avoid confusion, the English script was ridiculously bad. It's hilarious. Due to his 1999 interview, he said the original title was "Angurus". Yes, "ゴジラの逆襲" (Godzilla's Counterattack) is called "Angurus". The only positive line in the film was "It was the sight to crush the hearts of men" delivered by English Tsukioka (Keye Luke).
Narm: Every single one of the fight scenes is completely neutered and impossible to take seriously for reasons mentioned under Special Effects Failure.
Signature Scene: The Osaka fight between Godzilla and Anguirus, the first monster on monster fight scene in the series.
So Okay, It's Average: The film continues to try to tap into deeper themes, such as the effects of war and humanity's need to pick up the pieces and rebuild, as well as trying to find intelligent and credible ways to deal with the monstrous threats without reducing their menacing power. However, between the technical disaster of the monster-fighting shots and the weak execution of the themes and human drama, the film is watchable rather than great, and still a step down from its classic predecessor.
Signature Line: From the Gigantis cut, the "Banana oil" line due to how ridiculous the line was. This was due to the dubbers trying to match Tsukioya's line "baka na" in the original.
Special Effect Failure:
- The prop used for overhead shots of Godzilla on the island simply stands still without even a budge. It was originally supposed to walk, but either it wouldn't work, or Tsuburaya simply thought it wasn't convincing enough. During his review of the movie, James Rolfe labels it as the worst shot in the franchise.
- Rather than the standard Overcrank in kaiju films that exposes more frames per second and creates a "slow-motion" effect that gives the impression of great mass, the camera technician accidentally undercranked the monster footage, creating an effect that comes in somewhere between pseudo-Stop Motion and The Keystone Kops. There's a reason western viewers may start hearing Yakety Sax in their heads during the monster fights. Special effects guru Eiji Tsuburaya was initially frustrated with this but did find it interesting to look at. There wasn't enough money to reshoot the relevant sections, meaning the movie accidentally tampered with all of its Money Making Shots
- While the JSDF is using their missile trucks to shoot at Godzilla, you can tell the people are dolls on the trucks.
- The Godzilla puppet used for closeups is heavily Off-Model compared to the suit, and the frantic jerking-around at times reveals part of the puppeteer's arm.
So Bad, It's Good: The Gigantis cut to an extent. If one found the Japanese version boring to begin with, the hysterical cartoony dubbing and the out of place stock footage are sure to correct that.
Stock Footage Failure: The nightclub scene includes stock footage of an actual Japanese stage show. This would be fine as far as it goes... except that the performance was very painfully obviously taken from pre-1945 propaganda footage, complete with draped Imperial Japanese, Fascist Italian and Nazi German flags. This predictably causes problems for most everybody who wants to release or air the film today. Most times, they superimpose a black or grey disc over the swastika and call it good... which invariably fails as the disc is stationary while the film has the traditional jitter.
Trapped by Mountain Lions:
- Surprisingly considering the rest of the series but Anguirus, Godzilla's opponent has almost no impact on the plot. When the characters see him initially he is hyped up but afterward, all he does is interrupt Godzilla during his rampage and dies in less than 10 minutes and then the movie continues for another 40 minutes. You could cut him out and you would only miss 2 pointless small fight scenes.
- The Love Triangle between Tsukioka, Hidemi, and Kobayashi has virtually no bearing over the plot. Whereas the previous film gave the original its weight, with the Love Triangle between Emiko, Serizawa, and Ogata being a huge plot point with its weighted Bittersweet Ending, Tsukioka isn't even aware of the fact that his best friend is in love with his girlfriend, and even then, only Hidemi knows, and the film doesn't elaborate further. This is considered a huge stepdown from the original where the love triangle had actual consequences.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Despite the above, the explosion of the Osaka oil refinery and the flooding of the Osaka subway are both very impressive effects.

YMMV / Godzilla Raids Again

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