Review: Godzilla Raids Again[1955]

The Plot:
Two pilots named Tsukioka and Kobayashi have the jobs of flying low across the sea in order to spot schools of tuna for fishermen to catch for their tuna fish company. While on a search Kobayashi nears Iwato Island (a small Island formed from a volcanic eruption) his plane breaks down and he is forced to land in the shallow water of the Iwato Island. Tsukioka lands and is relieved to see that Kobayashi is safe while helping Kobayashi back to the plane they hear roars and than two Kaiju appear and begin fighting they recognize Godzilla and flee.

The two pilots return back to their base and report the monsters to the authorities. After some scientist show them pictures they discover that the second Kaiju is a species called Anguirus. They scientist claim that Anguirus is a species that was once a rival species of Godzilla the two species ruled the planet at one point millions of years ago. Dr. Yamen who was in the original Godzilla movie retells the attack of the first Godzilla and grimly informs everyone that their is nothing that can stop these two monsters because Dr. Serizawa died with the Oxygen Destroyer formula which defeated the first Godzilla.

Godzilla then proceeds to attack Osaka and with a strategy thought up by Dr. Yamen they guide him away back into the ocean with flares but just as he is about to leave he spots a massive fire on land and is guided to it. It turns out the fire was caused be escaped prisoners fleeing from authorities in a gas truck they ended up crashing into an oil tank setting off a massive chain of explosions in an industrial area. Shortly after this Anguirus then appears. Two kaiju fight for a long time and the fight is very tense and evenly matched but it ends with Godzilla catching Anguirus off guard and he kills Anguirus by biting his neck. Godzilla uses is radioactive fire breath and sets Anguirus's corpse on fire and returns to sea.

A few days later it is reported that Godzilla attacked one of the fishing boats. Tsukioka and Kobayashi are tasked with finding Godzilla and reporting it to the authorities. Tsukioka takes the first shift and finds Godzilla on an Icy Island. Tsukioka radios in and Kobayashi comes to follow Godzilla while Tsukioka goes back and refuels. Tsukioka returns with the military this time but Godzilla is trying to leave the island so Kobayashi dives down with his plane to distract Godzilla but Godzilla attacks  Kobayashi's plane and he crashes into the Icy Island causing an avalanche. The military begins shooting at the icy mountains to try and bury Godzilla but they run out of ammo and only bury him up to his waist. The military return to base to reload their weapons but this time Tsukioka request to fly a military plane to avenge Kobayashi's death his old friends in the military give him permission to and they return to the Icy Island where Godzilla has just about got free of the Ice. The planes bombard Godzilla and bury him up to his neck in ice. Tsukioka goes in and fires the last of his weapons to finally bury Godzilla in the ice. Godzilla is buried and Kobayashi's death is avenged by Tsukioka.

My Thoughts:
This movie is great overall and I really enjoyed it by there were a few things that bothered me while watching it. The first thing that bothered me was that in the American version they refer to Godzilla as Gigantis and the film was even originally called Gigantis, The Fire Monster when it was released. The whole Gigantis thing is stupid it was to let the audience know that this was a new monster not the same Godzilla from the first movie, I think the audience could have figured all that out by watching the movie, but who am I to say that? The second thing that bugged me about this movie was that they made Godzilla's roar the same as Anguirus 's roar. Godzilla did not sound like Godzilla and that annoyed the hell out of me. Other than these two issues with Godzilla's name and roar this movie was great it is the first movie to ever feature Godzilla fighting another monster and it was better than what The Volcano Monsters would have been so check out this film if you have not you Kaiju newbies.