RODAN (1956)
Tagline: The Most Shocking Name In 2,000,000 Years!
(Sci-Fi, Horror, Kaiju Mayhem) [G]
Note: The MPAA did not give a rating for this movie, but I am guessing it would have been a [G].
Judging from a piece of its eggshell that we discovered, this one, which we've named Rodan, has a wingspan of 270 feet and weighs over 100 tons.
In this one, we are taken to the Japanese mining village of Kitamatus where miners are starting to randomly disappear. Every time someone goes to investigate, they disappear too. It doesn’t take long before the suspects are found as these giant prehistoric dragonfly-nymph-like creatures are attacking the town and even worse, a dreadnought nightmarish speed demon Pteranodon is on the loose. Can Japan survive this massive onslaught from the creature they call “RODAN”?
First off, this movie is freakin out of control. The plot reminds me a lot of GODZILLA VS MEGAGUIRUS in that both films start out as almost straight-up monster horror flicks before getting to the giant kaiju action sequences. This is not the goofy version of Rodan we get in most TOHO films. This version of Rodan is fierce as heck, a lot like the one in GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS starts out.
I watched the America dub version of this where most of the voice work for the dubs was done by George Takei of STAR TREK fame. This was actually his first professional role in movies. Acting-wise we do get some GODZILLA veterans like Akihiko Hirata who I believe was in about 6 Godzilla movies. Kenji Sahara, who was in around 12 Godzilla movies as well as Yoshifumi Tajima who was in at least 7 Godzilla movies. We also have Yumi Shirakawa who gets some screen time and is famous for THE H-MAN. So yeah, if you like Godzilla and Rodan, then this cast was mind-blowing.
Pacing wise this thing feels slightly disjointed just because it’s almost like watching 2 different movies. However, the score is brilliant and director Ishiro Honda demonstrates his ability to master tension building in this thing. I am not going to Pelosi this review and try to tell you that it’s better than GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, that would be a lie, but it’s a very strong kaiju film and I would say if you are collecting kaiju films that are not just all Godzilla all the time, this is a MUST HAVE.
Regarding the effects, I really liked this one, but if you are not familiar with how TOHO does things, you just need to expect guys in rubber monster suits destroying well-crafted models. There was no such thing as CGI when this was made, so if something is on fire…it’s freakin on fire. Someone making the movie needs to put that out before the whole film studio burns down. You have to love it.
RODAN is a superb kaiju film I highly recommend. For me, it’s a 6 out of 7. I really wish TOHO had pushed forward with more films with RODAN as the headliner.
Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.
Comments
Post a Comment