Godzilla (1954)

1954

96 mins

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast in the original 1954 Japanese version... More

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast in the original 1954 Japanese version of Godzilla.

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yemani soon discovers something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 164 foot tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

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Godzilla (1954) | Ratings & Reviews

94_%77 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
89_%10,225 reviews
Audience score rating

"Clever storytelling manages to confront tragedy from any number of angles, and sometimes swinging at it from the side can be the most affecting."

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Village Voice

"Honda's satire is cutting, with several characters resigned to living with the threat of constant cataclysm."

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Time Out

"Seen afresh in this cut, with Honda's pulp poetry restored, this ballad of destruction reveals itself as one of the most exciting, enjoyable and moving of them all."

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Time Out

"Its images of the destruction of the cities is far more powerful than in American films, where the cities are trashed for the pure pleasure of destruction, without any real sense of human loss."

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The Washington Post

"The special effects for this re-released 1954 film by Ishiro Honda may now look a bit creaky, but the storytelling is muscular and the post-nuclear parable it offers is passionate and fascinatingly ambiguous."

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The Guardian

"This is a bad movie, but it has earned its place in history, and the enduring popularity of Godzilla and other monsters shows that it struck a chord."

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