Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Great Film overall

Admirable film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

American reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) is a survivor in the aftermath of the devastation in Tokyo. He recounts the events of the past few days. He was flying to Japan to meet scientist Dr. Serizawa. He finds that Serizawa is engaged with some new developments and he joins to cover the situation. Ships have disappeared. Attacks continue and Godzilla lands on Japanese soil. Serizawa suspects that it has been raised by the detonation of the H-bombs.This is the version of Godzilla reworked for the American audience. Raymond Burr's scenes are fine. They are essentially him and his Japanese co-stars reacting to the Godzilla movie. It's the same as the original where the Japanese actors are standing around reacting to the destruction unleashed by Godzilla. Other than being white, Burr's scenes don't stand out much from the rest of the movie. This is Godzilla redux. I do wish for better action with Steve's injury. A building falls on him but it's not really action oriented. This is fine for what it is. It's a cheap way to appeal to the western audience without remaking the entire movie. For purists, this is sacrilegious.

This is a remake of sorts of the original 1954 'Godzilla' movie which was all in the Japanese language. 'Godzilla, King of the Monsters' has footage from the original film and most of it was dubbed over in English. This American version stars Raymond Burr as a reporter covering the event - so we see a lot of Raymond in this movie - that is good for American audiences.Overall this is a very fun large creature film - it would be good to watch the original 1954 'Godzilla' then follow it up with 'King of the Monsters'.The idea of (atomic and nuclear) weapon testing spawned quite a few large creature movies - and Godzilla was one of them. It made an interesting time era in motion pictures.7/10

I wasn't even aware there were two versions of the original GOJIRA until about a month ago. GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS was the American version of the film released two years after the original with heavy edits and a bunch of additional footage. It came from a time when, rather than subtitle a film for a new audience, it was deemed a better option to redub it in English and, apparently, add a brand new irrelevant character for the Americans to relate with. Despite the many differences, the overall premise remains the same. A series of ships lost at sea lead to the discovery of an ancient creature dwelling beneath the ocean waves. The legendary Godzilla has awoken and he rains destruction down on Japan. Except this time, instead of following the story of a few characters with actual back stories and motivations caught in it's path, we follow American journalist Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) as he follows the monster around Japan and spouts exposition to keep American audiences in the loop. So it's all of the monster smashing fun of GOJIRA with none of the character drama. In other words, it's the hollow shell of a movie that I wasn't too impressed with to begin.A brief rundown on my thoughts of GOJIRA: I was bored. It was drawn out and overdramatic with a quick fix climax that continues to bother me with its goofy pseudoscience that doesn't gel with its otherwise serious tone. Still, I respect it for what it is and dig the subtext about Japan's nuclear fears in the years following the end of the second World War. On that note, GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS drops all of the subtext that made GOJIRA interesting. An obvious bit of American guilt for killing tens of thousands of Japanese civilians with nuclear weapons, all references to the bombing or even atomic testing in the Pacific have been removed. Now Godzilla is nothing more than an ancient creature that rises from the ocean sort of randomly to stomp around Tokyo. It's become a generic monster movie in the hands of director/editor Terry Morse. So, there's the first mark against it. Then we have the removal of any interesting characters from the film. Sure, the characters are all still there: Dr. Yamane and his daughter Emiko, her lover Ogata, and her fiancé Dr. Serizawa. But nearly all elements from the love triangle between Emiko, Ogata, and Serizawa have been eliminated. And, if the film touched on Dr. Yamane's desire to study the beast rather than kill it, it wasn't much. Dr. Serizawa and his deus ex machina invention are still there, but only because they needed it to close the movie. Otherwise I imagine it would've been canned too. If anything, it's fun to watch this movie to see how different the vibes are between the Japanese and American versions.GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS cuts 20 minutes from the film, so at least it moves at a faster pace and puts more focus on getting to the money shots of the monster wreaking havoc. In order to get us from plot point to plot point in a way that American audiences can understand, we get Steve Martin and his powers of exposition. He's a totally passive character and does absolutely nothing more to move the plot forward. He's basically our translator. Except he's not, because that's the other new character's job: the security officer played by Frank Iwanaga. We get brief moments of story happening in Japanese, Steve asks what they said, and the security officer fills Steve (and the audience) in. So Raymond's role in the film is to essentially stand awkwardly spliced into the background and ask, "What'd he say?" This is basically a foreign film dumbed down for American audiences, a practice that continues well into the new millennium. If you want to watch some classic Godzilla but can't be bother with all that pesky "plot" or "character development" and just want to see a man in a rubber suit knock over buildings, here's your movie. But, even with it's flaws (as I see them) in the original, GOJIRA is still the superior film and should be anyone's go-to for the true origins of the world's most famous monster.

OK Godzilla king of the monsters is a very good movie. But in spite of what you might hear the 1998 remake is better. So this the sixteenth part of the series the return of Godzilla that one is better. And the twenty fourth part to the japan series Godzilla vs M.E.G.A.G.U.I.R.U.S. is also better.Still it is a very good movie. A monster is created by the H bomb. And it is trying to destroy the world. Great story. Great special effects. Raymond Burr was great in this movie. It is not as Good as part twenty five. Godzilla M.O.T.R.A and King G.H.I.D.O.R.A.H giant monsters all out attack. Still this is a great movie. First in the series. This is the the fifth best Godzilla movie.