What Makes "Gojira (Godzilla)" Great.

Considering the campy reputation the series would get later on, first-time viewers of the original "Gojira" may be surprised at what they see. Its dark tone comes from real-life horror that japan was all too familiar with.

Off the coast of Tokyo, several Japanese freighters and fishing boats have gone missing, leading a team of scientists to investigate the nearby Odo island for answers. They then encounter the creature responsible for all this that the natives have called "Godzilla" an ancient creature that awakens for nuclear testing in the Ocean. As Godzilla makes his way to Tokyo, the government scrambles to find a way to destroy this seemingly unstoppable monster.

The filmmaking in Gojira feels like a documentary, which helps its serious tone in creating a very realistic approach of how the world would respond to such an event. During production, Japan was still trying to get back on its feet after WW2, and the scars left from the war were present everywhere. Director and Co-Writer Ishiro Honda served in the Japanese army during the conflict. It's no surprise that the film's portrayal of all the destruction goes out of its way to show not just buildings crumbling but the suffering of the people. We see whole families destroyed, bodies filling the streets, and hospitals overrun. At no point does the film become a standard creature feature, it is treated as a tragic disaster.

Godzilla himself is a representation of the man's hubris. A being created by our atomic destruction, and like any bomb, it destroys everything in sight, with each footstep sounding like a bomb going off. Even the ending to the film where Godzilla is destroyed is bleak. The weapon that was created to destroy Godzilla is built by Dr. Serizawa, but he refuses to share it with anyone due to his fear of its power. It's only after seeing all the suffering that he accepts using it on Godzilla. After burning all his notes on the weapon, Serizawa activates the Destroyer but refuses to come up to the surface, wanting to die so that any knowledge of this weapon is lost. It's a powerful ending that closes with an ominous closing line of how another Godzilla may appear if nuclear testing continues.

Gojira proves itself as one of the standouts of the science fiction genre that dominated the 50s. Its haunting message of atomic destruction provides the film with a deeper meaning than just a giant monster attacking the city. While the series would occasionally revisit this tone to some degree of success, the original cannot be beaten.