Son of Godzilla
And here I thought “Son of Kong” was goofy…
For a lot of people, the “Godzilla” franchise is just about Japanese monsters, played by people in rubber suits, causing destruction on a mass scale. That might be true, since I haven’t seen too many of them. But in Japan, they are something of a national treasure, along the lines of the James Bond series is in England. It seems like a stretch, I know, and certainly in quality, there’s not much of a comparison, but Toho studios is quite proud of its monster franchise, so a little respect is in order.
This year, I felt like a good set of bookends for my summer “Movie a Weeks” would be to start with “King Kong,” as well as watch “Son of Kong” for good measure, and end with “Godzilla,” and watch “Son of Godzilla” (which I’ve had on VHS for many years) as an interesting parallel. I think “interesting” might be giving the comparison too much credit; yes, “Son of Kong” stretches even its original fantasy world pretty far, but “Son of Godzilla” just doesn’t make much sense. A group of Japanese scientists are on an isolated island, trying to do experiments in weather control. After one such experiment, the men start to see large mantises bring an egg out of the rock of a mountain. The egg, it turns out, is baby Godzilla, who cries out to daddy, who comes to the rescue. Meanwhile, the scientists are aided by an island beauty, who lives in a cave, and managed to survive the dramatic changes in temperature, as well as the radioactive fallout that caused the enlargement of the insects. Like I said, I thought “Son of Kong” was goofy…
When Godzillas and giant mantis and giant spiders begin to run amok on the island, that’s when the film becomes silly, kind of bizarre, fun for the whole family. Gone are the poignant scenes of destruction that would have reminded Japanese people of the devastation they endured during WWII. Gone are the commentaries about the dangers of nuclear power. All of these are replaced by cheesy effects and acting and nonsensical plotting that would require way too much overthinking to unravel. It still beats the Matthew Broderick film, though, even if it’s a long way from the haunting artistry of the original “Godzilla,” and even if that’s the best thing that can be said about “Son of Godzilla,” that’s good enough for me.
