Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk. At first the authorities think its either underwater mines or underwater volcanic activity. However, an expedition to Odo Island close to where several of the disasters occured lead by paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yemani, his daughter Emiko and a young navy frogman Hideto Ogata (who also happens to be Emiko's lover even though she is betrothed to Doctor Daisuke Serizawa) soon discover something more devastating in the form of a 150 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. Can the monster be destroyed before it is too late and what role will the mysterious Serizawa play in the battle? [TRAILER]

STEVEN SNYDER'S REVIEW

Now touring the country for the first time in history, the original, unedited 1954 “Godzilla” is a monster film from a world far different from the Godzilla we know.

The “Godzilla” films we’re familiar with are the works best represented by such titles as “Godzilla vs. Mothra,” “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla” and “Godzilla 2000.” They are humorous, campy thrillers that revel in their poor production values and, while they may try to generate a few genuine thrills, never really take themselves all that seriously.

To see Ishiro Honda’s original version is to see a “Godzilla” with a more serious, and meaningful agenda. In this monster movie, the characters look despairingly into the camera and talk of this nuclear-born creature that has come to destroy all life, and the climax of the film is not a rousing chase or battle, but a bleak prophecy that the fate of the world has already been sealed by the dreaded A-bomb.

It is a unique film to experience not only for its transparent reflection on a Japanese society devastated by the affects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, but also for the heretofore unknown seriousness with which this franchise was born. As this “Godzilla” made its way to America, it was overdubbed in English and partially reedited to include star Raymond Burr – leaving in everything campy and draining out anything remotely critical of nuclear warfare.

Is this new “Godzilla” an epic? Hardly. But it is important as a capturing of a period’s emotions and as a cautionary tale for the future. It is the equivalent, in my mind, of 2004’s “Spider Man 2:” a summer blockbuster that, by all accounts, should be a rather frivolous affair, but is made with an intensity and a dedication that makes it that much more affecting.

In “Godzilla,” we watch as a nuclear bomb creates the monster, as the monster stalks its prey, as a mad scientist reveals his underwater vaporizing device to help fight the monster and then, just as the story should be taking an up-beat turn towards the final battle, we realize that there is no joy in this victory – only temporary relief that Japan, and existence, has managed to survive another day.

Most films, however silly, say something about those who made them. For the first time in my life, I feel as if I have a better grasp as to why “Godzilla” came to be. It was made by people as scared as those on screen of a monster that was equally unstoppable. And in this first, restored chapter, we finally feel the gravity of a story that does not shrug itself off.

This is the “Godzilla” worth noticing.

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