Rodan (1956) - Originally called Radon in Japan, no wonder this flying prehistoric giant creature has such a bad attitude, being named after a gas. This was the first color Kaiju movie released by Toho studios, the same studios that released Godzilla, and coincidentally the same actor who played Godzilla, wearing a suit of course, plays Rodan is this one. The English version uses several notable voice actors of the time for the dubbing, most notable of those was Key Luke and George Takei.
In a small mining village in Japan, nerves are frayed between miners leading to fights before descending into the mines. Flooding has been a problem as they dig deeper, but not as big of a problem as what they are about to uncover. It seems the underground chambers have been hermetically sealed by the earth for millions of years, preserving perfectly the eggs of a prehistoric Pteranodon, until the mining operation opened the chamber filling it with air and now a newly hatched giant flying reptile is terrorizing Asia.
Rodan is simply a fun movie. Probably my favorite among the Kaiju, Japanese giant monster movies, I have seen. It does not thrust Rodan onto the audience but builds up to the event presenting a mystery at first involving other smaller creatures. Rodan is still much of a mystery through a good bit of the first half as it flies at supersonic speeds and with its great wingspan producing hurricane force winds. This makes Rodan appear to be fearsome, and not to worry as Rodan will come into full force with fantastically fun battle scenes between the beast and the military.
Rodan is not without its problems. As the years have passed the Rodan costume now looks kind of silly. There is a lot of repetition of the same action sequences. Goofs such as, if you pay close attention, the background loop in one scene suddenly going in reverse. At times the miniatures used are so clearly the Tonka Toys they are. And often the dialogue is just so straight out of corny 50s sitcoms. Despite these flaws it is a fun movie, and even the flaws add some fun to it. It moves at a great pace and Rodan is one action-filled, butt-kicking mofo.
I give it 3 1/2 Daggers for being so much fun.
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