Hiroshi Koizumi Movies

Fifty years after he first attacked Tokyo, Godzilla is back on the rampage in this monster opus from Toho Studios. After numerous rounds of combat with Japan's most furious monsters, the robotic beast Mechagodzilla is in for some much needed repairs when a handful of sprites appear before the scientists putting the machine back in fighting shape. The enchanted ones warn the scientists that their actions could have grave consequences, but it isn't long before Godzilla, the most fearsome of all monsters, returns to the scene to prove his might once and for all. What's more, Godzilla is joined by Mothra for a reign of terror that threatens to devastate the island. With few alternatives, Japan's leaders pit the repaired Mechagodzilla against Godzilla and Mothra, but it quickly becomes unclear if the robot will obey its human creators or join forces with the flesh-and-blood monsters. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This speculative drama's original name, Prophecies of Nostradamus is perhaps more descriptive of the subject. Set in the year 1999, this feature dramatizes the events predicted by the great French seer. Disasters depicted included severely polluted air and water, crazed adults, war, and natural disasters. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Daphne refers to Hariko Sugimura, a widow with four daughters. Two of the girls still live at home; the other two are married, with lives of their own. The film chronicles the shifting-sand relationship between mother and daughters, with happiness and heartbreak coming out even. The cast of The Daphne was impressive by Japanese film-industry standards, though few of the stars are recognizable names to western audiences. Released in a 106-minute version in the US, The Daphne ran nearly three hours in its original Japanese version, which went out under the title Jinchoge. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this Japanese feature, when diamond robbers find that a kind of goo from outer space is beating them to the diamonds and consuming the jewels for food, they have to do something about it. Meanwhile, an elderly scientist has been working on the problem and discovers that wasp venom freezes the extraterrestrial goo. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Ishiro Honda directed this fourth Godzilla film (the second for Mothra), which is bogged down at the start by an uninteresting set-up involving corporate intrigue and a pair of boring reporters. Godzilla's first appearance is not very impressive, as he rises from a sandy beach looking distinctly the worse for wear since his last outing in Kingukongu Tai Gojira (1963). The miniscule Peanut Sisters (Emi Ito, Yumi Ito) are around again, looking for one of the giant eggs which their moth goddess is always losing, and the usual heavy-handed moralizing about mankind's destructive nature is very much in evidence. Other than the peculiar set decoration on an irradiated island which looks as if it fell out of a 1930s adventure movie, the first 50 minutes or so are quite weak. After that, however, the toy tanks start firing, the natives start fleeing, the beasts start battling, and the film starts to be entertaining. The fight scenes are well-staged, given the clumsiness of the participants, and stand as some of the best such sequences of the 1960s. The eventual capture and electrocution of Godzilla in a giant net is nicely handled as well. This installment was followed by the much more interesting San Daikaiju: Chikyu Saidai No Kessen (1965), the first of the space-oriented entries in the series. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

In this drama, a girl leaves her home in Hong Kong to study in Japan. There she tries to reject the advances of a would-be suitor because she believes that one of her friends is in love with him. The suitor is not easily dissuaded and even follows her home. She finally relents and agrees to marry him. Unfortunately, the lover then moves to San Francisco. The girl stays in Hong Kong to pursue her career. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The attack on Pearl Harbor is presented from the Japanese point of view in this war drama. The story centers upon Natsuki, the flight navigator for Admiral Isoroku Yamaguchi, the task force commander in charge of the fateful attack. After the bombing, Natsuki returns to Japan where his fiance waits. Though they are childhood sweethearts, he, fearing that marriage will affect his competence as an officer, refuses to marry her. The war continues, and Natsuki begins to wonder if the Japanese fleet is truly invincible after they suffer a series of crushing defeats. His own carrier is sunk by American bombers at Midway. As they sink, the crewman stand at attention and salute. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Mothra was the third major addition to the Toho Studios' giant-monster stable after Godzilla and Rodan, and the first female beast in the series. The creature begins Ishiro Honda's entertaining film as a giant larva worshipped by island tribesmen and guarded by twin sisters (Emi and Yumi Ito) who stand only a few inches high. Eventually, the larva metamorphoses into a giant female moth and panic ensues as the creature attempts to regain her stolen egg and her tiny protectors. The usual pandemonium and destruction is tempered here by a softer edge which would come to dominate the genre for much of the decade. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) fly scout planes for a small fishing fleet, based in Osaka. A mechanical problem forces Kobayashi to set his plane down on remote Iwato island, and as he and Tsukioka are trying to make repairs, they are drawn to the sound of a horrendous conflagration and discover two enormous dinosaurs battling each other amid the snowy wastes of the island. After successfully taking off, they report their findings to the government in Tokyo, and Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) determines that one of the dinosaurs is the same species as Godzilla, and both creatures are just as dangerous as the first Godzilla. The two dinosaurs' battle and chase carries them across the ocean and to Osaka, where they destroy the city, and in the process, Anguirus is killed and incinerated by Godzilla, who escapes out to the sea. Tsukioka and Kobayashi are later flying a patrol when they spot Godzilla on a frozen island. Kobayashi's plane is hit by the monster's incendiary breath and he is killed, and as his plane crashes, a small amount of ice rains down on the creature. Tsukioka gets an idea from his friend's death and directs the military aircraft to fire their missiles -- which have proved ineffective when used directly against Godzilla -- at the icy slopes. Godzilla is soon overwhelmed and buried by the ever-rising cascade of ice, and the dinosaur is frozen solid and immobile in the center of the glacier-size sheet of ice.

Motoyoshi Oda's Gojira No Gyakushu (aka Godzilla Raids Again, 1955), issued in Japan six months after the original Gojira and released in America redubbed as Gigantis the Fire Monster four years later, was about as different from its predecessor, Ishiro Honda's Gojira (1954), as could possibly be imagined. Where Honda's film, from a screenplay co-authored by Takeo Murata and the director (based on a story by Shigeru Kayama), found a good balance and linkage between the larger story of the monster's appearance and attacks and the human side of the story, Oda's movie never finds that balance. It offers far too disjointed a plot, involving a pair of pilots, the women they love, the sighting of a second Godzilla and the giant ankylosaurus Anguirus, and their city-destroying battle in Osaka, and even the escape of a group of prisoners. The presence of Takashi Shimura in the Japanese edition of the movie, very briefly reprising his role as Dr. Yamane, only serves to highlight the difference in quality between the two movies and the decided creative poverty of the second film. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi