You Have To Watch Out With Those Japanese Monster Movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      When Gojira (better known as Godzilla) does a movie, no matter who is in it with him, it is pretty much his show!!!!!!!!!!  As well it should be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  When others monsters appear with him, when it's something like "Godzilla vs....." it is still his show, even if those upstarts try to upstage him. As if they could, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       "Rodan" presented a more difficult problem.  The first Toho monster after Gojira, the original film, like "Gojira," is one that is a genuine classic.  Unlike "Gojira," which is now accessible in its original, Japanese form, "Rodan" never has been, so I have no idea how the two films differ.  I know, I am sure, that it does not have that ridiculous opening, depicting the atomic bomb, while a voice over promises a horror to follow.

                                         Like Gojira, Rodan is not seen in all his glory, until well into the film.  This is done in a flashback sequence, where an amnesiac Shigeru (Kenji Sawara) regains his memory by reliving seeing Rodan hatch, triggered by the hatching of the eggs of the pet bird, of his lover, Kiyo (Yumi Shirakawa).  The sequence is chilling and exciting, due to Sawara's performance, and the brilliant way it is photographed. Not to mention some marvelous set design and special effects.

                                           Before Rodan even makes a tenuous appearance, there is another horror of another kind.  Something is killing off the miners in the mines, hacking them to pieces.  It is not Rodan, but these gigantic insects, know from this film as the Chi Chi Bugs!!!!!!!!!!  That seems to be the sound they make--"Chi!  Chi! Chi! Chi!"

                                           One has a spectacular entrance, breaking into Kiyo's house, as shown above! Another has a scene atop a hill, where a man is killed, and then dragged down that hill.

                                              These bugs think they are the whole show, which is the problem with the film! They got it into their head, early on, during shooting, that, with all their exposure early on in the film, they were the stars, and not Rodan!!!!!!!!!!  But they were fixed good!  When Rodan finally hatches out of his egg, the first thing he does is eat the Chi Chi Bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                Girls, I don't want to see any of these pests come crashing into your place!
It will take more than Raid to deal with them!!!!!!!!!!  Remember, the only star in your home is YOU, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                   And Rodan showed who the real star of that film was, and found tastier morsels to devour, besides!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!