Customer Reviews
pretty good 
2005-12-30
This movie is about 2 ptertactle mutants attacking japan.Named rodan they were awakened by bombs whitc made them very mad.On an island theres giant bugs whitcjh were eating all of the island people but were eaten by rodan.
Excellent presentation of a minor classic 
2005-06-11
It's not Godzilla, but it's not bad, either. The DVD features a decent transfer and good sound. It's a minor classic, if your taste runs towards giant monster movies, and my taste sure does. I'm delighted to have a "real" copy of another one of my favorite old giant monster movies after putting up with a crappy VHS copy for years. Entertainment like this brings me real joy and having a clean copy is a delight.
You've gotta love the ending of the movie and the hero's voice over asking himself if he could ever die as well as the monsters die in the movie -- SUCH a Japanese sentiment, I just love Japanese movies, the hack translations offered such tantalizing clues into the culture of Japan. Fascinating stuff on several levels at once. Nothing like it.
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
2005-05-21
I thought Rodan was REALLY cool and caused a lot of destruction on Japan!!!! Those cattepillar things freaked me out though..... They killed a lot of people to.
Giant flapping doom! 2005-03-05
synopsis: Workers are being killed left and right deep within a Japanese mine. First, some of the minors are suspected, but it soon becomes clear that the mine is infested with giant prehistoric bugs! A team is sent in to battle the bugs, and one is killed by sending a mine car into it. One of the team's members is lost. He is found later in shock and stricken with amnesia. Soon, his memory returns, just as unidentified flying objects begin wiping out jets and eating innocent people. According to the ex-amnesiac's memory, he witnessed an enormous bird hatch from a gargantuan egg! Scientists quickly name the monster Rodan and identify it as a prehistoric Teranadon, somehow having survived many years of hibernation. As the military prepares to destroy the creature and cities are evacuated, another Rodan appears! The two giant birds wreak massive havoc with the wind created from the flapping of their wings and then disappear. The military decides to bury them allive in a volcano. The Rodans try to escape, but one is overcome by the flames and fumes. While the other...I won't blow everything!
Rodan is basically a 50's B movie, not much more or less. The major thing which sets this movie apart from other giant monaster movies is that it's monster returned numerous times (in the Godzilla series).
The script isn't the greatest, but it is fun at times, especially the long build up to the twin terrors' flight of doom late in the film. Of course that is part of the problem as well. The rodans have only one destructive run before being defeated by the military, moments later.
The characters are fun and interesting as is the film, but it just never rises very far above the other SciFi films of the day. The special effects are fairly good and the fear can be felt early in the film with the mystery of the miner deaths, but the fear is gone as soon as the Rodans begin their rampage.
Something about this film makes it feel somewhat intelligent but it falls short of the mark.
I would like to give this film 2 1/2, but it probably deserves a 3, though just barely. Unfortunately, Rodan would be reduced to a poorer character when he/she returned in the Godzilla series.
Tragic Pterodactyls 2005-03-03
Toho, the force behind the Godzilla movies, created another monster mainstay with this one. This time, a small mining community is visited by giant worm bugs. First they cause disappearances in the mine but eventually move out to the surface. But they are the tip of the iceberg for the mine has connected to an ancient cavern containing a gigantic egg.
Once the egg hatches, Rodan is born. It eats the bug worms and flies around. For the most part it is an indifferent creature no doing any purposeful harm but its wake causes severe damage. Then there are two of them and the government decides that the creatures must be stopped as their simple existence can cause countless damage.
The final moments of this film are sad and tragic. Rodan and spouse are not rampaging monsters, just misplaced. One does not feel any victory at their defeat, only sadness. This was a wonderful film from Toho that took the giant monster (kaiju) film in a new direction. Definitely worth watching.
Japanese Monster pictures 2008-06-21
Rodan is a fine example fo the early Japanese monster picture with anti-atomic sentiments. The great part about the film is the naration by the miner who's story and family is intertwined with the story of Rodan. It is the naration that does so much to set the erie feel of this film.
What Giant Claw should have been like 2007-12-31
When a group of miners are dig a mine in Japan. They uncovered prehistoric terrors. First several of the miners are attacked and brutally killed by gigantic prehistoric bugs about 10 to 50 feet long. If that wasn't big enough to even bigger monsters are release two gigantic flying reptiles known as Rodan. The two birds terrorize the country flying at super sonic fast speed faster than a yet plane. and covered in armored plating stronger than all the steel in Tokyo. Impervious to missile and machine gun fire. It's up to the Japanese army to find away to destroy these two terrible monsters whose wings create horrible shock waves that can destroy bridges and level buildings just by flying over them. Can the rampage of the Rodans be stopped or is Tokyo doomed. This movie was a smash hit in Japan and in the US. If you like this I also recommend Gamera the Invincible, Godzilla king of the Monsters, Mothra. For those of you that like the cheesy American monster movies I recommend Giant Claw, The Day the World stood Still, and Attack of the 50 foot women and Gorgo.
AN ORIGINAL CREATURE FEATURE THAT'S IN COLOR AND WONDERFULLY DUBBED IN 2006-08-22
FIRST THOUGHTS: HERE'S A FILM THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU -- FOREVER
I saw this film on an evening Late Show with my dad, around 1960 and was scared out of my wits when during one of the opening scenes, the mine workers were grabbed by something under the water deep within the coal mine. Though I have seen this film countless times over the past 5 decades, it has been those feelings of uneasy dread that I felt 46 years ago, during that fateful scene in the mine that stand out in my thoughts of Rodan!
IN A NUTSHELL: RODAN TAKES ITSELF VERY SERIOUSLY & SO DO I
'Rodan' is a film very much like the original 'Godzilla'. A true melodrama that offers a larger-than-life prehistoric monster that has suddenly and mysteriously been reawakened, probably by human activity. This film offers more than most of the genre and era and is in color to boot, unlike the original Godzilla. But most of all 'Rodan' makes pretty good sense as far as a plot and story goes, especially for nonsense.
WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT: RODAN MAKES PRETTY GOOD SENSE OUT OF NONSENSE
Of course nothing that is happening as we watch Rodan could actually happen, but one would never know judging by the seriousness and urgency that every scene is played.
RODAN & GODZILLA - A MATCH MADE IN HELL FOR ALL TO ENJOY
Like the original 'Godzilla - King of the Monsters', Rodan brings us a truely unbelievable tale and tries very hard to make it seem real. Both films do succeed in this, but Rodan is in color and actually has more action sequences with the monster than Godzilla does. Also, though Godzilla does look a bit like a man wearing a monster costume [which is what it is], Rodan does avoid looking the part of a man in a monster suit, which is a huge aid in keeping our disbelief suspended. Also, the Rodans do use their flying abilities [2 Rodans] to cause new kinds of havoc compared to Godzilla. This makes for entertainment and a sense that something new and different is happening. In 1956, this low-budget Japanese import made quite an impression on creature feature fans and fifty years later it still is.
RODAN IS A KIND OF 'CREATURE-FEATURE FAMILY FILM -- NO PROFANITY or GORE!
Rodan for all its horrific glory restrains itself from the gratuitous gore, profanity and violence that has dominated the more recent releases in this genre. In short, this is a film you can watch with your ten year old without feeling awkward or that certain scenes are inappropriate for him to see. A kind of creature-feature family film!
BOTTOM LINE: RODAN NEEDS A REMASTERED DVD RELEASE DESPERATELY
I have seen and enjoyed this film countless times with my children now and as a child with my father nearly 50 years ago. If any film of this genre is worthy of a Criterion release, like 'The Fiend Without A Face' or 'The Blob' has gotten, Rodan and the original Godzilla certainly rate this honor. I say this because after comparing the new DVD with my ten year old 'Vestron Video' edition, I see no improvement here on the DVD and there are parts where the sound and color are of variable quality. This is sad, as this fine example of a 1950s schlock creature feature needs restoration. Some nostalgic anecdotes, incorporated into a featurette, would be nice too.
Like Godzilla! 2006-06-04
This movie was just like godzilla movies in all ways. For one it's in color. Then theres giant insects and not only one rodan but two! Perfect for a family movie.
Long-overdue for a proper rerelease 2006-01-17
Love this film. In fact, while Godzilla will always be my favorite Toho titan, in many respects Rodan is a superior film to the classic that preceeded it, in terms of sheer visual audacity (take a close look during Rodan's attack on the city and you'll see tiny, rear-projected office workers in the windows, cowering in fear while their miniature building collapses around them) and the dogfight sequence, featuring military fighter jets pursuing the soaring reptile in a truly impressive example of what could be done with toho's tried-and-true combination of "suitmation" actors and intricately-detailed sets. Here's hoping Sony will release a remastered edition, in widescreen and in the original language. As an aside, I realize that there is a sub-genre of folks who actually PREFER to see old monster movies on DVD with scratched, faded, deteriorating prints, hacked, panned and scanned, as fondly remembered from their youth. As I was a little kid at the very tail end of the whole "creature features" late-nite movie phenomenon, I can appreciate the desire to relive the golden age of monster movie classics on the late-late show, and for those folks, this DVD is probably they're best bet (the print is perfectly acceptable, but compared to other recent Sony Toho releases, leaves a lot to be desired), however, here's hoping a remastered rerelease is on the horizon.
