Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Executscan Expected more

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Eric Stevenson I genuinely enjoyed this film. It's great to see the Godzilla Universe is expanding with this movie. What's interesting is that it starts off by showing this giant insect that's terrorizing everyone. Um, that's not Rodan. We do finally get to Rodan and it turns out there's actually two of them! Come to think of it, the 2014 Godzilla movie did sort of the same thing. I think the special effects aren't bad at all. It's especially nice to see the cities being destroyed and everything. Okay, it's not as good as the original Godzilla movie, but in terms of the first movie to introduce a giant monster to us, it's quite good.We get some good focus on the human characters as well. Alright, I still can't remember any of their names but at least they were somewhat interesting. I just appreciate the first installment in a series. Well, there weren't many stand alone Rodan movies, but it's great to see the introduction of a popular Godzilla character. I guess it is kind of sad to see them die at the end. Those two Rodans really did care about each other. So is the one that appears in Godzilla movies is another one of its species like the original Godzilla? ***

Hitchcoc When I was in fourth grade (around 1957), I had seen ads for this movie on television. I cut out a movie ad from the newspaper, and put it on my wall. There was no way I could see the movie because we would have had to go to the big city. I was surprised when I finally viewed it late at night, many years later. It's not a bad film There is a good deal of suspense, A romantic plot. A man falsely accused of murder. And some pretty neat monsters. Now, Pterosaurs weren't all that big, not like this, but these are mutants from messing with nuclear material. The movie has a nice pacing to it. When we get to the destruction scenes, we don't feel like they just threw all that at us like they did in future films (all those Godzilla versus whatever films). There is a kinship between the monsters (a mated pair) that would be a fact in the animal kingdom. The most creative thing is that the Rodans use the hurricane force of their enormous wings to level the city. I may just watch this again.

lemon_magic I've been told that the Japanese version of "Rodan" flows somewhat better and that the footage added for American audiences makes for a different "feel". But I was reasonably impressed by my first viewing of "Rodan".The plot pulls a fast one on the audience by making the first act of the movie a red herring about various prehistoric larvae that are killing the workers in a mining town before saying "SURPRISE! The real problem is this giant egg that hatches a reptile bird that EATS the larvae!!". This was a wise choice on the part of the film makers, because although "Rodan" is a neat concept, an entire movie of nothing but the Rodan(s) knocking down jets and buildings with sonic booms and flapping wings would have dragged after a while. We got just about the right amount of exposure for the two monsters this way.I think what really brings the the movie up is the edit,(which keeps things moving right along) and the sound design (the creatures unearthly shrieks and calls are unnerving and convincing). And maybe the sound track. I'm no judge of what the Japanese would consider "good" acting, but my American tastes aren't too bemused by the way the directors chose to run his cast.The highlights include an impressively energetic fight between the military's tanks and rocket launchers ( but the flying combat scenes aren't very convincing) and the final scene where the erupting volcano traps one of the creatures and the other one perishes rather than leave its side.Fairly original variation on the monster movie theme, worth seeing if you like this sort of thing.

FilmExpertWannabe After the success of Godzilla's first film and the mediocre box office performance of its sequel, Toho had no idea they had a monster movie giant on their hands. Thus, they decided to keep pumping out new monsters. Rodan was the first one of these, a monster that would also go on to gross more money in America than the original Godzilla film. That fact is probably as much a surprise to you as it was to me when I found that out. Rodan's success propelled the Rodan monster to become one of the best known monsters at Toho.As a very brief summary, a huge insect attack a mining village. Upon trying to dispose of the insect, one of the miners becomes trapped and discovers that there are numerous insects in a secret cave like area. More importantly, there's a giant egg that hatches. Naturally, the Rodan infant is born, feeding off of the Meganulon insects. Not long thereafter, reports of a UFO in Japan and other countries emerges, so frequently that it is believed that there is more than one UFO. It turns out to be not one but two grown Rodans. Eventually one of the Rodans become trapped in a volcano. The other Rodan refuses to live without the other and thrusts itself into the lava with its mate, a most touching scene.Rodan is a very serious monster movie. The bloodied pilot's helmet, the young couple eaten by Rodan, the memorable death of the monsters, it all makes the movie emotional and extremely entertaining. I will say this, however. The character aspect of the plot is not very good. For a Toho monster movie, it's perfectly acceptable, but you won't walk away talking about the characters at all. This isn't to say that it takes away from the film; it just doesn't add to it. The special effects are good, and Rodan looks good. The Meganulon look pretty good, although their movements aren't natural. The miniatures look convincing, especially for that era.Rodan is a classic and fairly unique. For the rest of the Showa era, Rodan's appearances would be distinctly campy, funny as how his own movie is anything but campy. That's actually too bad, because they did such a fine job with this film. One question I left this movie with is where the second Rodan came from. The movie never touches on that subject. Overall, I rate this movie a 7/10, maybe even a 7.5/10.