Editorials
Meet the Monsters: Getting to Know Rodan Before He Returns in ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’
Want to know more about Godzilla’s foes and compatriots in the monster world? Take this opportunity, in the precious days before the release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, to look over this profile of Rodan, the flying menace.
Name: Rodan
Etymology: “Rodan” is a bowdlerized version of the Japanese name “Radon,” which is, in itself a contraction of the word “pteranodon.”
Species: Mutant pteranodon.
Description: Brown, leather-winged reptile.
Abilities: Rodan can fly incredibly fast, laying waste to the ground below him in a series of supersonic booms. His wings are so powerful, they can cause gale-force winds. Rodan is immune to Godzilla’s nuclear breath.
First Appearance: Rodan (1956)
Actors Who Played Him: Hauro Nakajima, Masaki Shinohara, Teruo Aragaki, Naoko Kamio, Jason Liles.
Rundown: While the original 1954 Godzilla was the first film directed by the great Ishiro Honda, Rodan was his third, cementing his technical skill with kaiju material. If Godzilla was a symbol for the American nuclear attack following WWII (as is the most commonly accepted interpretation), Rodan was meant to represent Russia’s nuclear threat. While Rodan is a fun monster, he has always been depicted as a secondary or tertiary monster in the Godzilla universe. Indeed, the stiff-armed design and large, silly eyes were meant to make Rodan look deliberately sillier than Godzilla. Rodan is like Godzilla’s sillier, wimpier sidekick.
The sight of Rodan flying overhead is always an impressive one, usually achieved through a combination of puppetry and impressive stunt work. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Rodan was realized entirely through puppetry. But Rodan, when compared to other monsters, looks a little silly. He has short, stubby legs, a lack of arms, and not much in the way of articulation. As such, his fights are limited to a few signature moves. Rodan has been heavily featured in the Godzilla canon, having been seen in (as of the 2019 film) six Godzilla films, not counting appearances via flashback or stock footage. And while he will always have a spot at the big kid’s table, Rodan may have to fight his way to the top.
Origin: In the 1956 Rodan, the creature was awakened from an extended underground dormancy by nuclear blasts. This continuity has never been re-written in the Godzilla franchise, so we can assume that Rodan always was a mutated dinosaur, or simply a dinosaur that can remain dormant for extended periods. At the conclusion of Rodan, both the title monster and its mate – a second Rodan – were seem melting into a volcano. One can only assume that one of these monsters was the same one to appear in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), his next on-screen performance.
In the Heisei era, the second Godzilla continuity, Rodan’s origin is never given, but he does appear in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) in the role of Godzilla’s protector (?). In that film, when Godzilla was in dire straits with Mechagodzilla, Rodan flew to a nuclear power plant, absorbed its energy, and became Fire Rodan (technically a different monster according to Toho). Fire Rodan melted down on top of an ailing Godzilla, transferring all his powers into Godzilla’s body.
In the Millennium era, Rodan had a small role in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), the biggest monster conflagration of the series, and, at the time, the presumed final chapter in the Godzilla franchise (the series has since been rebooted three times: Once in America with the 2014 film, and twice in Japan with the anime trilogy and with the excellent Shin Godzilla). Perhaps feeling sympathy for a long-time series regular, Godzilla did not kill Rodan in Final Wars, but left him unconscious.
In the Netflix anime trilogy, Rodan is seen to be dead, as his skeleton makes a cameo appearance. I like to think he died of old age.
Commentary: Rodan deserves credit for being what is essentially the Godzilla franchise’s primary fodder monster. He is used to round out super-monster teams when King Ghidorah attacks, or he is used to provide Godzilla with a momentary distraction on his way to other, more powerful monsters; but – apart from his debut – Rodan never seems to present a genuine threat to Godzilla. You will note that there is no film called Godzilla vs. Rodan. As a flying monster, he provides a good deal of variety in visuals and in fight choreography, but doesn’t have the same personality as Mothra, King Ghidorah, and definitely not of the G-Man himself.
Perhaps Godzilla: King of the Monsters will provide him with some well-deserved credit.
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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