Something is in the water. Something big. Disturbed by hydrogen bomb tests, the mighty Godzilla emerges from Tokyo Bay, laying waste to the capital. With further destruction imminent, a paleontologist and a mysterious scientist must team up to save Japan from this seemingly unstoppable force.

In 1954, a cinematic icon was born—and with it the longest-running franchise in film history. Commingling a somber reckoning with Japan’s devastating nuclear past with pioneering miniature work and creature effects, Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla is the giant-monster movie before which all others must bow.