Godzilla v. Hedorah

Just watched the widescreen GvHedorah cut. Such an improvement. Now I see
what Banno was going for in some of those scenes. It doesn't all work, but
it's almost always inspired. The biggest flaw is that it's so tonally
uneven. It careens from series to camp, with these semi-dream sequence bits.
It just doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense. And I have no idea why the
military largely ignored both Godzilla and Hedorah. You'd think they'd at
least trot out a mazer tank or two for form's sake.

Cool bits:
The monster POV scenes. They don't entirely work, but it's cool.

The foreground shot of the army setting up with the monster's beams visible
in the background, fighting in the other valley. Such a cool shot, and I've
never seen something like this recreated. Easy shot, too, as it could be
entirely rotoscoped. Probably my second favorite composite shot, after the
traveling shot of Godzilla in the background with the cows in the foreground
from GvMothra.

A lot of monster fight time. The suits on on-screen for a ton of the movie.

Hedorah's reactions to things. Really good suit acting. Great portrayal of a
monster that was in no hurry and almost curious at times. The head tilts
when it noticed Godzilla were really well done.

Hedorah itself. Neat monster. Godzilla had some really difficult 70s foes,
between Hedorah and MechaGodzilla. Not sure which one gave him more trouble,
but Hedorah's in the discussion with Ghidorah and MG74.

Color. Interesting use of color throughout.

The bad:

Flying Godzilla is just soooo stupid. Ruins the finale, and kills the
momentum the film had been building. Such a miscalculation in an otherwise
worthy film. Just a bad idea all around.

The movie veers around and often doesn't make sense. I can't figure out why
the characters would do what they did, and why the military never seemed to
care. This would be forgivable, if not for jet-powered Godzilla.

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-Wolf

"Wolf" wrote:

(snip)

> The bad:
>
> Flying Godzilla is just soooo stupid. Ruins the finale, and kills the
> momentum the film had been building. Such a miscalculation in an otherwise
> worthy film. Just a bad idea all around.
>
> The movie veers around and often doesn't make sense. I can't figure out
> why the characters would do what they did, and why the military never
> seemed to care. This would be forgivable, if not for jet-powered Godzilla.

The soundtrack music is terrible. Easily among the worst scores for the
entire series.

T.B.