TALKBACK #11: Godzilla vs. Hedorah

[walshiam]

[godziwolf]

[Legion]

[Benjamin Haines]

[The Dark Uniter]

When I first saw Godzilla vs Hedorah, I didn't like it at all [ I was 12]. It was so confusing at first. Later on when I gotten older, I rewatch it and I must say I love it now. I mean its so original! I love the score, Hedorah, the dark images of the movie, the wierd animes in the middle sessons in the movie. Its one of those few love it or hate films. I love it now. This is truely the most ``artisy ``and original we'll see in a Godzilla film.

[TXKaiju]

[The Dark Uniter]

[TXKaiju]

[Benjamin Haines]

[zekend01]

[jellydonut25]

[The Dark Uniter]

Yeah, ALOT of 3D films came out this year than ever before. They are even making a 3D Final Destination film.

[Dolomite]

[Green Dragon]

[Benjamin Haines]

[The Dark Uniter]

I sure most people would love to see Godzilla in 3D. When they announced it, I couldn't wait to see it in IMAX whether its 45 mins long or not, I want to see it for the fun of it. I mean the concept is fairly original. No Godzilla has ever been filmed in 3D.

[jellydonut25]

[Benjamin Haines]

[Dolomite]

[Green Dragon]

[jellydonut25]

Posted a full review of this movie

i really think if not for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, this would be my least favorite film...it really feels SO stripped down and I think i'd blame that on its avoidance of stock-footage...it tries to do a 100% non-stock film on a stock-film budget and it just doesn't work...

[MouthForWar]

[jellydonut25]

[zekend01]

[MekaGojira3k]

I recently re-watched this and I looked at my posts in this thread. I say a lot about loving it, but nothing very specific. So I wondered....what is it about this film that I love so dearly?

From the get-go I love the Soshingeki-Goji suit and Hedorah's design is aces. So I love the monsters. Most of it comes from so much of what Banno does...and he does everything. There have to be a dozen or more styles and techniques that one would never think of blending in a kaiju film that Banno has firmly grasped and smashed into one another like so many toy cars. Yet it seems, at least within the fandom, that these don't jive so well for everyone. Some people find them jarring, or believe them to have failed on some level. I agree with both of these. Some other people seem to dislike the film purely because Godzilla gets to use his pilot's license. I like all of that which seems disjointed and incoherent about this film.

Bits of the plot don't completely flow as well as the director might have liked. Who the heck is the older teenager and his girlfriend...a brother? A student who likes to hang out with scientists? Yet this narrative functions enough for us to enjoy the film, and it is strung together, for better or worse, by a series of cartoons/cut aways/and other unusualness. It's obvious that the cutaways represent Banno's previous experience with exhibit films and the like, but they also try desperately to lend some kind of scientific credibility to the film. Toho generally has their own brand of pseudo science that comes off as follows.

Person: WHATEVER COULD HAVE CAUSED THIS!?

Scientist: I'm unsure, but possibly this (PLOT THREAD A) and this (PLOT THREAD B) may have resulted in (MONSTER/PROBLEM), many (RELATED MONSTER/PROBLEM) have spawned in the wake of (EITHER PLOT A OR B OR NUCLEAR TESTS)

Here the psuedo science is presented as a series of rejected educational film clips. Either that or we have newscasts and bizarre cartoons. THe whole thing is jarring and even I could stand back and say "This...does not work.....at all." OR DOES IT!? The whole film is chaotic, it blurrs by steeped in strangeness that doesn't seem as though it belongs in our franchise, but from the very beginning Banno seems to be showing us a world in chaos.

See what rampant pollution has caused! A film which divides a fandom. Seriously though we are looking at the darkest film world a Godzilla movie has presented since the beginning. A world in which things have gotten out of control and has reached a fever pitch of death and alien sludge thingies. Riichiro Manabe's music, which my father things is the funniest thing in the world, has the chaotic feel this movie needs. It's either hardcore early 1970s go-go funtime, or it has a strange slothy theme for Godzilla to mosey on up to the battle going on.

The movie's biggest fault, may be how incredibly clumsy and heavy handed the thing is with its message. Regardless the message comes across loud and clear. We have been caught up within our vices and sins and from that muck of responsibilty comes an evil pollution monster. It's a great concept and I think that's the strongest reason I can give for loving the film. We screwed the world, now we're screwed. For all of the silliness and crazypantsawesometownfuntime that goes on during the movie it remains true to its base idea.

I sincerely hope I made sense in this post. If not, I'M JUST LIKE THE MOVIE..Har...har.har..