a review of 哥斯拉的反击

HOOPTOBER NIGHT FIVE: Well, I can see why this is one of the less-discussed Godzilla films. The tension and dread of the first film has all but completely dissipated, and Anguirus proves to be kind of a dull, easily-vanquished opponent. The monster FX themselves are embarrassingly inconsistent even for an early tokusatsu film, with a number of inexplicably undercranked shots that make it look like the kaiju are re-enacting old Keystone Cops bits. The tone is uniformly square and militaristic, and our protagonist is a dully handsome-ish fighter pilot with none of the Byronic angst of Serizawa, the tortured scientist/hero from the previous movie. The way Pilot Guy defeats Godzilla in the end is similarly dull, and is depicted in a seemingly endless montage of the same five strafing/flyby shots, edited together to seem like a much longer effects sequence. I will admit that now I'm curious to try watching the Godzilla films in release order, to see exactly when he developed the pro-wrestler charisma that he displays in the later films, because it sure didn't happen here.