This isn't one of the best Godzilla movies but it is one of the most memorable.We're in the goggle-eyed, round featured, saviour of Japan Godzilla period which means it features a cute kid (though personally I prefer cute kids roasted by Godzilla's breath) with a psychic link to Big G. We have lots of cool young adult kids, dancing to excruciating pop music containing a soupcon of psychedelia, all of whom wear the most hideous movie-cool-kids clothing -thankfully most of them get it from Hedorah while holding a protest on Mount Fuji. We've got cartoon inserts illustrating various parts of the movie -pollution, Hedorah's evolution, etc. And, of course, the message that pollution is bad is not just lain on with a trowel, it is dumped on us viewers with a giant JCB. Pollution is not cool, man.
We also get the wonderful sight and one, as far as I'm aware, never repeated in any other Godilla movie, of Godzilla trying to bend double and then blasting into the air, flying backwards clutching his legs, propelled by his radiation breath. If that doesn't have you collapsing with laughter, I don't know what will.
Hedorah or, as it was known in the UK on its cinema release where I originally saw it, The Smog Monster (though Sludge Monster would be more accurate) is a wonderful creation. See the giant tadpole version smash ships! See the land stage inhaling smoke from a dozen factory chimneys at once -way to get high, man! See the flying version dissolve people and metal with its sulphuric acid farts! See Hedorah drown Godzilla in a mass of poison sludge!
I love this movie. For all the wrong reasons.
POST SCRIPT
This review was submitted to Amazon UK shortly before appearing here. I gave it a 5-star rating.
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