This topic has been one that has been circulating around and I just wanted to give my thoughts in a long-ass response. The question of Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974) or Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) and how one feels on which is the superior film in Their opinion. I preface this by saying I absolutely love both films. Both I feel stand alongside the original Godzilla as peaks of the Showa Era and stand strong among the rest. MG1974 is in my opinion Jun Fukudas finest while Terror stands just below the original Godzilla as Hondas strongest. The first MG film is a well paced, action oriented film that shows Fukudas direction at its finest. Like his other films, each new bit of information feels like a discovery made that enhances the sense of immersion, suspense, and energy. Terror is a dark science fiction melodrama that touches on topics about humanity, sacrifice, and suffering. It has a bleak tone and a very dramatic nature to it. In both films, we see both directors play to their strengths, however I feel that overall, the first film is the superior film. My reasoning behind this lies in what I feel is Terrors central problem and that is contrast of the directors. Within the Godzilla franchise I feel there are two pairings of Director and SPFX Director that show perfect synergy with eachother: the team of Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya and the team of Jun Fukuda and Teruyoshi Nakano. Hondas slower paced, more contemplative style of drama melded well with Tsuburayas style in which the battles remained at a more all encompassing photography that showed these battles in full wide shots often. While Fukuda and Nakano utilized quicker cuts and dynamic camera angles that emphasized the action and give things a great sense of immersion and urgency. With terror, there is a contrast in the directing style of the effects and drama. The human scenes are more slower paced and focused on the overall story at hand, while the effects scenes appear more quickly paced and dynamic. Honda tends to focus more on the overall plot and how it relates to the drama of the characters, while Fukuda puts people in situations and focuses on those people and subtly develops them through the actions they experience. I mentioned how both directors play to their strengths, however, Honda I feel shows a weakness of his and that is with action filming. The fist fights in Terror are shot with wide shots and while they clearly show all thats going on, they dont appear very dynamic or engaging. Dramatic yes, but feeling stationary in camera angles. Fukuda utilizes quick cuts and multiple camera angles, styles that were ahead of their time. Before what is known today as shakey cam became almost a trope as it is today, Fukuda used dynamic shots to give a sense of urgency and frantic feelings to his fight. In short, I feel that Honda can show the audience a great fight that has dramatic weight to it, while Fukuda can put you in he fight itself, wincing at every punch (or in this case, hot kettle of tea thrown). Overall, again, I love both these films to death and are in my top 10, but I just feel that the pacing, dynamic style and energy, and synergy between directors makes Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla the superior film, at least to me. Not to mention, I just adore Masaru Satos score. Again, both are excellent films by excellent teams, I just feel the first succeeds more at what it does and sets out to do. ~Jose
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 05:33:40 +0000
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