Death Waltz / Mondo (2023)
The third film in the Heisei Godzilla series was 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. In addition to the return of one of Godzilla's most famous adversaries came the return of the man who in many ways defines what Godzilla soundtracks should sound like, composer Akira Ifukube. But more on the soundtrack in a moment.
I'm definitely the sort of person that prefers Showa Godzilla movies, but there is a lot to like about many of the later entries as well. That said, I do struggle to find too many positive things to say about Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Now, admittedly, I'm probably due for a rewatch as it's been likely ten years or so since I last watched it, but most of my memories are pretty negative.
It has this really convoluted and kind of stupid time travel storyline that involves aliens tricking humans into bringing muppets back in time to stop Godzilla from being created and creating King Ghidorah instead. The plot holes are larger than both monsters combined and It's really a slog to get through it. The fights are fine and Mecha-King Ghidorah is a monster design I really like a lot, but as a whole, right up their as my least favorite of the era.
On the other side of the coin is the soundtrack and having Ifukube back is one of the saving graces of the movie. His themes are appropriately dark or triumphant, depending on what mood needs to be set and I honestly can't imagine how much worse the movie might have been without his score holding things together.
The LP looks great, I really dig the artwork, though I do wish the art was more cohesive across the various LP releases. It's great to have these soundtracks on vinyl finally, but in a lot of ways that only frustrates me more that the Heisei series wasn't completed. As a reminder, the Godzilla vs. Biollante soundtrack should have been the one I wrote about this week, but it never came out.
Godzilla vs King Ghidorah Soundtrack:
https://youtu.be/gFKQ5QS6vIY?si=2JLiqknoNSEBm6o3
No comments:
Post a Comment