The Human Vapor1960

75/100 I've come to expect Ishiro Honda taking a thriller premise and inserting the monstrous into it in his Kaiju films, but The Human Vapor is where I think he manages to make the two meet in a very effective narrative. The first half of the movie is where I think it's most effective, working as a detective narrative working out who exactly is committing these seemingly impossible narratives. While the audience already knows it's the Human Vapor, there is a suspense built in waiting for the characters to find out, especially when it seems the Human Vapor's power is going to make it impossible. A similar dread hangs over the second half of the movie, which, while definitely weaker than the first half, is still good in its own right, with the dread of the Human Vapor's power shifting from his being impossible to find to him being impossible to defeat once they have found him. As for the characters, they're what you'd expect from 60s toku, being not particularly interesting yet just entertaining enough to hold up the plot. However, the exception is the titular Human Vapor himself, Mizuno, and his doomed love with one Fujichiyo Kasuga. Mizuno himself makes a good villain, being very arrogant in his villainy yet displaying a childlike tendency to throw tantrums once things don't go his way, only those tantrums tend to be lethal in his case. However, this fun villainy is also counterbalanced by a human side through Fujichiya, and their star-crossed love is the best part of the movie, providing it with a strong emotional core in the midst of sci-fi strength. As for the effects, I felt they were a weak point. The special effects on Mizuno's gaseous form are a mixed bag, alternating in effectiveness as the movie goes on, and there are certain moments where they fail and it's plainly obvious the actors are pretending to be choked by nothing. The movie's themes, however, are very interesting, and can even be called ahead of their time, calling attention to how the police may be willing to sacrifice innocents, in great numbers at times, in order to catch a criminal. This theme is executed very well, as we get multiple showcases throughout the movie of how the supposed enforcers of the law think themselves above it just as the Human Vapor does, even holding the innocent Fujichiya in hopes of luring him out at one point. This movie at first glance may seem like an ordinary science-fiction movie, but watching it reveals a strong emotional core underneath and some clever themes that almost remind one of The Twilight Zone. It's not perfect, but it certainly is a good movie overall.