hyped garbage

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I only recently saw the unedited, widescreen and subtitled version of this truly almost classic adult science fiction film: a near classic in it's original version, not the cut U.S. version. It's really not for children as there is much time spent on the characters and their relationships, a rarity in sci-fi films from that era.A librarian Name Mijuno is approached by a Dr. Sano to take part in a scientific test, unaware that the prior subject died. He acquires the power to change from physical form to vapor and back again, kills Dr. Sano and embarks on a series of seemingly impossible bank robberies and leaving a trail of bodies. Mijuno is in love with Fujichiya, a classical Japanese Kabuki dancer. She is recovering from either a break down of some sort or an injury or illness. We never find out exactly what it was, and she in training hoping for a comeback. The money Mijuno is stealing is for her comeback. There is a police detective and a determined woman reporter who eventually tie Mijuno and Fujichiya together. Fujichiya can't believe that Mijuno is responsible for the crimes as he for years has treated her with nothing but kindness and love. The police plan to trap the Human Vapor at her comeback performance. This movie is set apart from others by the doomed tragic love between Mijuno and Fujiciya, great acting, a more mature plot and some great special effects. The ending, somewhat unexpected in the way it unfolds, should move anyone to tears. This is a sci-fi film you can show to your date or wife or significant other.

Ishiro Honda is best known for his Kaiju films, which is rather a shame because he made many other fine and creative movies. This scifi/horror mix a good example of one of his more intimate, darker and multilayered creations and is to be recommended to old-school fans of these genres.The scifi/monster elements in this film are a variation on H G Wells' Invisible Man, although our protagonist/villain is more complicated and more tragic than Wells'. The protagonist in this film uses his superhuman powers to rob banks and finance the come-back of a Noh dancer who is recovering after a recent stay in a sanitarium, and there are a number of scenes with her dancing and wearing traditional garb...these scenes are in contrast to the eponymous protagonist, who wears a business suit and participates the sordid business of crime. Yet our protagonist loves the dancer and the dancer appears to at least partially reciprocate.In the hands of a lessor director, this material could become boring and maudlin, yet this film is moody, suspenseful, and there is a haunting sense of impending tragedy that is maintained throughout. Certainly our protagonist has become unhinged, and there are hints that the Noh dancer may also have been at the sanitarium for mental health problems. So then, this film presents us with mix of madness, art and science fiction that is interesting on several levels...not the least of which is the love story between a fragile artist and a homicidal lunatic.In a strange way, this film has many of the same themes as the 2010 pseudo art house flick, 'Black Swann,' yet is more deft and has more depth.The FX, while clearly belonging to the world of 1960, are creative and tell the story, and contribute to the coherent mood of this film. The American version has been edited badly, but still conveys the major meanings. I recommend this to fans of old-school horror and scifi, and to those studying the work of Ishiro Honda.

The title may suggest a bad sci-fi movie, but this film is actually quite dramatic and well produced. Part mystery and part science fiction, it is well acted and the special effects of the man turning into the vapor is expertly done. The segments of the Vapor traveling about the city and telling of his experiences are a high point of the movie, and explain what it would feel like to actually be a cloud of gas. The central story, of the attraction between the Vapor and the dancer, is well written and effectively developed on screen. This is an example of a Japanese science fiction film that often gets overshadowed by the likes of Godzilla and Rodan, but is quite good on its own merits. Watch it if you get the chance!

The Human is a surprisingly worthwhile change from the standard Japanese horror film. It is a cross between The Invisible Man and Phantom of the Opera with just a dash of Hangover Square. The kabuki sequence was well staged. It has tremendous production values and some good, sincere acting. It is marred only but over abundant comic relief, and choppy editing. All in all though, it is worth watching....really.