Godzilla
- Thread starter Akunin
- Start date
I'm so excited for the film!...it looks really good!...though I'm bummed that reviews suggest their isn't much of the main character to be seen in the movie
Take Jaws for example, a good story but little to be seen of the monster. This one, well was ok but '54 is still #1
oh yeah, couple other monsters too but I could have done without them
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Based on a Radio poll I heard this morning.
Godzilla vs Megatron Who would win!
https://www.og13.com/forums/showthread.php?11425-Pole-Godzilla-vs-Megatron
Godzilla vs Megatron Who would win!
https://www.og13.com/forums/showthread.php?11425-Pole-Godzilla-vs-Megatron
Saw it today. Wasn't that great, to me.
Of course, I never was really into the originals, (actually, I never wanted to see any of them because they always seemed silly/awful to me) but at least it made Godzilla seem cool. Some dumb bitch that was leaving the theater behind me was complaining that it looked like some man in a suit. I was like, are you fucking kidding me?
Yeah, there's REALLY rough "archive" footage of Gojira in the opening credits, black and white/gritty WWII/Vietnam-era footage that shows very small glimpses of him. Then he's not seen again for another hour, and then only as an introduction shot. He starts to fight, then it's a cut scene again as the action gets good. More second-hand destruction action, some shots of the other creatures, then Godzilla shows up again about 15 minutes later in another quick shot, and then is gone again. You really don't see the beasts really fight until the final showdown, maybe the last 30 minutes of the film? And even then I wasn't really wowed by it.
I thought it was okay, overall. Enjoyable enough to have seen it in the theater. And they fucking DESTROY San Francisco. I mean, they destroy the shit out of it. Which I guess should make me feel proud that my adopted city is almost as popular as New York to show as a destroyed city lately. I think it's passed LA and Chicago in recent years as far as being decimated goes?
POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
Anyway, That's my summary of it. I didn't go into it with any expectations, so it was just "okay" overall.
Of course, I never was really into the originals, (actually, I never wanted to see any of them because they always seemed silly/awful to me) but at least it made Godzilla seem cool. Some dumb bitch that was leaving the theater behind me was complaining that it looked like some man in a suit. I was like, are you fucking kidding me?
Yeah, there's REALLY rough "archive" footage of Gojira in the opening credits, black and white/gritty WWII/Vietnam-era footage that shows very small glimpses of him. Then he's not seen again for another hour, and then only as an introduction shot. He starts to fight, then it's a cut scene again as the action gets good. More second-hand destruction action, some shots of the other creatures, then Godzilla shows up again about 15 minutes later in another quick shot, and then is gone again. You really don't see the beasts really fight until the final showdown, maybe the last 30 minutes of the film? And even then I wasn't really wowed by it.
I thought it was okay, overall. Enjoyable enough to have seen it in the theater. And they fucking DESTROY San Francisco. I mean, they destroy the shit out of it. Which I guess should make me feel proud that my adopted city is almost as popular as New York to show as a destroyed city lately. I think it's passed LA and Chicago in recent years as far as being decimated goes?
POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
The things that annoyed me the most about the movie are the basic "doesn't follow your own logic" problems that bug me about most other films. (The nuclear devices and radiation, specifically, without getting into it more. Putting a nuke on a train to get past the creature's EMP? Just fly the fucking thing like you did the para-troopers! Goddammit!) It had a lot of cliché moments, (as it should, I guess?) and I didn't particularly get too worked up over the creature's fight scenes. They just didn't seem that cool. I think that the 3Rex/Kong fight in King Kong and the Kaiju fights in Pacific Rim just did "ridiculous creature fight" much better.
Anyway, That's my summary of it. I didn't go into it with any expectations, so it was just "okay" overall.
My thoughts on the movie...
First off, I've been a fan of Godzilla for the majority of my 44 years on this earth. I remember when I was a kid, WWOR Channel 9 would always run a Godzilla/King Kong marathon on Thanksgiving weekend and I was always thankful for it. Plus the random stations would run random Godzilla films all year round and I would always watch them. Loved it. The new movie? In a word - awesome. If you're a fan of Godzilla. If you're not a big fan, you probably won't like it.
First off, I've been a fan of Godzilla for the majority of my 44 years on this earth. I remember when I was a kid, WWOR Channel 9 would always run a Godzilla/King Kong marathon on Thanksgiving weekend and I was always thankful for it. Plus the random stations would run random Godzilla films all year round and I would always watch them. Loved it. The new movie? In a word - awesome. If you're a fan of Godzilla. If you're not a big fan, you probably won't like it.
I loved that they tied it into the original, saying that the atomic/nuclear tests on the Pacific and in Asia in 1954 weren't tests at all, but attempts to kill Big G. However, if they are tying it into the already established canon, why hasn't anyone seen him? Made no sense. Even if they aren't going to use any of the 20+ Toho movies, and just say he's been there since 1954, you don't think he would have been seen by SOMEONE in 60 years? Yeah, yeah, Loch Ness... whatever. lol
I would have loved to actually see more of Godzilla. It felt like he was on screen for a total of about 6 minutes throughout a two hour film. However, the CGI was fantastic. If it was a choice of getting 6 minutes of CGI like this or 2 hours of SyFy Channel style, I'm glad they went this route. It's obvious that they wanted to focus more on the emotional impact and the human side of the entire event, whereas the Japanese films just wanted to have grown men in silly rubber suits fighting and destroying a toy city. I prefer the original approach myself.
The story... as expected, there were some plot holes and things I couldn't put together. The signatures they are finding "today" (I'll use today as the setting for the film) match the signatures from 15 years ago when the reactor melt down/collapse took place. If that's the case, does that mean that a MUTO hatched then as well? I know they said that he was born or whatever and had spent the past 15 years leeching the radiation from the city to grow. But, when the MUTO is laying eggs later in the film, she's laying hundreds, if not thousands of them. Why was there just 1 egg 15 years ago? And, if the signature is what's attracting Godzilla today, where was he 15 years ago? Did he just not see it back then? How did they have that thing in the Nuclear Waste facility and not know it? WHY did they take nuclear waste from Japan and bring it to the US holding ground in the first place? Mostly minor nitpicks but I just like my stories to make sense... and these plot holes bother me. But it's Godzilla, what do you expect?
I would have loved to actually see more of Godzilla. It felt like he was on screen for a total of about 6 minutes throughout a two hour film. However, the CGI was fantastic. If it was a choice of getting 6 minutes of CGI like this or 2 hours of SyFy Channel style, I'm glad they went this route. It's obvious that they wanted to focus more on the emotional impact and the human side of the entire event, whereas the Japanese films just wanted to have grown men in silly rubber suits fighting and destroying a toy city. I prefer the original approach myself.
The story... as expected, there were some plot holes and things I couldn't put together. The signatures they are finding "today" (I'll use today as the setting for the film) match the signatures from 15 years ago when the reactor melt down/collapse took place. If that's the case, does that mean that a MUTO hatched then as well? I know they said that he was born or whatever and had spent the past 15 years leeching the radiation from the city to grow. But, when the MUTO is laying eggs later in the film, she's laying hundreds, if not thousands of them. Why was there just 1 egg 15 years ago? And, if the signature is what's attracting Godzilla today, where was he 15 years ago? Did he just not see it back then? How did they have that thing in the Nuclear Waste facility and not know it? WHY did they take nuclear waste from Japan and bring it to the US holding ground in the first place? Mostly minor nitpicks but I just like my stories to make sense... and these plot holes bother me. But it's Godzilla, what do you expect?
I admit I do like the origin of this version more than the original irradiated dinosaur from the original. Thing is, an Alpha (apex) predator like Godzilla goes through all that trouble to kill the MUTO's but doesn't eat? Then just goes to lay down on the ocean floor absorbing radiation from the earths core till... more MUTO creatures show up that he can kill and not eat again? He must really hate those things to go through all that trouble
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No that's a BS rumor. That was being posted months ago but there is no after credits scene. Besides, Mothra is a "good guy" so he wouldn't be leading an army of MUTO.
I watched the movie yesterday. God that movie was stressful. You know how in the Avenger's movie, New York is attacked by aliens but no one dies? Jeez, this movie does everything it can to realize the world's fear of urban desolation, nuclear terror, and tsunamis especially. But that is appropriate for a Godzilla film. Although most of the franchise is littered with crazy, corny, cheesy films, the first movie was really dark. It was a little weird that the victims in the movie were all shocked, scared, and suffering, but the military was filled with weird emotionless clone troopers who shoot and die without questioning their strategy of "let's shoot at the impossibly huge monsters with small arms fire and then get squashed. Like, let's not even pull back a little once the monster comes for us and set up a new position to continue firing without dieing, or let them chase us so they get away from civilians and so the hero can do his thing, no let's just die". I think the movie was trying to make the military look fearless, professional, and heroic while also trying to maintain the rule that they can't do jack against Godzilla monsters. I think it was a little contradictory to have both the military creating its own problems, but at the same time presenting them as perfect clone troopers. It's like they wanted to keep true to the franchise's general depiction of military ineptness but at the same time appeal to post 9/11 sentiments of how the military should be seen. Though it is cliche it is appropriate to say that they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. There is a good scene at the San Francisco Bay bridge where the Navy freaks out at Godzilla and recklessly fires at Godzilla.
I also found out why everyone in the military hates lieutenants. The protagonist is a lieutenant. Rather than actually leading men, everyone around him has to red-shirt for his dumb ass. So many competent, decent, likable sergeants had to die just so this one lieutenant could bumble around, wonder off from the others, not help, and not do anything he set out to do. Every time he walks up to someone and says "Sergeant Two-Lines-And-Dies, your with me" you can imagine what happens next.
The film also cock-teases. It takes forever for Godzilla to actually show up at Honolulu, and when he does it is epic. He's mildly scary and awesome at the same time. When he appears, he looks pissed as hell and ready for an epic showdown and fight. It's the moment I was waiting for, and then the movie just moves one. No fight scene, no nothing. The movie goes right back to following people around. That was frustrating.
The scientist and military personnel are there for exposition and so they can say silly cheesy things. This is another weird contradictory thing about the movie. The guys on the aircraft carrier are living out a classic cheesy Godzilla movie, but everyone else is living through the Godzilla equivalent of the Dark Knight Rises. There is a lot of dark, somber, frightening tones established by the real world consequences of giant monster attacks. It's a thousand times worse than 9/11.
The end of the movie mimics the Dark Knight Rises in some sense. I don't want to spoil it but when you see it you should know what I'm talking about. This comparison is a good segway for the next thing I want to talk about, borrowing. I'm really not sure if the movie ripoffs other movies, or if it pays homage to them. They don't just borrow their ending from Dark Knight Rises. There were a few cinematic shots and motifs that I think they took from Cloverfield. There were also cinematic shots that reminded me of Jurassic park. One of the first scenes of the movie is of a helicopter passing by jungle mountains of the Philippines, which looks very similar to the scene in Jurassic Park where the protagonists arrive on the Isla Nublar. There is also a shot where a bus driver wipes the condensation from his window to get a better look at Godzilla much like Jeff Goldblum did in the famous T-Rex attack scene. I like to think that was a homage done on purpose. Thankfully there were no baby Godzillas attacking Madison Square Garden.
That's about all I really wanted to call attention to. The movie did feel a little long due to some slow, moody pacing, but overall it was an enjoyable and fantastic summer spectacle. It is probably one of the few movies made within the past decade that should be dark (because the original Godzilla movie was bleak) rather than being dark for no better reason than to copy the Dark Knight, like Dark of the Moon, Thor the Dark World, Star Trek into Darkness, The Iron Man 3 Rises, etc etc.
In other words, it wasn't perfect, but I liked it.
P.S.
There were some shots of U.S. Navy ships that looked terrible because the CGI was easy to spot, and it made their nonexistence painfully obvious. I don't know what that was about. They should have touched the CGI ships up a bit before the movie released. Thankfully there is a paucity of these shots, so they don't ruin everything forever.
I also found out why everyone in the military hates lieutenants. The protagonist is a lieutenant. Rather than actually leading men, everyone around him has to red-shirt for his dumb ass. So many competent, decent, likable sergeants had to die just so this one lieutenant could bumble around, wonder off from the others, not help, and not do anything he set out to do. Every time he walks up to someone and says "Sergeant Two-Lines-And-Dies, your with me" you can imagine what happens next.
The film also cock-teases. It takes forever for Godzilla to actually show up at Honolulu, and when he does it is epic. He's mildly scary and awesome at the same time. When he appears, he looks pissed as hell and ready for an epic showdown and fight. It's the moment I was waiting for, and then the movie just moves one. No fight scene, no nothing. The movie goes right back to following people around. That was frustrating.
The scientist and military personnel are there for exposition and so they can say silly cheesy things. This is another weird contradictory thing about the movie. The guys on the aircraft carrier are living out a classic cheesy Godzilla movie, but everyone else is living through the Godzilla equivalent of the Dark Knight Rises. There is a lot of dark, somber, frightening tones established by the real world consequences of giant monster attacks. It's a thousand times worse than 9/11.
The end of the movie mimics the Dark Knight Rises in some sense. I don't want to spoil it but when you see it you should know what I'm talking about. This comparison is a good segway for the next thing I want to talk about, borrowing. I'm really not sure if the movie ripoffs other movies, or if it pays homage to them. They don't just borrow their ending from Dark Knight Rises. There were a few cinematic shots and motifs that I think they took from Cloverfield. There were also cinematic shots that reminded me of Jurassic park. One of the first scenes of the movie is of a helicopter passing by jungle mountains of the Philippines, which looks very similar to the scene in Jurassic Park where the protagonists arrive on the Isla Nublar. There is also a shot where a bus driver wipes the condensation from his window to get a better look at Godzilla much like Jeff Goldblum did in the famous T-Rex attack scene. I like to think that was a homage done on purpose. Thankfully there were no baby Godzillas attacking Madison Square Garden.
That's about all I really wanted to call attention to. The movie did feel a little long due to some slow, moody pacing, but overall it was an enjoyable and fantastic summer spectacle. It is probably one of the few movies made within the past decade that should be dark (because the original Godzilla movie was bleak) rather than being dark for no better reason than to copy the Dark Knight, like Dark of the Moon, Thor the Dark World, Star Trek into Darkness, The Iron Man 3 Rises, etc etc.
In other words, it wasn't perfect, but I liked it.
P.S.
There were some shots of U.S. Navy ships that looked terrible because the CGI was easy to spot, and it made their nonexistence painfully obvious. I don't know what that was about. They should have touched the CGI ships up a bit before the movie released. Thankfully there is a paucity of these shots, so they don't ruin everything forever.
Good news.
King Kong and Godzilla to Throw Down for Legendary and Warner Bros.
King Kong vs Godzilla Movie Planned at Legendary and WB | Collider
King Kong and Godzilla to Throw Down for Legendary and Warner Bros.
King Kong vs Godzilla Movie Planned at Legendary and WB | Collider
So, are they gonna embiggen Kong, shrink Godzy, or have it be Ant-Man vs a Regular dude on a giant scale?
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