MiamiWesker
Member
I just got out of an early screening, good movie, it does certain aspects very well both other aspects didn't work.
I felt this was a film that didn't exactly know what it wanted to be. Clearly it was going for a very human drama fueled Godzilla movie. It tries to keep the story on the characters and show most of the action through the perspective of us normal humans. At the same time though it wanted to show Godzilla kick ass but it never goes all in on that aspect even though that is clearly the best part of the film. The characters to me don't work, no one is particularly memorable and the attempts at suspense or danger fall flat. Certain storylines felt like they went nowhere and simply were there so the humans had something to do. Certain sequences were amazing, I think you have all seen the HALO jump from the trailers, that works as a visual and tense moment. There are moments of brilliance, it is never sustained though.
Major plot spoilers from here on in:
Anyway good movie, it is not a travesty like the 98 one. I think Japan would be pleased with this Godzilla.
I felt this was a film that didn't exactly know what it wanted to be. Clearly it was going for a very human drama fueled Godzilla movie. It tries to keep the story on the characters and show most of the action through the perspective of us normal humans. At the same time though it wanted to show Godzilla kick ass but it never goes all in on that aspect even though that is clearly the best part of the film. The characters to me don't work, no one is particularly memorable and the attempts at suspense or danger fall flat. Certain storylines felt like they went nowhere and simply were there so the humans had something to do. Certain sequences were amazing, I think you have all seen the HALO jump from the trailers, that works as a visual and tense moment. There are moments of brilliance, it is never sustained though.
Major plot spoilers from here on in:
The movie could have had a great human anchor that the audience cares for but they kill him after 30 minutes, that is of course Bryan Cranston's character. He shows real emotion, he feels like an actual person. The rest of the cast feels like they came from a checklist of people you need in a Godzilla/disaster film. Our main character, hell I can't even tell you his name, has like one look and emotion the whole movie long. I never feared for his life, I never once believed anything would happen to his family. Not one army guy nor one scientist had any presence, no memorable scenes or lines. This movie uses some of the most cliche grabs at cheap thrills in a disaster film like random dog running from a wall of death! School bus of children on a bridge about to collapse! It didn't work for me.
What did work was everything with the monsters, wow! The Mutos designs are so cool, they made them as much as a realistic ancient giant animal as they can but still keeping that interesting design of classic Godzilla movies. Some may not like Godzilla being reduced to just a predator that eats other ancient animals, he wasn't created by radiation, he doesn't randomly come on land and way waste to cities, he is just an apex predator. I think that worked well in the context of the movie and it turned Godzilla into the unquestionable hero of the film. The fights were simply badass, it's giant monsters fighting, and they didn't look like guys in suits, it was as believable as could be!
As I mentioned there were certain shots that were simply jaw dropping. The first time Godzilla comes on screen is so perfectly shot, the entire audience cheered... then it cut away to humans. There are moments where the camera is on the ground or looking through windows of a building and you see the fight from the scale of just a normal human, breathtaking shots. The HALO jump looked incredible, it was like a decent into hell and the shot of Godzilla fighting through the mask of the main soldier was awesome. That kind of stuff the movie excelled at, it just needed more of that. It felt like anytime it was beginning to focus on the monsters it cuts away back to the humans.
I know it can be difficult to balance what the audience should be feeling. The truth of it is that no one is scared of Godzilla, he is cool, we want to see him fight monsters and be badass. So the movie tries to be both, dramatic and suspenseful but how can you do that when the monsters are the most interesting characters on the screen.
What did work was everything with the monsters, wow! The Mutos designs are so cool, they made them as much as a realistic ancient giant animal as they can but still keeping that interesting design of classic Godzilla movies. Some may not like Godzilla being reduced to just a predator that eats other ancient animals, he wasn't created by radiation, he doesn't randomly come on land and way waste to cities, he is just an apex predator. I think that worked well in the context of the movie and it turned Godzilla into the unquestionable hero of the film. The fights were simply badass, it's giant monsters fighting, and they didn't look like guys in suits, it was as believable as could be!
As I mentioned there were certain shots that were simply jaw dropping. The first time Godzilla comes on screen is so perfectly shot, the entire audience cheered... then it cut away to humans. There are moments where the camera is on the ground or looking through windows of a building and you see the fight from the scale of just a normal human, breathtaking shots. The HALO jump looked incredible, it was like a decent into hell and the shot of Godzilla fighting through the mask of the main soldier was awesome. That kind of stuff the movie excelled at, it just needed more of that. It felt like anytime it was beginning to focus on the monsters it cuts away back to the humans.
I know it can be difficult to balance what the audience should be feeling. The truth of it is that no one is scared of Godzilla, he is cool, we want to see him fight monsters and be badass. So the movie tries to be both, dramatic and suspenseful but how can you do that when the monsters are the most interesting characters on the screen.
Anyway good movie, it is not a travesty like the 98 one. I think Japan would be pleased with this Godzilla.
