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[Fancy Clown]

Yeah, I just it and all the complaints are spot on. The movie was ok.

What little Godzilla/MUTO action was pretty good, but all the human drama/exposition (I.e. 90% of the movie) is so so dull and lifeless. I don't think I've ever seen a protagonist in a film so utterly devoid of character and charisma--I think you could even count the lines he was given one one hand. Bryan Cranston was the only actor who evoked any sort of emotional response from me, but of course he's just a bit part. I don't even know why Elizabeth Olsen's character was in the movie besides to look pretty and give the protagonist someone to fight for.

The soundtrack was very weak too, and totally generic Hollywood fare that is more about making the movie feel like a rousing adventure than any sort of emotional journey. It also wasn't nearly as memorable as the original's music.

The music unfortunately compliments the tone of the film though, which is that of a Hollywood disaster picture, rather than a horrific and tragic tone that the trailers portrayed. Even the ending

Spoiler

where Godzilla is dubbed a savior of the city on CNN as he's stomping around the city

was very hokey and Hollywood-esque.

The cinematography was quite good; nothing amazing but there are lots of strikig shots. It's certainly better than the majority of blockbuster's cinematography. It's probably the best asset of the film, along with Edward's direction on a scene level. There's a lot of clever, efficient, visual storytelling done within each frame. If only the script was better, Edwards could have made a fantastic film.

What little action there was was quite good. The MUTO's were distinct enough to offer some cool fights with Godzilla and they moved quite well. The CGI was decent, but doesn't feel like as big of a leap over rubber suits and models as it should. It 'looks' more realistic but suffers from the lack of weightiness and physical presence all CGI-fests have. Both

Spoiler

MUTO kills

were spectacularly badass though. I just wish there was more rampaging considering how much better those portions were than the rest of the film. Hopefully they realize for the sequel that unless they hire a writer who isn't a studio puppet, then they have to have more monster action.

At least the protagonist's kid was spot on casting considering he had the same stupid, blank expression that Johnson had the whole movie.

 

[X-Frame]

Can someone remind me how old they claimed Godzilla is?

Spoiler

I just got back from a showing and I could have sworn someone said he's older than the dinosaurs, back before the Earth was habitable, but then I seem to remember a number like a few million years -- which obviously is not correct. What did I forget?

 

[Wilbur]

Spoiler

They bring the son along and ask for his input simply because his father may have known something. If Cranston had lived and been taken to the briefing room to be shown that they knew of these monsters beforehand, not only would be get a powerful scene of him getting angry at them for hiding this from the public, but I'm fairly certain if he offered any sort of solution they'd be willing to listen, especially because they were still in the dark on how to defeat them.

The fact we can't remember the characters names and have to call them by the actor who portrayed them speaks volumes about how bad the characterization was in this.

Joe Brody
Ford Brody
Serizawa
Elle Brody
admiral stentz
Godzilla
Hot MUTO
Flying MUTO
Short Round

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Spoiler

They bring the son along and ask for his input simply because his father may have known something. If Cranston had lived and been taken to the briefing room to be shown that they knew of these monsters beforehand, not only would be get a powerful scene of him getting angry at them for hiding this from the public, but I'm fairly certain if he offered any sort of solution they'd be willing to listen, especially because they were still in the dark on how to defeat them.

The fact we can't remember the characters names and have to call them by the actor who portrayed them speaks volumes about how bad the characterization was in this.

Spoiler

No, Watanabe asks for them to be brought along just because he had printouts of matching readings from 15 years earlier. All he had to offer was that he picked up signals of them communicating via echolocation, information the son passed on anyway.

We already had a scene of him getting angry at the cover up when he was in the interrogation room.

Again, what solution would someone with no knowledge of either weaponry or monsters/animals in general be able to suggest that anybody else couldn't pull out of their ass?

 

[duckroll]

Can someone remind me how old they claimed Godzilla is?

Spoiler

I just got back from a showing and I could have sworn someone said he's older than the dinosaurs, back before the Earth was habitable, but then I seem to remember a number like a few million years -- which obviously is not correct. What did I forget?

There is no indication in the show how old Godzilla is. They only talked about creatures like Godzilla and the Mutos being that old. That doesn't mean that the monsters around today are the same ones, they are most likely descendants which survived in the depths and dark corners of the world.

 

[super-heated plasma]

Just saw it again a second time. I liked it even better. For some reason the tension really got to me this time.

 

[Betty]

Spoiler

He knows nothing about weapons or the monsters, he would be of zero use. Guy is a former engineer at a nuclear power planet, which had a meltdown on his watch before he went off the rails and turned into a crazy nutcase who keeps getting arrested for trespassing.

They'd tell him to get the fuck out of there.

Spoiler

They wanted to know what he'd discovered, and once he reveals that he found the mutos were communicating, something no one else had figured out, they'd definitely want him to stay, I think watanabe's character would demand it.

Maybe he wouldn't come up with ideas to kill the beasts, maybe he'd just be kept around because he and Watanabe could work together to understand what the Muto's were trying to accomplish. With their viewpoints eventually differing, Watanabe would urge caution and restraint with Cranston playing devils advocate and offering the exact opposite opinion.

The son could still be sent out and do all the heroics with Cranston desperate to kill these monsters and communicating with his son from the control room.

 

[zma1013]

Spoiler

They bring the son along and ask for his input simply because his father may have known something. If Cranston had lived and been taken to the briefing room to be shown that they knew of these monsters beforehand, not only would be get a powerful scene of him getting angry at them for hiding this from the public, but I'm fairly certain if he offered any sort of solution they'd be willing to listen, especially because they were still in the dark on how to defeat them.

The fact we can't remember the characters names and have to call them by the actor who portrayed them speaks volumes about how bad the characterization was in this.

Eh, I don't think that's necessarily a symptom. Good characterization doesn't need retention of individual names to validate it. All that matters is if you remember the characters for what they do and stand for and whatnot. There are all kinds of amazing movies out there that I don't remember the names of the characters unless they drill it into my head by brute repetition or if it's some wholly unique and interesting name. Neither of those have any relevance to how well a character is portrayed.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Spoiler

They wanted to know what he'd discovered, and once he reveals that he found the mutos were communicating, something no one else had figured out, they'd definitely want him to stay, I think watanabe's character would demand it.

Maybe he wouldn't come up with ideas to kill the beasts, maybe he'd just be kept around because he and Watanabe could work together to understand what the Muto's were trying to accomplish. With their viewpoints eventually differing, Watanabe would urge caution and restraint with Cranston playing devils advocate and offering the exact opposite opinion.

The son could still be sent out and do all the heroics with Cranston desperate to kill these monsters and communicating with his son from the control room.

You realise you're just advocating that a two hour movie should be turned into a two and a half hour movie, while adding nothing of value to the story just so we can

Spoiler

give more screen time to a popular actor?

 

[BuckRobotron]

The guys in the cinema went "wow" on this part.

I actually liked that even better than the more obvious "wow" moment after that. Just

Spoiler

HAMMERED so hard the MUTO was spiked through with skyscraper.

 

[Ragnorok64]

1999

Definitely Zip Disk era...

Wait, I'm not even sure what this is supposed to mean as a reply to my post. I wad talking about how it's not that unbelievable that hr could get his hands on a zip drive today in Japan.

 

[Jaeger]

Art by reyyyy

 

[Betty]

You realise you're just advocating that a two hour movie should be turned into a two and a half hour movie, while adding nothing of value to the story just so we can

Spoiler

give more screen time to a popular actor?

Spoiler

Not at all, just imagine every scene in the movie as is, but with Cranston staying with Watanabe and the son going off and through all the same scenes. Instead of just having Watanbe argue to the military commander, Cranston could do.

You'd also have a halfway decent arc with Cranston losing his wife > becoming obsessed > transferring his anger onto the Muto's > to realizing they're not all awful > to letting go of his grief.

 

[Ragnorok64]

You realise you're just advocating that a two hour movie should be turned into a two and a half hour movie, while adding nothing of value to the story just so we can

Spoiler

give more screen time to a popular actor?

Subtract time from the characters that sucked. Eliminate most anything with the Son's wife and kid.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

Entertaining, but really dumb.

Like,

Spoiler

why did they load the nuke on a boat in a population center? Why did they use a train to transport the nukes? Why did they transport the entire missile rather than just the warheads? If they knew it would fuck up their jets, why did they fly 30 of them into San Francisco? How did that small boat get that far away from San Francisco in 2 minutes?

However, I was excited by the big monster fights, and I squealed like a kid when his tail started to light up for the nuke breath.

Good visuals, just wish the plot was better. Will see the next one.

 

[Shouta]

Spoiler

I disagree, I and many others actually cared about the character, which is more than can be said for his son and his bland family or anyone else in the movie for that matter.

If they kept Cranston, they could have made it so he focuses his hatred for losing his wife onto these muto's, including Godzilla. Having discovered that the muto's were talking to each other, Cranston would be brought in to devise a way to destroy them. He and Watanabe could butt heads, with Watanabe trying to be the voice of reason and urging them to let Godzilla help. Cranston of course wouldn't listen and would be obsessed with taking down the monsters with the nuke, only to have a change of heart at the end as he realizes that Godzilla is actually not like the other muto. It would have been great to see him getting over the death of his wife and moving on with his life.

No. In the film,

Spoiler

Cranston/Joe Brody himself says that he just closure to everything because he knew that it wasn't a natural disaster that caused the metldown that took his wife. He wanted to prove that he was right so he could have peace of mind. He got that when he discovered that. Note that his last words to Ford on the helicopter was "Take care of your family" something he likely regretted not doing more of for his son. Him taking revenge when he knows nothing about it would've been so weird

 

[EL CUCO]

#TeamCranston

 

[X-Frame]

There is no indication in the show how old Godzilla is. They only talked about creatures like Godzilla and the Mutos being that old. That doesn't mean that the monsters around today are the same ones, they are most likely descendants which survived in the depths and dark corners of the world.

Ohhh, thank you! That does make sense.

 

[Betty]

No. In the film,

Spoiler

Cranston/Joe Brody himself says that he just closure to everything because he knew that it wasn't a natural disaster that caused the metldown that took his wife. He wanted to prove that he was right so he could have peace of mind. He got that when he discovered that. Note that his last words to Ford on the helicopter was "Take care of your family" something he likely regretted not doing more of for his son. Him taking revenge when he knows nothing about it would've been so weird

Spoiler

Fine, fine, I just thought him wanting to take revenge on the mutos or prevent someone else from going through what he went through would be preferable to the dull son focused plot we could.

 

[Ragnorok64]

No. In the film,

Spoiler

Cranston/Joe Brody himself says that he just closure to everything because he knew that it wasn't a natural disaster that caused the metldown that took his wife. He wanted to prove that he was right so he could have peace of mind. He got that when he discovered that. Note that his last words to Ford on the helicopter was "Take care of your family" something he likely regretted not doing more of for his son. Him taking revenge when he knows nothing about it would've been so weird

Spoiler

I don't care if it would be weird. At least he would have acted it better than any one else in the movie

 

[zeemumu]

Give him some tools to work with lol

Never understood why King Kong is the same size as Godzilla. At the most Kong is around the size of that flying thing from the movie.

 

[Shouta]

Spoiler

Fine, fine, I just thought him wanting to take revenge on the mutos or prevent someone else from going through what he went through would be preferable to the dull son focused plot we could.

Spoiler

I don't care if it would be weird. At least he would have acted it better than any one else in the movie

I wouldn't mind that concept for another film but it'd be Mobyzilla if they did it in this film.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

we've reached the critical mass of silly hyperbole.

I'm not sure how a personal opinion could be hyperbole. I didn't say the movie caused cancer in my brain or something.

I was bored out of my fucking mind. I've been looking forward to it, love Cranston, like Kick-Ass. But, this movie... Long and fucking boring with extremely little payoff.

I cannot even fathom how this movie, according to you, had nothing going on. You may not have liked it, but the most boring piece of shit? Some of you should learn to curb your own bullshit.

That I've seen in theaters. I'm sure there are more boring pieces of shit, but I tend to like most movies I bother to see in theaters.

At least the protagonist's kid was spot on casting considering he had the same stupid, blank expression that Johnson had the whole movie.

He was my favorite character in the movie because he looked as fucking bored as I felt.

 

[Chaotic-Strike]

It's been two days and Godzilla has already made back it's budget.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=godzilla2012.htm

 

[The Librarian]

Entertaining, but really dumb.

Like,

Spoiler

why did they load the nuke on a boat in a population center? Why did they use a train to transport the nukes? Why did they transport the entire missile rather than just the warheads? If they knew it would fuck up their jets, why did they fly 30 of them into San Francisco? How did that small boat get that far away from San Francisco in 2 minutes?

However, I was excited by the big monster fights, and I squealed like a kid when his tail started to light up for the nuke breath.

Good visuals, just wish the plot was better. Will see the next one.

The movie isn't dumb. Everything you posted is explained in the film (with one or two exceptions). Not directed at you specifically, but there are a lot of things many people in this thread seem to miss. Though to be fair, some of these are very subtle.

Spoiler

– They loaded the nuke in a population center to drive about twenty miles out into sea where it would pose "minimal fallout" to the city. Lure the MUTOs there and explode it, hoping the blast would kill the beasts.
– They used a train because it seemed to be steam powered and the MUTO's EMP range has a 200 mile radius. No win scenario here.
– Not sure here. Maybe they didn't have time to take it out?
– The MUTOs are impervious to radar traction. You need eyes in the sky.
– The MUTO drained a lot of energy out of the nuke. When Ford brought it out to sea, there were still 15 minutes left on the timer.

 

[Azulsky]

Wait, I'm not even sure what this is supposed to mean as a reply to my post. I wad talking about how it's not that unbelievable that hr could get his hands on a zip drive today in Japan.

Oh, thats what i get for not paying attention.

Not that hard to find in the US either, its the disks that are harder to get.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I had a long discussion with a friend about this after the movie. Our conclusion was that he was clearly building his meter with smaller jabs and basic attacks, before he could use his special attacks at the end.

I think this is the best possible explanation.

 

[Platy]

Movie was fun ... could have been OMFG AWESOME if it wasn't for the

Spoiler

"hey look he will fight! ... nope here is something not related instead"

moment happening TWICE

 

[Jaeger]

Never understood why King Kong is the same size as Godzilla. At the most Kong is around the size of that flying thing from the movie.

Well, humans are generally the same size. And since those are suits... well... lol

 

[killertofu]

One question

Spoiler

I thought there was an EMP thing happening, how could they use their little atomic bomb scouter?

 

[Shouta]

One question

Spoiler

I thought there was an EMP thing happening, how could they use their little atomic bomb scouter?

Spoiler

Their EMPs are activated as een at several points throughout the film. They emit it and everything goes dead. the monsters were probably too busy fighting the Big G to emit one which is why the detector was working.

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

Movie was fun ... could have been OMFG AWESOME if it wasn't for the

Spoiler

"hey look he will fight! ... nope here is something not related instead"

moment happening TWICE

I think the second one when the bunker doors closed would have been more effective if the scene lingered inside focusing on the sounds and vibrations of what was happening outside and the reactions of those inside.

 

[Ixion]

It was entertaining and the climax delivered, but Godzilla was underdeveloped and I didn't care about the main characters.

 

[The Librarian]

I think this is the best possible explanation.

I think there's a better one.

Spoiler

He uses the atomic breath after the MUTOs go to check out their destroyed nests. Before this, he was biting them and scratching them. He was almost killed with the two MUTOs ganging up on him, but got another fighting chance when Ford destroyed their nest, and the MUTOs got distracted. By that point he was convinced those tactics wouldn't worked. Then he uses his atomic breath.

Ducky's point doesn't take into account how animal-like the fighting is.

 

[Amentallica]

Yeah, I just it and all the complaints are spot on. The movie was ok.

What little Godzilla/MUTO action was pretty good, but all the human drama/exposition (I.e. 90% of the movie) is so so dull and lifeless. I don't think I've ever seen a protagonist in a film so utterly devoid of character and charisma--I think you could even count the lines he was given one one hand. Bryan Cranston was the only actor who evoked any sort of emotional response from me, but of course he's just a bit part. I don't even know why Elizabeth Olsen's character was in the movie besides to look pretty and give the protagonist someone to fight for.

The soundtrack was very weak too, and totally generic Hollywood fare that is more about making the movie feel like a rousing adventure than any sort of emotional journey. It also wasn't nearly as memorable as the original's music.

The music unfortunately compliments the tone of the film though, which is that of a Hollywood disaster picture, rather than a horrific and tragic tone that the trailers portrayed. Even the ending

Spoiler

where Godzilla is dubbed a savior of the city on CNN as he's stomping around the city

was very hokey and Hollywood-esque.

The cinematography was quite good; nothing amazing but there are lots of strikig shots. It's certainly better than the majority of blockbuster's cinematography. It's probably the best asset of the film, along with Edward's direction on a scene level. There's a lot of clever, efficient, visual storytelling done within each frame. If only the script was better, Edwards could have made a fantastic film.

What little action there was was quite good. The MUTO's were distinct enough to offer some cool fights with Godzilla and they moved quite well. The CGI was decent, but doesn't feel like as big of a leap over rubber suits and models as it should. It 'looks' more realistic but suffers from the lack of weightiness and physical presence all CGI-fests have. Both

Spoiler

MUTO kills

were spectacularly badass though. I just wish there was more rampaging considering how much better those portions were than the rest of the film. Hopefully they realize for the sequel that unless they hire a writer who isn't a studio puppet, then they have to have more monster action.

At least the protagonist's kid was spot on casting considering he had the same stupid, blank expression that Johnson had the whole movie.

... Oh man

 

[The Librarian]

One question

Spoiler

I thought there was an EMP thing happening, how could they use their little atomic bomb scouter?

Spoiler

Their EMPs are activated as een at several points throughout the film. They emit it and everything goes dead. the monsters were probably too busy fighting the Big G to emit one which is why the detector was working.

Well, after seeing the movie twice.

Spoiler

When the MUTOs made their nest, they were emitting a constant EMP (relating the nest, I guess) that was blocking out any power in a five-mile radius. My guess is the nuke detector was shielded.

...the flashlights on the guns I can't explain.

 

[Jaeger]

The CGI was decent, but doesn't feel like as big of a leap over rubber suits and models as it should.

... Jesus, are you serious?

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Spoiler

Not at all, just imagine every scene in the movie as is, but with Cranston staying with Watanabe and the son going off and through all the same scenes. Instead of just having Watanbe argue to the military commander, Cranston could do.

You'd also have a halfway decent arc with Cranston losing his wife > becoming obsessed > transferring his anger onto the Muto's > to realizing they're not all awful > to letting go of his grief.

Spoiler

Fine, fine, I just thought him wanting to take revenge on the mutos or prevent someone else from going through what he went through would be preferable to the dull son focused plot we could.

Remember the bit where Cranston tells

Spoiler

his son that "She (his wife) is still out there for me?" as he points to the site where the nuclear plant used to be?

He condemned his wife to death by closing the blast doors and watched her die in front of his own eyes. He's been haunted by that ever since, and his quest for the truth has driven a wedge between himself and his only remaining family. For crying out loud, homeboy hardly remembers what his wife looked like because he hasn't seen a photo of her for 15 years.

What could be a more fitting end to his arc than discovering the truth and gaining redemption before joining his wife in the same place that she died?

 

[Betty]

Spoiler

What could be a more fitting end to his arc than discovering the truth and gaining redemption before joining his wife in the same place that she died?

Spoiler

Not sure how he gains redemption, more like vindication by being proven right about his theory all this time. But if you liked it that's great, I just empathized with his character and felt the film would've been better if he remained in it.

 

[Pachinko]

I'm not sure what I thought of this movie to be honest... it was ... Okay. Nowhere near as good as I was expecting but still much better than the last american attempt at a godzilla film.

I'd still recommend a viewing to anyone that has ever enjoyed a godzilla film but go in with tempered expectations I guess.

 

[Ragnorok64]

The movie isn't dumb. Everything you posted is explained in the film (with one or two exceptions). Not directed at you specifically, but there are a lot of things many people in this thread seem to miss. Though to be fair, some of these are very subtle.

Spoiler

– They loaded the nuke in a population center to drive about twenty miles out into sea where it would pose "minimal fallout" to the city. Lure the MUTOs there and explode it, hoping the blast would kill the beasts.
– They used a train because it seemed to be steam powered and the MUTO's EMP range has a 200 mile radius. No win scenario here.
– Not sure here. Maybe they didn't have time to take it out?
– The MUTOs are impervious to radar traction. You need eyes in the sky.
– The MUTO drained a lot of energy out of the nuke. When Ford brought it out to sea, there were still 15 minutes left on the timer.

No, the movie is dumb.

You keep saying "it's explained in the movie" over and over.

So there's a few scenarios I can think of.

1) A large number of people that saw this movie were afflicted with ADD upon entering the theater.

2) The movie did a terrible job of communicating the intricacies of its plot in a memorable manner.

3) These points aren't all explained in the movie and you're using extrapolation and grasping at straws to try and fill in its glaring plot holes and leaps of logic.

 

[kaching]

I thought the best explanation for the G's late use of atomic breath was just that it was energetically costly for him. Plus it needed a little warmup so he wants to make sure he's got a target locked in his crosshairs before buildup for something that's costly.

 

[duckroll]

Except he does it twice in a span of five minutes in a 2 hr movie.

It's just dumb fan service.

I told you, he was just building up his meter.

 

[The Librarian]

No, the movie is dumb.

You keep saying "it's explained in the movie" over and over.

I think the movie is much smarter than your typical blockbuster, and a lot of what people ask about is explained in the film. I did say, in that post, that some of it is subtle, which is why people can miss it. On my second viewing I noticed some things I didn't see/hear before on my first viewing.

I'm not going to get into a "It's dumb", "No it's not" conversation. Some things aren't explained, sure, but that doesn't mean I can't extrapolate based on the movie's internal logic.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

... Jesus, are you serious?

Some people just really don't like CGI.

 

[Team Filler]

Just got back from this. I enjoyed myself, but I think the visuals and sound design are carrying the movie far more than anything else, and think the problems I had with it are only going to become more glaring over time (in much the same way that Avengers and Star Trek Into Darkness aged like crap for me).

Still better than '98 Godzilla, though...

 

[Plasticine]

No, the movie is dumb.

You keep saying "it's explained in the movie" over and over.

So there's a few scenarios I can think of.

1) A large number of people that saw this movie were afflicted with ADD upon entering the theater.

2) The movie did a terrible job of communicating the intricacies of its plot in a memorable manner.

3) These points aren't all explained in the movie and you're using extrapolation and grasping at straws to try and fill in its glaring plot holes and leaps of logic.

All of those plot points are explicitly covered in the movie. Unfortunately people do develop ADD when they enter movie theaters. It's why big budget movies tend to have the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

 

[Ferrio]

Big thing that irked me was the bridge scene.

Spoiler

Why did they block the evacuation? Bus guy was able to drive right through....so why was there a holdup?

 

[The Librarian]

This is getting utterly silly. it never ceases to amaze me how you start to fill your own blanks. Now we are educating others what a lizard was thinking? He was convinced? Really?

Thank god we have a reptilian behavioral specialist on site

You keep explaining there's an explanation except you provide no context and merely point to plot devices and rather than take them at face value, you string together your own theories. That in no way provides enough context to defend the movies shortcomings.

You're being kind of rude. I was going to post, "Or they did it simply because it was cool," which I'm perfectly fine with, but I think that's a very logical line of thought, and works from what I remember of the Godzilla I saw in this movie and the Godzilla movies I saw as a kid.

Edit: And it takes a lot out him, as Kaching below mentions.

 

[HIGH DEF JEFF]

Anyone know why they did not use the Godzilla Theme/March? As the movie was coming to end I expected to hear it or some variation of it.