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Godzilla |OT| Legendary

CronoShot

Member
I think I'm going to go see this tomorrow. Is the 3D IMAX experience worth it? I've never seen a movie in 3D nor in IMAX, but it's also almost twice the price ($13 vs $7 for 2D non-IMAX).
 
This may have already been discussed, but can I assume the
echolocation has to do with the humans being able to call Godzilla in the sequels, now that they know the call?
 
Cranstons character had no purpose after
he gave the scientists the echolocation idea.
What would you have him do the rest of the movie exactly?

Give him some other science/engineering reason to stay integral to the attack response. It's just plotting, not too hard to work out. He had been obsessed with the incident for 15 years, he must have had a lot of insights into what would happen that others would never have considered. They even bring up his data from the day of the incident in 1999 - just work in more of that and keep the story of him fighting for a lost family intact.

I was saying it would have been better for the story, since a lot of emotional groundwork was laid with his character and then forgotten about. It didn't transfer onto the lifeless male lead, as might have been the intention, but if we had stuck with Bryan Cranston it wouldn't have had to transfer.
 
Also LOL at the early interviews where Edwards and the writers were saying they had a new, relevant thematic take on Godzilla where he represents man's struggle against nature.

The only moment where they half heartedly try and show this 'theme' in the movie is Watanabe's line from the trailer. That's it. Do you know what Godzilla actually represents in this movie?
A big fucking monster
.

I guess the humans trying to
contain the MUTO
in the beginning relates to that theme as well...but one scene and a throwaway line do not make a theme.
 
I saw it the other day with my girlfriend. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. I liked all the Godzilla parts. He's an interesting guy. He's very big and strong. I didn't like any of the human stuff, not even Bryan Cranston who I thought was really overselling the drama. I mean we've known him for 15 minutes and he's going Full Measure style in that holding room. I respect his ability but I think the acting was too good for the movie, didn't fit. Everything else with the humans was junk.

But the
atomic breath
pretty much sealed the deal and I left feeling pretty happy. Knew what I wanted from the movie going in, and got it, even if I also got a lot of other stuff I didn't want.
Are you complaining that there was too much good acting?
 
Cranstons character had no purpose after
he gave the scientists the echolocation idea.
What would you have him do the rest of the movie exactly?

He needed to stick around long enough to give Johnson's sock puppet of a character his motivation, which is to
protect his (almost entirely non-existent) family!
 

zma1013

Member
I think I'm going to go see this tomorrow. Is the 3D IMAX experience worth it? I've never seen a movie in 3D nor in IMAX, but it's also almost twice the price ($13 vs $7 for 2D non-IMAX).

Id recommend seeing it on the biggest screen u can regardless of 3d. The 3d itself isnt anything special but its not bad or distracting. Its adequate. The sound will be better at an imax as well. Just depends on how much of a movie guy u are i guess. Regular theater is still a bigger screen than home.
 
Also LOL at the early interviews where Edwards and the writers were saying they had a new, relevant thematic take on Godzilla where he represents man's struggle against nature.

The only moment where they half heartedly try and show this 'theme' in the movie is Watanabe's line from the trailer. That's it. Do you know what Godzilla actually represents in this movie?
A big fucking monster
.

I guess the humans trying to
contain the MUTO
in the beginning relates to that theme as well...but one scene and a throwaway line do not make a theme.

They should have stuck with the original idea of having the Monarch organization keeping the MUTOs around in the hopes that they could control them and use them to beat Godzilla. Would have at least been consistent with Watanabe's crazy ass ranting about balance and control.
 

nick nacc

Banned
Saw it for the second time. I was hugely letdown the first time watching it but the second time I enjoyed it much more. Now that I knew what to expect from the flick. The human drama seemed even worse but the monster action was better since I knew when it was going to commence and end suddenly.


The soundtrack was terrible. Lost some good visceral tension that could have been there, It was a straight by the numbers 90s blockbuster soundtack.

Too many 300+ feet monsters having bro moments with humans. Dear lord when Godzilla looked at ford while resting was stupid. And good GOD the japanese music when zilla wakes up in the stadium and just casually trots back into the water and everyone is essentially waving goodbye was such a bad way to end the movie. Why couldn't this movie have the tone of the Golden Gate bridge part the entire time? No soundtrack, just human perspective insanity and death. The movie also felt even more "B Movie" than before.
 

El_Chino

Member
what a dumb movie .. this movie makes the 98 godzilla oscar worthy. when i pay 10 bucks for the movie i expect to b spoon fed about anything and everything in under 2 hours cause my bladder can only hold for that long. movie cpuld be called dumb and dumberer in reference to godzilla and muto.
This response honestly doesn't surprise me.
 
They should have stuck with the original idea of having the Monarch organization keeping the MUTOs around in the hopes that they could control them and use them to beat Godzilla. Would have at least been consistent with Watanabe's crazy ass ranting about balance and control.

That would have been much more thematically interesting, and it would have made Godzilla more integral to the plot, rather than simply being the guy that
comes in to solve a problem totally unrelated to him other than that he wants to fight some monsters at the end of the movie because he's an 'apex predator'
 
The soundtrack was terrible. Lost some good visceral tension that could have been there, It was a straight by the numbers 90s blockbuster soundtack.

Too many 300+ feet monsters having bro moments with humans. Dear lord when Godzilla looked at ford while resting was stupid. And good GOD the japanese music when zilla wakes up in the stadium and just casually trots back into the water and everyone is essentially waving goodbye was such a bad way to end the movie. Why couldn't this movie have the tone of the Golden Gate bridge part the entire time? No soundtrack, just human perspective insanity and death. The movie also felt even more "B Movie" than before.

I agree with all of this. Such a shame. Why couldn't we have gotten the movie that was advertised for once, instead of cleverly arranged into something that looks much more interesting and daring than the final product ends up being. The tone was completely different from the trailers.
 

Audette

Member
Saw it twice now, I think It a good godzilla movie which doesn't step on the toes of other godzilla movies.
I'd rate it A-
The marketing of the movie was more than slightly misleading. It really set me up for disapointment the first time watching, way different mood and flow than I expected.

Movie is either 20 minutes too long, or 20 minutes needed to be monster scenes instead of people scenes.
 

Jaeger

Member
what a dumb movie .. this movie makes the 98 godzilla oscar worthy. when i pay 10 bucks for the movie i expect to b spoon fed about anything and everything in under 2 hours cause my bladder can only hold for that long. movie cpuld be called dumb and dumberer in reference to godzilla and muto.

Matthew Broderick, is that you?
 

Dicer

Banned
Saw it this morning and loved it for the most part, only things that sucked...

Elisabeth Olsen, ugh...the vacant/jaundice looking stares and the kid was awful too

Other than those two it was great.
 
The opinions in this thread are reminding of the divisive reactions to Superman Returns.

Anyways I loved the film.

Edwards basically took the tone of the t-rex scene (you know the one) from Jurassic Park and based the whole film around it and it was great.
 

Bucca

Fools are always so certain of themselves, but wiser men so full of doubts.
Everything was worth those last 30 minutes.

Everything.
 

Shadownet

Banned
Because only the main cast get free passes.

They made this explicitly clear when Quicksilver convinced someone to let him board a train so he could get home to Scarlet Witch and their incestual child. Apparently, he was the only one who had a family to go home to

He was the only one who asked.
lol
 
No idea how you guys loved this movie.

I thought it was extremely disappointing, and that is coming from someone going in with no expectations and not being a Godzilla fan.

For the first hour and a half, I was bored to tears.

It was talking, and talking, and talking, THEN GODZILLA IS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING COOL, ohh wait, nevermind, more talking and talking, Godzilla going to fight.....ohh, no nevermind. Lets talk some more.

Finally at the end you get some action. What a disappointment. 2 hours could have easily been shaved down to an hour and a half.

Thank God I didn't see it in imax. What an absolute waste of money that would have been.

The worst thing for me, is that the action at the end didn't justify the "Godzilla is about to whoop some a-NOPE, here's a dumb human running/talking/gawking!" teasing that the movie indulged in.

The fighting was super slow and clumsy(It's shouldn't be hard to make something big look like it knows how to fight while still looking huge.) He didn't do one cool thing until
he breathed his fire breath into the stupid MUTO's mouth. As cool as that was, PR had way more of those moments and it was better for it.
 

nib95

Banned
No idea how you guys loved this movie.

I thought it was extremely disappointing, and that is coming from someone going in with no expectations and not being a Godzilla fan.

For the first hour and a half, I was bored to tears.

It was talking, and talking, and talking, THEN GODZILLA IS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING COOL, ohh wait, nevermind, more talking and talking, Godzilla going to fight.....ohh, no nevermind. Lets talk some more.

Finally at the end you get some action. What a disappointment. 2 hours could have easily been shaved down to an hour and a half.

Thank God I didn't see it in imax. What an absolute waste of money that would have been.

You speak as if people talking is an inherently boring thing….Depends entirely on the subject matter being discussed, and how it all progresses the narrative.

I found the first half of the movie as entertaining as the latter half. I was in no rush to see non stop monotonous giant monster battling, and wanted it to count when it finally did arrive, and it did.

Too many movies these days go the Man on Steel route where it's just an unnecessary and inconsequential amount of action and fighting that makes something that should be riveting and impactful turn in to something mundane.
 
I really loved how Godzilla was fat. He reminded me of Earl Sinclair.

dinosaurios+sangre+hasta+las+rodillas+blog.jpg
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Honestly how are you going to show character buildup in two hours if you've got a large ensemble cast and a plot that spans the globe. Oh, and some giant monsters thrashing about. Godzilla isn't a character driven film. It's about catastrophic disaster and what it does to people. It's not complex, and it doesn't have to be.

Basically yes, it wasent about the characters when all it all comes down to it, the characters were mostly there to show that these monsters exist and the effects they were having on their lives but mostly humanity's lives
 
No idea how you guys loved this movie.

I thought it was extremely disappointing, and that is coming from someone going in with no expectations and not being a Godzilla fan.

For the first hour and a half, I was bored to tears.

It was talking, and talking, and talking, THEN GODZILLA IS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING COOL, ohh wait, nevermind, more talking and talking, Godzilla going to fight.....ohh, no nevermind. Lets talk some more.

Finally at the end you get some action. What a disappointment. 2 hours could have easily been shaved down to an hour and a half.

Thank God I didn't see it in imax. What an absolute waste of money that would have been.

You probably missed a bit of the fan service and little nods to the Toho films.

The Toho films also include talking and people and dialogue and human. I mean isn't that what makes a movie?

Did you really want 123 minutes of all monster action? That's not what makes Godzilla a great franchise.
 

Jaeger

Member
This film needed not to be Pacific Rim 2. It needed to be a Godzilla film, rivaling Godzilla [1954] in it's thematic landscape and overall presentation.

It needed humans to help us actually feel something. This is a disaster film, with giant monsters. Not a Dragonball episode.

ATJ did a fine job of being the guy who isn't laughing and cracking jokes, or being so charismatic it oozed through the screen. He is a man, separated from his family, who already lost his father to something he didn't know existed until hours before.
 
Pros:
  • Beat for beat this is a traditional Godzilla flick, whether you like that or not (I do). Post-nuclear imagery, kaiju attacks, Godzilla swoops in and saves the day.
  • They nailed Godzilla. Say what you will about Emmerich's design, it was not Godzilla. Lumbering, formidable, downright unstoppable - the 2014 design will go down in the books as one of the best ever, I feel.
  • Excellent soundtrack and sound design.
  • Easter eggs for longtime Godzilla faithful.
    Mothra anyone?
  • The monster MUTO burrows and the quarantine zone provided some spectacular set-pieces.

Cons:
  • Cranston, the biggest starpower draw to the film besides Godzilla himself,
    dies in the first 40 minutes
    ...
  • What's his face, the guy who plays Quicksilver in Avengers 2...some of the worst acting I've seen outside of a Syfy original movie. Makes Channing Tatum look like Daniel Day-Lewis.
  • The point of having humans in a giant monster movie is to lend the film a sense of human drama, not bore us to death with soulless military drones barking orders at eachother.
  • The human/kaiju ratio was way off. Godzilla kicking these new MUTO's ass was the main draw of the movie and it almost feels like an afterthought. "Have we milked Generic Military Guy for everything he's got by now? Okay, I guess we can fill up the rest of our time with a monster fight."
  • Despite nailing Godzilla visually, they don't really nail him in execution. The whole "friend to all humanity" angle is weird. Typically when Godzilla stomps a rival kaiju it's only after destroying half the city already - when he's done you've got to worry about what you're going to do with him. Godzilla walking back into the sea after a job well done is an iconic image but it really doesn't fit with the mythos at all. It's hard to fear a monster when you know he's got your back.

Verdict? Movie was good. Could have been great if they got their priorities straight. Instead of making me want to watch it again it just makes me want to watch a classic Godzilla flick where they get it right. If we're comparing it to the last kaiju movie event I'd say Pacific Rim blows Godzilla away. It just knew exactly what it wanted to be and didn't flinch from that vision. The only part of Godzilla that delivered on the apocalyptic action of the trailers was the excellent final act.
 
Isn't anyone upset that
all the big battles took place at night, hiding all the important details (the monsters)? The entire grand climactic battle was motion blur shadows. Why the hell did they do that? Hiding CGI budget shortcomings? I was silently begging "Please, surely they have dawn and then the climax of the battle" but, no. Dear crap it was dark. What should have been amazing was barely visible.

The dark worked very well in Hawaii, especially that train reveal because it was still in teaser/buildup mode. But any daylight footage of monsters was when they were doing nothing special or via a blurry news footage on a small TV within the scene. And then Godzilla just leaves, in daylight finally, we see him full view doing nothing, end.

I'm positive on the buildup/teasing, negative on every character but Cranston's (can't remember any character names) who should've carried the whole film/didn't need his death or son's character, wooden actors were wooden. But most of all, having the finale hidden in shadows crapped it for me. Seemed like cool stuff happening somewhere in there. "Fire breath" seemed a little too laser-like. Or light saber maybe. Broaden it and flare it up a little.

If I could ask the director 1.5 questions, it would be "Why did you cover the entire climactic battle in heavy shadow instead of letting audiences see Godzilla fight Motu? Budget constraints?

Anyway, overall positive but terrible actors except Cranston. If they "flip the lights on" for the sequel and add good actors, it will be great.
 
Watched this earlier. Really enjoyed it, as apparently everyone else did in the theater.

This is definitely an experience movie. One that's based on evoking sensations over actually telling a story, and it does that very well. It reminded me a lot of Gravity, but with giant monsters instead of space. The lack of music replaced by booming ambient sounds and haunting tones works great in that regard. I really enjoyed seeing a Godzilla battle from a completely human perspective. It captured the feeling of dread I had as a kid that I might someday walk outside and see a giant monster on the horizon, its roar distant and the quaking from its footsteps gradually getting bigger and bigger as it got closer. It's the feeling of absolute helplessness of being in the wake of something so massive. It's the same feeling I get when I hear tornado sirens go off. I really liked that.

I will say that the story is... almost nonexistent after
Cranston's character dies
. Like I said, this movie is just about the experience. It very much feels like a lot of stuff is just to get to the next image that Edwards had in his head-- the big "gotcha" moments, like
MUTO appearing in realistic, shaky footage on CNN just before the lights go out
. Ultimately I didn't mind it, because I was enjoying those sections so much, and nothing ever broke the tension for me.

My only real problem was Ken Watanabe, who seemed completely vacant throughout the whole thing. It seems like every scene he was in began with him making a shocked expression, then being given information that confuses him before he makes some grand statement in a hushed tone.

He's just catching flies...


Ultimately it was a great ride. See it. See it in IMAX with the loudest speakers you can get. When Godzilla roared it felt like I got punched in the chest and it was great.
 
Im really disappointed

The overall godzilla screentime is barely 5 minutes and everytime the movie finally shows godzilla they make a cut and prefer showing what the patroitic generic military guy is doing right now (while godzilla fights on the tvs in the background, wtf!?) or its so friggin dark you cant see anything.

and how the hell could the mainchar survive all that stuff?
trainattack from muto, a friggin nuclear megaton explosion!, etc. And how could they carry that bomb with a few guys, it should weigth a lot of tons!

and why dont they remix the classic godzilla soundtrack parts? They just belong to a real godzilla movie.

if they want to focus on humans and let us feel something - good. But then cast more non-wooden actors and
dont let your only amazing actor die within a few minutes

The final fight was really dumb imho. Godzilla got attacked once and goes to the ground. then the dumb mutas get distracted (instead of killing Godzilla) so he can kill both mutas one by one with a signature move - oh and then godzilla suddenly kind of dies, even though you didnt get that he got hurt seriously - but wait he just took a nap, why should humans hear the heartbeat or anything of a gigantic monster

Overall i think even with Godzilla being more like the real Godzilla the movie isnt better than the Emmerich one. Only really good thing is that it got potential to make an amazing sequel
 
I really enjoyed seeing a Godzilla battle from a completely human perspective. It captured the feeling of dread I had as a kid that I might someday walk outside and see a giant monster on the horizon, its roar distant and the quaking from its footsteps gradually getting bigger and bigger as it got closer. It's the feeling of absolute helplessness of being in the wake of something so massive. It's the same feeling I get when I hear tornado sirens go off. I really liked that.
Nice. This really distills why i enjoyed this movie so much despite its flaws. Like I said earlier in the thread, one of my favorite moments in the film was when the
soldiers are trying to get the nuke on the boat and the female MUTO spots them. She is many blocks away but covers the distance in just a few seconds. They do a low angle shot from the soldiers perspective with them trying to hurry, the MUTO fast approaching. You quickly realize how fucked they, completely helpless out in the open.

Another one was the HALO jump and seeing Godzilla from inside Ford's goggles. Edwards did a great job creating a sense of scale and making the monsters feel massive.
 

meta4

Junior Member
Im really disappointed

The overall godzilla screentime is barely 5 minutes and everytime the movie finally shows godzilla they make a cut and prefer showing what the patroitic generic military guy is doing right now (while godzilla fights on the tvs in the background, wtf!?) or its so friggin dark you cant see anything.

and how the hell could the mainchar survive all that stuff?
trainattack from muto, a friggin nuclear megaton explosion!, etc. And how could they carry that bomb with a few guys, it should weigth a lot of tons!

and why dont they remix the classic godzilla soundtrack parts? They just belong to a real godzilla movie.

if they want to focus on humans and let us feel something - good. But then cast more non-wooden actors and
dont let your only amazing actor die within a few minutes

The final fight was really dumb imho. Godzilla got attacked once and goes to the ground. then the dumb mutas get distracted (instead of killing Godzilla) so he can kill both mutas one by one with a signature move - oh and then godzilla suddenly kind of dies, even though you didnt get that he got hurt seriously - but wait he just took a nap, why should humans hear the heartbeat or anything of a gigantic monster

Overall i think even with Godzilla being more like the real Godzilla the movie isnt better than the Emmerich one. Only really good thing is that it got potential to make an amazing sequel

Bang on. Infact I would go ahead and say atleast the Emmerich one is more enjoyable for its unintended hilarity. I can watch the 98 one and atleast laugh. I would not be able to watch the 2014 crappy Godzilla again. Horrible acting, horrible action, horrible pacing and piss poor direction. The only beautifully shot part of the movie is the halo jump and that was shown in the trailer before hand.

Cloverfield atleast attempts to show what it would be like to have a giant monster attack a city. Clover field shits on this movie from a great height.
 

zhao3gold

Banned
Watched it in the weekend in IMAX 3D, but I have to say I enjoyed 98 Godzilla more than this 2014 version. I know I am in the minority group and perhaps I am just weird.....
 
Edwards did a great job creating a sense of scale and making the monsters feel massive.

Definitely.

This is honestly the first time that Godzilla and his foes have felt as enormous and powerful as they are supposed to be. The practical constraints of a man in a suit and miniature effects have seldom been able to convey the monsters' size, (although Gamera 3 is a notable exception), but between the POV shot framing and generally solid animation, Edwards and the effects team knocked it out of the park on that front.

Ford and Morales'
encounter with the female MUTO on the bridge
was, at times, almost vertigo-inducing in IMAX, and you could practically feel the weight of the impact when Godzilla
slams his tail into the male MUTO and impales it on the building
.

It's such a simple thing, but seeing giant monsters move with all the heft and (relative) slowness that you'd intuitively expect them to made me giddy.
 
Fuck yea! Despite a somewhat disappointing and abrupt ending, this movie was amazing. A few parts gave me the chills and Cranton's performance at the begining brought on the feels.
 

jfoul

Member
Life long Godzilla fan here, and I really liked it. The movie is a slow burn and it keeps you wanting more, until it fully delivers at the end.

The movie is sitting at $196 million right now, and I'm excited to see more Hollywood budget Godzilla. We probably won't see a Japanese produced Godzilla film for a very long time. I'm guessing Toho is just going to sit back and collect license fees, which strangely makes me a bit sad.
 

Cindres

Vied for a tag related to cocks, so here it is.
Also something else I really liked, when Godzilla appears they played this little rumble sound a lot, say when it was perfectly silent and he appears when Ford was in the streets or they fire off the flares.

This sound:
http://youtu.be/vIu85WQTPRc?t=2m1s
 
Oh my

Kind of reminds me of this (in the face, anyway)

We probably won't see a Japanese produced Godzilla film for a very long time. I'm guessing Toho is just going to sit back and collect license fees, which strangely makes me a bit sad.
if the millennium series had been better, I might be more heartbroken about it. As it stands, I'm fine with Edwards and Legendary carrying the torch for a while
 
Isn't anyone upset that
all the big battles took place at night, hiding all the important details (the monsters)? The entire grand climactic battle was motion blur shadows. Why the hell did they do that? Hiding CGI budget shortcomings? I was silently begging "Please, surely they have dawn and then the climax of the battle" but, no. Dear crap it was dark. What should have been amazing was barely visible.
I had the complete opposite reaction. Did you see it in 3D? Everything is completely visible and distinguishable. You could always tell what was going on.
Oh my

Kind of reminds me of this (in the face, anyway)

I have that toy. Well, the model anyway. I built so many Zoid models as a kid.
 

Bluth54

Member
I had the complete opposite reaction. Did you see it in 3D? Everything is completely visible and distinguishable. You could always tell what was going on.

I saw it in 2D and didn't have any problems seeing the battles. Maybe the screening that person went too wasn't calibrated right and it was too dark?
 
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