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[Shouta]

Yeah, there's no way that was his intention.

His intention for the actors? I think it may have been a little. ATJ/Ford at the beginning of the film is much more emotional than he is later on the film to me, though it's a sort of almost stilted emotional. I think a few scenes where speaks with his Dad ends up being much more where it breaks through. Which makes sense, the family's ghost is not Godzilla but the events of the beginning of the film. It makes sense, the entire opening act and the two are nods to Fukushima and, in some ways, paying respect to everything that occurred there.

At any rate, i think that making the characters have more to do or more developed/linked story in the film would shift the focus away from the bigger picture with the monsters. It'd become about those human characters rather than the monsters appearing and attacking everything. I think a lot of the older Godzillas do this and while good action/monster mash flicks, are very generic as a result.

The Dissolve article brings up an interesting point about the original 54 Godzilla and this one, I didn't really think about it from that angle. I'll have to put some more thought into it.

 

[kaching]

The crux of the argument i was making is this, in regards to his reasoning: when the entirety of humanity is depending on your expertise to help confront the greatest challenge it has ever faced, hey, don't fuck around with some guesswork.

No, I'm pretty sure the crux of your argument is to pump up the significance of this character so as to try to lend more weight to your criticisms.

By their nature, the greatest challenges we face are typically ones such as these which we haven't encountered before or have little experience with and as such innately involve some guesswork. It really shouldn't strain credulity that someone dared to use intuition in a situation where they simply could not have all the facts in time to make a completely informed decision.

 

[Opto]

So I really liked this movie! It was a fun time. Some of ya'll seem to be nitpicking this thing to death though

 

[Kimosabae]

I mean Cranston (and to a lesser extent, Hawkins and Olsen) were the only ones who seemed to be actually engaging with anything that was happening onscreen. And in Hawkins & Olsen's case, it's because they literally had NOTHING else to do.

I really got the sense that unless you were an actor who is good at directing yourself, Edwards is going to leave you stranded, because for a movie that features so many awe-inspiring moments, to have a majority of the characters just squinting or staring mildly undercuts the majesty of the visuals.

For all the Spielberg comparisons that have been thrown around (and a lot of them are apt) Spielberg made sure that his actors actually REFLECTED the stakes on their faces when he dollies up to them.

A lot of this movie features actors just barely acting. Not underplaying. Just mostly standing there. It was the same in Monsters. Luckily, there's a metric TON more to work with here in Godzilla, so Edwards' inability to get his actors to manufacture humanity isn't as much of a drag.

People are talking about replacing actors/characters, and it's the wrong solution to an obvious problem. The actors are fine - the cast is a good cast. The problem is their director just strands them. You don't need to switch actors or cut characters. You just need to draw performances out of the people you already have. He didn't do that

Was wondering how succinctly I could plot my position on this film, but then I saw this post. Takes a load off.

One of the most potentially compelling aspects of apocalyptic/disaster movies/scenes is allowing the audience to consider and share in the implications of dire/awe inspiring scenarios - yet I've only seen maybe 3 films that did this remotely well. Jurassic Park, Cloverfield and Dawn of the Dead (remake).

I don't get why the execution of this is done so lazily more often than not, when it easily adds tension and raises the stakes tenfold if directors just pay attention to details. It's not just the main characters that suffer from this.

Spoiler

In Godzilla, there's 300 ft. monsters doing battle on a flat screen on a news network in the background and the hospital's energy is about as mundane as can be - until the main character calls his wife and she starts sporadically freaking out over the phone about not being able to piece together what's happening. Such a dumb juxtaposition. At the very least you'd think some people would be utterly transfixed by the images onscreen and that at least some of the commotion and patients in the hosptial would be directly related to the damages caused by these creatures.

Another egregious example is the scene where the male creature first escapes his prison and flies off, while Watanabe's character and the military general are watching it fly away on several screens in the military surveillance room. People are moving about like it's another day at the office. No one expresses anything even resembling disbelief outside Watanabe. No one is even looking at the screen. No sense of alarm or urgency from anyone - not even the general. It's pathetic.

It's details like these that ruin these kinds of movies for me. I thought it was dumb, dumb, dumb. Beautiful but dumb. This happens so often in moves I see it as more of a Hollywood thing than a director thing.

You didn't need to have Godzilla onscreen a lot for this to be good and the human drama could have very well been compelling. Just put yourself in the shoes of people dealing with 300 ft. monsters threatening to destroy everything you thought you knew and loved about the world. Is that really so hard?

This is ramblomatic and disjointed, sorry I'm low on time.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

No, I'm pretty sure the crux of your argument is to pump up the significance of this character so as to try to lend more weight to your criticisms

Look, we're just lucky that godzilla had no lines or else I'm pretty sure we'd both be in agreement that G would've been poorly written for and it would've been woodenly acted out.

The film just isn't that good, and my focus being primarily on Ken's character (you're right about me having a terrible memory as I couldn't remember his character's name if a pacific island's existence depended on it. apparently, he played the memorable role of scientist Ishiro Serizawa so I'll refer to him as such from here on out) is really just me picking apart a script that commits possibly the worst sin a film can: not terrible enough to be enjoyed for its faults but not good enough to carry its ambitions.

The film (with some exceptions, such as the

Spoiler

halo jump and the blink-and-you'll-miss-it final conflict

) is mediocre, with flashes of competence that cruelly teases one into thinking there's more to it than there is. You got something out of it and that's great, kaching. For myself, though, it all fell apart as soon as Cranston is out of the picture and just felt like mess till just about the end. Hopefully there's a better film that comes out of it in the form of a sequel but I'll wait out the impression of that one before I commit to a ticket.

 

[The Librarian]

The film (with some exceptions, such as the

Spoiler

the blink-and-you'll-miss-it final conflict

)

That is a gross exaggeration.

 

[Shorty11857]

Saw the film last night and can't say I liked it, the build up at first felt decent but I just could not care about any scene with the main character in it.

Final fight did look pretty cool though

The best part of the movie was the last 5 minutes being cut off so I got a refund

 

[Bobby Roberts]

"blink-and-you'll-miss-it" isn't a valid criticism for ANY part of the film's finale.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

I typed all of that and you guys are killing me for that line? It's clearly an exaggeration, peeps.

In reality, it's longer than a blink but shorter than what I needed given the amount of crappy crap I sat through for what I admit to being a fun scene overall.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I typed all of that and you guys are killing me for that line?

I swear there's some irony in here somewhere...

 

[Jaeger]

Nah, the closer analogy, I find, is that this is a lot like when Man of Steel came out, and suddenly Superman Returns was a forgotten classic.

Exactly. Next up, The Last Stand will be a masterpiece if DofP doesn't fancy everyone's personal expectations.

 

[Blader]

David Strathairn's introduction in this movie was very odd. He's a great actor but not an especially known one, and the way the camera tries to conceal his identity in his first scene before having him turn around and face the audience was almost like they were trying to unveil this big secret or something.

I don't know, maybe I was the only who had that impression

Exactly. Next up, The Last Stand will be a masterpiece if DofP doesn't fancy everyone's personal expectations.

I just want to put on record that I've always liked X3 in a dumb fun sort of way. The story is such a missed opportunity that it still hurts, but some of the setpieces are cool to watch, if brainless.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

I swear there's some irony in here somewhere...

There's a difference between using an example to establish an argument vs what you're doing now but that's fine. You gotta defend the things you like somehow, right?

As far as people who are saying that GINO is suddenly decent because of this movie: they're out of their minds. A bad movie doesn't become good thanks to another movie as much as a good movie becomes bad because of another movie. Alien isn't terrible because of aliens resurrection and the prequels don't suddenly make the original trilogy garbage.

A not-great Godzilla movie will remain not-great forever, no matter what came before or what comes after it.

Then why'd you type that?

The final is, like, a half hour long.

I was referencing specifically the final conflict involving just the monsters, which to me was the part that i thought was good. I guess I should've been clearer.

 

[The Librarian]

I typed all of that and you guys are killing me for that line? It's clearly an exaggeration, peeps.

Then why'd you type that?

The finale is, like, a half hour long.

 

[Jaeger]

I just want to put on record that I've always liked X3 in a dumb fun sort of way. The story is such a missed opportunity that it still hurts, but some of the setpieces are cool to watch, if brainless.

There's actually nothing wrong with that. There are countless films that are shallow, or fun to watch on occasional at home, or whenever it airs on television. Maybe with a few friends, too. I have a massive list of those myself.

It's when we say that previous entry is somehow a masterpiece after it clearly wasn't and decades passed and you said nothing of this unrealized masterpiece until the new one (which is clearly performing better with audiences than the older one ever did) is when it's ludicrous.

 

[Timeaisis]

I do have a question about the film yesterday.

Spoiler

Why didn't Godzilla eat the MUTOs? What was his motivation for killing them? Was it simply to assert his dominance over the planet? It seems logical to me that the only reason he would expend so much energy to kill them would be as a food source so he could happily sleep for another 30 years or so.

 

[1upmuffin]

I do have a question about the film yesterday.

Spoiler

Why didn't Godzilla eat the MUTOs? What was his motivation for killing them? Was it simply to assert his dominance over the planet? It seems logical to me that the only reason he would expend so much energy to kill them would be as a food source so he could happily sleep for another 30 years or so.

It isn't explained well, they just say

Spoiler

he's the apex predator and that's what he does.

 

[A_Gorilla]

I do have a question about the film yesterday.

Spoiler

Why didn't Godzilla eat the MUTOs? What was his motivation for killing them? Was it simply to assert his dominance over the planet? It seems logical to me that the only reason he would expend so much energy to kill them would be as a food source so he could happily sleep for another 30 years or so.

Spoiler

Remember that both big G and the Mutos eat radiation, and it explicitly said that at the time their species lived Earth was 10 times more radioactive than it is now. So it isn't really so much about eating them as it is about eliminating competition for the remaining food.

 

[Fancy Clown]

I do have a question about the film yesterday.

Spoiler

Why didn't Godzilla eat the MUTOs? What was his motivation for killing them? Was it simply to assert his dominance over the planet? It seems logical to me that the only reason he would expend so much energy to kill them would be as a food source so he could happily sleep for another 30 years or so.

Yeah, I wasn't really clear on this either. The only explanation was Watanabe saying

Spoiler

Godzilla is an apex predator and will 'restore balance' or something. I guess having other giant monsters around pissed him off like he's super territorial and the whole world is his turf or something. Because he definitely didn't eat them.

 

[The Librarian]

I was referencing specifically the final conflict involving just the monsters, which to me was the part that i thought was good. I guess I should've been clearer.

That's way more than a "blink of an eye", dude.

 

[Subitai]

It isn't explained well, they just say

Spoiler

he's the apex predator and that's what he does.

Spoiler

The skeleton at the beginning was dead because the male MUTO was a parasite as a baby and consumed it until it was dead at which point the male made itself dormant until the miners "woke" it up. Godzilla was also protecting itself from them making lots of baby parasites that could kill it among all the other damage they could cause.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

That's way more than a "blink of an eye", dude.

Relative to the rest of the film? It's really not much at all. And given that it's possibly the best part of the film and one has to trudge through so much for it to happen, i dunno. It really felt like it was over way too soon and there wasn't enough of it in general. But it's good, i'm giving it its due in regards to that.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Well, the article does say that a more charismatic lead and better dialogue would have definitely helped, and I agree--but I don't think we need a character arc, we just needed more from the lead. Alan Grant, Ellen Ripley--these are characters that we LIKE, even if they don't experience much growth, because we're able to understand the characters' actions. Godzilla veers a bit TOO much into Ford just being a vessel that we tag along with, IMO, leaving his character fully by the wayside.

I don't even know if it's Edwards' inability. Sally Hawkins, Cranston, Juliette Binoche, and David Strathairn were fine. I felt like Hawkins did a lot with a tiny/insignificant role, because she knew how to emote.

ATJ's character was poorly written, but between this and Anna Karenina, I'm starting to doubt his range.

Post-human=the humans are not the center of the story or even the most important aspect. Humanity not having any way to deal with the situation fits right into that narrative.

I just think the characters were so dull because they were almost all used exclusively for exposition purposes and had no discernible personalities beyond their job tropes (I.e. the scientist, or the stern military man). Ripley might not have a big character arc (although she had one in Alien) but she at least had personality.

Bryan Cranston was so engaging in this movie because they actually bothered to develop him as a character and make him emotionally relatable, even though he's also a trope (and he's a very good actor).

 

[Bobby Roberts]

There's a difference between using an example to establish an argument vs what you're doing now but that's fine.

I'm not doing anything but goofing on you. I'm not saying you don't have a right to your opinion or even trying to tell you to stop giving it.

I just thought it was funny.

edit: I've also been pretty vocal about my criticisms regarding the movie, so it's not really a matter of "defending what I like by any means necessary" either.

 

[LegendX48]

Saw the movie twice and think it's great. The only problem with it is that the true Godzilla theme was not in it when it needed it.

 

[MrCunningham]

Jesus.

– French Guys
– Roger Ebert Mayor
– Annoying woman who wants to be a reporter
– Dr. Nick Statopoulos ("It's Tatopoulos!")

Really?

Don't forget about Kent Brockman as the news anchor, and that main French guy was Leon: The Professional.

The 1998 Godzilla was a bad film, bad in the type of way that only Roland Emmerich is capable of producing. The movie throws everything about Godzilla out the window and substitutes it for an uninspired Jurassic Park parody. It's so campy and and shows no respect for logic. But at the same time I still think the movie can offer some shallow thrills if you are willing to throw your brain out the window and just roll with it. I can understand it if people enjoy the movie on that level.

I still think I give the 2014 movie a bit of an unenthusiastic thumbs up, but I still can't quite give it a ringing endorsement. Something about the narrative does feel disjointed to me, in the human characters, monsters and aftermath and destruction. I just don't feel like there was any one thread here that could real me in and keep me invested with the movie.

 

[Ferrio]

I do have a question about the film yesterday.

Spoiler

Why didn't Godzilla eat the MUTOs? What was his motivation for killing them? Was it simply to assert his dominance over the planet? It seems logical to me that the only reason he would expend so much energy to kill them would be as a food source so he could happily sleep for another 30 years or so.

Spoiler

I think he was just pissed with them talking back and forth, must of been annoying hearing that for years

 

[HIGH DEF JEFF]

Saw the movie twice and think it's great. The only problem with it is that the true Godzilla theme was not in it when it needed it.

I asked a few pages back if there was a reason they didnt use it.

I walked into Godzilla 2014 not expecting to like the movie. I joked that if they dont use the theme than this movie is just another GINO.
I really liked it..so I will give the exclusion of the the theme a pass..I still would like to know why they didnt use it though.

 

[HalfBakedProphet]

To what extent was Frank Darabont involved with this? Can GAF clear this up for me?

Back in 2013 it was publicized that Darabont was involved in writing the film. Here's an interview he did with iO9:
http://io9.com/5977982/how-frank-da...ightful-place-as-a-terrifying-force-of-nature

You get the sense from this that he was behind a lot of what ended up being good about the final product.

The reason I'm writing this is that his name does not appear in the credits at all and his name is not being used in any of the promotion for the film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

What's the deal GAF?

David S Goyer also did a few weeks of work on it a few years ago ("script doctor") but he was left off as well. My guess would be Darabont's draft wasn't different enough to be given screen credit, even if they used his work. It has to do with the screenwriter rules in hollywood, taken from Wikipedia...

An original writer must contribute at least one-third of the final screenplay to receive credit. Subsequent writers who work as script doctors must contribute more than half of the final screenplay to receive formal credit on a film.

Based on what I've read concerning the original story, a lot of the little things are changed from David Callaham's first draft. However the overall structure is similar enough for him to be given a story credit.

 

[Tizoc]

Just got back from watching, great disaster movie but...

Spoiler

NEEDED MORE KAIJU FIGHTING!

The final battles were nice I like how Godzilla was all 'I am sick of your shit you flying piece of filth', then WHIPS the freakin fellow into a building. All of Godzilla's other trademark tricks were nice and fantastically presented IMO.

The final scenes which featured the news reel 'King of the Monsters' put a smile on my face.

Will there be like an extended edition on Bluray in coming months for this movie?

 

[HIGH DEF JEFF]

David S Foyer also did a few weeks of work on it ("script doctor"). My guess would be Darabont's draft wasn't different enough to be given screen credit, even if they used his work. It has to do with the screenwriter rules in hollywood, taken from Wikipedia...


Based on what I've read concerning the original story, a lot of the little things are changed from David Callaham's first draft. However the overall structure is similar enough for him to be given a story credit.

RE: Darabont.
One the Empire podcast (Godzilla spoiler episode) Edwards said Darabont came up with the scene/exchange between Cranstons character and Binochets character at the closing door. They spoke a little more about his involvement but the major take away is that he wrote that part. I thought it was very effective.

 

[Wilbur]

Just saw it again. Even better the second time, knowing how it was paced. Just a brilliantly well executed blockbuster.

 

[Lightning4Ever]

Loved pretty much everything about this movie.

For me the main characters themselves not being incredibly interesting wasn't a problem to me, since what was happening to them was interesting.

Can't wait to see it again.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

For me the main characters themselves not being incredibly interesting wasn't a problem to me, since what was happening to them was interesting.

three thousand posts and we finally get the most succinctly worded defense of the film's flaws I've read thus far.

 

[Raptor]

Nothing on Pacific Rim, all Transformers movies, Cloverfield, Zilla, combined is more incredible badass that when Godzilla

Spoiler

Lighted up his tail to do some atomic breath carnage!!!

Fuck, I wanted to cry right there of joy lols.

 

[Blablurn]

Just saw it again. Even better the second time, knowing how it was paced. Just a brilliantly well executed blockbuster.

I'm not only respecting your opinion; I even like it.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Nothing on Pacific Rim, all Transformers movies, Cloverfield, Zilla, combined is more incredible badass that when Godzilla

Spoiler

Lighted up his tail to do some atomic breath carnage!!!

Fuck, I wanted to cry right there of joy lols.

This is right up there:

 

[Retro]

Just got home from seeing it, still decompressing so I won't try to give any detailed impressions yet. As a life-long fan of Godzilla (32 years old, and I'm gonna have to make the distinction here that I was a fan well before the '98 film), I walked out impressed and happy. I know there were several points where I was quite aware I was smiling like a moron seeing Godzilla on the big screen, doing his thing properly.

Initial impression though is, very good. My wife (who's never seen a Godzilla movie before, not even 98) thought it was great and is presently looking for a movie poster for our office. We're trying to coax the in-laws out to see it so we have an excuse to watch it again. It's worth noting we don't usually go out to movies (the last one before this was The Dark Knight, before that was Avatar), so going to see it again is a bigger deal than it sounds like. My wife mentioned she's even willing to buy their tickets for them (and thee are IMAX tickets, so ~$20 a head).

Worth noting that I saw it in IMAX 3D (the first 3-D movie I've seen since Captain EO at Epcot back in 1989) and I went in expecting to be annoyed by it and worried I'd have a headache. Happy to report the 3D is unobtrusive and wasn't much if a distraction after you get used to it (my wife and I settled on 'about 5 minutes' for that to happen). It doesn't really contribute that much to the movie but doesn't detract either. And it was worth it for the IMAX screen and sound (there were no non 3-D showings at this theater).

I know a sequel is coming. I'm more than okay with this.

Edit: Ah, some Pacific Rim discussion. I caught it on HBO since folks were talking about it in the thread before I went on media blackout. Was not impressed, it felt like Big Transformers That Don't Transform Beating Up Lots of Generic Monsters That Just Skirt Copyright Infringement: The Movie . Lots of CGI shit slamming into other CGI shit for 2 hours with a lot of poorly-written 'human' stuff wedged in. Godzilla, in contrast, felt like you got just enough monster (a lot of it tucked nicely into the background to give it a sense of scale, something Pacific Rim didn't really have because everything was CGI) with the human element serving to motivate the story and give you something to invest into other than "Will Godzilla win now or later". I also think Pacific Rim was a little too jokey (nowhere near as bad as Godzilla 98) whereas Godzilla didn't have a moment of levity that I can recall. Way too much "Look how badass it is to smash things with giant robots, with giant swords and he just hit that monster with a BOAT and junk, fuck yeah!", but that's what it was going for so I guess it worked. Just not what I want out of these kind of movies, I guess.

 

[Chaotic-Strike]

Will there be like an extended edition on Bluray in coming months for this movie?

An extended edition has been confirmed for the Blu-ray.

 

[Wilbur]

I'm not only respecting your opinion; I even like it.

mia san muto

 

[Raptor]

This is right up there:

While the CGI and sequence is impressive there was no build up, nothing, so I felt nothing at watching that, yeah sure is badass Im not arguing that but it doesn't comes close to seeing the King do what he do best goddamn.

Don't know why I fucking hate Pacific Rim now, and I liked it alot when I walked out of the cinema, maybe is because all the potential it had, didn't lived up to my expectations and Im really easy to please in this types of movies lol.

 

[Sulik2]

This is right up there:

The Hong Kong sequence of Pacific Rim is one of the best action sequences ever put on film. Maybe no individual moments as great as

Spoiler

BLUE FIRE DOWN THE MOUTH OMG ITS HEAD IS OFF

but its an incredible piece of action film making.

 

[kaching]

I typed all of that and you guys are killing me for that line? It's clearly an exaggeration, peeps.

In reality, it's longer than a blink but shorter than what I needed given the amount of crappy crap I sat through for what I admit to being a fun scene overall.

That's been your argument in a nutshell, AFAICT: exaggerate the flaws and marginalize the good parts. If you have to keep defending your hyperbole, might be time to reign in the rhetoric. I don't think the movie is perfect by any stretch, but you just keep pushing the criticism past the point of legitimacy.

 

[Toa TAK]

Don't know why I fucking hate Pacific Rim now, and I liked it alot when I walked out of the cinema, maybe is because all the potential it had, didn't lived up to my expectations and Im really easy to please in this types of movies lol.

At least you're honest.

 

[Shouta]

I do have a question about the film yesterday.

Spoiler

Why didn't Godzilla eat the MUTOs? What was his motivation for killing them? Was it simply to assert his dominance over the planet? It seems logical to me that the only reason he would expend so much energy to kill them would be as a food source so he could happily sleep for another 30 years or so.

Fairly easy to explain given the explanations in the film.

Spoiler

He and the Mutos don't eat radioactive materials but feed off its radiation. That's why Godzilla didn't eat the MUTOs. He hardly ever eats anything in the other Godzilla films to. As for his "motivation' for killing them. He's an Apex predator. They'd threaten his standing in the world hence he'll fight them to maintain it, even if he doesn't eat. It's basically the same as in other Godzilla movies. They wreck shit and Godzilla comes out to protect his own territory.

.

 

[Daingurse]

This is right up there:

I always liked Pacific Rim, it delivered what I expected and wanted. Watched the Knifehead fight last night, I like that Kaiju quite a bit, and the CGI mechs look fucking excellent. Still enjoy Godzilla more, but they are very different movies.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

That's been your argument in a nutshell, AFAICT: exaggerate the flaws and marginalize the good parts. If you have to keep defending your hyperbole, might be time to reign in the rhetoric. I don't think the movie is perfect by any stretch, but you just keep pushing the criticism past the point of legitimacy.

I have legit gripes. It's ok for you to like the movie, it's ok for me to not like it all that much. We don't see eye to eye, that's fine. I'm not trying to change your mind so much as explain my feelings about the film. Just happens to really get on your nerves for whatever reason.

 

[perineumlick]

This is right up there:

My eyes had already glazed over with disinterest by this point in the movie. I was hyped seeing it in the trailer though.

 

[super-heated plasma]

I'm ready for my sons birthday:

And of course for his present:

Thanks Amazon!

 

[The Librarian]

An extended edition has been confirmed for the Blu-ray.

Really? Excellent! Do we know what scenes will be restored? Or do we just know there's an extended edition coming?