Shin Godzilla *SPOILER* Thread

[mr.negativity]

[tbeasley]

[Gman2887]

[lhb412]

^ Great write-up. There's certainly a lot to unpack, but personally I come down somewhere in between the 'its nationalist propaganda!' and 'you're just imagining it!' camps. While the film certainly reflects contemporary themes, I think it actively avoids coming down on any partisan line. The government is portrayed as rather homogenius, which I understand can rub people the wrong way (the 'both sides are equally bad' idea is certainly out of vogue in American culture).

[tbeasley]

[tbeasley]

[Benjamin Haines]

^ From 44 seconds into that second video:



It's dated August 23, 2015. This is probably the reported screen test they did with that suit/prop before deciding to make Godzilla all-CGI.

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

[tbeasley]

[Henry88]

[jellydonut25]

Lemme just ask you guys (not that you even necessarily need it) to be y'know respectful and civil and such in a thread like this. I don't want to read spoilers, so I won't really be keeping an eye on this thread to make sure you're all behaving.

#Moderatoring.

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

You don't want to read spoilers in the Shin Godzilla Spoiler thread?

Are you sure you are looking at the right thread?

[jellydonut25]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

[Henry88]

charming indeed.

[lhb412]

[canofhumdingers]

Very cool. I agree with you lhb. It also feels reminiscent of the opening scenes from Biollante.

[MekaGojira3k]

Love the visual, kind of wish it hadn't been cut.

[lhb412]

[hanshotfirst1138]

That first form was painful, I'm amazed any VFX artist would've let that through. Ouch. That said, the actual new Shin-Goji design was pretty cool, though I wish we'd gotten to see it do a little more; lot of standing still. Anno was an interesting choice for director. The themes of bureaucracy and attempts at non-militaristic solutions proved interesting though. I don't quite get that sequel-ripe final shot, were those some sort of creatures living on the frozen Godzilla? It was a blast to see the King on the big screen any way I look at it though. Any word on how the limited theatrical run on this did? Curious if it made much noise, the toku fanbase is so Small.

[Benjamin Haines]

[tbeasley]

[Dai]

I was finally able to see this movie thanks to the Hong Kong blu-ray, and now I've watched it four times in the last few days. It's definitely in my top ten Godzilla movies, and maybe top five. I've always had a particular interest in the movies that focus on the Godzilla vs mankind angle, and I've long wanted one that would consider the potential real world response in detail.

I can't believe this movie was possible on a budget that was 10% of Legendary's. Despite Toho's insistence that the puppet was never used, there are several shots of Godzilla's fourth form that are so convincing as a suit that I still can't believe they're CG. Also, the effects of the various tanks and artillery are practically flawless; only the helicopters look a bit off. The stand-out moment on the CG side has to be when Godzilla flings a bridge through the air; that just looks real. The miniature effects are also great, especially where we see roof tiles rattling (very reminiscent of the original Ghidorah movie) and interior rooms tipping over as buildings collapse. Higuchi may not have got to showboat on the creature effects, but you can see his hand in the quality of the miniature locations.

All the way through I had a nagging feeling that the plot of Shin Godzilla reminded me of something, and at last I realised what it was. The whole Goro Maki sub-plot is very similar to the first Patlabor movie. Both movies start with a scientist commiting suicide by drowning in Tokyo Bay. In both cases the scientists have set in motion a plan to destroy Tokyo after their deaths. So, in both, thwarting the scientist's plan means learning who he was, what he planned to do, and developing a way to counter it. Also, both had an element of turning nature against man (in Patlabor, a typhoon causes sounds that trigger robots to go berserk), and of unleashing giants on Tokyo (giant robots and Godzilla, respectively). Considering that the Patlabor series had a couple of stories that were direct homages to Godzilla, I'd say this is fair play.

[lhb412]

^Glad you've finally seen it! I understand your behavior: I managed to catch the movie three time during it's one week theatrical engagement locally. Can't wait to watch it again and inspect all the effects scenes I now know (from the copious bts stuff released) were practical miniature effects.

[Jinzo Ningen]

Finally got to see this this past weekend. Very, very impressed. Much better than I thought it would be. The G design takes some getting used to, but it's no worse than the tangent we got in '98. The human aspect was, frankly, fascinating to watch. The entire bureaucratic tail-chasing, finger-pointing BS that various gov't types went through as they attempted to: 1) make decisions, 2) take credit/blame, and 3) get ANYTHING to move forward, was simultaneously sad, funny & sickening. (And I thought that this part of the film would easily be its weakest. Gladly proved wrong here!)

Godzilla's evolutionary development was an interesting angle that we've never seen explored thru him before. Reminded me somewhat of Hedorah's cycle of development. His powers were... stunning. I mean I was literally sitting there almost speechless, in complete awe, watching him lay waste to massive amounts of the city while he was basically just standing still!!! Honestly quite frightening to watch. Certainly none of his classic foes would have been able to withstand an assault from this iteration of the Big G. The effects were, as usual, a mixed bag - with fantastic F/X stuff edited right next to F/X shots that made me cringe. Still, an overall impressive effort, for sure.

All said, I cannot wait to snag this on Blu-ray, and will proudly add it to my G-collection.