Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Saw it Saturday at the Alamo in Yonkers with my several friends and family.
Movie was absolutely wild and I loved seeing a fresh new take from start to finish. Oddly enough this is what I expecting the American 2014 film to be much more like so its a little jarring watching it all unfold.
-Soundtrack from classic scores, roars and footsteps really added an element to this movie that has been lacking the last two decades.
-Loved the new take on his atomic breathe and even enjoyed the back laser show, tail breathe not so much...
-Trains getting revenge for all these years was hilariously awesome.
-Enjoyed most of the characters and appreciated a more science approach rather than just following the military / news around.
-I wish the design for First/2nd form Godzilla was less distracting than it was. Theater burst into laughter when first seeing him pushing through the street.
- Overall I give it a solid 7.5 / 10. Not liking this new trend of Godzilla takes a nap after using his atomic breath... Very curious how the both Toho and Legendary sequels pull of fights with other monsters going forward. But with Shin, I appreciated going for something completely fresh from start to finish, disappointed Anno won't be returning.

I think the "2014 Godzilla gets tired by using his breath" thing is a complete mis-read.

He's tired at the end because he just fought all night long. He was double-teamed, had a building fall on him, was bleeding, and it just all got to him in the moment where he collapses. It's got nothing to do with his breath. I just enjoy that his breath isn't a spam weapon. Like in G2K, he can't use it overmuch because it takes too long to charge. Gimme more tooth and nail stuff.

Join myself, Cruellica Kain, The Kaijuologist, and Advent Nebula as we sit around and spend countless time (80 minutes HOLY CRAP!!) just talking about Shin Godzilla. There will be spoilers and no worries if you can't sit through something this long. However, let me know what you think and if you would like to see more of these in the future.

Well having seen it three times now and debating about it long enough on Facebook to almost become embarrassing, I think I can fairly assess Shin Godzilla now, here, at length.

I kind of wish I hadn't spoiled it as much as I did with the clips that were leaking. For once. I didn't want to immediately say "aw yeah, I loved it!" on the first viewing, but it definitely sat with me, and after the second viewing, I wanted to see it again right away (which I did, the very next day). I enjoyed every minute of it, it is beautiful, and is finally the most accurate and pointed "what if Godzilla appeared in real life?" scenario.

I loved all of Godzilla's weirdness. I loved the tail thing. When I first heard of it, it drove my imagination absolutely wild. I actually liked the "absorption" theory, but the movie makes it pretty obvious that he was preparing for his next stage of evolution.

I'm on the fence now as to whether I would want to see a sequel picking up from this, as the cold realization of "oh man, we just dodged a massive bullet" is a great way to end the movie and leave you in dread awe of Godzilla. But I am dying to get teased even more about his nature, origins, and Dr. Maki.

I loved all the "human scenes" and no, I'm not just saying it because of kaiju eiga Stockholm Syndrome. There was lots of good stuff there. The satire was surprisingly biting, the physiology of Godzilla was legitimately fascinating, the politics were elegantly handled, and the characters played off each other wonderfully. I loved Yaguchi's rag-tag team and wished I could have gotten to know more of them, especially the other female members of the team, which we see in the background. Considering there are all of three female characters in this movie, but that's Japan.

I was pretty pleased with Ann Patterson (although a friend thought she came off as a shallow character) merely because she and Yaguchi kept it professional, had an air of camaraderie, and never once did it really feel like they played up her sexiness in an inappropriate way. I loved the moment when she and Yaguchi clap hands right before the big battle.

Oh, yeah, and Yaguchi is the man.

Godzilla himself, and the SFX, I was pretty pleased with. I'll be honest, I really do miss and yearn for more Taguchi-style, all in-camera effects. The CG is surprisingly great in some spots and kinda bad in others. The tanks were amazingly convincing. The crane trucks, not so much.

There are two shots of Godzilla where I am still unsure if they are CG or the puppet. While the other shots are more obviously CG, they do still work. Japan has finally done a convincing all-CG Godzilla. They may have done it by the skin of their teeth and with a lot of help (much like Japan itself in this movie, lol), but it worked. Hats off to them.

Still, even though the scenes of destruction, I get less out of seeing heavily-composited elements pieced together (clever as they might be) and really only get a boner for the controlled chaos of a whole set undergoing destruction, in-camera. Godzilla 2000 is probably the last time I was rolling over with joy at the amount of destruction going on in-frame. As far as Godzilla goes, anyway. Ultraman X and Orb have definitely scratched that itch. So yeah... give Kiyotaka Taguchi a shot in the future! Obviously we are going to get more Higuchi effects for round 2, with or without Anno, and I really hope he can give the giant puppet another shot. If he doesn't bother, I won't be upset. I was pretty happy with Shin's look.


So overall... I have no idea yet where I'd rank it within the series, but it's definitely top ten material. Maaaybe not top five (I'd have to look at my personal top five and really think if I now prefer Shin to any of those), but as far as a general rating goes, four out of fives stars, solid. Best and most interesting, thoughtful, and meaningful entry since GMK.

Things of note:

while the protesters echo from the streets above. It was a cool moment, established a bit of new world-building, and showed how hard the characters were working, and was just generally comfy. I wish there were more moments like it.

is probably my favorite Godzilla-related scene, and is very eerie despite being in broad daylight.

when Yaguchi says "Godzilla has reached his fourth form," followed by the shot of Godzilla making the "everything is pain and I am its king" pose: this pleases me to no end.

This review from Simon Abrams neatly lines up with most of my thoughts on the film, saving me the trouble of writing them down:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shin-godzilla-2016

Since seeing Shin Godzilla, I recently watched Battle In Outer Space again for the first time in years. I went with the English dub and I was surprised and disappointed to find that the US version replaced the main action theme during the outer space battle with some American-sounding music, I'm guessing stock tracks from a different movie. Then I realized, unless the Japanese version of that movie has ever been screened anywhere over the years, Funimation's release of Shin Godzilla marks the first time that Battle In Outer Space battle theme has echoed through American theaters.

My channel is predominantly focused on Pro-Wrstling, but being a big Godzilla fan, I was glad to see Shin Godzilla get released in the states and I had to make a video about it!

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to see this in theaters, but I managed to catch one of the last showings in San Francisco. I went into this pretty blind, as I'd avoided most of the coverage of the film's production. I knew something about Godzilla evolving over the course of the movie, and that was about it.

Anyway, I loved it, and I think it's one of the best in the whole series. I wasn't terribly impressed with the last few Toho Godzilla movies...it just seemed like they were recycling a lot of ideas, and just embracing the more schlocky aspects of the franchise. For a while I've been feeling like they need to just get weird, get creative, and do something with a more serious tone. They delivered on all fronts with Shin Godzilla.

This is obviously a very, very different take on Godzilla, but I thought it was great. I was pretty shocked by the appearance of Godzilla's first form, but after thinking about it, I like that he starts out looking so weird, and kind of derpy. It seems like they were going for an animal that had elements of different sea life (lungfish, eels), and honestly, a lot of fish and eels look sort of goofy. His final form (they referred to it in the subs as his 4th form, but isn't it his 3rd?) looks downright terrifying, and I like that it seemed to incorporate elements of his burning look from GvsD. I thought the combination of CG and suitmation looked fantastic, almost rivaling Hollywood effects at times. I've always enjoyed when they use his original roar, and I also thought using some of the old sound effects was a nice touch. There are a few cringe-worthy moments here and there (it seemed like Godzilla was moving way too fast every time he used his laser abilities), but I think this is the best-looking Japanese Godzilla film ever.

I was really surprised by how funny the movie could be at times. The whole theater was laughing out loud at the scene where the helicopter attack is aborted due to the presence of a few civilians. I thought it was great to see a Godzilla film that had some commentary about international relations and government inefficiency and more depth than a simple story about Godzilla punching another monster. I found the characters to be more lifelike and likeable than a lot of the characters from other Godzilla movies, and despite most of the screentime consisting of people talking, I was never bored.

I'll probably think of more things to say later, but this movie definitely exceeded my expectations. Great job, Anno and Higuchi!

I tried to be optimistic going in to this movie. All the news I've seen so far have been bad. I finally saw it. It surpassed my lowest expectations. In a bad way.

There isn't an ounce of tension in this movie, since none of the characters were in any danger. It feels so disconnected with everything that was happening outside. The dialog was terrible. I'd blame Funimation for the subtitles, but when people were actually speaking in English, the dialog was equally bad, with Asylum quality acting. So it's probably not Funimation's problem. The characters were cardboard cut outs, and the leap in logic on how to stop Godzilla was just another level of stupid. The pseudo-science babble had me rolling my eyes.

I did get a few laughs out of this movie. I also saw people leaving the theater early because of how boring it was. I would not take kids to this Godzilla movie. They will be bored out of their minds.

Annalee Newirz (founder of the much-better-when-she-was-still-there io9) gives a very positive review of Shin Godzilla.

http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2 ... reaucracy/