TALKBACK: Godzilla (2014) - (OBVIOUS SPOILER DISCUSSION)

[Jorzilla]

Does the movie open up with the Toho logo?

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

If it did, I think we would have heard of it by now.

FAN EDIT HERE I COME!

[Gojilove]

There's a Toho logo at the beginning of the Japanese version.

[jellydonut25]

No Toho logo

Spoilers RE: Dr. Serizawa:

[lhb412]

^And the character doesn't even have the same name: he's Ishiro Serizawa, not Daisuke Serizawa.

I'm gonna assume that's a reference to Honda (wasn't the character Dr. Honda in Snowden's script?), so his name is a double reference.

[Henry88]

so how was the music?

[jellydonut25]

[Henry88]

Godzilla Review: 10 Reasons It Missed The Mark
http://whatculture.com/film/godzilla-re ... mark.php/2

[Jorzilla]

[Gojira-2000]

An extract from the novelization which seems to include the segment which was cut from the final film:

[jellydonut25]

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

I feel dumb for not bringing this up earlier, but how was the nuclear breath done?

[BrollySupersj]

[jellydonut25]

[Dorkzilla]

How good was the tooth-and- claw fighting?

Was it anything like the awkward and slow terrible Heisei fights?

[Shin_Edda_Robo!!!!!]

That is really cool to know! Now I really gotta see how the breath weapon will be done in the SHMonsterarts figure being released. It supposedly comes with the parts for the weapon.



In regards to the actual kaiju action; if one wanted to replicate it through suitmation, would they be able to? I guess what I'm asking is, do the fights feel like a fight from a good film in the genre?

[jellydonut25]

The tooth and nail stuff isn't even remotely like Heisei era bumping sumo boredom.

Could you do the fights with a suit? Maybe. On the Godzilla side I feel the answer is more or less yes but the MUTOs are so insecty with their multiple legs it'dtake some true mastery. Also, the winged MUTO moves more fluidly than any winged kaiju maybe ever.

[Dorkzilla]

Thank God.

[Stargodzilla]

Does his spines light up?!?! Please say yes!!

[jellydonut25]

[Jorzilla]

Just got back from my viewing. This is a spoiler discussion thread I'm just going to write it out. Read at your own risk.

This is probably the most engaging Godzilla movies in 25 years, but it's not the most entertaining. It's a well made film, I just wasn't grinning like I was while watching Pacific Rim.

Things they got right:

Godzilla is executed excellently with one exception.

This is a great 'world building' movie. I want to know more about Monarch, and I hope we see more Serizawa. Ford does not need to be in any sequels, and I felt his story was wrapped up so theirs no reason to anyways.

This movie is violent and shows a lot of death.

The destruction is great.

Their a unexpected thrills in this movie. The atmosphere is great.

The acting is fine.

The plot is great.

The 'talky' scenes will keep you engaged. Dr. Serizawa is quick to point out how pointless nukes are against these monsters. Unfortunately we never see a nuke used against Godzilla except at the beginning, despite it being a key plot element of the climax of the film.

The ending is great. Particularly the headline "King of the Monsters"

The effects are serviceable. There are still some areas where I was kind of 'meh' about them. That being said, they are well composed and innovative.

I actually like that the first time you see Godzilla it cuts away to the news cast. It was well received in the theater when Godzilla was trashing the male MUTO on the TV. It kind of reminded me of the goofier fighting scenes of the franchise.

Things they got wrong:

Godzilla feels too under powered in this movie. I get that this was supposed to be a tough fight, but I never felt that anything the MUTOs did actually warranted them to be so deadly. Godzilla breathing fire causing him to get incredibly weak felt like a gimmick to build dramatic tension. On the plus side, future movies have a reason for Godzilla not to blast his breath all of the time.

The first hour of this movie is blatantly derivative of Jurassic Park. To the point that there were almost identical shots in the movie. This is kind of a nice homage, but it also might bother some people. It's also kind of weird seeing those element brought to the table with a GIANT MONSTER.

This is the MUTO's movie and not Godzilla's. As I worried and postulated, they basically took the elements that made the original Godzilla a scary antagonist, and gave that to the MUTOs to make Godzilla more sympathetic. There are homages to the original Godzilla film, particularly with the body bags at the Janjira plant when the male MUTO escapes. However these elements are given to MUTO.

It kind of bugged me that they talked up how Godzilla is blind to humans. In this film, there are 4 or 5 times that either Godzilla or the MUTOs look directly at the protagonists. The female MUTO definitely 'knew' that Ford killed her nest similar to how Godzilla reacted in the 1998 film.

Despite the build up and suspense in this film, it works great, to a certain point. When Godzilla got the San Francisco and the monsters started fighting THEY KEPT CUTTING AWAY WHEN IT GOT INTERESTING. This was really frustrating.

When king ghidorah said that if you have watched the released footage to date, you've basically scene half of Godzilla's scenes, he's not lying.

Hide the monster in fog after the HALO jump was not effective. There's minimal audio in these scenes and it just felt really odd that these two giant monsters are fighting and the ground isn't shaking and you can't hear anything.


Final Verdict

Here's my updated list of Godzilla films from favorite to least favorite:

Godzilla (Godzilla, King of the Monsters) [1954]
Godzilla vs. Biollante [1989]
Mothra vs. Godzilla [1964]
The Return of Godzilla (Godzilla 1985) [1984]
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster [1964]
Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack [2001]
Invasion of Astro-Monster (Godzilla vs. Monster Zero) [1965]
Godzilla [2014]
Terror of Mechagodzilla [1975]
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. [2003]
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla [1974]
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla [2002]
Godzilla 2000: Millennium (Godzilla 2000) [1999]
Destroy All Monsters [1968]
King Kong vs. Godzilla [1962]
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah [1995]
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 [1993]
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah [1991]
Godzilla vs. Gigan [1972]
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster) [1971]
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster) [1966]
Godzilla Raids Again [1955]
Son of Godzilla [1967]
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus [2000]
Godzilla: Final Wars [2004]
Godzilla vs. Megalon [1973]
All Monsters Attack (Godzilla's Revenge) [1969]
Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla [1994]
GODZILLA [1998]
Godzilla vs. Mothra (Godzilla & Mothra: The Battle for Earth) [1992]

A solid 4/5.

[jellydonut25]

I didn't think it was the breath as much as it was getting his ass kicked jn a double team for 30 minutes with the MUTOs ripping into him that took him down. Also a building like 4 timea his size fell on him. I really think if we get sequels there will be lots of breath usage.

[Jorzilla]

Both times he used his breath he collapsed. It also is in line with I think one of the figures that says he's able to concentrate the nuclear energy in his body to breathe fire. However this is basically his life force. It was more similar to a final "death ray" than an ability. If I had to compare it to something: Think the Mana Beam from Gamera 2, a lot weaker, but the same sort of emotion or weight attached to its usage.

[Stargodzilla]

After credit scene? I heard no but also heard yes?

[Gorjira54]

We've only seen 5-6 minutes of Godzilla footage in the trailers. There's 26 minutes total of Godzilka in the movie. How is that half...?