Shin Godzilla *SPOILER* Thread

[jellydonut25]

It does seem like this movie will make effective use of atmosphere, and so for those who are won over by such (and I'll admit, atmosphere is a BIG factor for me; it takes G85 from boring to good for me) I can see how they're going to be able to overlook/forgive the flaws. I'm just hoping that in context I can lose myself a bit because the CGI is every bit as bad as I might have feared. That far shot of Godzilla being bombed is putrid.

[DannyBeane]

Oh that video makes me very happy.

[Jomei]

The movie was great, but that """""review""""" from the two low-energy dudes was too long and boring to sit through. And isn't one of them the guy who complained early on about "too many meetings" in the script?

[Gentleman]

[lhb412]

[mr.negativity]

[Jomei]

[Deathless]

I just look forward to seeing it for myself, in a theatre...
Don't really care what critics, lovers, & haters say, positive or negative...

A few months from now I look forward to popping in the blu-ray & watching it again
in the comfort of my own home...

[mr.negativity]

*SPOILERS*



‘Shin Godzilla': The metaphorical monster returns

[lhb412]

Even the negative reviews I've read make the film seem really interesting... I mean, a procedural monster-on-the-loose format is right up my alley (THEM! is one of my favorite films), and I'm not gonna hold a few wonky FX shots against the film when I expected every single shot to be wonky in the first place (I had serious doubts about the CG quality and I'm frankly astounded Higuchi managed to make what I've seen look as good as it does). From what I've read from reviews positive and negative this is the kind of Godzilla film I'd hoped for: with a point of view, a sense of style, ambition, interesting new ideas... I can't wait to see it!

And while reviews from foreigners have been love it or hate it, it seems the Japanese have responded almost entirely positively. This movie tapped into the Japanese consciousness of right now, and I commend everyone involved for making that happen. A few years ago Godzilla was seen as old hat in his home country; the common refrain being that Godzilla is far more popular in America than he is in Japan. I'm happy that he's relevant again and I can't wait to see what's next.

[The Great MM]

[Moonlight SY-3]

Watched it again for a third time yesterday, still loving it! I took a chance and brought my 6-year-old son, since he was begging to see it. I warned him about the long meetings with all the grownups talking, but he said he'd be fine...and he was! I had to translate the English parts for him since he could neither understand the English (which was so bad even I had a hard time catching it) nor read the Japanese subtitles (he's only 6!). Even though he's only 6, he says he could understand most of what was going on. Quizzing him on it later, he seemed to miss most of the DNA stuff and didn't really understand what they were pumping into Godzilla to freeze him, and he doesn't understand the details of all the sociopolitical stuff, but he seemed to grasp all the major plot points. So, there's a two-thumbs-up from a 6-year-old boy in Japan!

More comments after having seen it a third time:

I noticed the chrome nictitating membrane protective "eyelid" that covers Godzilla's eyes when he fires his beam also snapped over his eyes when the JASDF bombs bounced off his head and exploded in the first attack sequence. My son noticed it immediately, too. Good eye, boy! Godzilla did not use these eyelids when he was taking a face full of gun and missile fire from the Cobras and Apaches in their attack. I suppose this indicates he can sense the level of danger, and also is an indication that his eyes must be somewhat of a weak point. Also interesting to note the clearly metallic "clink clink" sounds when bullets and bombs bounce off his hide.

As posted by The Great MM above, you can see that the God Warrior beam does indeed liquefy buildings a bit on impact...I suppose that's the result of the super-heated beam melting the concrete and steel instantly. Someone had asked me about that a few pages back, and I had answered that it happened but wasn't so obvious, but really watching for it on my third viewing, yeah, you can see it clearly, although only in the night shots, and particularly in the shot of the Wako building getting hit, as I mentioned before. In the day shots around Tokyo Station, they just blow up, and you don't really notice the molten debris flying.

As for butts in seats, on opening night (Friday July 29) at the 8:35pm showing, the 400+ seat theater I saw it in was about 3/4 full. I saw it again the next day at 8:50pm, in a smaller theater, and that too was about 3/4 full. My son and I went yesterday (Saturday Aug 6) to the 3:35pm showing, in the same theater as last time, and this time the theater was nearly full. So, one week on, it looks like people are still turning out to see it. The movie is showing in normal 2D and 4DX/2D, and checking the reserved seats before the shows (you can see them online) it seems the 4DX version was selling a lot more seats than the regular version, so there's that.

As I mentioned in my first report, there are some really bad CGI shots in this film (and some really beautiful ones), but after seeing it three times, they don't bother me at all. Just like seeing the strings on the F-86s and the missiles in G54, as well as the hundreds of other crappy effects shots we've seen in just about all the Godzilla movies over the decades...as Godzilla fans, since when have we let a crappy effects shot get in our way of enjoying the experience? For the masses, Godzilla movies will always be "men in rubber suits smashing cardboard buildings," and there is a reason for that...most folks don't appreciate the miniature work that went into the tokusatu films of the past, and it's only with the popularity of G14 that "normal" people might recognize a Godzilla film as something more than silly suits and cardboard buildings. Jelly mentioned earlier a poor shot featuring stock footage of an aircraft dropping CG bombs (I looked for it yesterday, didn't see it), but really, is that shot any worse than the obviously small and mostly undetailed models of the F-86s firing bottlerockets on clearly visible wires in the original Godzilla? I know we're talking 1954 vs 2016, but still. It's the same thing to me, and neither poorly executed effects shot diminishes my appreciation of the movie overall. I would never say the original Godzilla is a bad movie just because of the visible wires or that one jittery scene where they tried to use stop-motion to animate his tail wacking a building.

And while I'm on the subject of the few poor CGI shots in Shin-Godzilla, talking to a friend of mine who works in the industry, he confirms that those shots were indeed the results of time running out. As as been said many times here, they were going to use a big mechanical puppet at first, but Anno didn't like the way it moved, so they made the decision to go full CGI. They ran out of time, hence the inclusion of what is essentially unfinished CGI in a few shots. The good news here is that they may actually finish those unfinished shots in time for the international releases, and more importantly, the Blu-ray release. I doubt Anno, Higuchi, or anyone on the staff wants those unfinished shots making it onto a Blu-ray for everyone to scrutinize frame by frame. So, hopefully overseas fans will see a more polished movie CGI-wise, and the fully-finished shots will be on the Blu-ray. Hopefully!

So yeah, I've seen it three times now, and I'm getting a deeper appreciation of it each time I see it. With the good press it's getting here in Japan, even my wife is starting to show interest in going to see it...could be time for viewing number 4!

[Kong2004us]

I know I'm late to this party, but I have questions :

1. Does this movie ignore all other Godzilla movies including the original 54 one ?

2. Is it possible that this timeline and the legendary timeline can mesh together ?

I would really like to see Legendary Zilla vs Shin Zilla - protector vs destroyer , east meets west.. I think that movie would draw lots of interest.

[DannyBeane]

[gyaos]

Someone earlier mentioned Norman Englund's review...does anyone have a link for it?

His opinion is one I would really trust.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[lhb412]

[Hybrid Gojira]

August referred to the film as a turd on Facebook a few moments ago, so there's that.

And you are right, opinions are opinions and we should all inform our own. However, I've yet to see a person that I respect highly with an overly positive view of the film. Even Matt Frank was rather down to earth and very...unsure of what to think after seeing it. All the people who blindly say the movie is awesome and then chastise the rest of us who are simply being apprehensive get on my nerves - we all have the same information and none of us have seen the film, so leaning one way or the there when it comes to being positive should be fine. Jomei has seen the film - he can think what he wants. So has Jim Ballard. When the rest of us do, I think it will be really divisive (as it already has).

[lhb412]

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

Yup. They're gonna be making Godzilla movies 'till the sun explodes.

[Moonlight SY-3]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[jellydonut25]

for the record, I'm not taking any "attacks" personally...or even as attacks...it's just easier to phrase things that way. Whenever there are dissenters, there's also going to be a group of people dissenting against the dissenters and calling them out. That's the way it goes. I just meant to highlight that there's a contingent that think those of us who think it looks bad are overreacting, but I personally am only responding to how I think the movie looks, and I've NEVER intended to say anything about the state of the franchise or the genre or anything like that, because I think it's all in the best place it's been in a rather long time.

[sachiel]