Shin Godzilla review thread (Spoilers! Duh...)

[canofhumdingers]

I thought it might be cool to have one thread to collect all our personal reviews/opinions now that the movie's out.

I'll have to post all my thoughts later but, my vote is yes!

[jellydonut25]

NOPE.

And the more I think and talk about it, the more I'm feeling like a repeat viewing (which I won't be undertaking in theaters; I don't think I could handle seeing it again so soon) is gonna cause this thing to PLUMMET even further for me. Right now, I'm giving it a fail, but abstaining from pure, unadulterated hatred due to my enjoyment (for the most part) of the first half. Seeing it again, knowing what happens, and having to suffer through that last hour again, I can imagine it's gonna fall from 2 outta 5 to...I dunno...0.5? Something really bad. If you lined me up with ALL the Godzilla movies right now and told me to keep picking one at random to watch, I'd choose Shin Godzilla either last or second last.

I don't want/need to watch it again. Maybe ever. That's pretty telling that my 2 star rating is overly generous.

[Dr Kain]

Processing my thoughts on it. I'll have a review up tomorrow.

[lhb412]

I thought it was really, really good.

Now, we're all Godzilla fans so I'll talk just about Godzilla himself for a sec. I loved the early forms, I mean, Godzilla the unstoppable juggernaut of the later portion of the film is awesome, but I enjoyed the ungainly, struggling early Godzilla which to me is somewhat sympathetic and even cute. I'm usually a fan of the weaker atomic breath for Godzilla, more like a burning mist, and I disliked it being portrayed as a laser in the '90s... but this, this was just so over-the-top and awesome! When Godzilla initially let that thing rip several members of the the audience gasped. Really cool.

The only real mark against the film is that the steam lets out of the plot a bit in the final third, between Godzilla's assault on the heart of Tokyo and the final battle - which in itself stands out only because the movie up to that point is so full of energy with the humor and rapid editing and ramping up of tension as Godzilla becomes more and more threatening. I think a Japanese audience might disagree with me, though: the final third feels as though the movie is saying "Ha, we've had our fun making light of our politics and exorcising our personal relationship with disaster via cool monster scenes, but now lets dig down and deal with some of this stuff in earnest for a while." I feel that portion probably plays differently there, but for me the movie made up for it a ways with the finale. I loved how the plan and execution to defeat Godzilla was so insane, but was carried out in such a logical step-by-step process that was easy to follow. Everyone coming together to pool resources and brainpower to solve the problem felt right out of a Honda film like Gorath.

But as for those first two thirds - I don't know if I was quite prepared by how funny it would be. I laughed a few times, and such a witty film goes against initial suspicions of this being an entirely solemn, even 'grimdark' Godzilla. This is, in the end, an entertainment picture.

The main complaints I've heard in reviews since the Japanese release have been some spotty CGI and Ishihara's English dialog. I dunno, maybe it's because I was prepared for them, but neither bothered me. I thought the CGI, while under Hollywood quality, had a certainly baseline of quality that they only dipped under for a few really brief shots. Of course, quite a few times the film exceeds that baseline and delivers some spectacular visuals. I did miss the tactile element of practical effects, but Higuchi's clever framing of the images and staging of the sequences left me happy in the end. As for Satomi Ishihara's English? I've heard so much worse in foreign films that it was a non-issue. I could understand what she said, unlike, say, Akira Takarada in Latitude Zero.

Despite the break in continuity I feel the Heisei and Millennium series are really the same era, and this really feels like the beginning of a new one for Toho. If they keep this up it'll be a bolder, more ambitious era and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it!

[Jorzilla]

I thought it was pretty good overall. Probably a 7/10. Anyone who is praising this film as groundbreaking masterpiece is kidding them selves. This comment also applies to people that absolutely hate it. There is a lot to like in this movie, I just wish it was executed a little bit better.

At the end of the day, this film gets credit because at least this Godzilla stands for something and is utilized properly to drive the film forward. I would rather Godzilla be an extremophile oddity, but a persistent nuclear threat, then a good guy doofus super hero. Yes, this is a dig at 2014. I think a good Godzilla potrayal going forward would be something in the middle. With Toho opening up the character to more creative avenues, I hope that we can get eventually hit a sweet spot.

[Dr Kain]

I lied. I can't sleep right now.

[tbeasley]

First I'd like to say the theatre was packed and it was interesting to pick up on reactions during certain scenes. The Toho logo, Ifukube themes, retro sound effects and comedic bits stirred the crowd but during tenser moments it was completely quiet. In the end you can't make everyone happy, but you could tell the audience was absolutely engrossed by the whole experience. So that was cool.

So onto the review - I thought it was really great! The first chunk of the movie, before Godzilla goes into hibernation after using his atomic breath (and what a scene that is!), moves at a swift, enthralling pace. After that, things slow down a bit, but it's so satisfying to see the main character and his band of misfits succeed using ingenuity and science to save the day (albeit perhaps temporarily).

Random bullet points -
- I don't see how the movie is some rightwing love letter to Shinzo Abe when the film's prime minister is depicted as an indecisive, incompetent nitwit who's blown up in his escape helicopter along with most of his similarly old-fashioned and needlessly bureaucratic colleagues. I think some are misplacing Anno and Higuchi's otaku-like love of military hardware (and there's a lot featured here) for any kind of militaristic edge.
- Satomi Ishihara's English speaking abilities are perfectly acceptable for a movie of this kind... I don't know what people were expecting. If you want truly horrid English, go watch some of the Heisei movies (especially Biollante).
- There are lots of subtitles to keep up with, but I don't remember anyone in particular saying explicitly that Godzilla 'reproduces asexually' as in laying eggs like the 98 version. The explanation given was more akin to Dogora, Frankenstein, the Gargantuas, Hedorah, etc. meaning if a piece of Godzilla happened to fall off (say, during a wrongheaded military attack), then more Godzillas were bound to happen.
- I thought this was a really cool, freaky, smart, modern take on Godzilla, and a nice counter to Legendary's version (which I liked too). Depicting him as a biologically immortal, living god was quite neat, and I daresay in keeping with the character's nuclear heart.
- Ending theory - If the film was trying to depict Godzilla as a living god, then maybe the mysterious petrified tail creatures were his way of trying to recreate man in his superior image. I don't know, but it's fun to think about, and there's a lot to think about in this movie.

Okay, one last thing. Maybe it's hitting me a little too late, but it's amazing to me how Shin Godzilla cranks both the gills and Ifukube themes up to 11 after people complained about the use/lack of those in Godzilla 2014.

[klen7]

The cinematography was fantastic. Almost every shot (other than a couple chaotic shakey-cam shots) was beautifully framed. I'll need another viewing, but this may take the crown from The Host on best cinematography in a giant monster film.

The dialog was spitfire fast, so pretty early on I gave up on reading the character's name/title/group in the upper subtitle. There was a lot of dialog, but there was never a scene that was just a steady cam on a boring speech, so even when their wasn't cityscapes, or action sequences, the film was still incredibly engaging visually. The framing, the symmetry, the use of quick cuts were all very appealing to me.

I can't really say enough good things about the cinematography in this film.

I liked the movie a lot. If i could change one thing, i would recast Anne Peterson as an American actress in her mid-late 30s. Satomi Ishihara is gorgeous, and she probably played well in Japan, but even in movie like this, it took a little extra suspension of belief to see her as being on the fast track to US President. I had a couple other issues with the character itself, but I think that comes from the perspective of an American that follows politics.

Right now this is a top 10 Godzilla film for me. After i digest the movie a bit it could shift, but I walked out of the theater pleased to see it on the big screen and a desire to see it again.

[angilas]

8/10 and this is for movies overall not just Godzilla movies. As a Sci fi fan it's hard to give it lower than that as someone who enjoyed it but the political statement it makes that helps give it its poignancy is also a flaw in that it causes the pace to be ridiculously slow. I wouldn't change it besides maybe having cut a lot of the 2nd half dialogue and saved it for an extended dvd/blu-ray release, but much like rat/stego Goji's body, the film drags throughout. It's got by far the most impressive scenes of Godzilla to date, topping those in Always 2 and 2014's Godzilla. Since I avoided spoilers the first form was unexpected, but I enjoyed it. First time seeing Godzilla grow into Godzilla (barring GvKG's Godzillasaurus and GvD'a Junior). definitely grotesque but it is like a set up for a counter punch by those who thought that might be his appearance throughout. I prefer that to a film that takes itself too seriously from the onset and then underwhelms.

One interesting thing to me is that if you look at all the hype surrounding the American Godzilla and how Heisenberg was seen in the previews saying it was going to send us back to the Stone Age (now we know he was talking about MUTO), this Godzilla was actually capable of that and would). Not to take anything away from either but I sort of feel like if you could fuse Godzilla 2014's preview hype with this films kaiju scenes (sans the cranes) and include the drama surrounding the use of nuclear weapons, you'd have the ultimate Sci-fi monster film- a 10/10 that I could say rivals the original, as opposed to a timely political statement that makes the coolest Godzilla visuals I've seen in forever and gives him a new level of badass

I was only disappointed in the cgi in the first transformation and maybe some of the crane scenes but perhaps I have low standards. It seemed quite fortuitous that there were so any train tracks around Godzilla as well as large buildings after his destructive onsaulaught the night before. I guess we didn't see him gradually come to a halt as he ran out of energy but I'll have to rewatch it. As said elsewhere the American envoy's English is lacking and could use a dub over, but it's not the worst I've heard of non-fluent Japanese reading English and she's a good enough actress in her native tongue and the most stunning actress to appear in a Godzilla film in a long time (which is saying something)so I prefer having her there than not

That being said one of the best in quite a while and really revolutionary.
It's not my favorite and it may be a difficult rewatch but it's top 5-10 below 54, MvG, 85, Bio and maybe a couple others I need to rewatch. As someone else said, it's on that makes you want to see more as any good Goji film should do. I haven't wanted to see more as much since GvKG. This one even moreso than GMK or GvD. But it's slow pace makes it a great film that is difficult to see multiple times in my opinion like a Tom hanks movie (Forest Gump, Cast Away, Saving Private Ryan).

[The Great MM]

So… Shin Godzilla. As many know, my expectations were turned extremely down low as soon as Anno was announced. Going into this, I watched Godzilla’s Revenge just as a friendly reminder that no matter how bad this is, it can’t be this bad (I did a similar thing with Godzilla 98 before 2014). Thankfully, the movie wasn’t THAT bad. But it sure as hell wasn’t very good either.

Basic story without major spoilers: Godzilla emerges. Japan tries to stop him. Their secret weapon is a bunch of meetings. One small group manages to devise a plan to stop him before a nuke is dropped.

The end.


Spoilers Ahoy!



The main character was pretty likeable, surprisingly. Not much backstory on him, but at least he wasn’t a whiny little prick like Shinji from Evangelon (which is what I was expecting). Everyone else, I really didn’t give two shits for. There was some scenes that did get me to laugh, but the absolute worst was ANY scene with English dialogue. And not just the obvious Japanese actress in her mid-twenties or so that wants to be President (good one, Anno), but EVERY American actor. They were just downright God awful. I was expecting one of them to say “Take that you dinosaur” when they started bombing Godzilla. Seriously, the English actors were worse than ones I’ve seen on Syfy Channel movies.

Speaking of America, however. I was pleasantly surprised how the US began helping during the final plan despite the nuclear bomb countdown ticking away. Still yet, the whole movie felt like “America does "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" and Japan can do no wrong!” I’ve noticed this to be a typical trend for Japan whenever Americans have to be involved with a story. The scene where an entire helicopter assault was called off because they spotted ONE civilian on the ground made my eyes roll. I am 99.99% sure that no matter what country this would have happened in, after all the damage and the threat posed by the self-evolving monster, the government would be willing to accept collateral damage. The Japanese PM not accepting this fact despite what has already happen just made my eyes roll. They could have killed Godzilla in this second form with conventional weaponry I imagine.

As for Godzilla himself… We all know of his different forms. The first form was (and still is) eye rolling. It’s just goofy. The second one isn’t as bad and the third form looks pretty good in most shots. I still hate the idea of the back and tail beams. But then this Godzilla also has the most anime-ish of all Godzilla beams. It’s going to divide the fans. Safe to say, give me a traditional atomic ray over this any day. One thing I did not like about Godzilla in this was his apparent complete lack of motivation for anything. This was even brought up in the film… He just walks around. He’s not tearing buildings down, crushing things with his tail, blasting stuff for the fun… Nope. He’s just out for a walk and the evil humans try stopping him. And then the whole "Godzilla can replicate and spread across the world" was a plot point that was just forced in for no reason.

The CGI was a very mixed bag. Some scenes looked absolutely terrific, like the shots of the helicopters flying in on Godzilla, almost every scene from a distance, etc. Some of the best of the franchise. But for every amazing shot, there was also utter crap ones. These are mainly with the first form. The scenes of it pushing cars and boats were just horribad. And when it evolved into its second form… I literally cringed.

One thing I imagine everyone is going to glance over is the film’s OBVIOUS nods/ripping of 2014. I noticed it and, thankfully, I heard a few others in the theater also mutter it looked like it was from 2014. That being the tail swipe overhead and the scene of the first form’s tail just lifting out of the water and dangling around. I also can’t help but think of Otachi whenever Godzilla’s jaw split.

Music was pretty good, I will give it that. The original stuff really did mesh well. I still prefer the classic Godzilla theme over all of the new stuff though.

In the end, it wasn’t the 1 or 2 out of 10 score I was ready to deliver. It’s not THAT bad. It’s not as bad as Godzilla 1998 or Godzilla’s Revenge. I just wouldn’t rate it higher than the worst of the Heisei era. I feel The Return of Godzilla did a far better job returning the character to his roots and handling the touchy relationships with Japan and the rest of the world.

5.5 / 10


On a side note, I went and saw Godzilla 2014 three times. Each time, the theater was pretty packed. This movie was also shockingly packed. However, in all three of those times of seeing G’14, never once did I have a “I liked Godzilla before it was cool” feeling come over me. Just sitting in the theater for twenty minutes as people talk (and were blatantly wrong on almost everything they were saying around me…), I just wanted to grab a microphone. Even had the cliché anti-Zilla fanboy rant two rows in front of me for like three minutes when, I think his parents, said they liked the Mathew Broderick film. When I tried leaving during end credits to beat traffic, this one couple (who talked constantly about Evangelon and how the older Showa films are better than anything afterward) tried talking as I squeezed through them.

“Is there anything after the credits? It looks like there will be!”
“There’s not.”
“How do you know, did you find it online or something?”
“No. I’ve been following this movie since it was released in Japan. There’s nothing after the credits.”

[Gojira07]

I gotta agree that the third act is pretty rough. And the metamorphose shot of Godzilla going from the first form to the second was one of the worst scenes in the film. There were some really inspired shots in this, really bums me out that we didn't get to see what they had originally intended, I couldn't stop thinking about what this would be like with more practical effects - instead of the rush CGI job.

[klen7]

^ Which scenes do you think would have looked better with practical effects?

[Dr Kain]

[Benjamin Haines]

[MekaGojira3k]

Yeah, I thought it was fine for what it was. I need to do a full write up, but for now

Positives -
Great characters who didn't bore the crap out of me (Stares at Ford Brody)
Great Godzilla
Engaging plot
Beautifully shot film
An incredibly solid score
DAT HEAT BEAM

Negatives -
Some iffy CG (NITPICK)
Too little Kanegawa-Kun (NITPICK)
Ending was a bit underwhelming (NITPICK)

[gyaos]

I can't think of a more inconsistent Godzilla film.

Great pacing up to the middle then a gigantic lag that destroys all the momentum the film had built up.

Some effects are really, really good. There are times during the Godzilla attack scenes when you go "wow!" Then there are times when you see something onscreen that looks like a bad high school AV Club film. I can't understand how those shots were left in the final cut.

[canofhumdingers]

Some of my thoughts after sleeping on it:

I walked out of the theater loving it and I still do, can't wait to see it again (hopefully tonight).

People who keep saying this isn't your traditional Godzilla movie are flat out WRONG. This was an amazingly traditional Godzilla movie presented with a modern flair and a wildly modern, heavily anime-inspired take on the monster himself. And I'm honestly a bit surprised I liked it so much b/c I generally dislike anime, but I loved this take on Godzilla!

But getting back to it being a VERY traditional Godzilla movie...

-Godzilla appeared unexpectedly out of the ground/ocean much like his reveals in MvsG '64, KKvsG, GvsMG (popping out of the warehouse)

-He goes on a rampage while the government argues and debates over how to handle him (see G'54, Mothra vs Godzilla, G'84, etc.)

-a plucky group of nerds, fed up with the government bureaucracy and infighting, sets out on their on to find a solution (see... I dunno almost every Godzilla movie?)

-the military has a (freaking epic!) battle with Godzilla and fails utterly (again, too many G movies to list)

-the plan put in place to stop Godzilla is crazy bonkers pseudo-science and rather unbelievable/logistically impossible (see: filling rivers with gasoline and lighting them on fire to direct Godzilla into a GIANT tiger trap, luring G to giant tesla coils and dropping metal nets in order to electrocute him, carrying Kong with balloons and helicopters, creating thunderstorms and a giant grid of electric foot pads... The list goes on and on).

So yeah, at every turn, I was constantly being reminded of classic films as I watched this movie, which was great. But at the same time, the presentation was so new and engaging, and Godzilla himself was so wild, that it all felt very fresh and new and fun!

The movie felt like Japan itself. Incredibly traditional and incredibly modern all at the same time and somehow, almost magically finding a balance to it all despite the direct conflict presented by such a concept.

[Gojira07]

[canofhumdingers]

Yeah, several shots of the buildings falling on Godzilla and Godzilla falling on the buildings in the final battle looked REALLY rough. Almost like pre-viz renders before the final rendering pass. That's actually probably my biggest complain of the movie: some of the effects don't just look bad, they actually look unfinished.

I'm normally staunchly against "George Lucas-ing" a movie, but in this case I'd actually be ok if they finished the effects for the bluray release like some of the rumors have posited...

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

Not my review but two friends of mine that live in Hawaii saw it last night. One of them is a movie slut and the other never cared for Godzilla movies even when I would try and force them down his throat.

Both liked it. I only got word on what the movie slut thought of it and he said he really liked the main character and gave a "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" what happened to them. He constantly referred to the characters from the recent 2014 version. Like these characters are not saving a kid from a burning building etc, he appreciated that more.

He also said he didn't have a problem with the special effects even though I told him there was a chance some of these may not have been finished. He did say he laughed at the first form. Said the theater was packed (lots of Japanese people in Honolulu).

I thought it was funny he saw a Godzilla movie before me, and liked it.

[Gojira07]

Definitely a lot of laughs with the first form appearance. I think both because it looks ridiculous and because of the quip line leading to its reveal.

[Alpha OTS]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but the first form didn't bother me at all and in fact helped sell me on the final form. Yeah, I gasped at it in a "what the hell is that!?", but when I realized it was essentially a pollywog, it just worked for me. It kind of reinforced the inefficiency of bureaucracy aspect as that was probably their only chance to kill it the conventional way. With the pollywog idea in mind, I came away with the impression that the tail was its own entity, an egg sac of soon to be tadpoles which joined in with their own atomic breath defense. I'm not sure if that's what the very ending shot had in mind, but that's what I took away with it along with the impression that one of those tadpoles might have survived or might still be down in the ocean trench feeding on the dumped nuclear fallout from WW2.

[Gentleman]

Overall I liked more than I didn't.

I liked:

The Ifukube themes. So great to hear them in a theater again.

The mystery of Godzilla's origin. What did the scientist on the boat have to do with it? Did he create Godzilla? Is he Godzilla?

I didn't like:

Godzilla's roar, specifically his final form's voice. Something that big should have had the deeper bass G roar, not the shrill 70's one.

A lot of the human scenes were very choppily cut, and felt uninspired to me. How many times can we focus a single person's face while he/she speaks directly into the camera?

American ambassador to Japan? Yeah, right.

The final plan. The logistics of it are ridiculous. So much of it depended on wild variables, like Godzilla stepping precisely where and when he was needed, hoping that the buildings needed to pin him down weren't leveled before they were needed, the lightning fast and remarkably precise action of pumping the coagulant into his mouth and hoping he didn't just spit it out.

The absolute worst thing for me was that the ending wasn't even an ending. They KNOW that Godzilla's not dead. The movie should end with the monster being defeated, not just put on biological pause.

[Dr Kain]

So mad props to the guy who had to subtitle this movie as I bet it was a nightmare to do so. I was surprised they didn't tell us when and where the bathrooms were.

[Outkaster]

This was a very different film for me. I liked it and have been around the block with Godzilla since at least 1976. I would say this plot is a lot more solid than the kid friendly films a lot of us grew up with. I think it is just as much a political film more than a Sci-Fi film. Godzilla is not actually the focus but more politics of the government in Japan. I wasn't a fan of the suit and and still not. I think however they did something different with this type of film.