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

[XvGojira]

[mkhz]

I'm not sure if this is a result of sloppy writing or editing-or if this is intentional, but are there suppose to be three Mutos? The first one escapes from the collapsed mine in the Philippines before Dr. Serizawa arrives. This is the one that creates a hole from the mine and plows thru the jungle on the way to the sea. The second, the male, is studied by Monarch under the Janjira Nuclear plant for fifteen years. The third is the female that was thought to be dormant and taken by the Americans to Nevada. I'm not sure if I'm missing something but maybe this may explain how the female already was carrying viable eggs before she met the male in San Francisco? That is, soon after the female breaks out of the Nevada nuclear waste disposal facility, she is met and fertilized by the first Muto (or maybe the first one broke into the waste facility to help the female)? I know this is really conjecture but may explain several flawed points in the movie.

[jellydonut25]

The male IS the first one.

[Giganfan]

I heard a rumor somewhere (forgive me, I don't have the source, it's merely something I picked up in passing somewhere), that the United States Department of Defense has some kind of mandate for Hollywood that prohibits filmmakers from showing the U.S. army getting its ass kicked to a certain degree of severity, in any film that they make. All politics aside...well that would just blow if it were true! Anyone else know what I'm talking about, or am I just blowing smoke here?

[Giganfan]

I remember thinking the first time I saw the movie, "okay, there's only one military engagement against Godzilla in the whole film, and while the rockets and shells don't seem to hurt him, they do serve to change his trajectory (right through the Golden Gate Bridge, mind you), and what's more, "nature has an order", and the humans are out-of-order attacking the monster that's here to help".

[Gojiraknight]

[mkhz]

[Benjamin Haines]

[DannyBeane]

I'm sure 5 or 6 years from now I'm going to be nitpicking the Hell out of this movie talking about how overrated it is, but for the time being, it just keeps getting better and better with each viewing.

The amount of Godzilla screen time seems appropriate. I feel like the anticipation of Godzilla made us feel like we wanted 2+ hours of him tearing stuff and we would have wanted more no matter how much screen time he had. The reduced screen time made him feel like he had this more mythological presence. It was almost like a Daimajin movie where you hear about this all powerful being and you see earthquakes and other signs of his presence but when he finally shows up you know he's here to kick ass. I mean most of us love the Daimajin films right? And yet he usually has less screen time than what we got in this film.

The music was perfect as well. When I first heard the soundtrack, I didn't hate it but it didn't stick with me. Now after having seen this film six times the score really does help move this film on. Its different from a typical Godzilla score in that its not so much of a theme announcing Godzilla's arrival so much as its a mood setting soundtrack as well as provide pacing to the plot. Its much more complimentary instead of being a soundtrack that stands on its own. I think the best comparison is to compare it to the Danny Elfman Batman soundtrack vs The Hans Zimmer Batman Begins soundtrack. Both are top notch scores that work in their respective movies but Elfman's is more of a character theme while Zimmer's is more about complimenting the movie through atmosphere and pacing.

The acting is fine. The critique that Cranston should have been in this film more doesn't hold up much water when you try to think of what else he could have done. He was a middle aged nuclear engineer. He wasn't physically fit enough to do a lot of action. He wasn't an expert on monsters. His character's purpose was to get Ford's hero journey moving. The only way I could have seen them keeping Joe Brody alive was if instead of a nuclear warhead, they had the mutos and Godzilla converging on a nuclear reactor and needed someone who knew how to shut it down. Killing him off though was more unexpected and gives a more emotional punch.

The Mutos were also well done. One of the critiques I've heard from some people is that they were a typical American monster similar to a Cloverfield knockoff and I disagree. First off, most Cloverfield like monsters lack in the personality department. There personality is that of a villain and their motivation is to hassle the main characters. The Mutos on the other hand had well defined characters (for giant monsters) and motivations. They had many humanizing scenes such as the "nuke gift nuzzle" as well as the femMuto's reactions to her brood being wiped out. Also the creatures were interesting visually. Rather than being flesh colored bland monsters, these were angular and glowing. They were the same species yet the two were visually different and while not having very expressive features this creatures still did a bang up job of emoting.

The Godzilla design is still growing on me. I do like it. It looks exactly how I would imagine an American Godzilla would look while still retaining his Godzilla appearances however the top notch CGI is still so different from being a man-in-suit that my mind still seems to being trying to register it as Godzilla. I do like the design I just need to wrap my head around the idea that Godzilla is now a $100+ million dollar Weta made CGI character instead of a suit stomping on miniatures.

[Gojiraknight]

[walshiam]

The above comments are THE most sensible I've read (pro or con) concerning this movie. Most comments posted are strictly a matter of PREFERENCE. To each his own I say.

[walshiam]

[DannyBeane]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

There is a definitely a difference from the concept footage to the actual movie. I know this won't be popular but I thought scenes of destruction in the concept footage were leaps and bounds more impressive than what we got. I got a bigger sense of scale and I felt that kind of went away in the movie. Even in the official teaser they still had the trampled train. I feel like someone pussed out at some point during the production of the movie and decided to take all the death out of it. I really thought we were in for the anti-summer movie with no happy endings and we definitely got something else. I never felt the sense of dread and destruction that Gojira had. I mean they did say they were going back to the routes of that movie.

The old me would of torn this movie apart for not reaching those goals but in the end we just got a typical 90's Godzilla movie with a bigger budget so I was happy.

[Gojiraknight]

[mkhz]

[MouthForWar]

[walshiam]

The film was presented as such to accent the element of fear. That's not the word that represents the final product. That word is, has been and will always be.........AWE! Plain and simple because, for better or for worse, that's what comes to mind when watching Godzilla.

[mr.negativity]

[tbeasley]

[Cookie]

Finally will be watching it in full again tomorrow night since I watched it back to back May 16th and 17th. Have been waiting patiently waiting to watch it with my dad who is responsible for getting me into Godzilla. He's not watched it yet, so will be cool seeing his reaction as he grew up watching Ultraman and the old Showa films.

[Gwangi]

In seeing this again, I can honestly say that the only legit criticisms are too much night scenes. Day battle scenes would be most welcome for the second movie. As for Godzilla’s screen time, I tend to think the ones complaining most about that, were those who grew up watching the Heisei series, where Godzilla is drawn to long and tedious battles.

There is one who clocked Godzilla at about 11 minutes worth of time. Big deal! There were some Showa Godzilla features where his appearances were quite at a minimum (think “Monster Zero”). Or better yet, clock something like “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and one will find out that his screen appearance in that film is probably not much either.

I am not the biggest cheerleader of this Godzilla design, but then again, I could say the same thing for some of Toho’s designs, and still like the movie. “Son of Godzilla” is the perfect example of that.

I could understand why some didn’t think much of Aaron-Taylor Johnson. Actually, he doesn’t bother me so much. He does his thing, though he is clearly not as interesting a character as Dr. Serizawa, Vivienne Graham and especially Admiral Stenz, played brilliantly by David Strathairn. Strathairn, could have easily played this part way over the top, and thus make Stenz some sort of caricature (think Kevin Dunn as Colonel Hicks in the 98 version).

This movie sitll gets my thumbs up!

[Legion]

[KingKaiju]

[Gojiraknight]

The folks clocking in Godzilla's minimal screentime are really calling to light another issue - the lack of anything interesting besides Godzilla. Had the film been more compelling, and especially had Godzilla's presence been felt even off-screen (i.e. shark in Jaws), then people wouldn't be recording his screentime.