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

[The Great MM]

[Bluejira]

tched it twice Friday and one time Saturday. First viewing was in a XD theater in 3D. Excellent format. The other two were in standard 2D. Actually enjoyed my third viewing the most. All the anticipation was burnt out with the two Friday shows so I could just sit and enjoy it on Saturday. I would give it a solid 8/10 score. A first I was like many who felt Godzilla didn't get enough screen time. Third viewing changed my mind. Godzilla's presence is felt throughout the film. Love this rendition of Godzilla. The Mutos were much better realized than I expected. Still have no idea as to how to classify them though. Individually neither was a match for Godzilla as a team they gave him a challenge. Didn't mind Joe Brody's death. After the reveal of the male muto his story arc was over. His theories vindicated.
A few things I would add to make it a 10/10.
1. Have adult Ford Brody introduced in a scene where he is actually defusing a bomb. Then afterwards reveal he is going on leave. This would be preferable to being told again and again that he is EOD and establish him as heroic.
2. Serizawa back story. When he shows his father's watch to Admiral Stenz would have been the perfect opportunity for an Indianapolis speech telling his family's history with the bomb and Godzilla.
3. Sad they cut the Stenz speech from trailer. Could have included most of information from command center scene and established of members of HALO jump here.
4. Would have spent a few more moments with Elle trying to evacuate the city after the emp just to establish she was trying to escape from downtown.

[MekaGojira3k]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

So I made a thread on another forum about this movie. The majority of the complaints were the constant cutting away from Godzilla to human drama. I wonder if they will give us more screen time in the second or they are going to do the same old routine?

[Joseph Goodman]

I'd post a big wall of text, but as canofhumdingers, Cheeky_Pig, and John Schuerman helpfully came away with the exact same opinions of the film as I did, I'll save myself some time!

[BrollySupersj]

[Gyaos1965]

[Gwangi]

[Jorzilla]

I can't believe this has to be said: But can we please be respective of people's opinions? Just because someone has an issue with this film does not mean that they suddenly hate Godzilla. Their complaints towards the movie are just as valid as someone else's love.

[QBASS]

[Stargodzilla]

I think the Firemen were put in the to look like the twins....

Ok was that sigh after Godzilla tail swiped the male a sigh of thank god I got that pit bull of a thing off me or a sigh man I am tired and beaten up?

[KaiserGhidorah]

Just got back from the second showing and it still holds up quite well. Truthfully, I think I enjoyed it more the second go around than I did the first. I personally think that Edwards did a fine job with this film overall. The monster action was great......I really do like the MUTOs as I thought they were a really cool original creation that were in fact worthy adversaries of Godzilla. I didn't mind them cutting away from the first monster battle in hawaii as we basically saw what happened on the television screen but the second time it happened I was a little aggravated. The acting and story was decent - I wasn't thrilled with Heisenberg getting killed off that early in the film as I thought he was the most interesting character by far.

I'm thrilled with the box office returns for the film and the fact that a sequel has already been greenlit. Quite pleased with that news and I wouldn't be surprised if Godzilla is in fact pitted against Mothra in the next film. Anyways, this film ranks up there in my top 3 with the original and GMK. Overall, my rating is a 4.5 out of 5.

[QBASS]

i enjoyed the movie, but my big issue was again cgi hidden by rain,clouds,nighttime.i was hoping this movie would break that trend once and for all,but no luck.is it that no matter how detailed the CGI,certain movies will look too fake in broad daylight somebody help a brutha out.

[HannibalBarca]

That's exactly what it is. The best CGI in the world, at this point, is still going to look fake. Rain, dark, smoke, all that stuff just goes to making it look less fake.

[Legion]

Everyone keeps saying that hiding the shark in Jaws was a storytelling decision. But...wasn't it REALLY because the robot shark didn't work right and they had to re-think how they used it?

[XvGojira]

I skimmed through this thread after a 3 day absence, so if this has been said before I apologize in advanced.

But I heard one of the criticism of the movie is that Godzilla, the Alpha Predator, doesn't "eat" the Mutos. But I saw Godzilla as a predator taking down rival predators in his territory. They used to live in a very radioactive time on Earth and now there's less radiation so just them multiplying and taking up more radiation/food source is a big threat to Godzilla. Also with the dormant Muto pod in carcass of the ancient Godzilla, or other creature, they and their progeny are parasitic threat to Godzilla too.

Just my thoughts on that little bit of criticism.

[HannibalBarca]

[Alpha OTS]

Saw it today 3d Imax. While the Imax was impressive, I can't remember anything that particularly wowed me about the 3d.

I liked it and really enjoyed it. I wanted to love it, and I'm not quite feeling that yet. Although I'm feeling a little hopeful with others in the thread saying how the second viewing improved their opinion. The thing is, I walked out of Pacific Rim loving it. I wanted that to happen here and it didn't. Oh, there's things I love, particularly *ALL* of the 3rd act. Its just I keep thinking of things that could have easily made the first and second acts much better. For number scoring, I'm agreeing with those that are giving it 7 out of 10 for the time being.

I've been thinking about it most of the day, and I think I found the proper analogy. This is the Gamera vs Barugon of Godzilla movies. G is the title character yet the movie doesn't focus on him like it should. It's more about the MUTOs and that's what is disappointing me. There were moments where they could have easily given us more G scenes or more G info, but didn't. I get that the director wanted to focus on the characters' ground perspective of everything that is going on, and in fact for most scenes that is the strongest aspect of this movie. There's a true sense of scale and the destruction that results from these creatures simply existing in our world. However, we should have seen *ALL* of that Hawaii battle and retreat, and not had to see it second hand by a boy watching a news station. The reveal of Monarch and G's history was just really disappointing. "By the way, there's a Godzilla. He's a God.....zilla. Moving on....." I wanted more to chew on there, and felt a bit cheated by how quickly it went by. I feel like there is a much better G movie in here that the director didn't want to let out because he was too focused on a third act payoff G reveal that is ultimately unnecessary.

That said the MUTOs were great. I was really apprehensive after seeing pics of the toy figures of them, but seeing them in action alleviated my concern. They do remind me of Orga. The final kaiju battle was AWESOME, especially the radioactive breath blasts. I do really like the story framework for the characters. One of my concerns going in was how they were going to explain how main characters would be wherever G was, and this worked for me. Its a great giant monster movie, but I'm not quite yet on board with it being a great Godzilla movie, just a good one.

[snowfall]

So i timed his screnntime (included shots of fins above water, shots from video/pictures)



Give or take 1 minute. Idk where that 26 minutes came from. I kid you not this is the screentime (very close to it atleast), when time comes the bluray comes out, you can time it for yourselves, you WILL get a similar time. I'm not kidding.

[lhb412]

[goji4ever]

As much as I enjoyed the build to the breath it was underwhelming, it was setup nice but feels like a missed chance.

The movie has an overall muted color palette, the blue of the spines and beam really should have stood out more...additionally giving it the flaming effect given to the "death ray" in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2 would have really lit up the screen and wowed the crowd. (though I realize godzilla missing his target and lighting up the city would go against the shifting tone of him being the "hero")

[lhb412]

[Hybrid Gojira]

I gotta say, I found Steve Ryfle's review outright maddening. He is so off kilter with his comments that they deserve an honest discussion.

He starts off by stating America is incapable of making an "Honest" Godzilla movie; I suppose history would show us that this is true to an extent because of 1998 and the drastic changes that many of the films endured when they were released here. Still, I question his review when he blatantly faults it for being historically inaccurate with regards to the depiction of nuclear testing, quoting his review -

"And what of the hundreds of tests performed by the Soviets, British, French, and Chinese during this period? Would the filmmakers have us believe they were trying to kill their own Godzillas?"

The movie itself makes no claims as to what other world super powers were doing with their bombs; he got off on the wrong foot when he starting questioning the historical accuracy of a Godzilla film. This is a movie, not a work of non-fiction or a documentary.

He faults the movie for not taking a stance on the nuclear issue, but I have to wonder if he is as harsh on every Godzilla film that followed Gojira since none of them feature the same kind of punch when they broach the atomic issue. Consider that the original Godzilla had clear imagery that has largely never been replicated - a city is shown completely annihilated; a mother and son live out what we can only assume are their final moments as a raging fire prepares to engulf them; Godzilla peers over a building and indiscriminately blasts a vehicle with his atomic beam; Godzilla tramples a train, crushing people within; a hospital is depicted with people in agony, including burn victims. While some of the Godzilla movies have fragments of these things, none capture it as the original did. Instead, Godzilla often fights aliens, battles a giant spider, travels in space, has a son, falls in love with a human, befriends a robot who can instantly grow 50 meters, and of course learns to fly.

On some level, Ryfle forgets that this is a movie for entertainment and not an indictment on the American bombs that were dropped on Japan. He makes no bones about throwing accusations awry, insulting anyone who might have a political leaning to the "right" and outright states that America is 100% culpable in the atomic bomb. While that issue has been debated, he makes very candid accusations without providing as so much as one reference as proof. I should think that all of us have opinions on this matter - if I were publishing something to such a degree I would certainly HOPE that I could also back this up with evidence. I'm sure that he can, but he chooses not to in this review.

He also never mentions any horrors committed on the Japanese side, which is convenient for his argument. War is a terrible, ugly thing. I am sure many people here could invoke issues with governments local and abroad for things they have done, but I have to wonder why he cannot present both sides of this. Instead we are to believe this new Godzilla movie is the "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" child of inept film making and a lack of respect for the original character and story, which I find completely and unequivocally false. This a movie, one which tried to pay homage to the source material while bringing about entertainment. I cannot believe that Legendary's Godzilla, which referenced 1954, Mothra (at least twice), Gojira (name of a boat), and tied a nuclear origin to Godzilla is a slap in the face of Gojira. His biggest issue in the film is that it does not do what the original Gojira does and become a continued mantra against the bombing of Japan.

He was simply expecting the wrong thing; therefore, I'd have to conclude he would of course not like this movie.

[hanshotfirst1138]

[tbeasley]

I too find Ryfle's review a little off-base, although the use of nukes in big American blockbusters as of late (Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, Pac Rim, Godzilla) is getting kind of old.