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

[HannibalBarca]

[Dorkzilla]

[davezilla]

I love the shot of Godzilla swimming under the USS Saratoga and the people on running from one side to the other. It's a great shot. I liked PR, but I love this Godzilla film. I love how even though it cost 160 million there is a restraint to the special effects shots. It's not all special effects all the time, thereby diminishing the magic.

I was listening to a review on NPR today and I guess I am really REALLY tired of anyone who reviews this movie comparing it only to the original 1954 film. Apparently everyone has forgotten the other 27 Toho movies that came after!!! They want to pigeon hole the character of Godzilla to that one film and nothing else. Sounds like everyone wants that movie remade.

[HannibalBarca]

To be fair, I think the comparisons to G'54 are largely due to G'14's marketing, which told us to expect a spiritual successor to the original film, when we got something more akin to a spiritual successor to Gamera: Guardian of the Universe or the unproduced film Godzilla vs. Redmoon.

[Gojilove]

Upon my third viewing one scene keeps bugging me. Its the "Let them Fight" Moment, at this time we have spent time showing destruction and the lead up to this involves the entire city in a state of panic and evacuating. Then, "Let them fight" - the winged MUTO flies past the window of an office building, where people are somehow sitting at their computers doing remedial office work like the world isn't ending outside, and they are suddenly shocked that there is a monster outside their window.

I dont know why, but this totally irritates me. Mostly because, I LOVE scenes like this - alot like in Gamera 3 when he walks by the restaurant, but at this point it seems confusing that these people are just sitting there.

nit picky - but each time I see it, it sticks out.

[HannibalBarca]

Agreed. It's one of a few glaring continuity errors that keep the film from being "perfect," if such a thing is possible.

[lhb412]

[The Shadow]

Something I've been wondering about Pacific Rim, is if it helped to pave the way a little for Godzilla. I seem to recall in the weeks following PR's release that there were many mentions of Godzilla in articles & reviews talking about PR (however a given writer thought of PR). And that these mentions of Godzilla in various write-ups were often in a favorable light, perhaps giving the forthcoming movie a small early boost in public awareness.

Just wondering if this had occurred to anyone else.

[lhb412]

I feel like they came out in the wrong order. Godzilla '14 is a good introductory kaiju film, and Pacific Rim feels like a movie that already expects you to love the genre.

[HannibalBarca]

Not impossible, but I think that Godzilla mostly succeeded on its own terms. Box office numbers being what they are, Godzilla brought in a lot of people who
didn't see, probably didn't read about, and likely didn't care about, Pacific Rim.

[The Shadow]

[TRUTH ABSOLUTE]

[mr.negativity]

blastr:



Spoiler highlights of our special Empire Podcast…

[mrbluehair]

[Kailem]

[ebirahsmeg1]

[tbeasley]

Godzilla and Pacific Rim are about the same to me, even if they are tonally different at the start. Both have very earnest stories. Neither feels postmodern or hipster-y at all. Pac Rim is just more over-the-top and flamboyant about itself than Godzilla. Godzilla works towards those moments whereas Pac Rim is more means more from the start. There's nothing unabashed about del Toro's film, or Edwards' either. But in the end, there's not a lot of difference between Gipsy Danger slicing Otachi in half over earth's atmosphere with a telescoping arm-sword and Godzilla breathing neon blue nuclear fire down the female MUTO's throat.

[GFan]

[davezilla]

Ugh we'll be waiting forever! I'm not getting any younger you know!!!! LOL

I'm not looking forward to more Star Wars movies. Disney is milking that franchise for all it's worth!

[Pkmatrix]

All right, so I've read through the first 24 pages of the early draft screenplay. I'm somewhat taken aback by just how different it is from the final product. All in all, I think I prefer the final version of the story that made it into the movie over this - I really don't like the Janjira sequence at the beginning in this version. Unless Borenstein did another substantial rewrite after this one (it's dated June 2012), then it looks to me like most of the screenplay would actually be more attributable to Drew Pierce and Frank Darabont.

Oh, also: Monarch is NOT named "MUTO" in the script. It is named the "United Nations MUTO Research Team", which I'm guessing people may shorten to "MUTO" later on. That's another change that I prefer over this draft - Monarch is a better name and that it's affiliations are kept more vague just plays better.

[jellydonut25]

[Kailem]

So, Godzilla 2 no earlier than 2018 then, or possibly 2019 depending on how long they want to take with it once he's back from Star Wars.

[Hybrid Gojira]

That, or Edwards decides not to direct and someone else steps in.

Also, a buddy of mine posted this in my fb timeline. I laughed.

[jellydonut25]

I mean, I get the joke...but the SoG suit is the buttfugliest of all.

[Dorkzilla]