by Irish Gfan » Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:20 am
Well since we're swapping stories about GINO, I was in 8th grade when the movie came out. The hype was INSANE. The only thing I had to compare to it was the 89 Tim Burton Batman. For those of us that were around back then, remember what it was like seeing the Bat Signal everywhere you went? Well in 98, you couldn't walk down the street without seeing Godzilla. The marketing campaign, the merchandise, the commercials (remember the teaser they showed right after the ball dropped at New Years?) all combined to make this movie seem larger than life and it looked like it was the can't miss movie of the year. It wasn't just a big movie. It was THE movie.
Unlike the Burton Batman film, which blew my mind, changed my perception of how the title character could be portrayed, and lived up to its hype and then some, GINO was the movie that ruined me. After seeing how that movie turned out, I learned never to get my hopes up for a movie again. It was not a good feeling at all. Alot of people describe that level of disappointment towards Phantom Menace, but honestly, I never wanted a Star Wars prequel, so my expectations for that film, even in its planning stages in 1997, were low. Godzilla was the movie I wanted to see. That was the movie I waited my whole life for and I couldn't wait for it. So to get served that turd on a platter with all that hype and such a high level of expectations was pretty disheartening.
It isn't even that GINO is among the worst movies I have ever seen. Lord knows Emmerich have served up much worse. Heck, Godzilla might be one of his better ones, which is pretty sad. It is just that there was a huge discrepancy between what was promised and expected and what we actually got. I have never been that disappointed in a movie before or since this came out. Go down the list. I already mentioned Phantom Menace. Yeah, I never wanted it to begin with, so I wasn't disappointed. Last Airbender? I knew that was going to suck. Spider-Man 3 & X-Men 3? Heavenly classics compared to GINO.
I wanted a movie that presented Godzilla as the epic force of destruction that he was in 1954. A big budget spectacle that covered the scale of such a disastrous event. What I got was a low rent Jurassic Park knock off that felt like it was made by people who had never watched a Godzilla movie before. Why does "Godzilla" run away from the military? Why does the military cause more damage to the city than "Godzilla" does? Why does "Godzilla" have raptor babies in MSG? Why is "Godzilla" so vulnerable and easy to kill? And how on this freakin' planet is "Godzilla" able to HIDE in one of the largest cities in the world?! That last one will always floor me. So a 200ft tall monster is able to HIDE in New York City. Movie, you took the suspension of disbelief I am willing to give this movie and threw it in a blender with that one.
Because of that massive disappointment, I am trying to keep my expectations for this new film reasonable. However, I like what I've seen so far and at the very least, I can say that Edwards and those involved with the film want to make a faithful reboot to our favorite movie monster that will make us happy. To that end, I can at least say the heart is in the right place and I can respect the effort. Hopefully the final product lives up to those good intentions and clear passion for the project.