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

[king_ghidorah]

But I'm arguing that you don't have to keep addressing his nuclear origins because it's in the subtext. It's understood. In 62 when there's a nuclear reactor like phenomena inside and iceberg or in 64 when the geiger counters start to spike. These little subtle nods say a lot in the span of a few seconds without being too heavy handed.

I don't mind a hero Godzilla....I just wish they would established him as a threat first. It's kind of weird to do this backwards for Godzilla. And people keep on referring to Gamera because it's pretty much the same character and plot from the 90's trilogy. Don't get mad at us for just keeping it real brah'

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

Gamera is tied with humanity (it's never explicity stated why...helps to keep him anchored, more of a good guy...gives him the strength to keep fighting) but it's always stated in those films that he's fighting for the planet. If humanity were to really start "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" up he'd turn on us to save the world. He'll protect us for as long as he can but we have to meet him half-way.

Godzilla doesn't even have that level of complexity to him. He's just Godzilla "Ahab/ Van Helsing" Monster Killer.


And all of those nuclear nods don't do "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" because they never establish anything of substance first.

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

You're wrong

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

How dare you quote such a magnificent movie back at me.

[Benjamin Haines]

[Jorzilla]

[MouthForWar]

[HannibalBarca]

To try and equate the origins of '54 and '14 is a fallacy. G'54 was awoken as a direct result of reckless nuclear testing, which killed people and did untold damage to the environment.

G'14 got woken up because we sent a nuclear submarine too deep.

[MouthForWar]

My point is that this origin is every bit as valid as any other and to say its somehow less "true" or that its "neglecting the original origins" is wrongheaded. In fact, its plainly false.

The overall question is "What is Godzilla?" The answer is everything and nothing, and it all depends on the fan. Godzilla is a horrific embodiment of the bomb, a goofball who plays volleball with his enemies, an environmentalist who hates pollution, a hero of a child's dreams, a savior to a ship out at sea, a mythological being, a superhero who shakes hands with robots, a mutated dinosaur, a hero who only comes around when evil monsters arrive, a living nuclear reactor, a force of nature, a father figure, a monster possessed by ghosts, a metaphor for man's false superiority over nature, etc. The new Godzilla is a combination of a few of those, rather than something that neglects the spirit of anything that came before it.

It used to be ok and accepted that Godzilla's character and origin changed from series to series. After all, the character's diversity is largely what's kept the franchise going.

[HannibalBarca]

I just don't appreciate insincerity, and I think this movie is insincere in some ways. This movie desperately wanted us to think it was within at least shouting distance of G'54. It wants us to think that it's a serious, dark, apocalyptic movie. But it isn't, really, when you get right down to it; it's just masquerading as one. The origin story exemplifies that for me: they tied in the atomic bomb, because that's what they thought needed to do to win over the hard core fans. But they used the atomic bomb in the most sanitized and irrelevant way possible. Godzilla's relationship to the atomic tests is all but ignored in the rest of the film and never seems to have any consequence. In the end, it's just another excuse to run a cool-looking effects reel.

[MouthForWar]

[Jorzilla]

IT CAN'T BE MISDIRECTION OF MARKETING IF YOU HAVE THE DIRECTOR OF THE FILM MAKING CLAIMS ABOUT THE MOVIE IN PRE-PRODUCTION THAT END UP BEING FALSE IN THE FINAL PICTURE.

[MouthForWar]

Such as? Aside from saying he wanted it to be more grounded, I don't think he said a whole lot of anything. He didn't use words like dark, gritty, apocalyptic, etc and very early on he said he wanted the audience to root for Godzilla and that Godzilla would be "restoring balance"- this was all said at the Comic Con panel and beforehand. People mistake his reverence of the original as an intention to remake it. Which are two very different things.

[Jorzilla]

This is demonstrably false going back to the initial teaser trailer. That was specifically created by Gareth Edwards and team to show the vision they wanted to portray.

You are grasping at straws.

[HannibalBarca]

He also said that Godzilla was "the punishment we deserve" and that didn't exactly come to pass.

[Jorzilla]

[MouthForWar]

[HannibalBarca]

2/3 is generally regarded as a very low passing grade.

[Jorzilla]

[MouthForWar]

[lhb412]

[walshiam]

I think I've mentioned this before but it should have been assumed when it became known there were other monsters the TYPE of Godzilla we were getting.