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

[Gojiraknight]

[Legion]

[Henry88]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

Please. Call me insane.

The brightness is at 80% on my television...

Just watched the Blu-Ray on a 1080p LED Samsung television...

It's dark and seems out of focus. I'm watching the Extra features right now and I'm not kidding I feel the clips they show of the movie during the behind the scenes are bright and crisps opposed to the actual movie.

Am I crazy?

[sachiel]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

I saw this thing in IMax and recall the image quality very bright and crisp so that's why I am a little off put by this. It could be something else with my Bluray player/tv but it isn't the best BluRay I own thats for sure.

I did enjoy his roar on the few speakers I use. My bluray case also roars. How silly.

[Jorzilla]

I watched the 30 min Target exclusive and ended up getting frustrated half-way through it. What was promised and (still) being promised about this film failed to deliver primarily because the Godzilla narrative had the share screen time with other monsters who ended up hogging most monster development and allegory. I really started to believe in the movies vision again, and I can see why there was a ton of positive press and enthusiasm from the cast and crew...just the final picture doesn't live up to it.

By the end I wanted to punch Borenstein in his smug face talking about how great his story was, and at one point a producer goes, "We had to make sure this monster looked real...You know, not like one of those guys in a suit." Talk about hindsight bias, of course the first Godzilla movie doesn't look real anymore, but it was still a revolutionary technique. I bet in 60 years your movie wont look so hot anymore either.

/end rant.

[walshiam]

I think it does live up to the vision described. Why? Because, like so many other Godzilla flicks in the past, Godzilla doesn't show up until anywhere from midway to 2/3rd's into those films, no different than this one. Why? Because in these movies, the story doesn't necessarily start with Godzilla but rather ends with him. The beginning of these films, some of them the best in the series, always starts with a series of events LEADING to Godzilla with a build up of his enemies. The battle is not the pay off. It's the journey to the battle that a viewer who appreciates that there's so much more to a story than a giant reptile on the loose no matter what the title is.

[Gojiraknight]

[Gwangi]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Jorzilla]

All of Godzilla's backstory is essentially told to the audience in the one scene on the aircraft carrier. Prior to that scene, aside from the opening credits, there is nearly 0 references to Godzilla. The MUTOs on the other hand had the entire first third of the movie to drive the plot and back story. As a result, watching this film with my friends there was confusion as to what the MUTO was at Janjira because it was assumed in a movie called "Godzilla" it would be a Godzilla and not some unknown creature. Even after they finally talk about Godzilla in the film, that one scene is basically all of the history or story we get on the character since he spends the rest of the movie single-mindedly trying to kill the MUTOs. Once again the MUTOs drive the story, attack Vegas, the nuke train, bring the destruction to SF, eat nukes, etc.

This movie very much feels like sequel 2 or 3 in a series when it was supposed to be the first.

[Gojiraknight]

[Jorzilla]

[Gwangi]

[KingKaiju]

Whoever has bought the DVD, please tell me that the movie isn't shrouded in darkness?? I've been hearing that it's hard to watch because it's so damn dark...

[Gojiraknight]

[KingKaiju]

[Giganfan]

At the risk of offering absolutely nothing useful to the debate, let me voice my overall opinion, as I have yet to do so.

I 'effin' LOVE this movie!!! Gareth Edwards, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Brian Cranston, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins, Juliet Binoche, etc. you were ALL fantastic! Love the story, love the effects, love the music, love the MUTOs and Godzilla IS the movie star of all movie stars, no matter how little screen time he has. Every shot he's in is money. My favorite part is when he first uses his atomic breath, even though at first, I thought the blast itself looked like the water stream from a garden hose. It has grown on me, as have whatever other imperfections the film admittedly has. Objectively, I still believe Gareth Edwards made a pretty impressive movie. Considering the fact that this is essentially his Hollywood debut, he brings indie/art-house flavor, and seemlessly melds it with big-budget Hollywood scope. The cat-and-mouse suspense technique does get a little bit old after a while; perhaps he did it one time too many, but on the whole, I respect Edwards' decision to go against the grain. He's got a bright future a head of him, I believe, and I can't wait for the next one. Godzilla is an atypical Hollywood blockbuster in all good ways.

As a Goji-lifer, I'm in heaven watching this movie. I've seen it four times (three in the theater), and every time, it's an easy two hours and five minutes. In the end, to use a kind of Spielbergian metaphor, I was expecting Schindler's List, but was pleasantly surprised, and truly SHOCKED at how Godzilla was much more like Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's just a lot of fun, and to be honest, the thing that surprised me the most is how much of a "Godzilla movie" it ultimately ended up being. The spirit is unmistakable. Anyway, that's how I see it. I'm admittedlty blinded by my own personal "fandemonium". I get chills and giggles of joy when he gets back up at the end, staggers to the shore, gives one final victory roar and disappears beneath the waves. It sucks that most critics and audiences where generally lukewarm about it, and I hope most fans are atleast satisfied, because Godzilla still did exceptionally well. Five hundred million world-wide, two hundred million domestically for a one hundred sixty million dollar monster movie works for me. And that ninety million dollar opening weekend surprised the hell out of me, to be honest. I think it's safe to say that "our guy" did damn-well.

[KingKaiju]

[walshiam]

More what?

[jellydonut25]

[sarcasm]Yeah, let's let the creatures whose mere existence wipes out all electricity, dropping planes from the sky, blackening cities, and throwing off every means of non-analogue defense we have multiply. Oh, they're also the size of skyscrapers, so we definitely want tons of them running around, just so they can clean up the occasional bit of nuclear waste.[/sarcasm] The MUTOs are obviously bad and we wouldn't want them multiplying. The threat is real. The danger is there.

[sarcasm]And yeah, the creature who swims across the entire Pacific Ocean and does battle with two other creatures his size who battles for HOURS in a fight to the death and gets a damn building three times his size dropped on his head is weak for showing some fatigue after his battle.[/sarcasm]
Have we become SO used to Heisei and Millenium Godzilla, who never showed ANY signs of tiring that we can't handle it when Godzilla is tired after a battle? Isn't this the same message board where people really like Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, where Godzilla is shown to be extremely weary after his battles? Perhaps even a better question, do you really WANT Godzilla to be completely 100% unstoppable and indestructible? Isn't that kinda boring? Isn't it more tense knowing that there's a chance that the hero is in actual danger?

Me personally, I don't even miss the scenes of Godzilla laying waste to a city or tank corps or something...if I want that, we've had nearly 30 straight years of either evil or anti-hero Godzilla. I like having hero Godzilla back, personally.

[Giganfan]

I like all of that, jelly. For me, this movie is a breath of fresh air, stylistically speaking. I've heard complaints about how the story is derivitive of Kaneko's Gamera series, and I just sigh, really, because in sixty years of making monster movies, let's face it, there are only so many ways you can WRITE a monster movie. And Toho, after a certain point, wasn't very keen on exploring the genre's more interesting possibilities anyway. The story is fine, but the artistic interpretation is what makes it feel fresh. I seriously believe Gareth Edwards is that kind of filmmaker. An intellectual, but with a BIG imagination.

Oh, and let's not forget the friggin' "CUTTING-EDGE OF TECHNOLOGY" that brought Godzilla back into the spotlight where he belongs. The movie star, to end all movie stars. That's Godzilla to me. My childhood hero...and he's still bad-ass after all this time!

'Scuse me, I'm getting a little misty lol!!

[Gojiraknight]

I'm not $hitting on this film. I'm glad it happened and I'm glad it's done (mostly) well critically and commercially.

But it was sold as The Dark Knight of Godzilla films, a picture that didn't just represent its genre but transcend it. It wound up being another giant monster movie, albeit this time with a huge budget and movie-star cast. Which is great. But I can't help but be a little disappointed I was promised a Porterhouse and got a sirloin.

[Giganfan]