Godzilla Resurgence (2016)

[jellydonut25]

[Benjamin Haines]

I think it's funny that Godzilla had a decade-long hiatus in an age when dark 'n gritty reboots became standard practice in Hollywood and on television. Threads like and popped up on this board during Godzilla's hiatus, lambasting Toho for making their films kid-friendly and calling for Hollywood to rescue Godzilla with the dark 'n gritty treatment.

And yet, the Hollywood reboot ended up harking back to the monster mash spirit of the '60s/'70s films with a heroic Godzilla and a cheerful ending, and it's Toho's new movie that's offering Godzilla the Hellspawn. The future is weird.

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

Too much information spilling out from the production is causing unrest making some of us think the movie is going to be a complete disaster. So with people already having an intense bias because they hate design and production leaks makes for a bad combination. Final Wars PTSD is kicking in.

There is a difference between Final Wars leaks and these leaks. Final Wars was showing signs of Kitamura making a joke of a movie while short handing important elements for the movie (SFX department budget) etc. These leaks seems like Higuchi and friends screwed up with the giant puppet but they aren't throwing in the towel until zero hour. Also Toho taking allegedly forcing reshoots for the human scenes to me isn't a bad thing. For all we know they saved the movie. It seems like people are trying really hard to make this work.

[lhb412]

Eh, I'm not panicing. What's changed from what we've known or suspected the last few months?

[MouthForWar]

[lhb412]

They'll still be grinding away on the effects for another month. There have been no reviews or anything yet. I just don't see the sky falling.

[Moonlight SY-3]

[lhb412]

^ What you said!

... and the otaku will see it anyway; the question is whether the general public is interested.

[Henry88]

i wonder what his heat ray will be like.

[MekaGojira3k]

[MouthForWar]

I mean, we answered the question earlier in saying that people close with the crew at Toho (who have a history of being reliable) have said the behind the scenes response has been negative and that Toho weren't even happy with the human elements. In addition to things we KNOW about (Higuchi saying they literally don't have any other footage to show, failed effects years resulting in last minute FX overhauls to questionable CG, reshoots, etc) it's not like it's out of the question to start feeling unsure of the outcome. And nothing that reliable sources (i.e. Bob Eggleton, Norman England, etc) have said about things behind the scenes seems like it's unbelievable or not jiving with what we have already seen or already know. I'm cautiously optimistic about the movie but I can't say I've seen any footage or heard anything good coming from the BTS side to really feel confident that we have a good movie on our hands. Instead of saying "why should we be worried about all these problems" I think a BETTER question would be "what have we seen or heard that makes us excited?!" And honestly aside from a decent track record for Anno,, there isn't anything making me feel good about it (and no, I don't think Higuchi is a good director). Beyond the initial press release, what have the film makers said since that is exciting? What footage do we have that looks great? What's a GOOD story from the behind the scenes of the movie, since all we've heard about are failed effects, reshoots and rushed deadlines? IMO, the answer to both of those questions would be "nothing."

I'm not trying to be cynical because I want nothing more to love a new Godzilla movie. I can probably find a defense for every Godzilla movie (Wth the exceptions of maybe 98 or Space Godilla)). But from what we've seen, the only thing keeping people excited seems to be blind faith.

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

The thing that made me excited was the short "Warrior God Attacks Tokyo." Anno and Higuchi made a visually interesting short with very little money.

At the minimum all I am looking for is that at a feature length starring Godzilla. I don't care if Satomi Ishihara uses Pig-Latin in all her dialogue. If I had some great destruction sequences at the hands of Higuchi I'd do a back flip.

If I can't even get that then consider me flat out disappointed.

[MekaGojira3k]

[klen7]

[GFan]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[lhb412]

... it's all up to personal taste, of course, but my reaction to the little material we've seen so far has been basically positive. The rumors of behind the scenes turmoil are potentially troubling, but just as many films have overcome turmoil as they have been sabotaged by it (and everything in between). I'm still fairly impressed by the talent insisted both behind and in front of the camera, and after a couple of decades of Toho putting in the barest effort possible in Godzilla (many of the films made during my lifetime almost seem like placeholders for actual films) this one looks like... well, like a real movie.

Ha! That's horribly sad, but it's true! Toho, you know you've screwed up when you come to me with your wares and I say: "Wow, this seems like an actual movie!"

Naturally, the biggest factor in whether or not this movie is good isn't whether Godzilla looks like a penis or a bowling pin, it's the story/acting/directing/etc. - if that stuff is strong the thing overall can overcome whatever individual flaws it may (or may not!) have. This is all still a big question mark, too, which goes a great deal towards building anticipation. Toho has been bombarding Japan with Shin Gojira stuff, but the actual story is still almost entirely under wraps.

[Mexigojira]

I love how many are comparing Godzilla to a penis.

issues much?

So, we are just a month for the movie to premiere, we just have to wait how the movie ends. It will be really depresing if the movie does fail at the box office.

But seriouslly, I'm getting the impression even we fans know what we want or ir we are impossing others our own views of how Godzilla should be done instead of trying new things, no matter how Godzilla looks now, if He had a different look, fans would cry anyway, or if this waas made like a 70's showa movie, people would have complained anyway.

I bet Gameras couldhave it easier because we can accept seeing him doing both goofier and serious stuff than Godzilla.

[Henry88]

[Benjamin Haines]

I'm excited about the movie because, unless it's boring, I'll probably end up liking it in spite of whatever flaws it has. Toho provided even less time and resources for their filmmakers to work with during the Millennium Series but I still love movies like Godzilla 2000, GMK, and FInal Wars. They're fun, original Godzilla movies even though they all had varying degrees of missed potential and rushed production woes. My biggest fear for the new movie would be something that looks and plays like bad television like Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, or something boring and derivative like Mechagodzilla'93 or Tokyo SOS. Nothing we've seen about Godzilla: Resurgence so far has made me worry that it will be anything like that. I really like the trailer, I like Godzilla's unique new design and I'm impressed by the quality of the visual effects. I'm interested to see the context of Godzilla's glowing, deformed appearance in the film.

[MekaGojira3k]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[Henry88]

[MekaGojira3k]

[lhb412]

Anyone else notice Godzilla has no tongue and his mouth is filled with these freaky ridges?