Shin Godzilla *SPOILER* Thread

[Zack Metoyer]

[MouthForWar]

[Zack Metoyer]

[MouthForWar]

Norman said the TRAILER didn't show a purple beam,
Yet his mouth was glowing purple... Which was true. And it's been WIDELY stated that the first Godzilla form isn't a tadpole. Even Gigangoji above said its more of a giant salamander type creature. The rumor
That he starts out as a "tiny tadpole" was false.

Also, Norman and Jim have given praise to plenty of Toku things they weren't involved in, so that blows that theory to
shreds. Also they've both BEEN INVOLVED with a lot of movies they DIDNT like. They're honest dudes, not shills. They're also friends with Higuchi, to this day. I know these guys and trust me when I say they aren't that way. And there's plenty of evidence to prove that, but you just want to overlook it and come up with fake reasons why they didn't like the movie.

But keep up the blind fanboyism. It's like you're immune to any criticisms people might have. You're being intentionally obtuse. I have low expectations but I can at least acknowledge both why I'm seeing as the good and bad about what I'm hearing. Keep making excuses for why other people might not like a movie YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN just because you don't THINK you'll disagree with them. Keep MAKING UP reasons for why people's negative opinions are being swayed by a non existent alternative agenda. ABOUT SOMETHING YOU HAVEN'T SEEN. What's the point of that, really?

[Moonlight SY-3]

Just walked in the door from seeing this.

Disclaimer before I start: I generally like everything. G98, KK76, JJ Trek, I love it all. So there's that.

But man-O-man, I thought this movie was FANTASTIC! I won't go through the plot point by point, since that's already been done, but wow...so different, and so familiar all at the same time. I'll predict that'll mean half the fandom will say "that ain't Godzilla!" and half will say "oh no, that again?" Whatever, it all worked for me.

The good/cool:
The main G design was excellent on the big screen. I wasn't a big fan of it up to now, but man, it works...and yes, it is pretty stiff, and very slow...JUST AS I LIKE IT! You really, really, REALLY get a feeling of immensity with this G. Not disappointed at all, and I was really prepared to be.

The initial "Proto-G" was very creepy, with quick, squirrelly movements, and of course, those wild fish eyes. Then he stood up and evolved a bit, and that was equally creepy. Very cool, I thought. Definitely not a tadpole. More like an armless lizard, with a fat weird neck, large hind legs, and a long tail.

They used ALL the G roars in this movie. All of 'em. And they all worked. I had posted before that I hoped they weren't going to use that AM radio quality Showa roar here, but they did a few times, and surprisingly it worked in the theater. Must have switched to FM. But yeah, every single Toho Godzilla roar ever is put to good use. Happy! The only down side to that is we don't get any kind of new roar.

All (or at least most) of the sound effects are classic Toho. Explosions, crumbling buildings, tail hitting the ground, tanks firing, missiles firing, all are straight from the classic Toho sound effects library. So you feel at home.

Same with the music. The Ifukube tracks used in the movie were the actual original recordings (as far as I could tell), not simply new music "inspired" by Ifukube's work. All straight off the old soundtracks. And it worked! All the music over the final credits crawl is a medley of Ifukube hits. Wonderful! The new original music was good, too.

For the most part I thought the CG work was excellent (see below), as was the miniature work on the destruction. Overall, the effects were great. Easily surpassing anything Toho has done to date.

The bad/uncool:
There were a couple of CG shots of the final G that were pretty bad, right after he fires his "Warrior God Appears Over Tokyo" beam. Jumpy movement, PS3 quality rendering...really looked like they didn't have the time/budget to finish those shots. Quite jarring considering all the other great shots before and after.

No Godzilla movie would be complete without some silly physics shots, and this one has a crazy one when they crash a bunch of trains into him and they all fly up around him like snakes, all still connected, and then kind of explode. Looked great, just was silly physics. Hard to explain, you'll know it when you see it. The scene with the two Shinkansens crashing into him was excellent.

While I appreciated all the classic Toho sound effects, I would have liked more powerful footsteps...you get a few, mostly the bass drum BOOM from the original, but I was hoping for some seat-shaking footfalls from this, the largest G ever. Said that, all the sound effects came together nicely to get across his massive size.

That's it for the good/bad.

I thought the story was interesting, but it might help to have some understanding of Japanese politics to really get it, since it all takes place amongst politicians and the military. And the Japanese...there is a LOT of dialogue in this movie, and most of it is extreme rapid-fire deliveries with quick cuts between speakers...and lots and lots of subtitles, although those were usually just introducing a character, labeling a location, or naming a piece of military equipment. It seemed there was more screen time with some sort of subtitle than without. So, it's a reading workout as well as an intense exercise in Japanese listening comprehension. I've got a degree in Japanese language, I've been living in Japan for 23 years, and I speak, read, and write Japanese all day at home and at work, but following the dialogue and reading all the subtitles in this movie was a real challenge. The Japanese friends I went with were also laughing at how crazy the dialogue was. Subtitling or dubbing this into English and other languages is going to be a huge job! I thought all the acting was competent and believable (except the non-Japanese actors...they were...not so good). Ishihara Satomi is GORGEOUS. But you knew that already. Lots of other familiar faces in the vast cast.

As I mentioned in other threads, it was a very rare treat to go into a movie with almost no idea of what to expect...so many surprises! Starting with the Proto-G, then the God Warrior beam...and the fin-beams and tail beam. All incredible. The way the main God Warrior beam quickly evolves was awesome...basically it starts like he's vomiting huge amounts of liquid, then it turns into ID4 City Destroyer fire, then it focuses into the final God Warrior beam...I'm colorblind, so I'm not sure it was blue or purple. Looked blue to me, as were the fin-beams. It think the tail beam was orange, or maybe red.

I expected more from the freaky skeletal crap at the end of his tail...all we get is the beam, the "mouth" snapping open at some point, then the final scene with the tail kind of blown apart with small creepy Godzilla-finned skeletons in/on it. I didn't think they were human skeletons, looked more like Aliens. I'll check again when I see it next.

The ending of course leaves the door wide open for the sequel(s), since we don't know if Godzilla is dead or just frozen, and what about those little Godzilla-ettes on the tail? I thought it looked more like the tail had broken off and that creature went AWOL...maybe that's the case, and those freaky little skeletons are a decoy (for the fandom). Dunno, but it was creepy and cool.

Again, I like everything, so my opinion may mean nothing to you...and why should it? I'm just a guy. A guy who loved this movie! Also, it's pretty scary, but I think my 6-year-old can handle it...I'm more concerned if he can sit through all that dialogue.

Anyway, I'll give this a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. If nothing else, it wildly (and happily) exceeded my expectations. DAMN GOOD MOVIE.

[Zack Metoyer]

[lhb412]

This is the first review I've seen on a US pop culture site. From Kotaku/io9:

http://kotaku.com/godzilla-resurgence-t ... 1784509330

Kind of negative; says that the focus on government beauracracy wears thin quickly, wrestles with the political bent of the film a bit, and commends the special effects.

[MouthForWar]

"Tens of thousands!"

Where are these rave reviews? Why aren't links
To ANY of them being posted?

Besides, since when are we so defensive against someone else WHO HAS SEEN THE MOVIE having a differing opinion?

Isn't that why boards like this exist? To discuss movies, including their cons? If you don't want to acknowledge a complaint someone had about a movie, that's fine, but it's senseless to get downright COMBATIVE over complaints that people have against a movie, especially one you haven't seen. You're bordering on starting a flame war EVERYy time
someone has something even SLIGHTLY negative to say. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. You aren't engaging in a conversation, you're just shutting it down. That's not why these boards exist and before a movie comes out, people SHOULD be able to freely discuss what they're hearing as good along with the bad. I'm telling you now, if you're going to comment on this kind of thing, knock off the combativeness. As more people see this movie and want to discuss it, it won't be tolerated, neither will any smear attacks on people like Jim or Norman who aren't here to defend themselves. That right there is violating the board policies.

But go ahead, keep egging it on. Because if this is how you're going to treat everyone who has problems with this movie once it comes out stateside and fans are getting to see it, the Schtick is gonna get old real fast.

Geez. This really is the Final Wars fiasco all over again.

[Zack Metoyer]

[Moonlight SY-3]

Hey, can you guys stop fighting for a minute and read the long post I just poured my heart into writing?

GEEZ!

[Mac]

I'm definitely interested to hear James Ballard's video review. Hopefully he goes into the politics that seem to be bothering people like Norman Englund.

[lhb412]

[GiganGoji]

[Zack Metoyer]

[MouthForWar]

[jellydonut25]

I'm on-record many times as saying I don't give a tin poop about the opinions of guys like Norman and Ryfle and Gdzizewski and Lees and Ragone (or perhaps more accurately: I don't hold their opinions in ANY sort of SPECIAL tegard)..ultimately, these people are FANS, not professional critics or industry professionals or anything. When Ryfle said G2014 was a complete bastardization of the character's roots, I dismissed it as readily as a fart in the wind.

BUT...while I can (and am) dismissing Norman's comments about whether this is or isn't "what Godzilla should be", I'm given much pause by things like board room meetings forever and no women characters of importance.

Also, it really feels like the further we're getting from the premier and the die-hards, the more negative reviews are popping up.

Personally, with the spoilers I've heard and seen (trying not to get into all of tgem, but people keep asking me to look at this thread to make sure everyone is playing nice) I'm kinda dismissing it as a Godzilla movie and starting to just hope for it to be a good movie... And it doesn't seem like it is...(from what LITTLE I've heard and seen)

[MouthForWar]

I'm gonna go ahead and second Jelli also on that I don't base my opinions one what those noted fans say. They ALL hate Final Wars, which I enjoy quite a bit. However, they're also friends of many of us here and there isn't a reason why their opinions shouldn't be shared. Whether or not we agree with them will be something that we'll find out later, but if we're sharing early reactions and reviews, there's no reason theirs shouldn't be included. Especially since people who have been around long enough already know their specific tastes, it can help someone get an idea of what the movie is like (whether they agree or disagree)

[lhb412]

[Gargantuan Gargantua]

Regardless of love or hate for this movie I don't know if this movie will make enough to warrant future Anno-ish Godzilla movies anyways. How is One Piece doing? Is that leaving death and destruction it's path?

[Moonlight SY-3]

[lhb412]

[MouthForWar]

[Zack Metoyer]

[MouthForWar]

Yes, I would imagine that it has a lot to do with the characters more or less being government neckties. Which there probably aren't many women.

[lhb412]