Godzilla! *spoiler*

daveblackeye15 · May 16, 2014, 12:33:59 PM

AKA God'szilla is Not Dead.

Back in 1998 I was 11 years old or so and I saw the first American Godzilla on the big screen. I was very disappointed since even then I was a huge Godzilla fan. Flashforward to a while ago and I was nervous they were not going to do Godzilla justice again. The trailer made me hopeful but I went in with low hopes.

Folks: this is more like it.

Now it is isn't perfect at all but I had a great time. Godzilla does not have a whole lot of screen time and I can understand people disliking it. They put a whole lot of atmosphere in it and take a less is more approach that I really like after all. I didn't mind the human characters either and unlike Final Wars getting in the way of the monster action they handled it much better here.

If I saw this in 1998 I would have been really happy I think.

Umaril Has Returned · May 16, 2014, 09:40:53 PM

Quote from: daveblackeye15 on May 16, 2014, 12:33:59 PM
AKA God'szilla is Not Dead.

Back in 1998 I was 11 years old or so and I saw the first American Godzilla on the big screen. I was very disappointed since even then I was a huge Godzilla fan. Flashforward to a while ago and I was nervous they were not going to do Godzilla justice again. The trailer made me hopeful but I went in with low hopes.

Folks: this is more like it.

Now it is isn't perfect at all but I had a great time. Godzilla does not have a whole lot of screen time and I can understand people disliking it. They put a whole lot of atmosphere in it and take a less is more approach that I really like after all. I didn't mind the human characters either and unlike Final Wars getting in the way of the monster action they handled it much better here.

If I saw this in 1998 I would have been really happy I think.

I went to see it tonight and I agree, this new movie blew the 1998 movie out of the water and out of the park at the same time! Godzilla looked really good. I hope the original actors from the 1954 film who are no longer with us (Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura among them) are looking down from Heaven and saying, "Good job!"

indianasmith · May 17, 2014, 01:37:48 AM

I got to see this movie with my newly graduated Senior class . . . they reserved the theater for 11:00 PM, and two hours after they tossed their caps, the entire class was there with friends, family, and teachers to take in this awesome movie event.

No spoilers from me but . . . TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!

Godzilla is freakin' HUGE in this one!
And the fight sequences ROCK!!!

daveblackeye15 · May 17, 2014, 02:13:11 AM

I arrived forty minutes before the previews and 3/4th of the theater was already full. People cheered and clappedm including me, during certain moments.

Umaril Has Returned · May 17, 2014, 07:36:35 AM

Quote from: indianasmith on May 17, 2014, 01:37:48 AM
I got to see this movie with my newly graduated Senior class . . . they reserved the theater for 11:00 PM, and two hours after they tossed their caps, the entire class was there with friends, family, and teachers to take in this awesome movie event.

No spoilers from me but . . . TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!

Godzilla is freakin' HUGE in this one!
And the fight sequences ROCK!!!

Indeed it was worth it! A very nice reboot of the story, and I'm not sure if you guys got to see them, but there were little references in the movie to a certain other Toho titan, as well as a very familiar creature on one of the dinosaur posters. Oooo, but I would be telling if I gave it away, wouldn't I?

VenomX73 · May 17, 2014, 01:27:04 PM

Cant believe I have to wait 1 more week... can't go without wife.

Umaril Has Returned · May 17, 2014, 02:52:43 PM

Quote from: VenomX73 on May 17, 2014, 01:27:04 PM
Cant believe I have to wait 1 more week... can't go without wife.

Yeah, most guys I know say they'd rather face Godzilla than do something w\o the wife knowing about it...

indianasmith · May 18, 2014, 10:40:48 PM

Got out and saw this one again tonight. Great movie!!!

Trevor · May 19, 2014, 04:38:10 AM

[Prepares to duck a hail of shoes] I hear Matthew Broderick's in it......

Andrew · May 19, 2014, 08:02:57 AM

A bit of a spoiler here. So do not read if you haven't seen it:

My one complaint about the monster battles is that I wanted them to be "more" when Godzilla killed each MUTO. It seemed like they fought and fought, without causing serious injuries to each other, then Godzilla abruptly killed his opponents. When Godzilla crushed the male MUTO into the skyscraper, I wanted it to be an initial brutal strike, then a number of follow-ups that pounded his foe to death. The same with his victory over the female, I wished for that to be a horrific death struggle that crushed the MUTO before the mortal blow.

A good example of what I'm thinking of is in Pacific Rim when Leatherback and Otachi gang up on Chernov Alpha. That ends with the destruction of the Jaeger, and is exactly the sort of dynamic that I wanted to see when Godzilla defeated the MUTOs. Relentless and brutal, displaying the sort of power needed to vanquish another giant opponent.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Godzilla, but if I could make it perfect for me - that's what I would change.

The Burgomaster · May 19, 2014, 02:43:59 PM

I thought this movie was disappointing. Boring hero, no suspense, and not enough Godzilla until the final 30 minutes. It was the #1 movie in the U.S. over the weekend and I expect ticket sales to drop off rather quickly.

daveblackeye15 · May 19, 2014, 03:05:34 PM

I admit is isn't perfect but I do like the less is more approach with Godzilla. Also I hear the budget was a bit smaller compared to other big huge summer blockbusters.

Perhaps the sequel will give us a little more Godzilla? I also liked hte tone down breathe weapon, three was the bare minimum I hoped for, two would have been just lazy. Heisei Godzilla films had the monster rely way too much on his breathe weapon and I like a Godzilla that fights mostly melee and sometimes spits fire. Also liked that it was kind of whispy and reminded me of his early Showa, not a big concentrated beam weapon.

I certainly felt way more satisfied after this one than the last American Godzilla film and the last Japanese one. The American one is just, well, wrong, no Godzilla at all and I liked only the French agent and a few bit characters. Final Wars had some awesome ideas and scenes but even to this day I still wrestle with it, the damn human action at the took up way too much time with Godzilla feeling like an after thought then they spead through the fight with Keizer Ghidorah.

A shame too since I really liked how light that suit was with the idea being that Godzilla fought like he did in the 70s. At least with this one it felt like we had two conflicts at once that helped each other.

Umaril Has Returned · May 20, 2014, 08:25:39 AM

Quote from: Andrew on May 19, 2014, 08:02:57 AM
A bit of a spoiler here. So do not read if you haven't seen it:

My one complaint about the monster battles is that I wanted them to be "more" when Godzilla killed each MUTO. It seemed like they fought and fought, without causing serious injuries to each other, then Godzilla abruptly killed his opponents. When Godzilla crushed the male MUTO into the skyscraper, I wanted it to be an initial brutal strike, then a number of follow-ups that pounded his foe to death. The same with his victory over the female, I wished for that to be a horrific death struggle that crushed the MUTO before the mortal blow.

A good example of what I'm thinking of is in Pacific Rim when Leatherback and Otachi gang up on Chernov Alpha. That ends with the destruction of the Jaeger, and is exactly the sort of dynamic that I wanted to see when Godzilla defeated the MUTOs. Relentless and brutal, displaying the sort of power needed to vanquish another giant opponent.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Godzilla, but if I could make it perfect for me - that's what I would change.

I'll go with that one, Andrew. There needed to be more brutality to the fights and some more ass whippin' by our Big Green Guy. As it stood, it wasn't a bad movie.

Another thing I'll say is that Godzilla's breath weapon looked too much like real flames, they could have made it like a cone like they did in all the movies, with just slight flickering flames around the edges.

Andrew · May 20, 2014, 09:00:17 AM

Quote from: Umaril Has Returned on May 20, 2014, 08:25:39 AM
Another thing I'll say is that Godzilla's breath weapon looked too much like real flames, they could have made it like a cone like they did in all the movies, with just slight flickering flames around the edges.

I was actually OK with it looking like a stream of nuclear plasma. Wished it left scars on the MUTO, or some other sign of visible injury (along with the side effects for humans in the area). Perhaps there were injuries to the MUTO and I missed them while trying to take in the whole movie.

daveblackeye15 · May 20, 2014, 05:05:16 PM

I was actually expecting the breathe weapon, if it was going to appear, to be more like the GMK's version: super powerful. I figured Godzilla would use it only a few times but each time there would massive amounts of radiation in the air, spreading for miles, nearly everything and so on for days.

I don't mind the this turned down burning version, very much like his Kong/Mothra movies.