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Godzilla (2014)
- Thread starter rhett7660
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Have you ever watched a Gojira/Godzilla movie before? Especially one from the Heisei period? The Legendary Godzilla is pretty much along the lines of every Heisei Gojira movie.
I have to say, you could tell the director had great affection for not only the kaiju genre, but of directors Honda Ishirō and Steven Spielberg, you could see more than a few of the directors' influences in some of the shots and pacing.
<<SPOILERS>>
I was hyped too and I hated this film. My friend who I went to see it with actually wanted to leave early... The duration of the film is too long. I think a lot of it can be cut out. I also didn't like how the moth things had more exposure and story then Godzilla itself. I also hated how it blatantly left the film off with a possible sequel...
- hated the scene when they jumped down from the sky and did absolutely nothing
- when Godzilla and the main character had an eye connection....
- when it woke up the following day and swam off even though it looked like it had died... But in actual fact, knocked out
Never thought this move would be so polarizing, love it or hate it seems to be the trend on this one.
We finally watched this (streamed). If you recall, I'm the minority who loved the 1998 version. This was ok, it was more true to the original movies. Don't yet know if I'll be buying it.
- Great build up.
- Loved the Japan atmosphere in the 1999 flashback. Some outstanding effects, but way too dark. Almost every encounter was at night, I assume to cover up short comings of FX.
- Cranston, big thumbs up, the only memorable character. His son, not so much. This felt forced, the manufacturing of a hero. In contrast, the 1998 version was full of likable and memorable characters in contrast who had more realistic reasons for being involved in the story, than this bomb disposal expert.
-Godzilla was ugly. As far as I remember, the original Godzilla looked like it did so a person could fit in a rubber suit. In a pinch they could have pulled out the rubber suit again, lol. I much prefer the representation of the 1998 Godzilla.
- I have no issues with "Godzilla, the restorer of balance", because I remember him fighting other monsters, but I also remember the Godzilla stomping the crap out of cities just because. This article says he was a good guy. So be it.
I'm surprised that instead of following Godzilla as he swam through the ocean, they were not attacking him with all their might as he was headed for the West Coast. I did not think they had decided he was "good" at that point?
- The story seemed to drag, at night again as they brought the minuteman to the coast.
-Some technical and timing issues, very common in a movie like this... like sky diving from 30k feet, at -50C, dressed the way they were? Thirteen minutes to hoof a minuteman nuke out of the city, 5 min to drive it away on a boat and actually get it far enough a way? EMP all over, but when the nuke goes off at the end, the hero's helo does not plummet out of the sky?
- Great build up.
- Loved the Japan atmosphere in the 1999 flashback. Some outstanding effects, but way too dark. Almost every encounter was at night, I assume to cover up short comings of FX.
- Cranston, big thumbs up, the only memorable character. His son, not so much. This felt forced, the manufacturing of a hero. In contrast, the 1998 version was full of likable and memorable characters in contrast who had more realistic reasons for being involved in the story, than this bomb disposal expert.
-Godzilla was ugly. As far as I remember, the original Godzilla looked like it did so a person could fit in a rubber suit. In a pinch they could have pulled out the rubber suit again, lol. I much prefer the representation of the 1998 Godzilla.
- I have no issues with "Godzilla, the restorer of balance", because I remember him fighting other monsters, but I also remember the Godzilla stomping the crap out of cities just because. This article says he was a good guy. So be it.
I'm surprised that instead of following Godzilla as he swam through the ocean, they were not attacking him with all their might as he was headed for the West Coast. I did not think they had decided he was "good" at that point?
- The story seemed to drag, at night again as they brought the minuteman to the coast.
-Some technical and timing issues, very common in a movie like this... like sky diving from 30k feet, at -50C, dressed the way they were? Thirteen minutes to hoof a minuteman nuke out of the city, 5 min to drive it away on a boat and actually get it far enough a way? EMP all over, but when the nuke goes off at the end, the hero's helo does not plummet out of the sky?
I saw that one a long time ago, when it first came out.Your loss. Try Interview With a Vampire, it's excellent.
It was alright.
I was pretty bored with it actually.
We finally watched this (streamed). If you recall, I'm the minority who loved the 1998 version. This was ok, it was more true to the original movies. Don't yet know if I'll be buying it.
- Great build up.
- Loved the Japan atmosphere in the 1999 flashback. Some outstanding effects, but way too dark. Almost every encounter was at night, I assume to cover up short comings of FX.
- Cranston, big thumbs up, the only memorable character. His son, not so much. This felt forced, the manufacturing of a hero. In contrast, the 1998 version was full of likable and memorable characters in contrast who had more realistic reasons for being involved in the story, than this bomb disposal expert.
-Godzilla was ugly. As far as I remember, the original Godzilla looked like it did so a person could fit in a rubber suit. In a pinch they could have pulled out the rubber suit again, lol. I much prefer the representation of the 1998 Godzilla.
- I have no issues with "Godzilla, the restorer of balance", because I remember him fighting other monsters, but I also remember the Godzilla stomping the crap out of cities just because. This article says he was a good guy. So be it.
I'm surprised that instead of following Godzilla as he swam through the ocean, they were not attacking him with all their might as he was headed for the West Coast. I did not think they had decided he was "good" at that point?
- The story seemed to drag, at night again as they brought the minuteman to the coast.
-Some technical and timing issues, very common in a movie like this... like sky diving from 30k feet, at -50C, dressed the way they were? Thirteen minutes to hoof a minuteman nuke out of the city, 5 min to drive it away on a boat and actually get it far enough a way? EMP all over, but when the nuke goes off at the end, the hero's helo does not plummet out of the sky?
I agree there could have been some tightening up in the editing department to move the story along. Come on.. it is a movie about giant monsters that feed off nuclear waste!!!
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We finally watched this (streamed). If you recall, I'm the minority who loved the 1998 version. This was ok, it was more true to the original movies. Don't yet know if I'll be buying it.
- Great build up.
- Loved the Japan atmosphere in the 1999 flashback. Some outstanding effects, but way too dark. Almost every encounter was at night, I assume to cover up short comings of FX.
- Cranston, big thumbs up, the only memorable character. His son, not so much. This felt forced, the manufacturing of a hero. In contrast, the 1998 version was full of likable and memorable characters in contrast who had more realistic reasons for being involved in the story, than this bomb disposal expert.
-Godzilla was ugly. As far as I remember, the original Godzilla looked like it did so a person could fit in a rubber suit. In a pinch they could have pulled out the rubber suit again, lol. I much prefer the representation of the 1998 Godzilla.
- I have no issues with "Godzilla, the restorer of balance", because I remember him fighting other monsters, but I also remember the Godzilla stomping the crap out of cities just because. This article says he was a good guy. So be it.
I'm surprised that instead of following Godzilla as he swam through the ocean, they were not attacking him with all their might as he was headed for the West Coast. I did not think they had decided he was "good" at that point?
- The story seemed to drag, at night again as they brought the minuteman to the coast.
-Some technical and timing issues, very common in a movie like this... like sky diving from 30k feet, at -50C, dressed the way they were? Thirteen minutes to hoof a minuteman nuke out of the city, 5 min to drive it away on a boat and actually get it far enough a way? EMP all over, but when the nuke goes off at the end, the hero's helo does not plummet out of the sky?
Funny thing: the 1998 movie is in cannon with at least one of the Japanese movies. Though obviously it's established that she* isn't the real Godzilla... Just something we silly Americans mistake for him.
Anyway, the biggest problem with that movie... For me anyway... Is that it reduces the G-man to a big animal. Godzilla is supposed to be more than that. He is a force of unimaginable power. (In the first movie he was literally a stand in for the nuclear bomb!)
As for the new one... Yeah, the characters suck. The whole "human story" sucks for that matter. It's nothing we haven't seen done better a dozen or so times before.
*instead of calling it a "very unusual he", our "worm guy" should have corrected it to "she", as it is appropriate to refer to animals which reproduce through parthenogenesis in the feminine rather than the masculine.
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Which one?
Thank you! In all of the 1998 hate comments, you might be the first person to make this point about deviations from the main Godzilla premise. ☺️ A Google search reveals an avalanche of criticism why the 1998 version sucked, that is when the name Godzilla is attached to that version.
Admittedly I took the 1998 remake simply as "large monster in the city" movie. And it does completely blow off Godzilla's primary attribute and reason for existing. Regarding the "restorer of balance", this point finally hit me over the head (maybe because you were the first to hit me with it
) and I agree, the 1998 movie failed utterly in this respect.In the 1998 version, G did not stomp the city as I remember the old Godzilla stomping cities, but I was young when I watched the original movies and admittedly, probably don't remember correctly what G was doing way back then. Maybe he was always a city-stomper or maybe fighting "bad" monsters when the destruction took place. Honestly the impression I had was that if there was not another monster to fight, he'd be stomping cities. And in contrast the 1998 movie, this poor big sympathetic lizard was just trying to raise a family while being harassed by the military for the entire movie.
Having my eyes opened, makes me wonder how they ever got approval to do the 1998 movie? However I still enjoy watching the The Real Big Lizard Takes Manhatten while admitting the 2014 version, despite its flaws was a better Godzilla story.
Oh, something I forgot to mention is the original 1954 costume was fairly in line with the depiction of theropods dinosaurs at that time (it was only in the 70s that they realized that an upright posture was physically impossible). Though admittedly it became a lot less convincing through the Shōwa run, as they kept modifying it to be more agile and kid-friendly.
Still the rubber suits and and low tech special effects as if the fans demands it. After watching something like this, it becomes a little harder to critize the 1998 version.
But as the view of dinos modernized, they should have updated Godzilla too, to keep him from becoming more of a B class movie than he all ready is. But alas, they'd have to retire the rubber suit.
I'd say that the 2014 movie made strides in updating his appearance, but I see no reason to keep the upright posture, other than fans demand something looking like the original beast, otherwise it would'nt really be Godzilla would it? As a kid I remember Mothra and Rodan along with Godzilla. At least back then these movies used the technology of the day. Final Wars seems stuck in the past, ok if the perpetuating of campy 50's style Godzilla movies is the goal.
I'd have to research, but did Godzilla ever appear just to stomp cities, or was he always fighting other monsters? I don't remember. The idea that his existence is payback for man's nuclear folly is reasonable. From that standpoint, it's also reasonable, but maybe not satisfying to Godzilla affictinados to construct the 1998 story that instead of a dinosaur that survive through millennium and then was subjected to huge doses of radiation, instead were regular iguanas that mutated due to radiation exposure. What such a large lizard might do is up for speculation, but maurading through large cities seems fair.
After all, wasn't the original depiction of Godzilla, one of just being a large angery lizard? I don't remember the "restorer of balance" was always an aspect of the franchise? The anger directed at the 1998 version seems to be anger at these creative variations from the original mythos.I'm even questioning the "restorer of balance aspect". The more I think about the original franchise, the more it seems that having other monsters to fight was primarily just a vehicle to break the monotony of city stomping, lol.
Interesting background read.
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I'd have to research, but did Godzilla ever appear just to stomp cities, or was he always fighting other monsters? I don't remember. The idea that his existence is payback for man's nuclear folly is reasonable. From that standpoint, it's also reasonable, but maybe not satisfying to Godzilla affictinados to construct the 1998 story that instead of a dinosaur that survive through millennium and then was subjected to huge doses of radiation, instead were regular iguanas that mutated due to radiation exposure. What such a large lizard might do is up for speculation, but maurading through large cities seems fair.
There was no other monster in the first movie. In fact that movie has a very different tone from any Godzilla movie since. He was not the restorer of balance, no. He was a force that, once released, could not be put back. Indiscriminate destruction on a massive scale. Even those who thought they escaped him inevitably perish. In short, he quite literally represented the nuclear bomb.
The best somewhat good semi-modern Godzillza was Godzilla 2000. It even had a cute Japanese model in it.
The 1998 version was divergent from the theme of the originals. If he had just knocked down some buildings on purpose! But if the 1998 version had been designed with a sequal in mind, after his greeting in NYC, he might have turned into a good ole city stomper.
I rented this movie for my flight back home, later this week. I may look for another movie as well.
I don't have high expectations but I think it I may like it.
I will say this though. I much prefer the traditional design of Godzilla from the Japanese movies then the latest ones we've been seeing. Maybe I'm old school, but they don't look like Godzilla to me
I don't have high expectations but I think it I may like it.
I will say this though. I much prefer the traditional design of Godzilla from the Japanese movies then the latest ones we've been seeing. Maybe I'm old school, but they don't look like Godzilla to me
I need to watch this.
update: It was funny and valid!
I was watching Pacific Rim and after seeing the new Godzilla realized how closely related it is to The Godzilla mythos if not in story specifics, in theme and feeling.
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