Godzilla (2014) - - - Part 12

[redfirebird2008]

Mmmmm no.

Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidrah the Three-Head Monster, Invasion of the Astro Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, and Final Wars are all mostly well liked by the fandom and all of their plots are more focused on the other monster/outlandish plot than Godzilla himself.

I like the classic Godzilla where he is [BLACKOUT]the threat to us and not defending us from other creatures. The marketing of this movie clearly makes it out to be a film where Godzilla is attacking mankind, not protecting it. [/BLACKOUT]
To me it looked like a great update on the 1954 film. Instead we got the later version of the character which is watered down from the original IMHO.

 

[GremlinZilla89]

I like the classic Godzilla where he is [BLACKOUT]the threat to us and not defending us from other creatures. The marketing of this movie clearly makes it out to be a film where Godzilla is attacking mankind, not protecting it. [/BLACKOUT]
To me it looked like a great update on the 1954 film. Instead we got the later version of the character which is watered down from the original IMHO.

And that preference is perfectly acceptable, just getting pissed at the movie for the way is was marketed never made sense to me. In my opinion most movies never truly reflect how the trailers make them seem.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

The film did 9.3mil last night. That's much better than I thought it would do and better than The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I don't think it's hitting 90mil because Spidey probably appealed to more families but it's headed for a very good opening weekend.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

My only problem with ATJ was that he was a lieutenant. Isn't he a little young for that rank?

 

[redfirebird2008]

And that preference is perfectly acceptable, just getting pissed at the movie for the way is was marketed never made sense to me.

I paid almost $15 to see it. I wouldn't go so far as to say I completely regret it because the action sequences were still cool to see on the big screen, but as a paying customer I have every right to complain if I feel the final product was a letdown from what they were hyping.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The film did 9.3mil last night. That's much better than I thought it would do and better than The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I don't think it's hitting 90mil because Spidey probably appealed to more families but it's headed for a very good opening weekend.

What are the weekend predictions for Godzilla?

 

[GremlinZilla89]

I paid almost $15 to see it. I wouldn't go so far as to say I completely regret it because the action sequences were still cool to see on the big screen, but as a paying customer I have every right to complain if I feel the final product was a letdown from what they were hyping.

Yes. You have every right to be let down by the FILM ITSELF. Not because you felt lied to by the marketing. You don't have to like the film or the marketing behind it, but assess the film for what it is as a stand alone entity. That's like the person who tried to sue over Drive not being a Fast and Furious type of movie. It's like shooting the messenger.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Yes. You have every right to be let down by the FILM ITSELF. Not because you felt lied to by the marketing. You don't have to like the film or the marketing behind it, but assess the film for what it is as a stand alone entity. That's like the woman who tried to sue over Drive not being a Fast and Furious type of movie. It's like shooting the messenger.

No it isn't. I'm not trying to sue anyone. They definitely knew the movie they had and they sure as hell decided to mislead in the marketing campaign. It worked, congratulations to them on that front. But I can complain about it and I'm not the only one who feels that way.

 

[GremlinZilla89]

No it isn't. I'm not trying to sue anyone. They definitely knew the movie they had and they sure as hell decided to mislead in the marketing campaign. It worked, congratulations to them on that front. But I can complain about it and I'm not the only one who feels that way.

I never said you were trying to sue anyone My point is that Drive was marketed as more of an action/thriller than it was. And people got pissed at that instead of assessing the film for what it is.

It's whatever man. I don't see the logic in knocking the film for the fact that you felt mislead by the marketing. That's all.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

What are the weekend predictions for Godzilla?

The weekend predictions were 65-75mil and Hollywood Reporter is still saying 75mil after the 9.3mil number but I figure even if it's frontloaded it should still have at least a shot at 80+mil.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I never said you were trying to sue anyone My point is that Drive was marketed as more of an action/thriller than it was. And people got pissed at that instead of assessing the film for what it is.

It's whatever man. I don't see the logic in knocking the film for the fact that you felt mislead by the marketing. That's all.

I felt misled by the marketing AND disappointed in what the actual film was. The human characters were boring other than Cranston. This wasn't like Jaws (which people keep comparing it to) where you had 3 awesome human characters in the story.

Godzilla is not the driving force of the 2014 film, despite being the title character. That's a big difference from the 1954 film, where he had small screentime but was always driving the story forward much like the shark in Jaws. [BLACKOUT]The other creatures in GZ2014 are the ones carrying the film for the vast majority of the story. [/BLACKOUT]

 

[Spider-Fan]

The weekend predictions were 65-75mil and Hollywood Reporter is still saying 75mil after the 9.3mil number but I figure even if it's frontloaded it should still have at least shot at 80+mil.

An 80+ weekend for Godzilla would be great

People have been underestimating this film for weeks.

 

[hammerhedd11]

I don't understand the assertion that the marketing was even misleading at all for this film. In fact, most of what was praised before was the intentional vagueness of what was going on. But it's pretty clear that its a disaster film involving monsters, and it pretty accurately represents the tone/style of the film, so to say it misleads you into thinking it has a specific plot line is strange if that plot line is purposefully unclear in the trailers.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

An 80+ weekend for Godzilla would be great

People have been underestimating this film for weeks.

I was one of those people lol. If I get a chance I might go see it.

 

[henzINNIT]

It's whatever man. I don't see the logic in knocking the film for the fact that you felt mislead by the marketing. That's all.

That sounds perfectly understandble to me. It's almost lying to the consumer which is not a good thing. It didn't bother me as much, but I was certainly disappointed about Cranston's role after he was so prominent in the trailers.

I'll give Godzilla a bit of credit for misleading through a lack of footage I guess, whereas a film like ASM2 promoted a character like Rhino as a significant figure by using all of his footage in the trailer. It wasn't that bad.

Trailers are pissing people off a lot nowadays. Iron Man 3 much?

 

[redfirebird2008]

I don't understand the assertion that the marketing was even misleading at all for this film. In fact, most of what was praised before was the intentional vagueness of what was going on. But it's pretty clear that its a disaster film involving monsters, and it pretty accurately represents the tone/style of the film, so to say it misleads you into thinking it has a specific plot line is strange if that plot line is purposefully unclear in the trailers.

Purposefully unclear? "You're hiding something out there." Insert visual of Godzilla. "It's gonna send us back to the stone age." Insert shot of Godzilla and random shots of destruction. It was pretty obvious what they were implying with the campaign IMHO. [BLACKOUT]Neither one of those lines of dialogue actually referred to him even though the marketing heavily suggested it. [/BLACKOUT]

 

[Sithborg]

I like the classic Godzilla where he is [BLACKOUT]the threat to us and not defending us from other creatures. The marketing of this movie clearly makes it out to be a film where Godzilla is attacking mankind, not protecting it. [/BLACKOUT]
To me it looked like a great update on the 1954 film. Instead we got the later version of the character which is watered down from the original IMHO.

But here's the thing to remember. There have been 28 films over 60 years. Godzilla has been more than one thing. And sadly, there is little room for crossover between the two major depictions of him. This film leaned a bit more toward protector than force of destruction. But I don't think there is one "classic" Godzilla.

And I find it funny that the major complaints seem to apply equally to Final Wars. Godzilla is neither the main focus nor does he really appear to really late in the movie. And that movie does seem to have mixed reactions in the fandom. But I liked it. It will always get major respect for the 10 second Zilla beatdown.

EDIT: The reaction does seem to be similar to the Mandarin. I also loved the Mandarin twist. I guess marketing doesn't shape my opinion on movies like some others.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I was one of those people lol. If I get a chance I might go see it.

I can't say for sure it is worth the ticket until I get home from my 7pm showing, LOL! But as a longtime Godzilla fan, I say go for it

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

I think this would have been better if we'd had a Godzilla-centric reboot intro before this one.

I think more of the problem is so many people are so used to being spoon-fed everything they want that when a film tries to be different or actually build tension they get annoyed because they're not getting non-stop action, or as much as THEY think they deserve for a big budget blockbuster.

The thing is this film NEVER promoted itself as an all out battle movie, the trailers had action shots but it never even showcased Godzilla fighting the Mutos, so people saying the marketing was misleading, only slightly so.

 

[Visualiza]

My only problem with ATJ was that he was a lieutenant. Isn't he a little young for that rank?

Not quite, but maybe. I believe his character was 25 in the movie (10 during the prologue, plus '15 years later"), but then again, it also depends on whether he was a Lieutenant Junior Grade (O2) or a Lieutenant (O3), I really didn't get a good look at his rank insignia. Assuming he gained his commission at 21, it's entirely within the realm of possibility for him to be a Lieutenant. Either way, this is a beef I have with Hollywood's portrayal of the military all the time. Sometimes they get it right, other times they get it way...way wrong.

 

[ares834]

I'm curious, but did anyone else get a very Jurassic Park like vibe from the movie? Their were a few moments where it definitely evoked JP for me. Most notably the begging and the [blackout]bus scene (specifically with the driver wiping away the condensation on the window).[/blackout]

 

[redfirebird2008]

But here's the thing to remember. There have been 28 films over 60 years. Godzilla has been more than one thing. And sadly, there is little room for crossover between the two major depictions of him. This film leaned a bit more toward protector than force of destruction. But I don't think there is one "classic" Godzilla.

And I find it funny that the major complaints seem to apply equally to Final Wars. Godzilla is neither the main focus nor does he really appear to really late in the movie. And that movie does seem to have mixed reactions in the fandom. But I liked it. It will always get major respect for the 10 second Zilla beatdown.

EDIT: The reaction does seem to be similar to the Mandarin. I also loved the Mandarin twist. I guess marketing doesn't shape my opinion on movies like some others.

I loved the Mandarin twist too. Laughed my butt off. You are right that there are multiple versions of Godzilla, so I probably should have said "original" instead of "classic." As someone else said earlier, the 1998 version might even be a classic to people of a certain age. A 5 year old in 1998 might have thought it was the coolest thing ever and would regard it a lot differently than others who grew up with the earlier versions.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I think more of the problem is so many people are so used to being spoon-fed everything they want that when a film tries to be different or actually build tension they get annoyed because they're not getting non-stop action, or as much as THEY think they deserve for a big budget blockbuster.

The thing is this film NEVER promoted itself as an all out battle movie, the trailers had action shots but it never even showcased Godzilla fighting the Mutos, so people saying the marketing was misleading, only slightly so.

I did not want more action sequences. I cannot stand mindless action films like Transformers and I don't appreciate being generalized like that. I wanted Godzilla in this new film to be the driving force of the story like in the 1954 film. I didn't feel he drove the story in GZ2014.

This story complaint has nothing to do with action scenes either. He is barely in the 1954 film but basically every scene in the movie has his presence. I cannot say the same for the new movie.

Good news is I think there is room for improvement and I am hopeful for the sequel. I did love the visual style of this movie. It is miles better than about 99% of the Godzilla movies of the past. Even though it didn't live up to my expectation, it is still a million times better than GINO98.

 

[hammerhedd11]

Purposefully unclear? "You're hiding something out there." Insert visual of Godzilla. "It's gonna send us back to the stone age." Insert shot of Godzilla and random shots of destruction. It was pretty obvious what they were implying with the campaign IMHO. [BLACKOUT]Neither one of those lines of dialogue actually referred to him even though the marketing heavily suggested it. [/BLACKOUT]

There is nothing misleading about this. That suggests something big is happening, and it involves Godzilla. There are also shots of Aaron Taylor Johnson and Ken Watanabe spliced throughout the trailer too, but nobody is complaining that the trailer misled us into thinking they were what Cranston was talking about either. The trailer is very, very vague and unclear about the exact plot of the film, and even showing Godzilla, and that has been a huge talking point throughout its campaign. I respect your opinions about the film itself, but saying the trailer was misleading at all is getting to a large degree of nitpickery.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

I did not want more action sequences. I cannot stand mindless action films like Transformers and I don't appreciate being generalized like that. I wanted Godzilla in this new film to be the driving force of the story like in the 1954 film. I didn't feel he drove the story in GZ2014.

This story complaint has nothing to do with action scenes either. He is barely in the 1954 film but basically every scene in the movie has his presence. I cannot say the same for the new movie.

Good news is I think there is room for improvement and I am hopeful for the sequel. I did love the visual style of this movie. It is miles better than about 99% of the Godzilla movies of the past. Even though it didn't live up to my expectation, it is still a million times better than GINO98.

I wasn't generalizing towards you directly Redfirebird, it was more or less in reference to general movie-going audiences who I again over heard after the film last night bashing it for those particular reasons.

I know they weren't hardcore fans of the character by their responses, and I've witness this many many times per I interview crowd members before and after each film I see for my video review show. I respect your stance and fully agree that I believe this setup a wonderful way to open up for sequels.