Godzilla (2014) - - - Part 12

[Matt]

I'm going to catch flack for this but I'm starting to agree with a few critics that said this movie isn't for people with short attention spans.

If it would have shown the first two fights in full, the third fight would have been nothing special.

But really, it SHOULD BE for people with short attention spans. Film can be art and film can be entertainment and film can be both. I don't think that most people go to a Godzilla movie to learn about the frailty of the human condition or the lengths one will go to to return to his family. Most go to see a giant monster cause destruction and kick ass. This is the type of movie that SHOULD BE a popcorn film. Not 90 minutes of expository dialogue and then a 15 minute fight.

I didn't complain about 12 Years A Slave focusing on the main character's desperation to return to his family over badass escape scenes because that wasn't the purpose of 12 Years A Slave. Conversely, the purpose of Godzilla should not be to show a soldier's journey to return to his family.

Yeah, the story would have been much better off with both Cranston and Watanabe as the main characters. I thought the fact that the military is just going to listen to Watanabe and trust that he knows everything about Godzilla was ridiculous. HOW does Watanabe know so much about Godzilla? How does he know that he's there to "restore balance" and poses no threat to humans? Never explained in anyway, we just have to accept it. Very lame.

Honestly...it is Hollywood racism. Asian men and older black men know everything without question in Hollywood films and people will listen to them and the audience will accept it. Conversely, the characters (and the audience) are meant to challenge Cranston's character as a rambling lunatic. If he were Morgan Freeman they would not. Its just the way filmmakers work. If you want to give instant credibility to a character who is saying kind of crazy things like, "Ignore the giant, rampaging dragon. Nature is balancing itself and he will leave us alone!" you make a wise, older, minority character say it. There is even a TV Tropes page regarding this phenomenon.

 

[Thundercrack85]

The whole train sequence was filler. And then they transport the warhead with a helicopter... making you wonder why they even bothered with the train.

 

[DeadPresident]

That MechaGodzilla (Mecha G III) idea was already done. Besides, I don't think it would be realistic. Well we are talking about giant monsters so I guess it could be done, I suppose.

A lot of good material has been done before, but with the technology available it can be presented really well. Godzilla's universe has a lot of great stuff, Ghidora or some of his other 'rogues' could be represented well on film.

I think this movie has revitalized the franchise and done a decent job of placing Godzilla in a compelling world. Hopefully the numbers justify it and there will be sequels that focus a bit more on him.

 

[kaijunexus]

The whole train sequence was filler. And then they transport the warhead with a helicopter... making you wonder why they even bothered with the train.

Flight was very obviously a last resort with the MUTOs nearby. I mean, there was a downed airliner on a highway, for pete's sake. EMP = planes/helicopters falling from the sky.

It was only when they had no other option that they were forced to take a major risk and airlift the bomb.

Had the MUTO created an EMP while they were doing so, that nuclear bomb would have dropped into the heart of the city while they were flying over it.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Has anyone bought the double feature Blu-Rays of the old Godzilla movies? I wanna get the Mothra/Ghidorah one.

 

[Figs]

But really, it SHOULD BE for people with short attention spans. Film can be art and film can be entertainment and film can be both. I don't think that most people go to a Godzilla movie to learn about the frailty of the human condition or the lengths one will go to to return to his family. Most go to see a giant monster cause destruction and kick ass. This is the type of movie that SHOULD BE a popcorn film. Not 90 minutes of expository dialogue and then a 15 minute fight.

I didn't complain about 12 Years A Slave focusing on the main character's desperation to return to his family over badass escape scenes because that wasn't the purpose of 12 Years A Slave. Conversely, the purpose of Godzilla should not be to show a soldier's journey to return to his family.

I understand where you're coming from Matt but as far as mindless popcorn film...we got that back in 1998. This film felt like it was going for more of the vibe from the original film Gojira, with a bit of Toho Vs fight scene at the end.

Should the movie been a bit shorter? Sure. Should Cranston have survived and been one of the main characters? Damn right he should have. Ken Watanabe was sadly somewhat wasted too. Whenever Ken was on screen my wife and I were kind of chuckling because he basically had two facial expressions throughout the film, a look of confusion and that "oh my god!" look(he even did the classic taking off the glasses).

I agree with those of you who say this movie is definitely flawed and should have had a bit more Godzilla, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. Then again, I've become a bit easy to please with movies these last few years. A number of years back I was in that film critic stage and after a short while I realized I would rather sit back and have fun than analyze every scene in a movie.

Has anyone bought the double feature Blu-Rays of the old Godzilla movies? I wanna get the Mothra/Ghidorah one.

I have it on my Amazon wishlist at the moment. It's pretty cheap on that site. Not sure how much it's going for in the stores though.[/QUOTE]

 

[Sithborg]

Has anyone bought the double feature Blu-Rays of the old Godzilla movies? I wanna get the Mothra/Ghidorah one.

Not yet. I really want Destroyah, but I'm really annoyed that I would have to rebuy Megagurious, which I already have on a watchable format and is one I don't like. But, I'm thinking of getting Gigan first. Gotta love the giant cyborg chicken.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Flight was very obviously a last resort with the MUTOs nearby. I mean, there was a downed airliner on a highway, for pete's sake. EMP = planes/helicopters falling from the sky.

It was only when they had no other option that they were forced to take a major risk and airlift the bomb.

Had the MUTO created an EMP while they were doing so, that nuclear bomb would have dropped into the heart of the city while they were flying over it.

They couldn't fly around it? Really just seemed stupid to me.

Then again, I don't see why they couldn't procure a nuke from another place, America has them almost everywhere.

 

[Matt]

I understand where you're coming from Matt but as far as mindless popcorn film...we got that back in 1998. This film felt like it was going for more of the vibe from the original film Gojira, with a bit of Toho Vs fight scene at the end.

Should the movie been a bit shorter? Sure, I won't argue that. Should Cranston have survived and been one of the main characters? Damn right he should have. Ken Watanabe was sadly somewhat wasted too. Whenever Ken was on screen my wife and I were kind of chuckling because he basically had two facial expressions throughout the film, a look of confusion and that "oh my god!" look(he even did the classic taking off the glasses).

I agree with those of you who say this movie is definitely flawed and should have had a bit more Godzilla, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. Then again, I've become a bit easy to please with movies these last few years. A number of years back I was in that film critic stage and after a short while I realized I would rather sit back and have fun than analyze every scene in a movie.

I'm the same way, actually. As I get older and watch movies with my daughter, I become less critical of little things. I think that has bit me in the ass with this one. Before, where I would have applauded the attempt to develop characters (no matter how poorly acted...ugh Taylor-Johnson was awful). Now, I just wanted to have some effin fun and this movie took too long to get me there and by the time it did I was just worn out. Don't get me wrong, the last act was great. But I think if they shaved off the train sequence and kept Olsen out of the climax (she really didn't serve a purpose), the movie would've felt more rewarding.

 

[hitmanyr2k]

My thoughts:

The movie opens very strong. Then [blackout]Cranston dies[/blackout] and we are left with a human character who isn't really developed, is stiffly acted and who the audience does not really care about. That drags the movie down A LOT.

So for about an hour, we are teased with shots of destruction and chaos left in the wake of the monsters, but we never see it. We are teased with fights between Godzilla and the MUTOs, but all we see is a shaky news clip. We are teased and teased. We wait and wait. All the while, the humans do things that essentially equates from going from point A to point B while Godzilla swims underwater. We finally get to the climax, we get to see the destruction and the fighting....but by that point, I didn't really care. I was too worn down from the hour of nothingness. I had to pee, my daughter was restless and I wanted to go home. The fight was cool...but it was too little, too late and it kept cutting to the humans we didn't care about who were conveniently in the middle of it for some reason.

I think this movie could've been a lot better if it were about 30 minutes shorter and lived up to its namesake, gave us more of Godzilla and less of the humans. And if it had to waste an hour on humans, it should've kept the one interesting one around.

Anyway, the first 30 were good and the last 30 were good. Everything else was a snooze-fest. I rate the movie somewhere between a 6 and a 7, so yeah, 6.5/10.

My experience was identical to yours. I knew by the 2nd battle tease in San Francisco that I wasn't going to voluntarily see this movie again. It was frustrating because it showed so much promise in the first 20 minutes.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I really think they should have gone with a known Godzilla enemy, personally. I mean, they could still have some secondary monsters for Godzilla to fight, but it should have been someone famous.

 

[Figs]

I'm the same way, actually. As I get older and watch movies with my daughter, I become less critical of little things. I think that has bit me in the ass with this one. Before, where I would have applauded the attempt to develop characters (no matter how poorly acted...ugh Taylor-Johnson was awful). Now, I just wanted to have some effin fun and this movie took too long to get me there and by the time it did I was just worn out. Don't get me wrong, the last act was great. But I think if they shaved off the train sequence and kept Olsen out of the climax (she really didn't serve a purpose), the movie would've felt more rewarding.

As you and Thundercrack both said, yeah the train sequence was definitely unnecessary. As for Taylor-Johnson, I didn't think he was awful. He was just there I guess, his character wasn't written well. I've only seen him in the Kick-Ass films and Savages so I don't have a full grasp of his acting yet to judge him as completely wooden or just subpar. I really want to see how he is in The Avengers sequel.

I think my biggest complaint was a lack of Cranston. He's on that high from Breaking Bad(no pun intended t with a lot of people and he was given the shaft in this film.

 

[Thundercrack85]

It would have been an interesting twist if they [BLACKOUT]had killed of Johnson instead of Cranston[/BLACKOUT].

 

[Dispatch Ninja]

It would have been an interesting twist if they [BLACKOUT]had killed of Johnson instead of Cranston[/BLACKOUT].

Cranston would have transformed into heisenberg at that point lol.

 

[MrMaooz]

This video is so funny. Cranston is the man!

[YT]UUkwQ1VzQWc[/YT]

 

[Matt]

Just throwing this out there. Can we all agree that what the movie was really lacking is a little bit of this guy:

Spoiler

 

[Hulk1968]

This video is so funny. Cranston is the man!

[YT]UUkwQ1VzQWc[/YT]

Hilarious!

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Oh most definitely. Smoke rings and all.

 

[ThreadPool]

I saw it. Liked it, didn't love it.
So Ford and Elle's kid... Why was he even there?

 

[Rock Sexton]

I'm going to catch flack for this but I'm starting to agree with a few critics that said this movie isn't for people with short attention spans.

If it would have shown the first two fights in full, the third fight would have been nothing special.

They should not have shown those fights at all and saved it for the finale. Cutting away from them like they did only made it worse ..... downright comedic.

 

[Rock Sexton]

My experience was identical to yours. I knew by the 2nd battle tease in San Francisco that I wasn't going to voluntarily see this movie again. It was frustrating because it showed so much promise in the first 20 minutes.

Yup. When Cranston [BLACKOUT]dies[/BLACKOUT], the movie dies with it. All that's left were empty lines and that blank, wide-eyed look on ATJ's face all movie long.

 

[Leenie]

This video is so funny. Cranston is the man!

[YT]UUkwQ1VzQWc[/YT]

This is adorable. Love it.

 

[Leenie]

I saw it. Liked it, didn't love it.
So Ford and Elle's kid... Why was he even there?

It was to parallel Ford's life with his dad Joe's.

Spoiler

Honestly I think this would have been better developed if they had kept Cranston's character alive until the end of the second act or the beginning of the third act. They could have developed the family parallels a lot more, making the emotional investment in Aaron Taylor Johnson's character a lot better for the general audience. Just my two cents.

 

[GreenKToo]

Lol. Im sorry but comparing zilla 98 to this is like comparing b&r to batman begins.

 

[Sharkboy]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/box-office-godzilla-crushes-it-90m/

Good god(zilla) almighty

Well deserved, as hyperbolic as this statement may be, it really does rank up there with JP, and manages to scrape the bottom of jaws in terms of monster flicks. I did and still have a problem with the human element, and yes it makes the first two acts somewhat plodding if it wasn't for the almost expert "tease" build up. The result? unlike most films where we are pretty much exhausted by the credits roll, the film gives us the most satisfying third act I've seen in a summer blockbuster in a long long time.

Congrats to Edwards, Legendary and his team for successfully reigniting the franchise and putting Godzilla back on the map, bring us Ghidorah for part 2!