Godzilla (2014) - - - - Part 13

[serendipity]

The movie had some trouble with exposition. The scene where Serizawa/Graham show Ford a photo of Godzilla is heavyladen with it. It almost felt like Godzilla gets shoehorned into the plot.

This wasn't the type of Godzilla movie I had hoped for, but that's an entirely different subject. Won't judge it based on that.

Direction was stellar. A ton of truly evocative shots in this. Just the sheer spectacle of the monster action was brilliant. I know many are complaining about the cutaways, but I loved the shot

Spoiler

of the doors closing as you see Godzilla getting fierce with the MUTO. What a great shot, really intense.

As for the sequel, either get a new writer or have one write with Borenstein. Start with a fresh cast, keeping Watanabe but refresh him with better dialogue. And we all want King Ghidorah, right? If not an all-out Destroy All Monsters.

 

[dark_b]

i think not enough people talk about the ships following godzilla on the sea. the idea to have this in the movie was so awesome.

 

[Breaker]

Oh they're dull. Just because they were meant for the human element and their purposes were plain as day, it doesn't mean it was developed well.

You're simply making excuses by bringing up the "summer blockbuster" aspect. The films title character Godzilla only had 13 minutes on screen. This left a lot of the load to be carried by the actors. Cranston more than held his own, it was when the baton was passed that the movie fell apart in the character development aspect.

The Blockbuster aspect is what Gareth had made clear during the Godzilla Hollywood Premiere. Just because you don't exactly agree with it, doesn't make his direction or the point in general, wrong.

There aren't any excuses, I never said that the human element was top notch or good, but they serve their purpose quite well given Gareth's premise and approach. Performance-wise, improvement is needed, at least in Aaron's case should his character ever return.

 

[Enriquespy]

i think not enough people talk about the ships following godzilla on the sea. the idea to have this in the movie was so awesome.

Its Godzilla's entourage. His navy groupies!!!

Dibs on "Godzilla's entourage: NAVY Groupies" for an animated series name.

 

[addison81]

Gareth Edwards direction was fantastic. I feel people are over looking that. He had a weak script. It was his direction that saved the film for me.

 

[redhawk23]

Gareth Edwards direction was fantastic. I feel people are over looking that. He had a weak script. It was his direction that saved the film for me.

The bizarre choices about cutting away from things were all Edwards and made for a frustrating film. How well does he really work with actors? Even Cranston was rather one note.

 

[addison81]

So you don't think the film was shot/directed well? Just curious.

 

[serendipity]

Gareth Edwards direction was fantastic. I feel people are over looking that. He had a weak script. It was his direction that saved the film for me.

This.

The cutaways didn't bother me, partly because I knew about them going in, but I don't really have a problem with them. The finale had all the monster mashing I wanted. I can totally understand not liking the 1st one, but I felt the 2nd one was a good choice.

 

[ares834]

I personally hope that Edwards doesn't return for the sequel. The more I think about it, he's missed the entire point of a Godzilla movie.

What "point"? Godzilla has become far more than just a nuclear analogy.

Anyway, he will apparently direct the sequel.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05...-to-direct-godzilla-2-despite-star-wars-plans

I'm excited.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Gareth Edwards direction was fantastic. I feel people are over looking that. He had a weak script. It was his direction that saved the film for me.

Agree. Gareth Edwards' direction was the film's major saving grace.

 

[KangConquers]

Am I the only person here who realizes the cutaways were done to keep the budget at a relatively modest $160 M? If those cut aways hadn't occurred, we'd be looking at at least a $220 M movie, maybe more.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The movie looking like it is going to drop hard this weekend. 63% drop. That is bad WOM.

 

[Binker]

I think we already knew that. Afterall, Godzilla came out after ASM2 an before DOFP, which are franchises with built in audiences which Godzilla doesn't have (or now it does) because the movie was the first time, despite having a character that is recognizable. So it was going to have it's time to make or break, which it did succeed and a sequel is now going ahead.

So yeah, DOFP being #1, Godzilla dropping, was expected. It was the results before the drop that was important, and like I said, it succeeded.

 

[Breaker]

I think we already knew that. Afterall, Godzilla came out after ASM2 an before DOFP, which are franchises with built in audiences which Godzilla doesn't have (or now it does) because the movie was the first time, despite having a character that is recognizable. So it was going to have it's time to make or break, which it did succeed and a sequel is now going ahead.

So yeah, DOFP being #1, Godzilla dropping, was expected. It was the results before the drop that was important, and like I said, it succeeded.

Pretty much this,

X-Men is just as big as Godzilla, and Days of Future Past has been pulling big cinematic draws from fans and the general public. And given how Godzilla only has one week to itself, that ended with another major franchise film. Its not surprising at all.

Add Maleficent and Edge of Tomorrow into the fray for next week(I think), and you can pretty much predict that Godzilla and any other summer film is going to take a hit. And then on and so forth with the rest of the summer once more hits roll on.

Godzilla has been a success and will continue have a successful domestic run, predictably topping GINO before the end of the next two weeks. After that, Godzilla's success will continue in international waters, especially once China and Japan have at it. And that's where most of its profit will pour in from.

I'll be seeing GODZILLA again this Sunday with my cinema buds at our local IMAX. Never been to one before, can't wait! Until then, for today, we'll be seeing both:

X-Men and The Amazing Spider 2 (I had yet to see Spider-Man) at our local theater.

 

[Marvin]

Am I the only person here who realizes the cutaways were done to keep the budget at a relatively modest $160 M? If those cut aways hadn't occurred, we'd be looking at at least a $220 M movie, maybe more.

So it wasn't an artistically driven decision?

 

[DeadPresident]

Am I the only person here who realizes the cutaways were done to keep the budget at a relatively modest $160 M? If those cut aways hadn't occurred, we'd be looking at at least a $220 M movie, maybe more.

>_>

Not sure if CGI is actually expensive or this guy doesn't understand it was intentional.

 

[Drz]

If those cuts we're intentional because of "artistic view" then Gareth Edwards really sucks at directing a Monster mash-out movie.

 

[-Arya-]

Am I the only person here who realizes the cutaways were done to keep the budget at a relatively modest $160 M? If those cut aways hadn't occurred, we'd be looking at at least a $220 M movie, maybe more.

Is there any source to back this up?

 

[DeadPresident]

If those cuts we're intentional because of "artistic view" then Gareth Edwards really sucks at directing a Monster mash-out movie.

Not the aim of the movie I don't think.

 

[regnak]

Is there any source to back this up?

It's something you have to use logic for. Like dark b said earlier Godzilla is huge and very detailed. So the CGI cannot be cheap. I read in one of the earlier threads how they animated his individual scales, I am not going to look for that thread but here is something about that:



Movie Effects Facts

• 4 CGI artists from Moving Picture Company (MPC) created Godzilla’s scales.
• 6 months was the time it took MPC’s CGI artists to animate Godzilla’s scales in their full texture and detail.
• 7 total filming units were enlisted in the production on Godzilla.
• 50 versions of the new Godzilla roar were tested until they settled on the final one.
• 327 was total number of creature visual effects shots created by MPC for the 2014 Godzilla.
• 445 years is the amount of time it would take to render Godzilla on a single computer; an MPC artist would have had to start in the 16th Century, 1570.
• 762 visual effects crews worked on Godzilla.
  960 is total number of visual effects shots in Godzilla.
  100,000W Power of the 12-foot-high, 18-foot-wide speaker array from which the sound designers blasted Godzilla’s roar to record the sound in a “real world” context.
  500,000 Polygons were used by MPC artists to create the Godzilla 3D model.

Sounds very expensive to me.


From here:


http://globalgrind.com/2014/05/07/e...dzilla-before-it-hits-theaters-may-16th-list/

 

[redhawk23]

So you don't think the film was shot/directed well? Just curious.

It was shot fairly well but overall the film had problems of pacing and again, bizarre choices that really come down to Edwards.

Edwards may have made "artistic" choices but that they were intentional just makes them even more open ground for criticism, whether you liked them or not. They weren't things outside of his control like the studio mandating changes or whatever.

 

[redhawk23]

What "point"? Godzilla has become far more than just a nuclear analogy.

Anyway, he will apparently direct the sequel.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05...-to-direct-godzilla-2-despite-star-wars-plans

I'm excited.

I don't know, having Godzilla in it?

The MUTOs were far more interesting and established than this iteration of Godzilla himself.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

The movie looking like it is going to drop hard this weekend. 63% drop. That is bad WOM.

It damn sure ain't good word of mouth. A 63% 3 day drop when it will only have a 10-15% drop on Sunday is pretty dang bad. The Holliday alone should have stopped the 3 Day drop from being that bad.

Of course the film is already a success so expect a sequel to happen but I think the studio will be listening to the fan complaints even if Edwards doesn't care about them.

This is slowly becoming the summer of 90mil openings and terrible legs due to word of mouth.

 

[Marvin]

I was asking honestly.
For I've seen films cost far less than this one, go in a far different direction on this issue. I've also seen Edwards other monster film do this same thing(hold back).

 

[Jaspertian1105]

I Finally saw it last night , i loved the movie, it had a couple of problems, mostly with the lead actor, Cranston should have been the lead but other than that that the visual aspect was beautiful, truly a masterful shot movie, one of the best i have seen in years, steady shots, no shaky cam to be seen.

Godzilla was beautiful, and the MUTOS were so cool. I loved the design and behavior of the creatures, top notch animation and effects, you can really feel the scale of the animals, something that Pacific Rim didnt got right. There could have been a little more Godzilla but i felt he had a good presence and every shot he was in was excellent. Like they said on a 160 million budget its kind of limited even it feels like a lot of money they had to really plan their shots carefully so 1 hour of mosters fighting was out of the question, and it would have gotten boring really fast.

The drop isn't surprising with Xmen opening big and with good WOM it was a sure thing this big drop would come, same thing happened to Man of Steel ( i enjoyed Godzilla more, even though Superman is my favorite hero) , it oppened against 2 movies with good reviews, so it had a big drop. The movie was a success to me and is very well deserved, and excellent movie overall