Godzilla (2014) - - - - Part 13

[addison81]

Yeah I wasn't bored at all either. This played even better for me on another viewing. Glad it worked for me.

 

[-Arya-]

For me, it became a bit of a chore to watch once

Spoiler

Bryan Cranston's character died.

Luckily, the back story of Godzilla and the MUTOS was just enough to hold my interest until all the juicy stuff happened.

 

[Spider-Vader]

I watched this movie a couple of hours ago & it was a blast. I'm surprised about how little they showed of the movie in the trailers; I totally thought that Godzilla was going to be the bad guy & I was really happy to find out that he was a good guy, hell he didn't attack the humans once.

Even the human stuff was entertaining unlike most monster movies. I'm really happy that this movie turned out well & I can't wait for the sequel.

8/10

Also, can anyone else vote in the poll? It says it's closed for me, it's been doing this for months. :/

 

[Loki882]

All of my friends/co-workers (one of whom is a shocking obsessive Godzilla fanatic) who've seen the movie have quite liked it.

 

[Rock Sexton]

For me, it became a bit of a chore to watch once

Spoiler

Bryan Cranston's character died.

Luckily, the back story of Godzilla and the MUTOS was just enough to hold my interest until all the juicy stuff happened.

Still amazes me that the movie spent all that time detailing the history of the MUTOS and the explanation for their behavior, yet all we basically got for Godzilla was that random blurt about him being the apex predator.

 

[-Arya-]

Still amazes me that the movie spent all that time detailing the history of the MUTOS and the explanation for their behavior, yet all we basically got for Godzilla was that random blurt about him being the apex predator.

If I remember correctly it was mentioned that Godzilla's history coincided with the Mutos. Although, It was a leap to suggest he was somehow an apex predator. Unless I missed something, I don't know where that came from.

 

[nocomics]

If I remember correctly it was mentioned that Godzilla's history coincided with the Mutos. Although, It was a leap to suggest he was somehow an apex predator. Unless I missed something, I don't know where that came from.

Wantabe's character said Godzilla was an Apex Predator, not sure what point but I remember him saying that.

 

[Arach Knight]

Wantabe's character said Godzilla was an Apex Predator, not sure what point but I remember him saying that.

Serizawa referred to Godzilla as the alpha predator when first trying to convince the general to accept a plan imvolving Godzilla fighting the MUTO kaiju.

 

[dark_b]

shouldnt a predator hunt and eat the mutos?

 

[AnneFan]

shouldnt a predator hunt and eat the mutos?

He's one short of being a serial killer: someone who murders more than three victims one at a time in a relatively short interval.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Saw this a couple of days ago and had time to gather my thoughts, but I am still very mixed on it. Like TASM2 I am very mixed because it has brilliants parts and ones not so brilliant.

First off, the big G himself, whenever he was on screen, the movie was awesome, he was perfect and even though I wasnt that impressed with the fight at the end, the way he finished off both Muto's was jaw dropping, not to mention his atomic breath.

The problem is, we dont get enough of him, I appreciate them going with the less is more approach, it really worked for some parts of the movie, in others it worked against it though. The 1st cut away at the airport after his big reveal was both frustrating and genius, overall it worked, showing the kid watching these 2 huge monsters fighting reminded me of watching the movies as a kid, I liked that one in the end, but to do it again, and then keep doing in the final battle was annoying as hell, its like the teasing didnt stop, and it just became frustrating.

Him making it like Jaws, Alien, etc is admirable, but back then they had to do it to cover poor effects/costumes, now thats not an issue, so I think we should have gotten more in the end than we did, the movie is called Godzilla after all.

The other problem I had was the focus on the humans and the MUTO's, they were interesting at first, but the middle of the movie got quite boring because of the focus on them, it was too much and its like we were never going to get the pay off, the final fight was okay (what we saw of it) but it was scant reward for all of the teasing throughout, especially when they kept cutting away from it and not showing certain things.

Thats not to say the cast were bad, the parts were all acted well, but the writing was the problem at times, and as for the MUTO's, I agree with others that they were a little bit too Cloverfield for my liking, I would have liked something a bit more original.

But the action we do get is well shot, the CGI is nigh on perfect, I dont remember a bad shot in the movie and there is usually one in big summer movies and overall the movie is well directed (though its also a bit too much like Monsters at times), you can tell Edwards has talent and a love for the movie he is making. And again, when this movie soars, it reaches beyond the stars, there are truly some jaw-dropping moments, and some good emotional ones as well.

I hope Edwards comments about doing the sequel the same way arent true though, I just dont think audiences will go for all the teasing a 2nd time, they will need to show Godzilla himself more IMO, especially as his limited screen-time made it hard to root for him when it mattered.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but its good, not great, and it so easily could have been the latter with a bit more spectacle and more from Godzilla himself. I was originally going to rate it 7.5/10, but the really good moments bring it up a notch, 8/10.

 

[DeadPresident]

shouldnt a predator hunt and eat the mutos?

Not necessarily, a lot of people have been raising this "predators always eat what they kill" thing. If one male lion kills another for being on his territory, he doesn't eat him. Same thing goes for most predators that kill because another encroaches on their space.

 

[dark_b]

Saw this a couple of days ago and had time to gather my thoughts, but I am still very mixed on it. Like TASM2 I am very mixed because it has brilliants parts and ones not so brilliant.

First off, the big G himself, whenever he was on screen, the movie was awesome, he was perfect and even though I wasnt that impressed with the fight at the end, the way he finished off both Muto's was jaw dropping, not to mention his atomic breath.

The problem is, we dont get enough of him, I appreciate them going with the less is more approach, it really worked for some parts of the movie, in others it worked against it though. The 1st cut away at the airport after his big reveal was both frustrating and genius, overall it worked, showing the kid watching these 2 huge monsters fighting reminded me of watching the movies as a kid, I liked that one in the end, but to do it again, and then keep doing in the final battle was annoying as hell, its like the teasing didnt stop, and it just became frustrating.

Him making it like Jaws, Alien, etc is admirable, but back then they had to do it to cover poor effects/costumes, now thats not an issue, so I think we should have gotten more in the end than we did, the movie is called Godzilla after all.

The other problem I had was the focus on the humans and the MUTO's, they were interesting at first, but the middle of the movie got quite boring because of the focus on them, it was too much and its like we were never going to get the pay off, the final fight was okay (what we saw of it) but it was scant reward for all of the teasing throughout, especially when they kept cutting away from it and not showing certain things.

Thats not to say the cast were bad, the parts were all acted well, but the writing was the problem at times, and as for the MUTO's, I agree with others that they were a little bit too Cloverfield for my liking, I would have liked something a bit more original.

But the action we do get is well shot, the CGI is nigh on perfect, I dont remember a bad shot in the movie and there is usually one in big summer movies and overall the movie is well directed (though its also a bit too much like Monsters at times), you can tell Edwards has talent and a love for the movie he is making. And again, when this movie soars, it reaches beyond the stars, there are truly some jaw-dropping moments, and some good emotional ones as well.

I hope Edwards comments about doing the sequel the same way arent true though, I just dont think audiences will go for all the teasing a 2nd time, they will need to show Godzilla himself more IMO, especially as his limited screen-time made it hard to root for him when it mattered.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but its good, not great, and it so easily could have been the latter with a bit more spectacle and more from Godzilla himself. I was originally going to rate it 7.5/10, but the really good moments bring it up a notch, 8/10.

good review.
i think because godzilla is so big and so detailed the effects were very expensive. they didnt have known actors so almost all the money went into the effects. since we dont see a lot of the monsters and the budget is still over 200 millions it just shows how expensive a movie like this gets.

what i liked with the final fight and the Pacific Rim fights was how slow everything moved. Godzilla and the muto moved very very very slow. it takes some balls to show a fight like this since all young kids act like they are on cocaine and speed. add t:
there is a big difference between the robots in first Transformers and TF3 and TF4. in the third and last movie they move like they are made out of plastic. there is no weight IMO.

 

[sportjames23]

I think we can all agree this movie was better than the 90's Godzilla. The 90's version is comfortably one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

The 1998 film wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't called Godzilla. If it was a remake of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, it might have gone over better.

That being said, I might watch it again (haven't seen it since I saw it in the theatre) just for the hell of it.

 

[sportjames23]

Gojira was super serious. If you were Japanese in 1954, that movie was some heavy stuff. Because it brought it all back to the war. The atom bombs, the firebombing of Tokyo.

Godzilla evolved into something goofy. And then was taken back to a more serious take, which itself evolved into something goofy again... and once again was taken back to an attempt at something more serious.

TOHO's pattern, and this is something Gareth Edwards really aimed for I believe, was to start things out with a heavy message. Nothing about Gojira 1954 was light-hearted. Why should the 60th anniversary be light-hearted? This movie absolutely managed to capture the heavy socio-political and ethical concerns of the original Gojira... and meld it with the VS aspects of the Heisei Godzilla series, which themselves had a more serious tone than most of the Showa versus movies.

I watched Gojira '54 and Godzilla vs Mothra 1992 in the two weeks prior to seeing this movie, and I really felt like Edwards captured the feel of both those films/periods.

This.

 

[Stelze]

I pretty much liked the movie, but what really bugged me throughout was the lack of an overall theme, you could even say a leitmotif.

I'm not really into the Godzilla franchise, but what I always gathered was that it has always been an allegory to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the nuclear scare overall.
And I think nuclear power is again an important issue today, at least in Europe and Japan.

Of course nuclear power is a big theme to the movie, e.g. the MUTOs feeding on it, but to me there seemed to be no actual comment, not even a depiction of reality.
It just felt as if it was obligatory to put such a theme in it, but they never really worked that stuff out.
The scene where Serizawa tries to convince Admiral Stenz not to use the nukes on Godzilla and the MUTOs really stuck out to me.

"Don't do it!"
"Why?"
"My father was in Hiroshima."
"I don't really care."

It seemed like they were not even trying. Aside from Serizawa there seemed to be no actual concern from anyone. And even this scene ended in the obligatory "You'll kill thousands!" - "Yes, but we will save millions." kinda thing, which is just lazy writing.
There was no change in character after that for any of them.

But aside from that I really liked the movie, I felt genuinely entertained throughout.
In the end that's what matters, isn't it?

 

[Grommers]

I liked it a lot, they really made him a force of nature, I thought it really started off slow, and I'm really surprised the route they took cranston's character. Hoping the sequel has much more interesting characters. When Godzilla was on screen, I felt in awe of his presence, which usually I just look at this stuff and think "thats some good animation" so I really felt the animation team as well as the director did an amazing job there.

Overall, a great monster flick, didn't go in there expecting an overly deep story line, and it held up to my expectations. I was a fan of the 98 godzilla even though it wasn't godzillaish, it's pretty neat how different directors see things though.

 

[Marvin]

Not necessarily, a lot of people have been raising this "predators always eat what they kill" thing. If one male lion kills another for being on his territory, he doesn't eat him. Same thing goes for most predators that kill because another encroaches on their space.

Was hoping someone would finally point this out. Seems so obvious really. They eat radiation(I think) and apex one kills the others for territory and what not. Same deal with big cats in the wild killing but not actually eating each other for various reasons. I'm not even sure lions eat dogs.

what i liked with the final fight and the Pacific Rim fights was how slow everything moved. Godzilla and the muto moved very very very slow. it takes some balls to show a fight like this since all young kids act like they are on cocaine and speed. add t:
there is a big difference between the robots in first Transformers and TF3 and TF4. in the third and last movie they move like they are made out of plastic. there is no weight IMO.

The Robots in TF have been shown to move just right imo.
This is 30 to 40 feet avg, which is vastly different from PRim and Godzilla. Then there is the idea that these robots unlike PRim aren't just giant hydraulic systems and heavy steel but living as aliens as you or I, fully accustomed to their own weight vs megazords. The alloy they are made of might not be has heavy on the weight side of things but rather like carbon fiber... There is a bunch of other things to note but I'd rather not here. I will say when you get the really big robots such as Devastator and such, you get a different effect. I would also add that Optimus really shows his weight when he is weak and trying to stand, a testament to the earlier point.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Just got back, I put aside my issues with the fact they made Godzilla a hero and focused on what the movie is instead of what it isn't, and I enjoyed it. In truth I got chills when Godzilla saved the day a couple of times, especially the way he took out the second Muto. t:

If the film has a weakness it's the lack of a charismatic actor in the young Brody role and the fact Elizabeth Olsen is completely underutilized. The choice to [BLACKOUT]kill off Cranston so early[/BLACKOUT] is a mistake IMO.

Where the film shines is in the amazing visuals, I'm not talking about the CGI monsters I'm talking about the way the visuals are used to create atmosphere and to give you a sense of how lost we are amidst the rampage of these monsters. The scale of the devastation is impressive and served well by being mostly showcased through aftermath shots, much like how some of the best battle footage is viewed from the POV of people trying to escape.

Where things really succeed is when the film concentrates on the moments as opposed to smashing through buildings, the first time Godzilla and Brody come face to face for example is incredibly shot and is one of many awesome visual moments that made me smile. Another was the flaming train sequence, so tense and creepy and again successful due to seeing it from the viewpoint of Brody and the other soldier.

Don't look for anything too deep, this is a pure blockbuster in the Jurassic Park mold, nice slow build, stocked up with tension and visually jaw dropping with some very memorable moments. It's a disaster movie combined with a monster movie and is extremely well executed.

8/10

 

[Arach Knight]

It just felt as if it was obligatory to put such a theme in it, but they never really worked that stuff out.

Funny you should make that comment. It was obligatory to include the theme. Toho loathes the first American Godzilla so much that they set out contractual ground rules this time, which they hoped would help prevent another Western take that fails to properly reverence the property. So Toho required Godzilla to be born of a nuclear incident and that the film take place in Japan, hence the first act being set at the nuclear facility. Though it seems that Gareth and co skirted around Godzilla's birth, but at least showed that Godzilla was stirred by nuclear activity.

 

[Arach Knight]

Was hoping someone would finally point this out. Seems so obvious really. They eat radiation(I think) and apex one kills the others for territory and what not. Same deal with big cats in the wild killing but not actually eating each other for various reasons. I'm not even sure lions eat dogs.

That would only apply if Godzilla killed another Godzilla or a competing predator. For instance, lions will kill Hyenas in order to protect the pride or a recently acquired meal. But they don't always eat the Hyenas that they kill.

However, if a lion kills a gazelle or gnu, it will almost certainly eat it, because gazelle's and gnu are sources of food, not territorial threats. Animals aren't like humans. They don't kill wastefully or wantonly.

And while it would make sense for Godzilla to kill the MUTO kaiju as a territorial response, the film's narrative pretty much undermines that possibility by having Serizawa claim that Godzilla preys upon the MUTO. The dialog creates, not a competitive adversarial relationship, but a hunter/prey adversarial relationship.

Godzilla should have eaten at least one of them. Not doing so not only turned Godzilla into an intentional hero, but makes it seem that Godzilla gives a care about protecting humans, which undermines the other theme in this film, which is that humans are unimportant. That them does not work if Godzilla altruistically puts himself in danger to defend mankind.

 

[dark_b]

before watching the movie my friend complained that there is no way a big animal like godzilla would survive since he would not have enough food. after the movie ha put thumbs up and smiled haha. they explained it very good.

 

[Arach Knight]

before watching the movie my friend complained that there is no way a big animal like godzilla would survive since he would not have enough food. after the movie ha put thumbs up and smiled haha. they explained it very good.

You know, it is even more bizarre to label Godzilla a predator, after the film made a marked point that all of the animals from Godzilla's time fed on the high levels of radiation that existed at the time. As the radiation levels decreased, the animals left the surface of the earth to head toward the sea floor so they could absorb radiation from the core. That given explanation included Godzilla. So it became an interesting conflict as to why Godzilla would need to eat another creature.

I suppose Godzilla could feed on creatures that feed on radiation, and thus get his energy that way. Humans are similarly wasteful, consuming animals that feed upon vegetation, therefore indirectly getting the energy that is consumed by the grazing animal in the form of vegetation. But then, the MUTO developed mouths, which is curious for a creature that feeds upon energy. Plants also feed on energy, and plants that develop mouths (e.g. the venus flytrap) do so in order to obtain missing nutrients (flytraps tend to grow in areas with acidic, nutrient depleted soil and make up for the lack of nutrients by consuming local insects).

I will admit, this was a point in the film in which I just had to ignore all of the contradictions and simply accept that these creatures not only feed on nuclear energy, but modern nuclear waste, and that Godzilla just couldn't give a flip after fighting so hard for the meal. I see it as him simply giving up so he can go get some sleep.

 

[Marvin]

That would only apply if Godzilla killed another Godzilla or a competing predator. For instance, lions will kill Hyenas in order to protect the pride or a recently acquired meal. But they don't always eat the Hyenas that they kill.

However, if a lion kills a gazelle or gnu, it will almost certainly eat it, because gazelle's and gnu are sources of food, not territorial threats. Animals aren't like humans. They don't kill wastefully or wantonly.

And while it would make sense for Godzilla to kill the MUTO kaiju as a territorial response, the film's narrative pretty much undermines that possibility by having Serizawa claim that Godzilla preys upon the MUTO. The dialog creates, not a competitive adversarial relationship, but a hunter/prey adversarial relationship.

Godzilla should have eaten at least one of them. Not doing so not only turned Godzilla into an intentional hero, but makes it seem that Godzilla gives a care about protecting humans, which undermines the other theme in this film, which is that humans are unimportant. That them does not work if Godzilla altruistically puts himself in danger to defend mankind.

I see what you are getting at but one misplaced line or even a line limited by a characters understanding doesn't change that what was witness is very much indicative of your first 'stanza' if you will.

 

[-Arya-]

Wantabe's character said Godzilla was an Apex Predator, not sure what point but I remember him saying that.

Sorry, I should have elaborated. I meant that leap was made by Watanabe's character. He assumes Godzilla is an apex predator without saying why he believes it. It would have been nice if there were more details included.