Godzilla (2014) - - - - Part 13

[DA_Champion]

^ Clearly missed the entire point of my post.

I didn't mss your point, your point is simply incorrect.

 

[redhawk23]

Or fans have become so spoiled with films like Transformers that are 100% action that they can't understand when enough is actually enough.

Point blank, if you're complaining that Godzilla wasn't shown enough in said film you should have that complaint for the original & many other classic monster movies. It's a trivial complaint & a useless double standard.

Probably one that I won't ever understand.

Its not so much a problem that Godzilla wasn't on screen enough, its that is his presence in the film was mostly superfluous. He wasn't actually all that integral to the overall plot and had very little to do with the drama surrounding the main characters. Cut Godzilla out and very little of the story changes. The movie is actually very interested in the MUTOs and does a great job setting them up and incorporating them into the story.

Its also a matter that much of Godzilla's screen time was squandered with a weird tendency to build up a scene and do absolutely nothing with it.

Directed by Gareth Edwards

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Another thing I didn't like about this movie besides the boring uninteresting human characters taking up way to much screen time and Godzilla himself only having about 15 mins or less of screen time, this movie was completely devoid of any kind of humor. I am not saying it should have had annoying comic relief characters but jeesh it's a Godzilla movie the concept is kinda silly so they should have had some humor here and there. This movie took it's self way to serious. I know the original movie was serious but still...

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I never hear people complain about the lack of dinosaur action in JP1, or that Ledger's Joker was only in TDK for about 15 minutes. Don't see why its such a big deal for Godzilla. I felt his presence the entire time, despite the fact that there wasn't too much of him. Also, yeah this was a big homage to the original, in which we don't see Godzilla for about an hour in to the film, and that's for about 2 minutes before cutting away.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I never hear people complain about the lack of dinosaur action in JP1, or that Ledger's Joker was only in TDK for about 15 minutes. Don't see why its such a big deal for Godzilla. I felt his presence the entire time, despite the fact that there wasn't too much of him. Also, yeah this was a big homage to the original, in which we don't see Godzilla for about an hour in to the film, and that's for about 2 minutes before cutting away.

The difference between those movies and Godzilla is that even when the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or The Joker in Dark Knight weren't on screen, those movies had great stories with interesting characters with suspense and thrills. In Godzilla the human drama is just so boring it brings the movie down ( IMO) and takes up entirely to much screen time from what people paid to see, which is Godzilla fighting. If the human drama was more interesting then people wouldn't have minded Godzilla's limited screen time.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

What would you have done with Cranston? His role in the film was finished. He wanted to see what killed his wife, that's it. So killing him didn't bother me. Also, it's funny you say that, because alot of people complain about the characters in Jurassic Park.

http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/what-blockbusters-could-learn-from-jurassic-park.html

http://moviemet.com/review/jurassic-park-dvd-review#.U8gUnqjPYck

http://davidsamateurpalaeo.blogspot.com/2013/11/musing-on-jurassic-park.html

"Spielberg is less assured in the department of character development and some of the actors give worse performances than the computer-generated creatures, but, with a landmark spectacle like this, who cares?"

http://www.radiotimes.com/film/8psc/jurassic-park

There's more, but you get my point. It's always been known JP was more anticipated for its Dinosaurs than characters. I'm not trying to talk bad about the film, mind you. JP is my favorite movie ever, but I'm not going to act as if the characters (outside of Malcolm) are really anything deep.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

What would you have done with Cranston? His role in the film was finished. He wanted to see what killed his wife, that's it. So killing him didn't bother me. Also, it's funny you say that, because alot of people complain about the characters in Jurassic Park.

http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/what-blockbusters-could-learn-from-jurassic-park.html

http://moviemet.com/review/jurassic-park-dvd-review#.U8gUnqjPYck

http://davidsamateurpalaeo.blogspot.com/2013/11/musing-on-jurassic-park.html

"Spielberg is less assured in the department of character development and some of the actors give worse performances than the computer-generated creatures, but, with a landmark spectacle like this, who cares?"

http://www.radiotimes.com/film/8psc/jurassic-park

There's more, but you get my point. It's always been known JP was more anticipated for its Dinosaurs than characters. I'm not trying to talk bad about the film, mind you. JP is my favorite movie ever, but I'm not going to act as if the characters (outside of Malcolm) are really anything deep.

I agree the characters aren't deep in Jurrasic Park but they are all much more interesting than the characters in Godzilla. Like you say, Malcom was awesome to watch and Grant's arch with the kids interesting to watch as well. If I were the director of Godzilla I would have gave the lead to Cranston and had Araron play a side minor character. It would have cool for Cranston's character to actual see Godzilla and help the military form a plan or something. Instead we got a dull performances for Johnson and Olsen and somehow the film expected us to care about them through the movie......

 

[Schlosser85]

Jurassic Park's characters aren't any deeper than Godzilla's, but IMO the acting is better and the characters (or maybe actors) are more likable.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Well, that I agree with, Schlosser.

 

[Supernova]

Grant was the only deep character there and I like to think it was the actors themselves under spielbergs direction that made us care for them enough to survive. Jurassic park also had the advatange of using dinosaurs with full on computer effects going for them and the actors were able to sell that interaction.

With Godzilla cranston should have been used to push the story forward via obsession. He starts out wanting to know what killed his wife but as we see the obsession takes over him and just finding out the cause of death is not enough. He then wants to help the government kill the muto's for his version of closure. they could easily pump up the son and father angle to maybe have the film end with cranston sacrificing himself for his son on the boat to take the bomb out and detonate it. Maye have him and his son finally connect and be a family once more give closure to there strained relationship.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Jurassic Park's characters aren't any deeper than Godzilla's, but IMO the acting is better and the characters (or maybe actors) are more likable.

Yeah, I would agree with that. Although I think that the characters in JP would have been a lot better if they hadn't made needless changes to them in the movie (Alan Grant being rewritten as a misanthropic jerk who hates kids, Malcolm acting like a rock star, the two kids' ages being switched, etc.).

 

[redhawk23]

I never hear people complain about the lack of dinosaur action in JP1, or that Ledger's Joker was only in TDK for about 15 minutes. Don't see why its such a big deal for Godzilla. I felt his presence the entire time, despite the fact that there wasn't too much of him. Also, yeah this was a big homage to the original, in which we don't see Godzilla for about an hour in to the film, and that's for about 2 minutes before cutting away.

Again, ITS NOT ABOUT THE TOTAL SCREEN TIME. Its the fact that that his presence in the film is pretty much tangential to the plot.

Godzilla doesn't show up until pretty far into the original film, but the entire film is about people trying to figure out what is going on with the mysterious boat destruction, or of dealing with getting rid of Godzilla. Everything is in reaction to him, even if he's not actively on screen.

Take Godzilla out of the new film and you still have the awakening of the MUTOs leading to the death of Mrs. Brody, Cranston and Ford dealing with her death, Cranston obsessing with the MUTO mystery, the mutos escaping, the Mutos destroying things, the Mutos trying to mate, the government trying to find a away to destroy the mutos etc. The MUTO's drive this movie pretty much entirely. Which would be fine if it wasn't titled Godzilla and intended to reboot and re-establish the character.


Also there's a ton of dinosaur scenes in Jurassic Park. For a comparison, imagine the great slow build up of the water rippling the plastic cups, with lex and Tim freaking out, the T-Rex shows up and roars and its really exiting- BUT THEN IT CUTS AWAY TO A LITTLE KID SITTING ON A COUCH (As Edwards chose to do with the Hawaii fight) Imagine if the rest of that great scene, which continued the excitement and supsense- Lex and Tim stuck in the car with t-rex breathing down on them, Grant and Malcom trying to distract the T-rex with flares, the Lawyer getting eaten, the t-rex pushing the car over a cliff that suddenly exists - imagine if none that happened, if the film cut away because it was saving it all for 2 seconds of the "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" banner fluttering down. Would Jurassic Park still be as great as it is? Would you praise it for its "restraint"?

 

[redhawk23]

A Necessary Evil;29303661]What would you have done with Cranston? His role in the film was finished. [/B]He wanted to see what killed his wife, that's it. So killing him didn't bother me. Also, it's funny you say that, because alot of people complain about the characters in Jurassic Park.

If solving the mystery of his wife's death was going to be the arc of Cranston's character, they didn't have to have him complete that arc in 20 minutes. Or you know, write more into the interplay between him and Ford, that also didn't have to be resolved so quickly.

 

[redhawk23]

A Japanese trailer for the new film included a shot of the radiation breath.

Gif in the tag.

Spoiler

Everything in the film is worth it for that.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Again, ITS NOT ABOUT THE TOTAL SCREEN TIME. Its the fact that that his presence in the film is pretty much tangential to the plot.

You're the first, if not the only person who I've seen complain on these boards that he has nothing to do with the plot, most complain he isn't in it long enough. Yes, the story mainly focuses on the MUTO's, but the whole story with Wantanabe's character has to do with Gojira. Want a movie where a character has literally nothing to do with the plot? Watch TASM2, and tell me Electro's role in the film.

Also there's a ton of dinosaur scenes in Jurassic Park. For a comparison, imagine the great slow build up of the water rippling the plastic cups, with lex and Tim freaking out, the T-Rex shows up and roars and its really exiting- BUT THEN IT CUTS AWAY TO A LITTLE KID SITTING ON A COUCH

How they would manage to turn JP into a island broadcast is beyond me, as the films are completely self-contained on an island. This took place in parts of the world with teleprompters and such. Conjecture.

imagine if none that happened, if the film cut away because it was saving it all for 2 seconds of the "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" banner fluttering down. Would Jurassic Park still be as great as it is? Would you praise it for its "restraint"?

Way to completely over-exaggerate my point. 2 seconds? Seriously? Also, "praise?" I did not praise the film in this regard of how much it cut away. In fact, that's one of my few complaints. The hawaii fight? Sure, first cut away, whatever. Not a big deal. Annoying, but nothing major. Then cutting away again? No, I didn't like that. However, I didn't mind Godzilla being in the film for the majority of the runtime. Quality over quantity, please. I'm sure, and hoping he'll be in the second film even more, but I don't need him in there every 30 seconds.

If solving the mystery of his wife's death was going to be the arc of Cranston's character, they didn't have to have him complete that arc in 20 minutes. Or you know, write more into the interplay between him and Ford, that also didn't have to be resolved so quickly.

Which develops certain characters even less, or makes the film even longer, as it takes longer to get back with Brody's wife and son. I don't believe it was completed until about 35-40 minutes or so, and once again, while not the most brilliant piece of storytelling ever, it felt complete and wasn't resolved in "20 minutes".

 

[redhawk23]

Yes I'd be fine with "quantity over quality" except even when he is on screen Godzilla's screen time doesn't amount to much. A lot of build up with no pay off, or other wise falling over repeatedly. Its not a matter of wanting him in the film every 30 seconds, but a desire to see him better integrated into the film overall. How does the potential for a sequel alleviate the faults of the already existing film?

 

[redhawk23]

[




How they would manage to turn JP into a island broadcast is beyond me, as the films are completely self-contained on an island. This took place in parts of the world with teleprompters and such. Conjecture.
.

Now you're just being oddly literal. If it helps imagine if the movie had just cut to Samuel L. Jackson watching security cameras or something.


As for Cranston's character, a full story line could have been made out of resolving the relationship between him and Ford, the search for information etc. His character is was pretty much the only one with any real personal stakes/drama. Even Ford is very much just like "Meh, I don't really care about any of this" when it comes to his mother's death and the continuing secrecy surrounding the MUTO's.

They chose to complete that arc, pushing past the relationship of the leads and what is set up as the central story, in 40 minutes. The problem is that the film is 120 minutes long. After that it shifts gears to the premise of "Ford Brody doesn't try that hard to get home to his family".

 

[redhawk23]

Tokyo celebrates Godzilla's return in style.

 

[GremlinZilla89]

Jeeeez, people are STILL arguing the SAME point they were when the film first came out? No wonder I haven't popped in here in a long time.

 

[Wildcard]

Tokyo celebrates Godzilla's return in style.

That's pretty epic. I suspect that Godzilla's run in Japan will put its WW gross over King Kong's. This pretty much solidifies that idea.

 

[LEOZZTT]

 

[scifiwolf]

Soooo, finally went and saw this at the $1.50 theater just now. Well, $2.25 now they've upgraded to digital projection and upgraded the sound systems. Awesome. I mean that in the truest, purest sense of the word. I was held captivated from start to finish. Even when the MUTOs were offscreen, the building and anticipation rich enough to keep me invested. You know what's being over attacked? The characters.Their stories were simple, and the arcs were somewhat nonexistent, but they weren't bad by any stretch of the imagination. Aaron Taylor Johnson is more than capable of carrying the movie alongside his titular costar. Something about the intensity in his eyes. That's not to say the characterizations are completely without critique, but not to the extent I've seen in this thread since the release.

I''m not sure if or when I'll ever own a massive, curved 4k television, but I really would love to see this movie in that format. And I'll watch it again, and again, and again. Wonderful entertainment.

9/10

 

[X Knight]

^ glad you liked it!!

 

[samsnee]

I snuck into this movie to see it a second time. Left after 10 minutes because I realized how boring the human characters are to watch after having seen it already. As others have said, it's not the lack of action. It's the lack of characterization.

 

[Binker]

SEPTEMBER 16! It's finally announced that we're get the movie on that date.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/07/22/godzilla-blu-ray-and-dvd-release-details