^ Been wondering the same thing & I think it'll be a mix. America will produce & make the films for the time being since it's been proven it can be done correctly but eventually I seen Japan going back to making movies on G-Man. He's a huge (no pun intended) staple over there.
^ Been wondering the same thing & I think it'll be a mix. America will produce & make the films for the time being since it's been proven it can be done correctly but eventually I seen Japan going back to making movies on G-Man. He's a huge (no pun intended) staple over there.
There is an odd dearth of MUTO toys. I mean I guess they didn't want the designs getting out before hand but it seems odd that even NECA or who ever aren't really putting any out. At least there were some actual kids toys of them.
Just watched this the other day. Worst film I've seen all year. How the hell did this movie make 500 million? How the hell did this score a 73% on RT? Mind-numbingly dull. Crappy script - the human characters were all awful. Lots of wooden acting here too with the exception of Cranston(who was hamming it up). Bland camera work all over the place. Vapid and lifeless all the way through. This is the exact same feeling I had while watching the first Transformers film. Though, to be fair to TF, at least Michael Bay's direction has a sense of style to it(as awful as at is). Ewards has no style - he's just boring through and through.
Upon reflecting, I really liked how film has 3 main creative goals in mind:
A. Present giant monsters as creatures that are larger than life and to be in awe of.
B. Audience immersion in the story/action.
C. Serve as an origin story for Godzilla.
A. Edwards wants to show us that monsters are both metaphors and characters in their own right by: presenting them as forces of nature and also taking the time to present them as living, breathing animals/characters.
As disasters, there are several parallelisms to real-life disasters used in order to establish the presence of giant monsters and the implications of their activities/rampages:
-Imagery reminiscent of mining collapses, the Fukushima earthquake/nuclear incident, tsunamis are clearly displayed on-screen.
-The MUTOs are solely depicted as seismograph patterns (just like earthquakes) in the film's first act.
-Depiction of the occurrence and direct aftermath of the Janjira, Hawaii, Las Vegas and San Francisco scenes from the POV of rescue, evacuation, and relief efforts. Edwards even shows a team of firefighters pulling out a person from under the rubble within the final minutes.
-TV and radio broadcasts are used to warn the populace of incoming monsters, like you know, disasters. In said broadcasts, statements such as "thousands still missing" (Final minutes) or "even as the death toll rises" (battleship war room scene) are clearly displayed or heard.
-The scene with the fallen airplane and the accompanying distress/panic calls really drives home this message of Edwards IMO.
Edwards also wants us to be in appreciation/awe of giant monsters by giving animalistic qualities and characteristics: rationality, ambition, and emotion.
-The MUTOs show affection, sorrow, spite, and intelligence/capability to plan in different scenes throughout. The bioluminescent parts are also a nice touch.
-Godzilla shows a lot of character by displaying rage, exhaustion, exhilaration, etc.
-Both the Godzilla and the MUTOs have objectives that they seek to fulfill due to instinct.
The first act revolves around the intimate and personal effects of a giant monster attack (Cranston), the second act is more on the actual unfolding of a giant monster attack, and the third act more or less combines elements from the first and the second acts. At least that's how I see it.
When Cranston's character says, "They're not fooling anybody when they say that what happened was a natural disaster," he's right. The monsters in the film are a separate class of force of nature altogether. Yes, they are similar to disasters in many ways, but they are capable of showing emotion, instincts and displaying their own character. The MUTOs and Godzilla are not earthquakes nor typhoons, they are giant monsters, and they are a more wondrous and complex force of nature than a disaster could ever hope to be.
Several movie monsters originating from atomic-age creature features or Japanese films are usually presented as mindless beasts that man has to triumph over, or goody-good defenders of the Earth.
Thankfully, Edwards' monsters are presented as something more complex, being both forces uncaring of man's existence and animals that have traits to live up to and instincts to follow.
B. Audience immersion. Gareth himself has stated numerous times that he wanted the camera angles to be as if they were shot from a realistic POV. He wants us to experience the story and action from the POV of the characters and civilians themselves.
-The film takes a "We know what they know, we see what they see" approach.
This is pretty obvious as several shots occur from the POV of goggles, binoculars, airport/bus/office building/ship windows, tv monitors, obscured/partial body shots, closing doors.
-By the end of the film, all of the Brody's have had a close encounter with a giant monster.
-A lot of times we see military personnel included in shots in the final battle.
-All of the monster shots could occur as if we were in a person's POV. Thus, there are no full shots of Godzilla waking up underwater/swimming, the MUTOs digging/traveling. The often used smoke and mist helps to achieve those shots.
The approach also serves as a reason why we get a lot of MUTOs compared to Godzilla, and why Godzilla merely seems to be a "guest star" in his own film. In-story, the military is very knowledgeable about the history and whereabouts of the MUTOs. Godzila, not so much. He's practically a mystery to any person on the planet, and only Serizawa gives hints/hunches to his ambitions. Which kinda leads us to point C...
C. Getting to know Godzilla.
-Godzilla is slowly revealed throughout the course of the film since we are on the same journey with the characters to know Godzilla. Slowly, we are given clues to his character.
-Everything the audience sees is also seen by the human characters: we experience as much as the characters.
-Monarch Files: Godzilla is a mysterious creature who disappeared decades ago. Referred to as a "power to restore balance." We know little of Godzilla and there only hints of his purpose.
-Hawaii: First look at Godzilla- a creature to be in awe at, definite rivalry with MUTOs. Tends to ignore people.
-Act 2: Godzilla-creature of awe and majesty: good or bad? Does not go out of his way to attack military.
-Act 3: Godzilla revealed in a way that cannot be ignored-locked in combat against the MUTOs in a city. By the end of the film, both audience and characters fully realize him as a potential force of good and a hero, albeit a neutral one.
-Mostly through Ford's POV (Godzilla's fall and final kill) do we see Godzilla for what he really is. We are in the same shoes as Ford, an ultimate culmination of goals A, B, and C.
-Even in his limited screen time, Godzilla has an undeniably massive impact on the audience, plot, and world. By focusing on the circumstances of his arrival (tsunami, MUTOs), Godzilla's relevance is highlighted even more and both viewing parties would realize that aspect in due time by the end of the film.
-Audience is able to understand the basic essence of Godzilla's character by the end of the film.
In lots of films, we know to root for the titular character within the first act. Godzilla however, takes it's time. We only know to root for this during the climax or as we approach it, just like the people in-story. We are able to share in that moment when the people rejoice at Godzilla's fall and awakening.
Last but not the least, some miscellaneous thoughts.
-Joe Brody's first act
death.
-He's able to get a picture of his wife, have his theories proven real (and not to be a lunatic) and reconcile with son before you know what happens. His character arc was clearly fulfilled and I was perfectly alright with his story.
-Ford:His profession (soldier) and his life experiences (losing mother, incredibly irrational dad) have likely molded him into a stoic, no-nonsense individual, right?
-Parallelism between Ford and Godzilla in the third act also exists.
-What can I say? I absolutely adored the storytelling devices, pacing, camera angles, and cinematography utilized. Whether it was the action sequences (Hawaii & the bridge scene being standouts), well-shot HALO jump, and the foreshadowing of monster reveals, I really found myself liking them.
-I also found the sound design top-notch in depicting monster vocals and herald their arrival and actions. (The high-note piano keys of Godzilla in the smoke, the ominous buildup in the atomic fire usage. and the victorious trumpet blares to signal Godzilla's kill shot were downright awesome, IMO.)
-I also liked the use of animals to establish scenes (chameleon, Hawaii dog, wolf)
And some parallelisms between Godzilla and Monsters I noticed:
-Use of goggles/masks as storytelling devices
-Television broadcasts informing civilians about monster activity.
-Presentation of monster as neutral forces that in fact, are capable of showing emotion.
-Use of bioluminescence in design aspects of multi-limbed monsters and their eggs.
Of course, we all know the marketing promised a different product, and lot of us were surprised or downright disappointed with that.
Godzilla was not the apocalyptic destroyer but rather a larger-than-life animal. A lot of you were disappointed with that, and I'm now cool with that
I just want to voice out my thoughts that what I got what got was a different, and I also found myself liking that different film we received.
In fact, regarding Godzilla "not being a focus in his own film", Godzilla is basically a guest star in many of his movies like Monster Zero, Ghidorah the Three-headed Monster, and Mothra vs Godzilla, all well-respected entries in the franchise.
Plus, the monster enemies taking precedence over Godzilla himself is not a new thing in the franchise, Terror of Mechagodzilla being an example.
Even in films titled Godzilla vs Biollante, Ghidorah the Three-headed Monster, and Godzilla vs Destoroyah, there is very little of characters like Biollate, Ghidorah or battles between Godzilla and said creatures.
in hindsite I didnt have an issue with the humans and enemy monsters getting more time then godzilla because we already know what godzilla can do but the mutos were interesting enough to want to learn more about them and bryan cranston is well bryan cranston. my only gripe is godzilla must have bitten the mutos a hundred times in the movie but yet they didnt have blood or bite marks on them from what i remember.
Finally got a chance to see it again and loved it even more. Just a kick-ass kaiju fillm. I need to re-adjust my top 10 of the year to move this a little higher.
Not a movie I liked very much. This kind of movie just does not with modern times. Perhaps in a few years people will get into the spirit again to have a fitting mindset to make such a movie.
My commentary about Godzilla from the "What is the last movie you watched thread".
If the fan of the genre are happy with this movie it's all good.
AFAIC it was not a huge improvement next to J.Reno Godzilla.
When the casting was announced I was wondering what Juliette Binoche was doing in it, I know now, she was doing 4 minutes.
In the "monster vs monster" type of movie I preferred Pacific Rim.
I liked Emmerich's Godzilla. Never got the hate for it. Was fun. Most of my friends love it back in the day. Biggest problem was probably that the movie was called "Godzilla".
sometimes if handled right it is, Jaws is the greatest example of this. Its just how the director handles the material and catching lighting in a bottle, because you can say yeah were doing a slow build and it may come off boring especially if the characters are not interesting.
Just watched this the other day. Worst film I've seen all year. How the hell did this movie make 500 million? How the hell did this score a 73% on RT? Mind-numbingly dull. Crappy script - the human characters were all awful. Lots of wooden acting here too with the exception of Cranston(who was hamming it up). Bland camera work all over the place. Vapid and lifeless all the way through. This is the exact same feeling I had while watching the first Transformers film. Though, to be fair to TF, at least Michael Bay's direction has a sense of style to it(as awful as at is). Ewards has no style - he's just boring through and through.
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