Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) - Part 1

[Aximili86]

Which there's nothing wrong with.

I don't even know about the action being "lackluster", that helicopter chase through the skyscrapers and the subsequent 'Zilla smackdown is pretty fun. And the movie's got a pretty good scale to it all, by '98 standards.

The cast's pretty good too, Broderick as the wide-eyed science-dork in way over his head, Azaria and Shearer are pretty funny. By 90s blockbuster standards it's not all that bad, not a particularly bad example. Just a product of the time, and made by people unfortunately not giving a crap about being faithful to the Toho stuff.

Clearly it's got nothing on the Edwards movie though.

 

[HKpowerup]

'98 was the first 'Godzilla' movie I ever saw. I remember it being on TV all the time back in the day. I acknowledge it's dumb as rocks, but I still have a soft spot for it.

To this day still not seen '98 Godzilla, mainly because of its very poor reception. I will get to it one day.

Growing up in Hong Kong which gets exposed to a tremendous amount of Japanese media, Godzilla was terrifying and equally fascinating to me as a kid whenever one of the Japanese films was on TV. I was very, very excited for the 2014 movie & it met my expectations for the most part. I thought Godzilla's screen time was perfect, the worst thing you can do in any Godzilla movie is over-expose the monster.

Shin Godzilla was also entertaining, but mostly for its satirical elements.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Which there's nothing wrong with.

I don't even know about the action being "lackluster", that helicopter chase through the skyscrapers and the subsequent 'Zilla smackdown is pretty fun. And the movie's got a pretty good scale to it all, by '98 standards.

The cast's pretty good too, Broderick as the wide-eyed science-dork in way over his head, Azaria and Shearer are pretty funny. By 90s blockbuster standards it's not all that bad, not a particularly bad example. Just a product of the time, and made by people unfortunately not giving a crap about being faithful to the Toho stuff.

Clearly it's got nothing on the Edwards movie though.

See the very sequences you site are the reasons I, and I dare say many others find it so lackluster. Godzilla, even given this being an adaptation, shouldn't be "chased" by helicopters and the sequence isn't particularly thrilling. Maybe the one moment that's memorable is that moment when the military goes after the beast a second time and instead of a few helicopters it's a swarm of them. But it's memorable cuz it's a bit on the funny side. There's no sense of grandeur or awe with the presentation of the creature. The film is empty of any themes and fine, even the Toho films had a crap ton of empty installments but even then at least Godzilla was shown as this legendarily formidable presence. 98 film has the creature getting chased by the military and then gets knocked out by torpedoes, and ultimately killed by Navy jets via missiles... It's just not an imposing movie monster despite all the damage it does.

As for the cast... No one obviously gives a crap in their performance. No one. Everyone has that "Okay, I gotta remember the paycheck I'm getting for this" delivery. Maybe, MAYBE Harry Shearer as the comic relief anchor is trying but he's trying in this over the top comedy manner that feels out of place with everything else... Well at least until we get to the bargain basement Jurassic Park ripoff sequence with the baby Zillas, which is unintentionally funny. The cast is saddled with characters that are both broadly drawn but have thin levels of depth. Even if they did give a ****, they don't have anything to work with.

I honestly put this in the category of a lot of 90's films where I have to ask if nostalgic feeling for it are due to anything in it being actually interesting or entertaining, or if the nostalgia just comes down to "this was on cable a lot when I was growing up"?

 

[Aximili86]

Way over the top, as usual.

It's just a light-on-substance 90s monster movie. Which, yeah, isn't exactly what any of us ideally want in a Godzilla movie, but let's be honest - half the later Toho stuff is pretty dorky & Power Rangers too.

The movie environment was just different back then, you were never going to get a hundred-million-dollar stateside studio movie pontificating about the downsides of nuclear technology back then. It was the Independence Day & Men In Black fad, people just wanted a CG lightshow with all the at-the-time-newfangled-computery-gizmos. All that considered, it's basically fine, could've been a lot worse under Emmerich.

 

[Schlosser85]

It’s not fine even if you set aside it being a Godzilla In Name Only bastardization. The characters feel like they’re out of a bad sitcom. The only cast member who’s halfway decent is Jean Reno.

 

[Sithborg]

Once you separate it from being a Godzilla movie, its fine.

And the animated series was fun.

 

[The Big G]

Once you separate it from being a Godzilla movie, its fine.

And the animated series was fun.

I agree. Here's the thing with Zilla.

And speaking of Trailers, I finally found the tweet about a new trailer coming

If the movie was coming out in March...I could see them releasing a new trailer now....but May is still a long ways away

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

I hope the marketing will slowly start ramping up from November.

New trailer, look at some promo art, toy leaks....

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Hey guys, remember when Giant monster movies where supposed to be horror movies?

No, I don't. The original Godzilla series stopped being about horror pretty much with the second one. Long before I was born the world was introduced to Son of Godzilla. And, of course, there is Gamera. Most of these films were aimed at children. C. Lee is probably the only one here old enough to remember when they were supposed to be legitimate horror movies.

 

[Binker]

I agree. Here's the thing with Zilla.

And speaking of Trailers, I finally found the tweet about a new trailer coming

If the movie was coming out in March...I could see them releasing a new trailer now....but May is still a long ways away

Did they show the SDCC trailer in the theaters? That might be the reason.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Once you separate it from being a Godzilla movie, its fine. And the animated series was fun.

For delivering something entertaining the animated series blows the actual film out of the water.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

It’s not fine even if you set aside it being a Godzilla In Name Only bastardization. The characters feel like they’re out of a bad sitcom. The only cast member who’s halfway decent is Jean Reno.

Oh hey now... That's just over the top.



But correct on every point.

 

[Spider-Fan]

The Roland Emmerich film was trash, regardless if you separate it from being a Godzilla film. It's just a poorly written mess of a film.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

The Roland Emmerich film was trash, regardless if you separate it from being a Godzilla film. It's just a poorly written mess of a film.

Even as a live-action cartoon it fails. The action isn't exciting, the set-pieces are boring, and none of the "jokes" land. The dialogue is just awful. Nothing witty or amusing to be found. Maybe Hank Azaria has a couple of moments, but they are few and far between.

Even Independence Day, which while far from a great film, had characters I cared about (if stereotypical), some sense of suspense and gravitas, and some fantastic special effects. Pullman's Independence Day speech near the end might be corny, but it sure gets my patriotic blood pumping. Godzilla 1998 has nothing like that.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Even as a live-action cartoon it fails. The action isn't exciting, the set-pieces are boring, and none of the "jokes" land. The dialogue is just awful. Nothing witty or amusing to be found. Maybe Hank Azaria has a couple of moments, but they are few and far between.

Even Independence Day, which while far from a great film, had characters I cared about (if stereotypical), some sense of suspense and gravitas, and some fantastic special effects. Pullman's Independence Day speech near the end might be corny, but it sure gets my patriotic blood pumping. Godzilla 1998 has nothing like that.

What, you didn't think "That's a lot of fish" was hysterical?

 

[Arachnerd]

The Roland Emmerich film was trash, regardless if you separate it from being a Godzilla film. It's just a poorly written mess of a film.

Sure, but aren't people allowed to enjoy it regardless of its flaws? I mean, this is why subjectivity exists.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Sure, but aren't people allowed to enjoy it regardless of its flaws? I mean, this is why subjectivity exists.

Well, yeah. Every post I make is in my opinion (unless I am providing something factual like a link to an article, picture of a costume, etc). I am not saying IMO in every post I make. It's implied by the very fact I am voicing my opinion.

 

[Aurakles]

I was less than ten when I saw the '98 film, but I could feel there was something wrong, that this didn't feel like Godzilla.

 

[Enriquespy]

We are discussing G-zilla 98 only because of the lack of news!!!!

I can't wait to lay my eye upon more Godzilla goodness.

 

[The Big G]

Possible KG close up? Or at least an interesting fan design

 

[Enriquespy]

Six eyes? That's kinda cool.

Those horns look like antlers tho.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Possible KG close up? Or at least an interesting fan design

This looks amazing.

 

[Sithborg]

Very reminiscent of the original design, which is why I am skeptical.

Also, the multi eyes doesn't really fit with what we saw in the trailer.

 

[Aurakles]

I like the little manes on each head.
Looks like it might be a toy or a model, possibly just concept art.

Very reminiscent of the original design, which is why I am skeptical.

Also, the multi eyes doesn't really fit with what we saw in the trailer.

Did we see KG's eyes in the trailer?

 

[Sithborg]

Yes. He was looking inside a window.