Godzilla (2014) Reviews/Discussion (1 Viewer)

[DustinPizarro]

As much as I wanted to like this new version of Godzilla, I ended up feeling very disappointed. For the title character of a monster movie I would have preferred a bit more screen time and not have Godzilla play a supporting character. This might be it for me for Americanized Godzilla movies.

 

[Nigel P]

You can put me in the category of people who thought it was good, but not great. I liked the way they had a slow build up to the first reveal and I enjoyed the showdown in San Francisco. I thought there were one or two occasions where it cut away just as things looked like they were about to get interesting and the pacing could have been tightened up.

 

[Radioman970]

IMAX 3D with the folks. Mom said it was like the OLD Godzilla movies. I couldn't agree more with her. Even my dad, absolutely NOT a movie person, liked it. Although he had to ask me if they had overcharged him for the $14.50 ticket. Neither my folks appreciates the IMAX experience, both thinking the sound was too loud. It wasn't... just dynamic, but they don't get it. Oh... funny, my dad is retired from working Nuclear Power plants. He had some problems with the power plant scenes. Apparently that kind of stuff wouldn't happen on HIS watch. lol

I thought the overall story wasn't bad. I actually thought the pacing was almost right on the nose. Maybe some tightening here and there. But there should NOT be constant monsters being shown, would get old. I liked how the big monsters were basically out of the human's control. It made Godzilla that much more important to the overall picture. In fact, all the monster scenes, monsters feeding or battling each other, were spectacular! Although on the way out of the theater mom said... "you know, I could sometimes tell that was a man in a suit..." lol, no lie, she said that. ... Further, since the size of the monsters made them look damn near impossible for humans to dispose of in any way, it made Godzilla extremely important to the humans just like he's always been in the Japanese films. A bitter sweet monster for sure. They got that right on the money in this, something the '98 version did not. Can't WAIT to see where this series goes next. And I need to see Pacific Rim again.

Anyway, awesome time at the movies. Great 3D! Great sound (even though I had about 30% hearing in my left ear, which took away from the overall experience). I really don't see how every fan of Godzilla doesn't eat this up like The Big G eats up a 30 ton bowl of radioactive cheese puffs! At minimum, the monster scenes are worth the PoA. Each and every one of them a sight to behold. I'd rank that scene of the soldiers on the train bridge up there with the best of Jurassic Park. Tense, scary... perfect.

Call me impressed.

 

[Tony J Case]

Although on the way out of the theater mom said... "you know, I could sometimes tell that was a man in a suit..." lol, no lie, she said that.

Okay, I know that in today's movie making world, this would never happen, but a tiny, tiny part of me was sad that it wasn't a guy in a rubber suit. . . . .

 

[Nelson Au]

I saw it yesterday. I thought it was okay. It was what I expected, nothing less or more. The plot with Cranston certainly was there to establish the plot and reasons for the MUTOs, but then he dies. And poof, we are with Ford and the subplot with his wife and he trying to get back to her. They were not very engaging, but I understand why the pat was done, perhaps if a more engaging lead actors was used, that would have worked better. But then that might have taken away from the Godzilla sequences, who upstages who! I thought the love story worked much better in Pacific Rim.Ken Watanabe seems almost wasted in the film. Of course this movie was made to appeal to an American audience as well as a world wide audience. But I wished they kept the story in Japan. It's jarring to see a Godzilla film with an American cast! While I liked the movie and think its a very good restart, it does something so many reboots do. They go for a story that incorporates elements from films in the series and characteristics of Godzilla that evolved in later films rather then strictly stay with the origin story. In this case, I can again see why. The oxygen destroyer device would make it harder to make sequels.I guess it's the fashion now to destroy San Francisco. I have not seen the original Gojira film in a long time. So I finally opened the Criterion blu ray I have had waiting to watch. It's crude compared to the new one of course. But it's still a good movie! And it has a message too.

 

[DaveF]

Some scattered comments, prompted by others' thoughts.

I liked that Godzilla was a slow reveal. Several commented they were disappointed that he was not fully revealed until late in the movie. I liked that. I enjoy the slow, teasing, build up of a good monster. I liked the fog, mist, dust clouds that the monsters emerged from, and then melted back into.

I *hated* the stupid car commercial for revealing Godzilla fully. The movie was clearly built to have a slow build for seeing Godzilla. It pissed me off that was destroyed with on, pointless auto ad. I don't know studios are so willing to damage their own product with bad, unrelated secondary advertising.

Maybe it was just me, but I was thrown initially by the MUTO. I didn't understand that there was another creature that had killed Godzilla. I didn't understand that the Godzilla in the mine wasn't the Godzilla ostensibly killed in the 1950's. So when the MUTO hatched in Japan, I was utterly baffled. It didn't look like Godzilla, the legs were all wrong. Only as the movie went, with further exposition, that I got it. In hindsight, I think this was explained in the early section, where the pod/egg was found. But I didn't understand the pods were predator eggs; I thought they were Godzilla eggs during that scene.

I'm annoyed the Cranston was killed off early. The trailers worked: they sold me a ticket based on the implication that Cranston was the lead. Nope, just a misleading trailer with a big name to draw people like me into the theater. This would have been less a problem if the actual leads had more personality. At least they weren't actively bad. They were adequate for the movie.

I agree with Nelson: Watanabe was wasted. I kept expecting more from his character. Of course, I kept waiting for his character to reveal that Cranston's character was alive, in the sooper-sekret Monarch lab, ready to save the day with his crackpot data analysis.

I was perplexed by the ineffectuality of modern firepower against he monsters. Sure, bullets might havoc little effect. But, I though, surely guided missiles, smart bombs, and our vast array of high-power non-nuclear arsenal -- aimed at head, mouth, eyes, etc, would have some effect. I suppose that wouldn't be a good godzilla movie. But that niggling detail kept pushing me out a bit.



I liked the movie. It was pretty fun. But it was also depressing. I watched it back to back with Big Trouble in Little China. And overall, I enjoyed more the comparatively uplifting message of Jack Burton over the "we have no control over our fate" message of Godzilla.

 

[Radioman970]

Mine didn't have the Godzilla car commercial luckily. And we all LOVED the reveal. That's something else mom mentioned later...when that doggie's leash snapped and they show him boogying down the street! lol Also, the reveal of Godzilla's blue energy breath. I was actually sitting waiting to see what they were going to do with that or what G has to do to get that going. Not disappointed. I'd watched Godzilla 2000 last weekend and I've always liked how they did a more fire-like breath from G. But the blue was better.

I was actually wishing some of those eggs had hatched, forcing the military to take care of some smaller creatures (like Cloverfield) instead of them taking care of it quickly. I think that was a missed opp. Even so, I think big monsters overshadowing the humans is a great way to go overall. Constantly making the humans adjust to what these big creatures are doing, often failing or barely able to effect those larger creatures, if the right way to do it. I know story can get difficult in sequels, but I hope they can make it work. When these creatures show up it makes a huge mess and I'm hoping they can bring us even more up close than they did here. When the MUTO that flew and landing on that huge building, I didn't count how many of of the upper floors were turned to rubble and sticks and sent flying, but it would have been amazing for them to give us other angles of that. Creatures like this appearing quickly don't give you much time at all to react and people might still be in that building. I think Cloverfield did that kind of thing and it worked... at least I think it did.

Yeah, I can see how it can be depressing. But I get wrapped up in spectacle, a lot like Titanic was. I really like that this Godzilla film has quite a bit of that. I hope they do more like this.

 

[DaveF]

The car commercial was playing on TV the weeks before, which is where I saw it.

The eggs: wouldn't be surprised if one survives its way into the sequel.

 

[Radioman970]

Okay, I know that in today's movie making world, this would never happen, but a tiny, tiny part of me was sad that it wasn't a guy in a rubber suit. . . . .

Actually, I tried to explain to her that they probably used rotoscoping like they did in Lord of the Rings, etc. So technically...

 

[Vic Pardo]

I don't understand the weakness for "slow reveal" around here regarding this film. This is Godzilla we're talking about. We've been watching his movies (in the U.S. at least) for 58 years! There've been 28 of them at last count before this. We know what he looks like. We go to his movies because we want to see him! We don't need a slow reveal and we don't need pesky humans standing around talking about him ad infinitem before he shows up.

I mean, when Daniel Craig first took on the role of James Bond, did audiences clamor to keep him hidden for much of the film? Did they want the character clouded in mystery until two hours into it he comes out and says "Bond, James Bond," and everyone applauds? No, we wanted to see him do Bondian derring-do from the very first frame!

Sheesh!

 

[Tino]

I hate to say it, but the more I ponder it, the less I like it. So much potential and so little payoff and missed opportunities to have made a truly great Godzilla film IMO. I know Gareth is locked in for a sequel but I hope another director gets the gig. His less is more approach is wrong for this material I think. Maybe I'll like it better when I revisit it in blu.

 

[Jack P]

I'll reiterate my enjoyment of it over just about any Godzilla film post-"Destroy All Monsters" and especially light years ahead of Devlin-Emmerich (who I consider to be disaster porn artists with their tasteless obsession with destroying famous landmarks post-9/11 and as "2012" demonstrated, being very PC about it too). A slow reveal to tell a good story is for a change quite refreshing (and go back to even classic Toho movies like "Godzilla vs. Monthra" from 1964 where the Big G doesn't show up until a third of the way in), and even more refreshing is the lack of PC storylines or smart-assed comic relief, or bloodthirsty stupid generals. All of which I know has Steve Ryfle's panties in a wad, but good riddance.

 

[Brett_M]

My son and I enjoyed the film. My only two gripes are that Cranston played a minor character and Watanabe was underwritten.

 

[Radioman970]

come to think of it... JAWS sucked too because of that. :p

 

[RobertR]

I was perplexed by the ineffectuality of modern firepower against he monsters. Sure, bullets might havoc little effect. But, I though, surely guided missiles, smart bombs, and our vast array of high-power non-nuclear arsenal -- aimed at head, mouth, eyes, etc, would have some effect. I suppose that wouldn't be a good godzilla movie. But that niggling detail kept pushing me out a bit.

It really doesn't do any good to go there, though. We know the physics in these movies aren't realistic.

 

[Tino]

Who is Steve Ryfle and why does he matter ?

 

[dpippel]

It really doesn't do any good to go there, though. We know the physics in these movies aren't realistic.

Like the fact that animals the size of Godzilla and the MUTOs in this film are quite literally not possible in Earth's gravity? Realistic depiction of physical laws are the last thing anyone should be complaining about in a Godzilla movie.

 

[RobertR]

Exactly

 

[DaveF]

It really doesn't do any good to go there, though. We know the physics in these movies aren't realistic.

Like the fact that animals the size of Godzilla and the MUTOs in this film are quite literally not possible in Earth's gravity? Realistic depiction of physical laws are the last thing anyone should be complaining about in a Godzilla movie.

Of course you're right. But it's so obviously ineffectual to shoot these creatures with handguns, why even bother? What I really want is to see the humans try large ordinance, see it fail, and so believe Godzilla, et al are unaffected.

 

[Tony J Case]

I was perplexed by the ineffectuality of modern firepower against he monsters. Sure, bullets might havoc little effect. But, I though, surely guided missiles, smart bombs, and our vast array of high-power non-nuclear arsenal -- aimed at head, mouth, eyes, etc, would have some effect. I suppose that wouldn't be a good godzilla movie. But that niggling detail kept pushing me out a bit.

Oh please. Godzilla laughs your puny human weapons. (Except for the Oxygen Destroyer - the only device in 60 years to be worth a damn against him)