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NEWS: Godzilla Remake's Latest Ad Extols Critics' Praises


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TokyoGetter



Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 416
Location: CA. You can tell by the low moral standards.
PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 11:57 pm Reply with quote
This movie was shockingly bad.

Inconsistent interior logic. Plastic acting. Lame music. Unbelievably flat characters. A total lack of humor.

And BARELY any Godzilla.

I await the 10 minute-long fan edit.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 12:01 am Reply with quote
TokyoGetter wrote:
Inconsistent interior logic. Plastic acting. Lame music. Unbelievably flat characters. A total lack of humor.


So, a Godzilla movie?

But really, I don't remember a goddamn thing about the humans from the Godzilla movies I've seen.
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DRosencraft



Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 672
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 2:20 am Reply with quote
For as much derision the 98 movie received, and as much hype as people were bandying about with this one, it seems the basically flipped the script. Mostly everything "wrong" that was done with the '98 one was done "right" here, while everything "right" from the '98 one was done wrong with this version.

People need to remember, Godzilla, for as much of a household name as it is, was always a rather niche movie franchise, in part because of how ludicrous and bad of a movie it was. It began as a low-budget production meant to translate the evils of nuclear weapons. It's only after that first movie that people started attaching all these other meanings to the series, debating if Godzilla was good or evil. It's a giant radioactive animal that routinely destroys any mark of civilization in its path. The extent to which it does "good" by defeating other monsters is it being territorial more so than some imagined sense of "good" against "evil".

I've digressed a bit. Back on topic, I've yet to see the movie, but from what I've heard from a few people I know who have, I will not be seeing it until it's on DVD or streaming somewhere, at the earliest. It sounds like this one failed for the same basic reason the '98 one did; any attempt to make an American Godzilla movie that appeals to an American audience will either stray too far from the Japanese originals and infuriate so-called fans, or will stick so close to the Japanese originals that it alienates the American audience and doesn't sell.
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nechronius



Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 275
Location: So Cal, USA
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 4:01 am Reply with quote
As a long time fan who has owns and has seen every Godzilla movie made several times (Godzilla was my gateway drug into Japanese before anime came along), my opinion is that this movie ranks easily among the top third of Godzilla movies ever made, and you can make a reasonable argument for top 5.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14889
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 4:45 am Reply with quote
Some friends who'd already seen it recommend it, and I have more trust on them than others, so guess friends and relatives going to see it this weekend.
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Lavnovice9



Joined: 23 Oct 2012
Posts: 276
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 4:49 am Reply with quote
I thought for sure this movie would be one modern movie which doesn't stroke the army's ego but they found a way for the army be the heroes in the end. Amazing.

Really the only thing that prevented this movie from being a random terrorist war film was the terrorists being replaced by monsters. It's almost entirely around an American soldier uncovering a conspiracy and saving the day in disarming the city-threatening bomb in the end while some monsters fight in the backrgound. It's less about Godzilla than Transformers is about Transformers, surprisingly enough
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victor viper



Joined: 18 Jun 2011
Posts: 630
Location: The deep south
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 7:01 am Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
But really, I don't remember a goddamn thing about the humans from the Godzilla movies I've seen.


Not even Raymond Burr in the American version of the original Godzilla? I always liked his performance as Steve Martin, and Burr gave the movie a certain credibility with American audiences which it might not have had with another actor who was more willing to campify the role.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15570
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 7:01 am Reply with quote
Drosen: It's a niche movie franchise here, but it used to do big business in Japan. Still, this weekend is probably as successful as it'll ever get in the U.S.

As for my main issue with it, it's the misleading advertising. spoiler[Heinsenberg was supposed to be the star, not his kid.] Plus, they take too long spoiler[setting up weapon payloads, when they just load them onto aircrafts] or something in the Japanese versions.
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Rahxephon91



Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Posts: 1859
Location: Park Forest IL.
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 8:29 am Reply with quote
Lavnovice9 wrote:
I thought for sure this movie would be one modern movie which doesn't stroke the army's ego but they found a way for the army be the heroes in the end. Amazing.

You didn't see this movie did you? First, this is no different than many other Godzilla movies where the JSDF or some other special military unit receives much of the screen time. Even Godzilla final wars spends much of it's time on it's special psychic group. As does Godzilla 2000 with it's basic everyday Godzilla force. It would be abnormal to not spend that much time with the "army".

Also, the movie's end makes it quite clear that Godzilla is the hero. QUITE CLEAR. So much so that to say that the movie found a way for the army to be the heroes over him is very wrong. The army was going to make the wrong choice. The bomb thing is them trying to fix a mistake. It's Godzilla who stops the monsters. It's Godzilla who is the "balance".

Quote:
Really the only thing that prevented this movie from being a random terrorist war film was the terrorists being replaced by monsters.
You're saying this as if this would even be a bad premise for a Godzilla movie. If Godzilla was used as a metaphor for teroisim then that would almost be apt as thats the "nuclear" threat of our age.

Still, you'll have to explain this one because that's hardly the angle they pushed. I'm unsure how imagery that invoked natural disasters as the movie presented Godzilla as a natural force was at all like "terrorists". How was this a terrorist war film? It honestly did not even invoke that much 9/11 imagery. The movie has no allusions to terrorism. It does not attempt to make any comments on it or have rhetoric. If there is, please tell me what. Unless, showing destroyed buildings(something Godzilla movies do) is now metaphors for terrorism.

Quote:
It's almost entirely around an American soldier uncovering a conspiracy
But the soldier character does not uncover a conspiracy. His father does. The American Soldier's story is about getting home. The conspiracy angle is also solved early in the film and is then dropped.


Quote:
and saving the day in disarming the city-threatening bomb in the end
Except, he dosen't dis-arm the bomb.

Quote:
while some monsters fight in the backrgound.
Um no. The entire end of the movie is almost nothing but Godzilla taking the forefront. Every shot back to the soldiers is very quick.


Quote:
It's less about Godzilla than Transformers is about Transformers, surprisingly enough
Not really since everything revolves around Godzilla. Also, Godzilla movies tend to focus a lot on the human characters. This is nothing new.

Please, you were against this movie ( because it's not Japanese) from the beginning, but these are all baseless claims. Please stop with this extreme bias.

Anyway, I did not care for the movie.


It's almost amazing how boring it was. It spends the entire movie basically not giving you anything you want until the end. I just wanted to see Godzilla fight and destroy stuff. Instead this movie likes to obstruct the fights until the last one. It hardly shows the active destruction. Instead it just likes to show you the effects. It's such a boring movie until the end.

Ken Watanabe is so crappy. He doesn't talk like a human being at all, instead always having this stupid "I'm going to say something really profound really slowly" expression.

Everyone else is forgettable with no personality or stage presence, yet the movie spends so much damn time with them. Bryan Cranston is the sole light only because it's him and then well....yeah. Then we follow Kick Ass as he finds himself in lame contrived nonsense. It was just so damn boring with no thrills.

It didn't feel dark at all. All the trailers almost made it seem like it would be a horror movie and the movie never delivers that at all. Underscored by a real campy score.


Last edited by Rahxephon91 on Sat May 17, 2014 10:34 am; edited 1 time in total
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the-antihero



Joined: 17 Aug 2010
Posts: 726
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 9:02 am Reply with quote
When it comes to cinematography, I'm fed up with this annoying combination:

- Shaky/Overly Active Camera that never stops
- Scenes always shot in the dark/night time
- Rain and water in the foreground obscuring the action
- Monotonous use of slow-motion sequences
- Shots from an angle with the most debris falling in front of the camera.

The movie obscures the good stuff by using at least 3 of the listed.
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Sheleigha



Joined: 09 May 2008
Posts: 1674
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 11:54 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:

As for my main issue with it, it's the misleading advertising. spoiler[Heinsenberg was supposed to be the star, not his kid.]


I guess I was the only one that checked the poster? Usually they line up the names in order of importance (main char, supporting char, etc). and guess who was at the end with "and ____". Yeah I knew there wouldn't be a big part there and it was a bit of a bait :/
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6397
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 1:53 pm Reply with quote
TokyoGetter wrote:
This movie was shockingly bad.

Inconsistent interior logic. Plastic acting. Lame music. Unbelievably flat characters. A total lack of humor.

And BARELY any Godzilla.

I await the 10 minute-long fan edit.


Uh something tells me that you probably never watch a Godzilla film. Rolling Eyes

Well, I have plans to watch this film next weekend.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 2:19 pm Reply with quote
the-antihero wrote:
When it comes to cinematography, I'm fed up with this annoying combination:

- Shaky/Overly Active Camera that never stops
- Scenes always shot in the dark/night time
- Rain and water in the foreground obscuring the action
- Monotonous use of slow-motion sequences
- Shots from an angle with the most debris falling in front of the camera.


So, a Legendary Pictures movie, then? Razz

Not sure whether the ads are "deceptive" in that most of the quoted raves seem to be from geek websites (oh, like they're going to hate it?), while most of the real press sources panned the film for being gloomy, top-heavy, overwritten, and reducing Godzilla to a supporting character.
I'm still waiting for a consensus, as I'd like to "avenge" the goofball '98 movie as much as anyone, but I don't want to go completely in the opposite direction and suffer through Lizard Of Steel.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13620
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 3:47 pm Reply with quote
This Ain't It Cool movie review, www.aintitcool.com/node/67271, shows that the head of the company that made the Japanese versions indicated he was satisfied and that should say something

Quote:
"I ended up talking with producer Thomas Tull and while I was thanking him for helping me out with the tickets a Japanese man came up and Tull immediately looked nervous. “So, what did you think?” The man answered that he and his colleagues were amazed with the movie and couldn't believe how perfectly Godzilla was captured. “ This is the Godzilla from my childhood.” He said this with a hand over his heart, I swear to God. Tull looked taken aback, both relieved and amazed at the same time. After the man left, Tull leaned over to me and said, “He's the head of Toho.”
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lLuffyl



Joined: 06 May 2010
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2014 3:56 pm Reply with quote
I liked it. I mean, I don't watch any movies. The last movie I went to see in theaters was probably 7 years ago. So maybe my expectations for movies isn't high at all. I saw the 98 Godzilla when I was 7 and loved it and watch it whenever it's on TV. This one had a different take on it and it was awesome to see Godzilla as the hero instead of just some random mutated lizard causing havoc and destroying the city.
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