Escape to the Movies: Godzilla - Breaking Kaiju
- Thread starter MovieBob
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Ever since I knew who the director was, I lost all hope I had for this movie. I still wanted badly to be wrong and get an amazing Godzilla flick. But instead we got a super expensive remake of "Monsters" (2010, by the same director).
"Monsters" was a dull pseudo drama piece between generic white american bohemian guy and generic white american bohemian blonde, sometimes pestered in their quest for adultery by off-camera rumbling and grumbling. With some meager showings of the monsters, in very few, short sequences, almost completely out of frame; until the very end when you were rewarded for your endurance a bad monster climactic scene, a spoonful of military circle-jerking and the unwanted cheesy drama resolution.
Some people argued that in the case for "Monsters" this mediocrity was to be given a free pass because of budget constraints, but now he made the same movie again, with a considerably heftier budget, he went and did the same cheap, unrewarding movie again. He spent a ton of money confirming he has no idea how to shoot an exciting monster movie. Fuck the guy who thought this hack was fit to direct Godzilla.
"Monsters" was a dull pseudo drama piece between generic white american bohemian guy and generic white american bohemian blonde, sometimes pestered in their quest for adultery by off-camera rumbling and grumbling. With some meager showings of the monsters, in very few, short sequences, almost completely out of frame; until the very end when you were rewarded for your endurance a bad monster climactic scene, a spoonful of military circle-jerking and the unwanted cheesy drama resolution.
Some people argued that in the case for "Monsters" this mediocrity was to be given a free pass because of budget constraints, but now he made the same movie again, with a considerably heftier budget, he went and did the same cheap, unrewarding movie again. He spent a ton of money confirming he has no idea how to shoot an exciting monster movie. Fuck the guy who thought this hack was fit to direct Godzilla.
Wow, great review. Bob pretty much thought the same thing about the movie that I did.
Godzilla really shouldn't be a supporting character in his own movie.
This is one movie I'd like to see a fan re-edit done for. Yeah it would only be about 20 minutes, but it wold be a completely awesome 20 minutes.
Godzilla really shouldn't be a supporting character in his own movie.
This is one movie I'd like to see a fan re-edit done for. Yeah it would only be about 20 minutes, but it wold be a completely awesome 20 minutes.
I felt like this film actually had the perfect balance between humans and monsters, because unlike films like Transformers, all the humans struggles are directly caused by the monsters. I went into this film thinking I would dislike the human characters, but I came out really liking them.
The military werent treated as absolute dumbasses, they reacted in a way that was completely understandable, like normal people doing the best they could against threats against humanity like the MUTO's.
Every scene that the humans were in (bar the opening scenes that establish the characters, their families, what they have to lose etc) had something to do with the threat of the monsters. Even though Godzilla and the MUTO's werent always on screen, you could always, always feel their presence.
The director wasnt scared of just showing the monsters, I liked how when Godzilla shows up physically for the first time, they dont do dumb bullshit like just show his foot and hear a roar, it does an almost full body shot of him, we get a clear view of the Kaiju in the majority of scenes theyre in, and it looks amazing.
A lot of people bought up the fact that the movie teases fights between Godzilla and the MUTO's several times before the climax, but it pays off incredibly well, the last half hour of the film, is some of the best action ive seen in a movie in my whole life. A reviewer I watched on youtube gave a great analogy, "Throughout the movie they give you little sips, and with every sip, you get thirstier for more, until the end, when you can finally take a drink, and its amazing".
Yes the end after the big fight is a bit cheesy, but it was nice to me to have it in there. If you just go into the film with an open mind you'll enjoy it a lot, it does justice to the character, and overall its a fantastic film with very few missteps
The military werent treated as absolute dumbasses, they reacted in a way that was completely understandable, like normal people doing the best they could against threats against humanity like the MUTO's.
Every scene that the humans were in (bar the opening scenes that establish the characters, their families, what they have to lose etc) had something to do with the threat of the monsters. Even though Godzilla and the MUTO's werent always on screen, you could always, always feel their presence.
The director wasnt scared of just showing the monsters, I liked how when Godzilla shows up physically for the first time, they dont do dumb bullshit like just show his foot and hear a roar, it does an almost full body shot of him, we get a clear view of the Kaiju in the majority of scenes theyre in, and it looks amazing.
A lot of people bought up the fact that the movie teases fights between Godzilla and the MUTO's several times before the climax, but it pays off incredibly well, the last half hour of the film, is some of the best action ive seen in a movie in my whole life. A reviewer I watched on youtube gave a great analogy, "Throughout the movie they give you little sips, and with every sip, you get thirstier for more, until the end, when you can finally take a drink, and its amazing".
Yes the end after the big fight is a bit cheesy, but it was nice to me to have it in there. If you just go into the film with an open mind you'll enjoy it a lot, it does justice to the character, and overall its a fantastic film with very few missteps
I'll agree with this. He's been bashing a lot of critics views lately and it makes me wonder if he's making his videos in the hope that other critics are watching or something.Delcast said:
Man, you already know the reason. The same reason we always can't have nice things. A director knew how to do Godzilla right. But in order to actually be ALLOWED to do Godzilla right, he had to agree to let a room full of rich white packaged goods executives rewrite the script. It's the same deal with the devil we keep seeing over and over again. This is where almost-good movies come from.MovieBob said:
The real crime here is that your fellow critics are all on board. But I guess they all have mouths to feed, and you're the only one who happens to work for an employer who cares enough about its own credibility to let you nip the hand that feeds it every once in a while. That, or the other reviewers are just stupid and they actually do like the first hour of the movie that much. I suppose we can't rule anything out.
As a near lifetime Godzilla fan, I'd like to say I thought the movie was good. In a genuinely surprising way, I thought the movie was just good. I went into it thinking "Oh, maybe it'll be okay with a few decent monster fights." but I really did think it went above and beyond my expectations, to the point where of the 29 Godzilla movies (30 if we're counting our friend Zilla) this might be in my top 5.
I will now post further thoughts that will contain spoilers so...you know the drill.
Bob, I respect your opinion as a movie critic, as well as a fellow Godzilla fan, so I can understand why some of these were deal breakers for you or may have rubbed you the wrong way, but I think they did a really good job capturing what made a lot of the old Godzillas great. I disagree with some of your points, but I see where they come from. I'm just really hoping this movie doesn't become the photo used in future Big Pictures and Escape to the Movies where you talk about letdowns.
And personally, I thought he was a terrible Kick-Ass (I like the movies, just not him as Kick-Ass) so even though I didn't love him in this movie, I had the opposite reaction. This movie is what made me think he could be a decent Quicksilver.
And to the people comparing Godzilla to Transformers and saying Godzilla shouldn't be "a B character in his own movie." that comparison doesn't really work. The Transformers can talk and could carry their own film. Godzilla can't. I agree he could have been in the film a bit more, but have you ever seen a kaiju movie that puts more emphasis on its monster than on the people? They usually aren't great. Final Wars is basically a montage of Godzilla fighting stuff, and for some fans that movie is a chore to get through.
Gamera Super Monster is easily the worst of the 8 original Gamera films not just because it's a clip show, but because it's mostly monster fights with very little substance around it. Yeah, it can be entertaining to watch, but you feel it's lacking something.
The Kaiju is supposed to be the almond in an almond joy. It's there, and it's awesome, but compared to the chocolate and the coconut it's overall a smaller component that makes the total package more awesome.
I will now post further thoughts that will contain spoilers so...you know the drill.
First off, the MUTO. I LOVED them. Not since Godzilla vs. Biollante have I actually questioned whether or not Godzilla really was our good guy when it came to Godzilla vs. Something Not Godzilla. I felt they were genuinely sympathetic as kaiju. The MUTO weren't evil, they weren't just killing people because they could. They had their little love ritual, they wanted to be together, start a family, and the female MUTO's roar when she found all her babies we dead was heart-wrenching. I really thought they were VERY well done monsters.
Secondly, I will agree that Brody wasn't the most interesting character out there, but honestly, I saw him as a Captain America-esque type of character. He was mainly just super goody goody patriotism and bluebirds and all that good stuff. I do also agree that Joe and Serizawa were more interesting characters, but I think the way the trailers had the focus on Joe only for...that to happen, really surprised me as a movie-goer, in a good way.
Secondly, I will agree that Brody wasn't the most interesting character out there, but honestly, I saw him as a Captain America-esque type of character. He was mainly just super goody goody patriotism and bluebirds and all that good stuff. I do also agree that Joe and Serizawa were more interesting characters, but I think the way the trailers had the focus on Joe only for...that to happen, really surprised me as a movie-goer, in a good way.
Bob, I respect your opinion as a movie critic, as well as a fellow Godzilla fan, so I can understand why some of these were deal breakers for you or may have rubbed you the wrong way, but I think they did a really good job capturing what made a lot of the old Godzillas great. I disagree with some of your points, but I see where they come from. I'm just really hoping this movie doesn't become the photo used in future Big Pictures and Escape to the Movies where you talk about letdowns.
And personally, I thought he was a terrible Kick-Ass (I like the movies, just not him as Kick-Ass) so even though I didn't love him in this movie, I had the opposite reaction. This movie is what made me think he could be a decent Quicksilver.
And to the people comparing Godzilla to Transformers and saying Godzilla shouldn't be "a B character in his own movie." that comparison doesn't really work. The Transformers can talk and could carry their own film. Godzilla can't. I agree he could have been in the film a bit more, but have you ever seen a kaiju movie that puts more emphasis on its monster than on the people? They usually aren't great. Final Wars is basically a montage of Godzilla fighting stuff, and for some fans that movie is a chore to get through.
Gamera Super Monster is easily the worst of the 8 original Gamera films not just because it's a clip show, but because it's mostly monster fights with very little substance around it. Yeah, it can be entertaining to watch, but you feel it's lacking something.
The Kaiju is supposed to be the almond in an almond joy. It's there, and it's awesome, but compared to the chocolate and the coconut it's overall a smaller component that makes the total package more awesome.
While the critique was 100% valid I can't say I was quite as bothered with it as Moviebob was.
Yes, a lot of the human storyline was just shuffling the pieces around to make sure they were all in place for the big monster attacks and no I wasn't particularly invested in the drama of the main cast, but for what it was I didn't hate it.
My only real complaint is, as was pointed out here. There seems to be a much more interesting story going on with Ken Watanabe's character and it gets swept away by the relatively uninteresting "move the bomb" plot to the point where Watanabe just spends monst of the movie staring into the middle distance gawping at the chaos around him.
For a guy who studied these things for a living one would think he'd have his shit together.
As for the pacing, to be honest the movie never spends too much time in between monster attacks and I actually felt that holding off on the big Godzilla fight until the last act worked quite well. When the big guy finally shows up and starts kicking ass the whole thing is extremely cathartic, largely due to the build up.
That being said, the anticipation for big Kaiju ass stomping might not hold up as well on repeated viewings.
All in all it's a solid B+ it's not great but it's completely serviceable.
Also...
Yes, a lot of the human storyline was just shuffling the pieces around to make sure they were all in place for the big monster attacks and no I wasn't particularly invested in the drama of the main cast, but for what it was I didn't hate it.
My only real complaint is, as was pointed out here. There seems to be a much more interesting story going on with Ken Watanabe's character and it gets swept away by the relatively uninteresting "move the bomb" plot to the point where Watanabe just spends monst of the movie staring into the middle distance gawping at the chaos around him.
For a guy who studied these things for a living one would think he'd have his shit together.
As for the pacing, to be honest the movie never spends too much time in between monster attacks and I actually felt that holding off on the big Godzilla fight until the last act worked quite well. When the big guy finally shows up and starts kicking ass the whole thing is extremely cathartic, largely due to the build up.
That being said, the anticipation for big Kaiju ass stomping might not hold up as well on repeated viewings.
All in all it's a solid B+ it's not great but it's completely serviceable.
Also...
For all the military wanking they were doing I give the movie a ton of credit for giving all of the MUTO kills to Godzilla.
The only thing worse than a bad movie is a boring movie....except maybe a boring movie with a good movie desperately trying to happen.
Much like Pacific Rim when you get big monsters fighting its really good, just a shame that most of the time we are stuck with bland humans we don't give a crap about.In Spider Man 2 the action scenes were pretty cool but took the back seat to the awkward and painful to watch romance scenes. There definitely seems to be a trend in movies this year with mixed up priorities.
You don't go to a steak house for the salads now do you?
Much like Pacific Rim when you get big monsters fighting its really good, just a shame that most of the time we are stuck with bland humans we don't give a crap about.In Spider Man 2 the action scenes were pretty cool but took the back seat to the awkward and painful to watch romance scenes. There definitely seems to be a trend in movies this year with mixed up priorities.
You don't go to a steak house for the salads now do you?
so you expect an americanized version of Godzilla not to be americanized? of course it has dull nuclear family characters. Its hollywood production.
as far as why is godzilla on our side? well it always was except for the very first few films, so there is more consistency there than anything.
as far as why is godzilla on our side? well it always was except for the very first few films, so there is more consistency there than anything.
I previous episodes, I have commented that I thought Bob would not like the new Godzilla and while it is tempting to quote myself on that one, this time I'm less inclined the argue.
While I haven't seen this film yet, I am however weary all the same for the reasons in this review. Having said that, I will probably end up thinking the good parts are worth the price of admission and I will also argue that Pacific Rim also got boring with its human elements... I guess I'll wait and see.
Having said that, this review encourages me more on the flip side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMMV4jJm0t8&feature=youtu.be&a
While I haven't seen this film yet, I am however weary all the same for the reasons in this review. Having said that, I will probably end up thinking the good parts are worth the price of admission and I will also argue that Pacific Rim also got boring with its human elements... I guess I'll wait and see.
Having said that, this review encourages me more on the flip side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMMV4jJm0t8&feature=youtu.be&a
just came back from seeing it an hour ago and let me tell you, its much better than the Emmerich version.Jman1236 said:
that said, i wish there was more Godzilla, in a movie titled GODZILLA, the movies just teases you with the fights, then it just closes its doors on it, pans away or cuts a an infinitly less exciting scene
Off-topic: I'm pretty sure Bob has mentioned The Avengers in every video since it came out. It's getting tiresome.
On-topic: Man, I was really digging the trailers too. It'sa little disappointing to see that it focuses on a generic American soldier and his generic American wife. I'll probably still go and see it, but I'm a bit disheartened.
On-topic: Man, I was really digging the trailers too. It's
I completely agree with Bob, which I don't always do. The point about the comparison to Jaws, and why it doesn't work, was especially well made. That movie worked despite the shark not being shown a lot, not because of it. If you want to mimick that with Godzilla, you need a movie of the same overall quality.
People seem to believe that the movie critics rationale will get in the way of their enjoyment of certain movies, but that is not true. Most of the reasons that people have about entertainment are made up after the fact, in order to communicate, not create, the feelings that they had about what they saw, when they saw it. No amount of 'getting it' will change your enjoyment of a movie for the better.
James Rolfe brought up a good point about the design of the MUTOs (go to his website at www.cinemassacre.com), that they're the Cloverfield and Super 8 Monster again. There is definitely a recognizable trend in that modern american monster design, and it's getting old. This is a little off topic, but I thought so already when I first saw Super 8. The movie felt like it did take place in the 70s, right up until that creature shows up, and you can't help but recognize how decidedly modern it looks. Even though it is not the same as seeing a smartphone in the movie, it still feels like an anachronism, by choices of design alone.
People seem to believe that the movie critics rationale will get in the way of their enjoyment of certain movies, but that is not true. Most of the reasons that people have about entertainment are made up after the fact, in order to communicate, not create, the feelings that they had about what they saw, when they saw it. No amount of 'getting it' will change your enjoyment of a movie for the better.
James Rolfe brought up a good point about the design of the MUTOs (go to his website at www.cinemassacre.com), that they're the Cloverfield and Super 8 Monster again. There is definitely a recognizable trend in that modern american monster design, and it's getting old. This is a little off topic, but I thought so already when I first saw Super 8. The movie felt like it did take place in the 70s, right up until that creature shows up, and you can't help but recognize how decidedly modern it looks. Even though it is not the same as seeing a smartphone in the movie, it still feels like an anachronism, by choices of design alone.
I'll take bland and forgettable over offensively stupid while waiting for the action scenes to become awesome any day. (I've pretty much given up hope for exciting three dimensional characters and story in an action movie.) So I didn't mind Lt. Boring as much as MovieBob. Despite what Ken Watanabe says in the movie, the humans can't just sit back and do nothing while all of this goes down. Humans buy movie tickets and we like to feel like we mean something. Sure pretty much everything Lt. Boring did turned out to be useless and forgettable, but if we give the film makers too much credit that was the point they were trying to make.
This movie could have been so much worse that I'll take this end result as a solid win. It may not have gotten everything right, but all too often these genre pictures get everything wrong.
This movie could have been so much worse that I'll take this end result as a solid win. It may not have gotten everything right, but all too often these genre pictures get everything wrong.
SPOILERS:
Was it just me, feeling sorry for the MUTOs? They were basicly just big annimals in heat that tried to protect their nest... I actually went awww when they first managed to meet, and almost cheered when the male came to the females rescue...
Screw Godzilla, he's just a big bully!
Was it just me, feeling sorry for the MUTOs? They were basicly just big annimals in heat that tried to protect their nest... I actually went awww when they first managed to meet, and almost cheered when the male came to the females rescue...
Screw Godzilla, he's just a big bully!
So much negativity stemming off Bob these days I think I will be confusing him with Yahtzee at some point. Can anybody give me an example of a reboot he actually liked ? Any reboot. Ι am getting a feeling that he is so attached to his childhood memories that if someone so much as tries to alter them and create something new, he is 100% against it and on day one.
Edit: just came back from seeing it. Yeah, Bob likes to blow things out of proportion when it comes to childhood memories. The human story wasn't nearly as bad as he made it out to be. Also, Johnson and Olsen ? They did fine, they weren't given a lot to do in this movie. In fact, the entirety of their lines could be written down in a couple of pages I think. And THAT's what has Bob's wand in a knot about Age of Ultron ? With Whedon directing it ?
Overreacting much ?
Edit: just came back from seeing it. Yeah, Bob likes to blow things out of proportion when it comes to childhood memories. The human story wasn't nearly as bad as he made it out to be. Also, Johnson and Olsen ? They did fine, they weren't given a lot to do in this movie. In fact, the entirety of their lines could be written down in a couple of pages I think. And THAT's what has Bob's wand in a knot about Age of Ultron ? With Whedon directing it ?
Overreacting much ?
He actually wished for the moviemakers not to repeat the mistakes of the older movies, and not a single one of his criticisms says anything about a reboot in general. He wished for this to be good, as we all did.
Just saw it last night, and ya if only godzilla had flow using his super breath, or done a tail slide drop kick, or translated his roars into english, or had bad lip sinkong, a squeaking baby godzilla, or a size changing robot friend, or aliens, or...
Damn man I'm really starting to get tired of listening to your reviews.
Damn man I'm really starting to get tired of listening to your reviews.