So I just saw Godzilla... (no spoilers, promise)

Kolby Jack

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Apr 29, 2011
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Early military screening of it at my base. I had been anticipating this movie for years now, so naturally I was in line hours before the doors opened.

I won't reveal any plot points, but I will say I heartily recommend this movie. Everyone in the theater seemed to like it as well, judging by the "climax of the climax" drawing uproarious applause. Everyone also laughed when a Japanese guy said "Gojira" for the first time which probably wasn't the intent of the film-makers, but that's just because saying "Gojira" like that has long since become a joke. No biggie.

The human characters were all pretty likable and compelling. There were some... quirky bits when it came to the science and military aspects, but nothing too glaring that it took me out of the movie for long, and I was completely absorbed during the climax. The worst parts of the whole thing were that I was assigned to a seat pretty far back in the theater (I'm a bit near-sighted) and that it was shown in 3D, which I've never been a fan of. The 3D wasn't bad or anything, I just don't like it. I also think that it ended EXACTLY when it should have, though I'm not sure if others would agree with me on that.

I don't know how much the opinion of some random anonymous internet guy matters to you guys, but again, I was not disappointed despite my lofty expectations. I'll probably pay to see it again in theaters later, though with a closer seat and no 3D.
 

tippy2k2

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Kolby Jack said:
I don't know how much the opinion of some random anonymous internet guy matters to you guys, but again, I was not disappointed despite my lofty expectations. I'll probably pay to see it again in theaters later, though with a closer seat and no 3D.
I base all of my knowledge on random anonymous internet guys :D

I was planning on seeing it either way but it's nice to see that someone doesn't think it's a suck-bomb. On that note, I presume you saw it in 3D based on that last sentence?

Does it use 3D well? Is is used to enhance the movie as it should or does it go the "3D Money Shot" route where it's nothing but stuff "FLYING RIGHT AT YOU OMG THIS IS SOOOO REALISTIC!!!"?

Also, don't let cojo see this. He may kill you out of jealousy :)
 

Jark212

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Kolby Jack said:
Early military screening of it at my base. I had been anticipating this movie for years now, so naturally I was in line hours before the doors opened.

I won't reveal any plot points, but I will say I heartily recommend this movie. Everyone in the theater seemed to like it as well, judging by the "climax of the climax" drawing uproarious applause. Everyone also laughed when a Japanese guy said "Gojira" for the first time which probably wasn't the intent of the film-makers, but that's just because saying "Gojira" like that has long since become a joke. No biggie.

The human characters were all pretty likable and compelling. There were some... quirky bits when it came to the science and military aspects, but nothing too glaring that it took me out of the movie for long, and I was completely absorbed during the climax. The worst parts of the whole thing were that I was assigned to a seat pretty far back in the theater (I'm a bit near-sighted) and that it was shown in 3D, which I've never been a fan of. The 3D wasn't bad or anything, I just don't like it. I also think that it ended EXACTLY when it should have, though I'm not sure if others would agree with me on that.

I don't know how much the opinion of some random anonymous internet guy matters to you guys, but again, I was not disappointed despite my lofty expectations. I'll probably pay to see it again in theaters later, though with a closer seat and no 3D.
Godzilla played on my base too and the crowed responded the exact same way, clapping all the time and laughing at the Japanese name for Godzilla, and random little kids/babies crying (seriously who brings a baby to a monster movie??). Personally I thought the movie was just ok, I face-palmed a few times pretty hard a few times but the action was pretty solid.

BTW: By any chance are you at JEB Lttle Creek?
 

Scarim Coral

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That's good to know as while I am hyped up to see it but I am somewhat having doubt about it mainly if the human part of the film will bring the film down (as in the only good part of the film was the battle itself).

Stil I probably still end up watching it at the cinema.
 

dyre

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Cool, I'm glad to hear that. I've been cautiously optimistic about it so at this point I'll reduce my caution by 4% and increase my optimism by 6.5%.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Being a major Godzilla fan, all the films had dodgy stories and acting. You see them for the Godzilla fights, the rest is a non issue. So as long as this new movie has lots of awesome Godzilla scenes, then thats all i need.
 

lacktheknack

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I am completely unsure how Cojo will respond to this thread.

Anyway, good to hear that it's not a painful bomb of sadness. I may go with friends if they ask me.
 

Helmholtz Watson

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Kolby Jack said:
Early military screening of it at my base. I had been anticipating this movie for years now, so naturally I was in line hours before the doors opened.

I won't reveal any plot points, but I will say I heartily recommend this movie. Everyone in the theater seemed to like it as well, judging by the "climax of the climax" drawing uproarious applause. Everyone also laughed when a Japanese guy said "Gojira" for the first time which probably wasn't the intent of the film-makers, but that's just because saying "Gojira" like that has long since become a joke. No biggie.

The human characters were all pretty likable and compelling. There were some... quirky bits when it came to the science and military aspects, but nothing too glaring that it took me out of the movie for long, and I was completely absorbed during the climax. The worst parts of the whole thing were that I was assigned to a seat pretty far back in the theater (I'm a bit near-sighted) and that it was shown in 3D, which I've never been a fan of. The 3D wasn't bad or anything, I just don't like it. I also think that it ended EXACTLY when it should have, though I'm not sure if others would agree with me on that.

I don't know how much the opinion of some random anonymous internet guy matters to you guys, but again, I was not disappointed despite my lofty expectations. I'll probably pay to see it again in theaters later, though with a closer seat and no 3D.
Did the movie give any suggestion about there being a sequel?
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Helmholtz Watson said:
Kolby Jack said:
Early military screening of it at my base. I had been anticipating this movie for years now, so naturally I was in line hours before the doors opened.

I won't reveal any plot points, but I will say I heartily recommend this movie. Everyone in the theater seemed to like it as well, judging by the "climax of the climax" drawing uproarious applause. Everyone also laughed when a Japanese guy said "Gojira" for the first time which probably wasn't the intent of the film-makers, but that's just because saying "Gojira" like that has long since become a joke. No biggie.

The human characters were all pretty likable and compelling. There were some... quirky bits when it came to the science and military aspects, but nothing too glaring that it took me out of the movie for long, and I was completely absorbed during the climax. The worst parts of the whole thing were that I was assigned to a seat pretty far back in the theater (I'm a bit near-sighted) and that it was shown in 3D, which I've never been a fan of. The 3D wasn't bad or anything, I just don't like it. I also think that it ended EXACTLY when it should have, though I'm not sure if others would agree with me on that.

I don't know how much the opinion of some random anonymous internet guy matters to you guys, but again, I was not disappointed despite my lofty expectations. I'll probably pay to see it again in theaters later, though with a closer seat and no 3D.
Did the movie give any suggestion about there being a sequel?
Nothing as overt as a post-credits scene or the infamous "there's an egg remaining" like in the first movie, but...

Godzilla survives the movie and is crowned "savior of the city/world" after defeating the two other kaiju, and swims into the watery depths from whence it came. So there's every room possible for a sequel.
 

DudeistBelieve

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I'm so happy to hear people dug it, because it's been my "PLEASE DON'T SUCK" for a year now.

I've haven't been to the movies in over a year, I'm so seeing this opening night.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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I'm gonna be that guy and say I didn't like it very much.

All the wrongs from 1998 you thought were going to be righted in 2014 go unchanged. ALL of the big kaiju scenes STILL take place at night or are veiled by rain, and these 300 foot tall creatures STILL tend to suddenly appear out of nowhere and just as suddenly disappear into nowhere. They're about as elusive as Cloverfield, and come think of it a couple of them even look like the damn thing.

It's not a bad movie but come on, it's been 16 years and you're telling me we still don't have CGI good enough that we don't need every big ass monster scene to be shrouded in darkness? And how much suspense can you build around a 300 foot radioactive lizard? You should see or at least hear it come miles away, but no, everybody acts like they're in a slasher flick and a serial killer might spring from somewhere in the room at any moment. Bullshit.

Lastly there's supposed to be a big dilemma about whether to "let them fight" or nuke them from orbit, but I'm pretty sure that the movie cops out of backing either choice.

Maybe it's because I don't give 2 figs about Godzilla, so I don't invest myself very much whenever he's fighting another monster. The movie has an OK reason for getting you to root for him, but still. I just wasn't as amazed or blown away as I should've been. Maybe it's the face-palm effect, I dunno. I felt smarter than either the military or the scientists in this movie, how was I suppoed to take them seriously?

I like it better than the 1998 version for what it's worth, but by 2014 standards it should've been much, MUCH better. As it stands it's the difference between a mediocre movie that makes you cringe and a merely mediocre movie.
 

Kolby Jack

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Jark212 said:
BTW: By any chance are you at JEB Lttle Creek?
Pearl Harbor.

Johnny Novgorod said:
I'm gonna be that guy and say I didn't like it very much.

All the wrongs from 1998 you thought were going to be righted in 2014 go unchanged. ALL of the big kaiju scenes STILL take place at night or are veiled by rain, and these 300 foot tall creatures STILL tend to suddenly appear out of nowhere and just as suddenly disappear into nowhere. They're about as elusive as Cloverfield, and come think of it a couple of them even look like the damn thing.

It's not a bad movie but come on, it's been 16 years and you're telling me we still don't have CGI good enough that we don't need every big ass monster scene to be shrouded in darkness? And how much suspense can you build around a 300 foot radioactive lizard? You should see or at least hear it come miles away, but no, everybody acts like they're in a slasher flick and a serial killer might spring from somewhere in the room at any moment. Bullshit.

Lastly there's supposed to be a big dilemma about whether to "let them fight" or nuke them from orbit, but I'm pretty sure that the movie cops out of backing either choice.
I disagree on the monsters disappearing bit. Every monster is tracked by the military the instant they show up and they never lose track of where they are. People on the ground do lose track of them visually, but that's not hard to do. And I DEFINITELY disagree about "all the wrongs from 1998" not being changed. I just don't see how you came to that conclusion at all. And having the fights take place mostly at night is a cost-saving measure. This Godzilla isn't some guy in a suit, so all that CGI ratchets up costs quite a bit. Pacific Rim did the same thing, and as much as I didn't like Pacific Rim, I didn't fault it for all the night and rain shots. Besides, it hardly obscured anything; even with my shitty seats and nearsightedness I never lost track of what was going on.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Kolby Jack said:
I disagree on the monsters disappearing bit. Every monster is tracked by the military the instant they show up and they never lose track of where they are.
Alright, the train scene.

The guys scouting ahead plus main character don't see the giant ass monster a few meters away from them. We never see or hear the creature attacking the train either, it just rolls ominously onscreen with everyone dead and the whole thing lit in flames. When did the creature attack it? How come we didn't see it or even hear it? Instead we get this incredibly implausible horror movie moment.

And that Vegas moment.

In which the military quickly goes to that waste deposit to catch up to the second monster, only to find a big ass giant hole in the compound. You're going to tell me a radioactive 300 foot insectoid was jut walking around Nevada in the middle of the day, decided to destroy half of a waste deposit compound, then calmly walked away towards Las Vegas (pop. half a million) and nobody saw or heard anything, not even from a satellite.

And I DEFINITELY disagree about "all the wrongs from 1998" not being changed. I just don't see how you came to that conclusion at all.
Like I said, I think shooting everything at night is a cop out. I doubt a 160 million dollar budget movie, one of the most expensive movies in all of this year, needs to take "cost-saving" measures when it comes to its main attraction. This makes me think they just couldn't come up with a credible way to make Godzilla and the other creatures look real. So they used night and cloudy, drizzling days instead. The other major wrong was the big monsters' lack of spatial coherence, which I mentioned above.

And it's not that I lost track of the action (which is pretty well choreographed and easy to follow), I just thought I could appreciate it better if it was daytime and better lit.

Again, entertaining movie and all, but I would've liked it to ace the subject and do it in a fun, exciting way rather than merely be slightly better than the previous one and treat itself so grimly instead.
 

Sigmund Av Volsung

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Jasper van Heycop said:
Is Bryan Cranston just as good in this as he is in Breaking Bad?
Oh you! :3

I am glad that the movies seems to be getting, on the whole, rather positive reviews from non-snobs(basically, people who wouldn't scoff at the prospect of a superhero movie being well written, and of serious quality).

Might see it after exams, in addition to Bad Neighbours.
 

cojo965

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lacktheknack said:
I am completely unsure how Cojo will respond to this thread.

Anyway, good to hear that it's not a painful bomb of sadness. I may go with friends if they ask me.
I'm okay with it. I'm more annoyed about dodging spoilers than anything else now.
 

Kolby Jack

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Johnny Novgorod said:
Kolby Jack said:
I disagree on the monsters disappearing bit. Every monster is tracked by the military the instant they show up and they never lose track of where they are.
Alright, the train scene.

The guys scouting ahead plus main character don't see the giant ass monster a few meters away from them. We never see or hear the creature attacking the train either, it just rolls ominously onscreen with everyone dead and the whole thing lit in flames. When did the creature attack it? How come we didn't see it or even hear it? Instead we get this incredibly implausible horror movie moment.

And that Vegas moment.

In which the military quickly goes to that waste deposit to catch up to the second monster, only to find a big ass giant hole in the compound. You're going to tell me a radioactive 300 foot insectoid was jut walking around Nevada in the middle of the day, decided to destroy half of a waste deposit compound, then calmly walked away towards Las Vegas (pop. half a million) and nobody saw or heard anything, not even from a satellite.

And I DEFINITELY disagree about "all the wrongs from 1998" not being changed. I just don't see how you came to that conclusion at all.
Like I said, I think shooting everything at night is a cop out. I doubt a 160 million dollar budget movie, one of the most expensive movies in all of this year, needs to take "cost-saving" measures when it comes to its main attraction. This makes me think they just couldn't come up with a credible way to make Godzilla and the other creatures look real. So they used night and cloudy, drizzling days instead. The other major wrong was the big monsters' lack of spatial coherence, which I mentioned above.

And it's not that I lost track of the action (which is pretty well choreographed and easy to follow), I just thought I could appreciate it better if it was daytime and better lit.

Again, entertaining movie and all, but I would've liked it to ace the subject and do it in a fun, exciting way rather than merely be slightly better than the previous one and treat itself so grimly instead.
You got me on the Vegas bit, that was odd and got a few chuckles from people. I didn't mind the train bit, as it was meant to be a "horror movie scene," like you said, to build tension. I mean, yea, I guess thinking about it later it's a little nonsensical, but I didn't notice it during the movie, so it played out fine for me.

Differences of opinion, I guess. It's not a perfect movie, or even a perfect Godzilla movie, but it hits all the major points squarely in my eyes.