Godzilla

Wasn't The Big Guy killed by the twin Mothra silkworms?

I think he got better from that one.

edit: Been a while, so I looked it up on Wiki. He got webbed up and dragged to the bottom of the ocean by Mechagodzilla, but no on-screen death.

ShaunHorton said:

I'm remembering one movie (God help me, I can't remember which one it was now), where the military developed a black hole weapon that they used on him after he defeated the opposing kaiju. It hit him, expanded, contracted, and there was just a crater with nothing left inside it. I would technically count that as a death, even though we don't see a body or anything.

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Is that the thing that created Space Godzilla? (My fav kaiju next to the Big-G himself.)

regdog said:

They killed him in the Matthew Broderick reboot too

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Ah, but a baby 'Zilla survived.

I enjoyed how mobile that version was. I get others' points that it's just not Godzilla. Still, I enjoyed it.

For those interested: Here's a glimpse of Godzilla in the light.

He is not a suit.

So awesome. It's kind of nice that it's not a man in a suit, but like the Kaiju in Pacific Rim, it's kept in proportions like a man in a suit would be in. I think that makes it much more realistic really.

Definitely looking forward to this movie. The movie I saw that first exposed me to him was the 1998 film with Bueller/Inspector Gadget, and since I was only seven at the time, I naturally loved it. Now not so much. I really hope the 2014 edition doesn't disappoint.

The king is back.

So I was dragged along to see Godzilla with my roommates, pretty much an unwilling 3rd party, but what the hell, I wasn't paying.

I was surprised with how good it was! I really like Bryan Cranston, so that's what really sealed the deal for me. It was a bit of a good yarn, and I was excited to see how it ends.

Of course, I'm the kind of person who sits there at the end and thinks <vaguely spoilery territory> "Well, I'm really happy that that family got a happy ending. Now we have thousands of trillions of dollars in global infrastructure damage, millions of deaths, nuclear fallout through major population areas, a rogue monster in the ocean, and the US government perpetuating the image that any problem can be solved by throwing enough soldiers and nukes at the situation.

<end spoilery>

I guess I'm just a bit of a buzzkill

Still, I had fun for what it was!

It was fun!

Liked it quite a bit.

Haven't seen it yet, but the buzz was that the big guy should have had more air time. The creature itself, though, looks pretty awesome.

tri

Just got back and that was AWESOME!!! Went with my mom, who is the biggest Godzilla fan I know, and that made it extra-fun.

Did anyone notice the glass tank with "mothra" written on a piece of masking tape on the side? Heh. Went by quick, but I was much amused.

triceretops said:

Haven't seen it yet, but the buzz was that the big guy should have had more air time. The creature itself, though, looks pretty awesome.

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Yes, but I think the "always leave the audience wanting more" adage applies well here.

Besides, as much as Godzilla movies are about kaiju fighting, they're also about the human story and Godzilla's function as literary metaphor and symbolic catalyst.

And while the human side of the story isn't incredibly strong, it's enough, and the metaphorical side of the story is very strong.

He's back where he should be.

Rhoda Nightingale said:

Did anyone notice the

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Yep!

I loved it. It was like the old Godzilla movies were, only with great special effects. The ending was a classic Godzilla ending.

I loved it as well. They should have recast the lead soldier though. That poor guy was not up to the challenge of carrying as much of this movie as he needed to, especially when his dad is played by the Bryan Cranston. I also liked that they portrayed the military as trying to make the best of a situation they couldn't possibly be truly prepared for. Sure they were wrong pretty much every single time, but they were right in trying to do something instead of just letting a monster rampage through city after city.

Jcomp said:

I loved it as well. They should have recast the lead soldier though. That poor guy was not up to the challenge of carrying as much of this movie as he needed to, especially when his dad is played by the Bryan Cranston.

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You know...I'm kind of weird, in that I actually liked his shell shocked, "Oh god, what am I doing?" expression.

That's literally the exact expression I'd have for like 90% of this movie if I was in it.

Jcomp said:

I also liked that they portrayed the military as trying to make the best of a situation they couldn't possibly be truly prepared for. Sure they were wrong pretty much every single time, but they were right in trying to do something instead of just letting a monster rampage through city after city.

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Isn't this the Kaiju standard?

I know it is how the original Godzilla handled things, even in the American dubbing and edit - which, actually is a bit shocking if you think about it. I mean, the original Godzilla was made only nine years after this was the usual way to depict members of the Japanese military and yet, the Japanese SDF are depicted as heroic in their attempts to stave off Godzilla.

One thing: I have to commend the movie for appropriate and restrained use of a child character in a disaster situation without over-burdening the plot with the usual issues that entails.

Also: the Japanese father in the police station with the goth son was hilarious. (And the main (white) characters' broken Japanese was mildly amusing.)

^The goth kid in the police station was indeed hilarious. As was the (to my ears) unintelligible rage-flailing of the father afterwards.

One other thing I forgot to mention, but I found it weirdly adorable when the male MUTO passed the nuke to the female MUTO, all like, "Hey girl, I brought you a present!" and they bumped noses and their eye-lasers went zip-zip-zip--just precious.

Rhoda Nightingale said:

One other thing I forgot to mention, but I found it weirdly adorable when the male MUTO passed the nuke to the female MUTO, all like, "Hey girl, I brought you a present!" and they bumped noses and their eye-lasers went zip-zip-zip--just precious.

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My first thought was Lady and the Tramp.

I could have used more humour and charm, and more characters to root for (I agree with whoever above mentioned the wasted name actors, I found it especially Ken Watanabe who, yes, was in it a lot, but pretty much did nothing - ditto Sally Hawkins for that matter. Heck now that I'm on a roll, I thought Elizabeth Olson could have done SO much more than they had her do). I don't mean that I didn't root for the characters, I just wanted more of them than that single family unit.

But the effects were great, the action sequences inventive and truly edge of your seat at times. And my audience even applauded when Godzilla took out the female MUTO.

Yeah, just wish it had stronger writing and a lot more charm. Maybe the sequel will?