A little something I've been working on today in anticipation.
Bravo sir. You are a truer fan than I. I just could not get my self motivated to draw something, I barely have time to screw around on the forums. Maybe on my day off.
:/ I have mixed feelings about it. Everything that matters about a Godzilla movie was great. Everything that doesn't but fills the rest of it's running time was borderline terrible.
i think i agree with that. i kind of found myself not really caring for the family. the story was on a grand scale as far as locations and destruction but the human interest was lacking at times.
With my complimentary 5 bucks coupon from Comixology I got 2 nice Godzilla trades for just 5 bucks. That's a double treat, Godzilla Comics and good price. Now I'm set for a bit.
More later. For now... Meh. Don't understand all the praise it's getting. The very small part of the movie that involved Godzilla fighting was great. Everything else was bad. And not just bad, but a "who cares?" kind of bad. All the characters were so separated from each other. There was nothing memorable about any of them.
There were definitely moments during the big battle that were awesome. But I can't say I'll ever want to watch it again.
SUCH a good movie. I'll do a write-up as soon as I'm able (It's midnight and I'm engrossed in random longbox organization) but I give it a 4 or 4.5 out of 5.
EDIT: I put up my review (spoiler free of course) over on the LanternCast website (CLICK HERE...please)
Nice review. it's true I brought a huge trunk load of Godzilla watching history with me to the movie. I was burnt by the the 98 flick and had very high expectations for this new one. Muto was pretty much like you explained and they could have gone through the classic movie schtick of watching the early stage muto grow through the course of the first part of the film as it would chomp on a few teens out at lover's point, etc.., but they went out of the gate with a neat idea/design but it did feel not so "of this earth" to me. I loved Cranston and cared little for the rest of the gang. Why was Ken Watanabe there? One scene I felt like he was spilling over from Nolan's Inception flick. At least the military wasn't portrayed as gun nutty buffoons. I think it needed a nice dollop more of solid Kaiju kick-buttery.
At least the military wasn't portrayed as gun nutty buffoons.
Except when they fired at a bridge full of children.
You mean a bus full of annoying kids that they did let pass during the battle.
I wouldn't say they let that bus pass, that driver took matters into his own hands. Also, it was the only bus that made it even though the admiral made sure to let us know there were evacuation buses. And to the original point, the admiral was relatively rational, but every plan his right-hand man brought to him involved detonating a nuke. He just said it real calmly like it was no big deal.
I have yet to see it, but there is no other movie this summer that I am more excited about. I remember first hearing about it and thinking that there was no way that they would do it ‘right’. Now from all accounts it appears as though they have managed to make it a true Godzilla movie.
I have yet to see it, but there is no other movie this summer that I am more excited about. I remember first hearing about it and thinking that there was no way that they would do it ‘right’. Now from all accounts it appears as though they have managed to make it a true Godzilla movie.
Treat yourself right this holiday weekend and go see it.
At least the military wasn't portrayed as gun nutty buffoons.
Except when they fired at a bridge full of children.
You mean a bus full of annoying kids that they did let pass during the battle.
I wouldn't say they let that bus pass, that driver took matters into his own hands. Also, it was the only bus that made it even though the admiral made sure to let us know there were evacuation buses. And to the original point, the admiral was relatively rational, but every plan his right-hand man brought to him involved detonating a nuke. He just said it real calmly like it was no big deal.
Yeah you're right. Let me change my statement to the military in this movie is not as goofy as in the 98 film.
Bottom Line: 2.5 stars out of 5. It was a little bit less than OK. Godzilla, the monster, was amazing. Unfortunately, he’s a very small part of the movie. The humans that make up the bulk of it, are horrible.
Couple beats from the review (spoiler alert):
...
...
... The good: Godzilla. The knock em out fight was like WWE heavy weights trading blows. It was great.
The Bad: most interesting character gone way too quick. The rest are boring and so separated from everyone else there are no relationships. No one jokes, no one goes "omg, can you believe there are monsters in the world now? WTF?" or anything like that. - Army plan is stupid. And not just movie stupid. Really stupid. Lets use the slowest train on Earth, very close to the monsters, instead of just flying the nuke where we want it. - Constant cutting away from Godzilla as soon as he shows up was beyond annoying and by the time we got the big fight, seemed anti-climactic. The ebb and flow of the last fight should have been the first fight. Then a second, and then a final blockbuster fight at the end.
Bottom Line: 2.5 stars out of 5. It was a little bit less than OK. Godzilla, the monster, was amazing. Unfortunately, he’s a very small part of the movie. The humans that make up the bulk of it, are horrible.
Couple beats from the review (spoiler alert):
...
...
... The good: Godzilla. The knock em out fight was like WWE heavy weights trading blows. It was great.
The Bad: most interesting character gone way too quick. The rest are boring and so separated from everyone else there are no relationships. No one jokes, no one goes "omg, can you believe there are monsters in the world now? WTF?" or anything like that. - Army plan is stupid. And not just movie stupid. Really stupid. Lets use the slowest train on Earth, very close to the monsters, instead of just flying the nuke where we want it. - Constant cutting away from Godzilla as soon as he shows up was beyond annoying and by the time we got the big fight, seemed anti-climactic. The ebb and flow of the last fight should have been the first fight. Then a second, and then a final blockbuster fight at the end.
I agree 100% with your first point, the human character were so isolated that they were never given a chance to develop. And it made up too much if the movie to be allowed to be that bad.
To the second point, they were using the train because planes were susceptible to the MUTO's EMP where as train being an old coal fire engine was not, so there was an in story explanation.
As to the third, I would have liked to see a little more in Hawaii but I wouldn't have had any problem with the pacing if the human narrative had been even the least bit engaging.
Bottom Line: 2.5 stars out of 5. It was a little bit less than OK. Godzilla, the monster, was amazing. Unfortunately, he’s a very small part of the movie. The humans that make up the bulk of it, are horrible.
Couple beats from the review (spoiler alert):
...
...
... The good: Godzilla. The knock em out fight was like WWE heavy weights trading blows. It was great.
The Bad: most interesting character gone way too quick. The rest are boring and so separated from everyone else there are no relationships. No one jokes, no one goes "omg, can you believe there are monsters in the world now? WTF?" or anything like that. - Army plan is stupid. And not just movie stupid. Really stupid. Lets use the slowest train on Earth, very close to the monsters, instead of just flying the nuke where we want it. - Constant cutting away from Godzilla as soon as he shows up was beyond annoying and by the time we got the big fight, seemed anti-climactic. The ebb and flow of the last fight should have been the first fight. Then a second, and then a final blockbuster fight at the end.
I agree 100% with your first point, the human character were so isolated that they were never given a chance to develop. And it made up too much if the movie to be allowed to be that bad.
To the second point, they were using the train because planes were susceptible to the MUTO's EMP where as train being an old coal fire engine was not, so there was an in story explanation.
As to the third, I would have liked to see a little more in Hawaii but I wouldn't have had any problem with the pacing if the human narrative had been even the least bit engaging.
That reason for using the train makes no sense because then they switched to a helicopter. They could stick it on a plane and go up tens of thousands of feet and fly thousands of miles away and around the monsters.
The reason they used the train was so it could get attacked. Which Id be fine with if we could have gotten to see the monsters fight, but we didn't
Saw it with a friend tonight. I had more wanted to see X-Men, but my wife wants me to wait and see it with her later in the week (damn the power of that Hugh Jackman!) So maybe take this review with the caveat that I was going to Godzilla as a second choice, but from the trailer I thought I was going to really dig it.
And, man, was this one not for me. I think my buddy liked it more because he was more versed in the old movies than me (I can remember enjoying some Godzilla movies on 'Creature Double Feature' (shout out Channel 56 in New England!) when I was little, but didn't love them or watch them later the way he did. So I think he was more primed for enjoying a largely logic-less B movie that is intentionally dumb.
I think I got drawn in at first by how grounded and real Cranston was going for in his part of the movie. How well he was able to push up the stakes despite ridiculous given circumstances, in a monster movie that didn't have a monster yet. It made me hope that everyone was going to be that good, and that even when the giant monsters showed up, things would stay smart.
Nope. I mean, look, it is a giant monster movie. I am not expecting it to be Shakespeare. But I was surprised by how sloppy and even confusing a lot of the storytelling was. And there seemed to be some really important missing beats. Like, okay, when Godzilla first arrives in Hawaii, he brings with him a tsunami that clearly kills a lot of people. He is something bigger than a skyscraper that clearly doesn't give a shit about your puny life when he shows up. He is an unpredictable and dangerous wild animal x1000.
So then, to save on budget, his fight in Hawaii is skipped. Sure, and maybe in that missing gap he seemed to be fighting against the monsters worse than him. But the next thing you know, the Navy is sort of escorting him as he heads to the West Coast. We are no longer shooting at Godzilla. We are just cruising next to him, like he is one of those long distance swimmers trying for a record, and we are the boats making sure he's okay. But then we get these conversations between Strathairn's admiral and Wantanabe about the Let's Draw Them in and Blow Them Up plan vs. the Let's Just Let Them Fight and Let Nature Take It's Course plan. But clearly we are already letting them fight, as we are now just escorting Godzilla to the fight. It is like- because everything has to be Transformers now- we have just accepted that Godzilla is Optimus Prime, except that he can't talk and tell us that, oh, and try telling those drowned people back in Hawaii that he's the good guy.
And then Godzilla speeds up and swims away. . . and THEN it is time to freak out and evacuate the coast? Rubbish.
All the plot machinations to keep the boring, empty-suit son in the story were beyond ridiculous. You would think he was the only person the military EVER had that had detonated explosives before. . . so we have to keep bringing him with us and letting him tell us what to do because, well, he's the player character in the video game, so justify justify. And all the various set pieces around moving that nuclear missile around (the only one the US has, it would seem) got to be ridiculous schtick. It is like the 1966 Batman trying to get rid of that bomb. I mean, I know there is a challenge to trying to keep the tiny human beings involved and seeming important in a movie about giant monsters, but still.
And all those cutaways from the big battles were not only frustrating, as we would FINALLY get to the thing we are there for only to cut away from it, but also we ended up with gaps in the story. Like, we've gone from this huge military force shooting at Godzilla at the bridge to. . . a plan to parachute some people in for more bomb schtick. But what happened in between? The military just stopped shooting? Godzilla hid? There were a lot of moments in the movie where giant monsters seemed to be able to disappear-- including on the ground-- and then sneak up on us.
All right. That is more than enough griping. I think I am cranky that I had a rare night out at a movie and got trailer-suckered into this one. These days I usually avoid reviews and just give things a chance, but I should have read up on this one and passed, I think. Oh well. I would have traded this for a Pacific Rim sequel in a heartbeat.
To end positive-- the actual monster fighting, especially Godzilla's second finishing move? Great. But I feel like there was all of five minutes of that in a more than two hour movie.
Comments
Not that anyone's done that yet, just getting out in front of that as it's my most anticipated movie of the year.
You are a truer fan than I. I just could not get my self motivated to draw something, I barely have time to screw around on the forums. Maybe on my day off.
Nuff' said
There were definitely moments during the big battle that were awesome. But I can't say I'll ever want to watch it again.
EDIT: I put up my review (spoiler free of course) over on the LanternCast website (CLICK HERE...please)
Bottom Line: 2.5 stars out of 5. It was a little bit less than OK. Godzilla, the monster, was amazing. Unfortunately, he’s a very small part of the movie. The humans that make up the bulk of it, are horrible.
Couple beats from the review (spoiler alert):
...
...
...
The good: Godzilla. The knock em out fight was like WWE heavy weights trading blows. It was great.
The Bad: most interesting character gone way too quick. The rest are boring and so separated from everyone else there are no relationships. No one jokes, no one goes "omg, can you believe there are monsters in the world now? WTF?" or anything like that.
- Army plan is stupid. And not just movie stupid. Really stupid. Lets use the slowest train on Earth, very close to the monsters, instead of just flying the nuke where we want it.
- Constant cutting away from Godzilla as soon as he shows up was beyond annoying and by the time we got the big fight, seemed anti-climactic. The ebb and flow of the last fight should have been the first fight. Then a second, and then a final blockbuster fight at the end.
To the second point, they were using the train because planes were susceptible to the MUTO's EMP where as train being an old coal fire engine was not, so there was an in story explanation.
As to the third, I would have liked to see a little more in Hawaii but I wouldn't have had any problem with the pacing if the human narrative had been even the least bit engaging.
That reason for using the train makes no sense because then they switched to a helicopter. They could stick it on a plane and go up tens of thousands of feet and fly thousands of miles away and around the monsters.
The reason they used the train was so it could get attacked. Which Id be fine with if we could have gotten to see the monsters fight, but we didn't
Edit: Godzilla on pace to plummet 80%
And, man, was this one not for me. I think my buddy liked it more because he was more versed in the old movies than me (I can remember enjoying some Godzilla movies on 'Creature Double Feature' (shout out Channel 56 in New England!) when I was little, but didn't love them or watch them later the way he did. So I think he was more primed for enjoying a largely logic-less B movie that is intentionally dumb.
I think I got drawn in at first by how grounded and real Cranston was going for in his part of the movie. How well he was able to push up the stakes despite ridiculous given circumstances, in a monster movie that didn't have a monster yet. It made me hope that everyone was going to be that good, and that even when the giant monsters showed up, things would stay smart.
Nope. I mean, look, it is a giant monster movie. I am not expecting it to be Shakespeare. But I was surprised by how sloppy and even confusing a lot of the storytelling was. And there seemed to be some really important missing beats. Like, okay, when Godzilla first arrives in Hawaii, he brings with him a tsunami that clearly kills a lot of people. He is something bigger than a skyscraper that clearly doesn't give a shit about your puny life when he shows up. He is an unpredictable and dangerous wild animal x1000.
So then, to save on budget, his fight in Hawaii is skipped. Sure, and maybe in that missing gap he seemed to be fighting against the monsters worse than him. But the next thing you know, the Navy is sort of escorting him as he heads to the West Coast. We are no longer shooting at Godzilla. We are just cruising next to him, like he is one of those long distance swimmers trying for a record, and we are the boats making sure he's okay. But then we get these conversations between Strathairn's admiral and Wantanabe about the Let's Draw Them in and Blow Them Up plan vs. the Let's Just Let Them Fight and Let Nature Take It's Course plan. But clearly we are already letting them fight, as we are now just escorting Godzilla to the fight. It is like- because everything has to be Transformers now- we have just accepted that Godzilla is Optimus Prime, except that he can't talk and tell us that, oh, and try telling those drowned people back in Hawaii that he's the good guy.
And then Godzilla speeds up and swims away. . . and THEN it is time to freak out and evacuate the coast? Rubbish.
All the plot machinations to keep the boring, empty-suit son in the story were beyond ridiculous. You would think he was the only person the military EVER had that had detonated explosives before. . . so we have to keep bringing him with us and letting him tell us what to do because, well, he's the player character in the video game, so justify justify. And all the various set pieces around moving that nuclear missile around (the only one the US has, it would seem) got to be ridiculous schtick. It is like the 1966 Batman trying to get rid of that bomb. I mean, I know there is a challenge to trying to keep the tiny human beings involved and seeming important in a movie about giant monsters, but still.
And all those cutaways from the big battles were not only frustrating, as we would FINALLY get to the thing we are there for only to cut away from it, but also we ended up with gaps in the story. Like, we've gone from this huge military force shooting at Godzilla at the bridge to. . . a plan to parachute some people in for more bomb schtick. But what happened in between? The military just stopped shooting? Godzilla hid? There were a lot of moments in the movie where giant monsters seemed to be able to disappear-- including on the ground-- and then sneak up on us.
All right. That is more than enough griping. I think I am cranky that I had a rare night out at a movie and got trailer-suckered into this one. These days I usually avoid reviews and just give things a chance, but I should have read up on this one and passed, I think. Oh well. I would have traded this for a Pacific Rim sequel in a heartbeat.
To end positive-- the actual monster fighting, especially Godzilla's second finishing move? Great. But I feel like there was all of five minutes of that in a more than two hour movie.