Posted on 05/17/2014 7:59:48 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
The new Godzilla is out, and while I'm not the biggest fan I saw it last night and enjoyed it.
Some dissapointing statements were made by the filmmaker about the film being about climate change. Seeing the film, I don't understand how he would make that connection other than to score Hollywood points. That isn't what it is about. The original film was about the destructive power of the atomic bomb, and the beliefs that despite our technological arrogance, nature was still in control. This is the opposite of saying that emitting some carbon dioxide can destroy the Earth. Happily, this film stays with the original theme that nature is in control.
The previous American try at a Godzilla film was a disaster, and like a diehard Denver Bronco fan when the team makes it to the championship, fans were happy someone was making this new one, but worried it would be another disaster. The filmmakers knew this too of course, but made some good choices, and even some risky choices that turned out well. Good choices in that it follows the original faithfully, and risky in that it makes some of the same choices the 1998 film did, but executes them a whole lot better. By that I mean both films had human stories as the primary focus instead of just a monster smashing stuff.
What makes the difference between the 1998 failure and this movie is two events that happened in between, the Fukushima earthquake and meltdown, and the world trade center attacks. Both events have had profound effects on the people affected and by everyone in the countries hit. And where the 1998 film chose a lighthearted, don't take this seriously path, this one treats the monsters and their destruction as real disasters on the scale of 9/11. The humans don't go for comic relief, they are real people making realistic choices to stay alive, just as we have seen in the real disasters.
This film is about Fukushima and 9/11 as much as the original was about the atom bomb. It could not have been made before those events, and looking back, that explains the 1998 film perfectly. 1998 was simply too frivolous a time to make a Godzilla film.
History shows again and again
How nature points up the folly of men.
History could use more cowbell. It has a fever.
The Japanese don’t like the movie. They complained how Godzilla looked fat.
"Back off, man. I'm a scientist."
"Ahhh food! I like food!"
If there isn’t a Japanese man in a rubber suit playing Godzilla destroying balsa wood cities, it isn’t a Godzilla movie.
Last Gojira movie I watched was, “Godzilla 1985” back in 1985. Me and my buddies ended getting kicked out because we were a little too loud.
But, hey, it was Wednesday night at the Hilltop Theater and the movie was only $0.25! We called quarter night by the moniker welfare night so getting kicked out wasn’t a big deal.
LOL!
what I WANT to KNOW is does it Kill MOZILLA??
I love Japanese movies. Just the legit stuff not the porn ;) I read once on a music site perhaps the best description of their strangeness. The guy said something like...
“you know the part in Roger Rabbit where they get close to Toontown and there is all the cartoon chaos going on over the wall? That’s Japan.”
By the way, that scream Godzilla does? I want that for a car horn.
Do the twin cosmos girls sing in this one?
That was before the film came out, just from pictures. I think they will be satisfied with this one.
No.
Spoilers: The movie was stupid. I saw it today. The military used only small arms to attack the monsters, no missiles or torpedoes. The monsters were not caused by the radiation of the WW II atomic bombs, but were awakened by them and fed off the radiation. The whole plot and story line, that the earth disturbance could not be detected outside of a limited geographic area by today’s technology defies imagination. The only thing that kept me from walking out was hoping to see Elizabeth Olson in just one more scene.
I want ‘Zilla’s breath flame for those damn tailgaters!
Doesn’t have Mothra, but does have another monster.
agree - the stupidity of the movie spoiled it. Dumb. One OK fight scene.
No, but it probably got pretty close. It smashed up San Francisco pretty good, but it looks like it spared silicon valley to the south.
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