Pooling the Positives and Negatives

Ok, this is an interesting post Something Real!

2 things I liked about the film:

- The amazing battle scenes.

- His new enemies.

2 things I disliked about the film:

- Even though I absolutely love the MUTOs, I feel the film focused a little too much on them and left Godzilla as a secondary main character instead of the MAIN MAIN character if you get what I mean.

- (SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE FILM) Bryan Cranston's early death. I wish he could have died at least in the 2nd half of the film. Not straight away. As a matter of fact, I was really shocked when he died because I thought he would live and I thought he was like the main human character.

Likes:

Godzilla's atomic blast down the MUTOs throat.

Cranston's attempt to save his wife (which was the film's most effective emotional moment.

Dislikes:

Scences seemed to be dressed rehearsals rather than of really happening.

The editing was poor.  The cut-a-ways were too quick.  The scenes rarely played out.

Not enough destruction and mayhem.

Also, I think I saw too much of the trailers.  Because the movie rarely lived up to the trailer's introduction.

I will see Godzilla again this week.  Maybe the second time around will be better for me.

Like:

1. Good plot and story telling

2. Battle scenes are awesome

Dislike:

1. They should show more battle scenes not just show them for 10 seconds then cut to human

2. This film is not that "dark" for me. 1954 version is still darker than this one

Hmm this is a good topic. I enjoyed Godzilla 2014 as a whole, but there were indeed some parts of the movie that left me unimpressed. Personally for me, I tend to look at the small scale of things in deciding the depth of a movie. To me, its the small details that lend credence and convince the viewer to appreciate the greater aspects of the movie. The positives and negatives are quite clear-cut to me - In summary, the monsters are the show-stealers. The humans are the letdowns. 

Positives (The Monsters):

The design of both Godzilla and the MUTOs. I say Gareth Edwards and his team nailed it on this one. I feel that the look and immensity of Godzilla really goes down well with the audiences. I could see that Godzilla was designed in such a way that his scales and body were crocodilian-like, (who knows) Godzilla could even be considered a really ancient ancestor of the crocodile species? You add that sense of realism along with his majestic roar and it is really epic, and I think that's the best Godzilla roar I've ever heard. No doubt. 

The MUTOs are very nicely done up, and boy was I wrong when I initially thought the MUTOs would not fit into our landscape. They turn out to have this ancient feel to them, but I thought the 'lighting' effects were a bit overdone, and those squeling baby egg sacs? It felt kinda funny. The MUTOs are menacing but I thought they have their share of adorable moments e.g. when both the MUTOs 'cuddled' up each other, and also when Ford Brody ignited the explosion which led them scurrying back to the nest, you could see that despite the female MUTO's massive size, she was galloping like a gazelle or giraffe, which looks cute. :)

Overall, the CGI effects were impressive.

Negatives (The Humans):

Despite 123 minutes of runtime, the movie felt really rushed, with less than 30 mins covering events spanning decades from 1954 to present day, and as a result we were introduced hastily to the human characters, which brought a negative aspect to the movie. This is bad, because we barely know much about the characters from the start, and as quickly as the scenes jump, we suddenly find ourselves faced with their tragedies and are expected to empathize or to feel for them. 

Take Joe Brody for example. The movie starts off with him engaged in a convo with his colleague over the phone, his wife calls out to him, and they both head for work. And then his wife surprises him in the car with a birthday greeting. Sweet gesture, but at this point none of us have any inkling on Joe and his wife's lives before this, and a few minutes later, suddenly Joe and his wife are caught in a life-and-death situation at the nuclear plant. Bryan Cranston delivers an outstanding performance, but with so little there is to know about their lives and characters, its really hard for us to warm-up or to endear ourselves to them. And that applies for all the characters in the movie.

I personally think the actors/actresses were doing things right, but rather, its the lack of depth in the characters they portray that spoils the experience. We just didn't have time to warm ourselves up to these characters and it doesn't help when the other issue is dialogue. Most of the time, the characters seem to be mumbling short (and inaudible) lines that add no value to the plot advancement, that they are as good as not talking at all. I can simply watch Godzilla and the MUTOs and still know how the story progresses.  

So yeah, a rushed plot filled with human characters that lack saturation along with a poor dialogue. That's the negative.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet:

The Good:

1. I loved the Big Guy himself in this movie, he was handled with care and respect.

2. I loved the pacing of the movie, to me it felt very similar to Jurassic Park.

The not so great:

1. Not enough Ken Watanabe

2. Movie was visually too dark. I wanted more daytime monster action.

i could go on forever about this movie, so it's best I cut myself off now.

SR:

 Likes: 1. Cranston

          2. The buildup, Golden Gate sequence

Dislikes: 1. Killing Cranston

             2. Military reasonably competent (well except the 12 guys all standing tightly together who let the MUTO eat them in one bite) but too wimpy: should have used full range of hardware (MOP, BLUs, GMLRS, Tomahawks) and made GZ seem that much more awesome when they can't kill him.

Ah, now this is the sort of topic that makes sense.

Good Points:

The monsters, origins, and reveals

The fight scenes

The actors (Never seen Breaking Bad or Kick-ass so that is why I have a positive attitude on their acting.)

The atmosphere

Negative Points:

Not much here really.  I enjoyed the moive as a whole because I didn't hold any expectations.  I only wanted the film to do well, and by far its doing that pretty well.

People saying their is not Godzilla, not enough fight scenes, or too much Mutos.  Remeber folks, Godzilla sends 80% of this movie in his natural enviroment, the ocean.  He can swim at 30 Knots (34 M.P.H.).  That the same speed of the aircraft carriers and destroyers following him.  When the second Muto appears, he swims anywhere between 35 and 40 Knots (40 -46 M.P.H.).  The male Muto can fly.  Air has less resistence than water, so Muto is going to be faster than Godzilla.

Mutos have more screen time because they are the antagonists.  Villian type characters usally get more screentime then the heroes...Well Anti-hero in this case...

People picking on Aaron Talyor-Johnson.  I think he did a good job.  Remember, soilders are trained not to show emotion on the battlefield.  Showing emotion is what gets you killed.

People saying the citizens not freaking out at Godzilla's and Muto's respected appearnce in Hawaii.  The Muto's public appearance is a big shock don't get me wrong.  When Godzilla appears, they are still reeling at the Muto, so Godzilla's appearence only frys their brains. That's why they don't freakout when he appears.  Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder doesn't kick in until after the events happens.  Probably all of Hawaii has P.T.D.S. after the fight.

Well, there's my two cents on all of this.

Likes:

1 - Everything with Godzilla - his design, battles, roar etc.

2 - Story (origins, human drama etc.)

Dislikes:

1 - Godzilla's screen time (I really loved the suspense and buildup, but there could be a little more of him)

2 - Can't think of anything more :)

Likes:

1. The look of Godzilla.

2. Fight scenes (where you actually got to SEE what was going on).

3. The amount of lives lost. The reality is if it were real there'd be many deaths.

Dislikes:

1. Not enough screen time for the big man.

2. Not enough build up in the script to his arrival.

3. Too much focus on Mutos and humans and setting the scene.

4. Ken Watanabe always walking around with a look on his face like he'd just been raped. I dunno... Felt very 1 dimensional. Would have liked to have seen him battling as a scientist to work out a solution.

5. Score. Constant horns blaring as if the whole movie had to have a national anthem played over the top. Not every scene needs a dramatic musical score. Silence can be more effective at times.

Now, although my negatives outway the positives, I'd still say I liked the film. I don't see it as a proper "remake of the original", but as a "Godzilla VS ..." film, I think it really works.

I actually would like to add one more positive .... The death of Joe Brody :) Don't get me wrong, I liked his character but I always liked surprising deaths of main characters. That's why I love Game of Thrones :) It's just something that don'h happen in movies very often, usually main characters live through the whole movie. I love these plotpoints when you get used to a character and then they kill him off - that's just surprising.