Talkback Thread #4: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

[The Godzilla Camp]

Godzilla's defeat by the larvae shows brawn vs brains. Godzilla is clearly the stronger and tougher foe here. One of the larvae tried to physically attack Godzilla, and was getting tail slapped around for it. Then the silk bombardment begins. Using the terrain to their advantage, they showed strategy and quick thinking in dealing with Godzilla. They outwitted Godzilla.

Fair enough - but um would you say Godzilla 1964 - specifically Mosu-Goji 1964 - for a Showa era Godzilla he displayed considerable durability here? Given where he was blasted with up to 300K to up to 1 Million Volts of Electricity for up to a minute if not more and the fact it was enough to probably fry out Hedorah 1971 - and considering Godzilla 1962 when he merely 'tapped' the wires of the 1 Million Volts of Electricity he backed out straight away rather than even use his Atomic Ray Beams to fry the pylon towers yet whereas Godzilla 1964 he was struck by 1 Million Volts of electricity and considering the JSDAF also dropped a few conducting steel-mesh nets onto him and true had it not been for the short-out on the power generators, then Godzilla 1964 would have been down for good but considering the moment he got his respite he simply blasted one of the towers, fries a few JSDF tanks and continues his business as if it were just another day's worth of work and destruction ... and it seemed he didn't seem to suffer any severe repercussions like perhaps severe bleeding, paralysis, severe scarring or such ...

[Mr. Xeno]

Godzilla's defeat by the larvae shows brawn vs brains. Godzilla is clearly the stronger and tougher foe here. One of the larvae tried to physically attack Godzilla, and was getting tail slapped around for it. Then the silk bombardment begins. Using the terrain to their advantage, they showed strategy and quick thinking in dealing with Godzilla. They outwitted Godzilla.

Although I wonder why Godzilla just flailed about instead of walking away/going into the ocean. But then again, Godzilla was not "brains" in your post, but still, he should be a little smarter than that.

[Goji]

Although I wonder why Godzilla just flailed about instead of walking away/going into the ocean.

Well, he couldn't see, so there's that.

[edgaguirus]

True, and he was fighting back. He was kicking rocks and using the occassional atomic breath. However, Godzilla just couldn't get a good hit in to stop the silk assault.

[Kaiju no Kami]

The only flaw I have ever found in this movie is that there is for some reason suddenly a class of children on an island that Godzilla just happens to be going to. It just feels random to me as if they just needed something for the human characters to do beyond watching Godzilla fight the larvaes.

[PRIMEVAL]

Yeah, that and the last battle just seem quickly added in for the heck of it. I love the movie, but that last battle was just underwhelming.

[Kaiju no Kami]

Yeah, that and the last battle just seem quickly added in for the heck of it. I love the movie, but that last battle was just underwhelming.

So one person on another board brought up the point that that scene is to show that not every human is all about greed and they are willing to risk their lives to save others. An interesting take I never thought of before.

[PRIMEVAL]

Yeah, that and the last battle just seem quickly added in for the heck of it. I love the movie, but that last battle was just underwhelming.

So one person on another board brought up the point that that scene is to show that not every human is all about greed and they are willing to risk their lives to save others. An interesting take I never thought of before.

I suppose that makes up for the human part of that last scene, makes sense.

[edgaguirus]

That is a good point, but it's also to add a little suspense to the scene.

[KaijuFiend]

Well no wonder this film has a lower score than Final Wars on IMDB - It's listed as "Godzilla vs the Thing" and the main image for it is from GvM. That clusterfuck probably confused people.

As to the film itself, it's excellent. Good characters, great battles, a top-notch soundtrack and one of the best endings to a Godzilla film. Yeah, I'm on the love side of the whole "Godzilla is beat by two caterpillars" thing. I think the way they outsmarted him was very clever and shows that Godzilla isn't infallible.

[morgoth]

My problem with this movie is with the last fight. Now before certain people go ballistic and say: "THAT'S NOT AN ARGUMENT!!!!! YOU CAN'T SAY THAT JUST BECAUSE GODZILLA LOST TO TWO LARVAE THAT THE MOVIE SUCKS!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Well I am saying that, sue me! It's lazy, convenience screen writing. Godzilla's ray was conveniently made into "breath" that literally looks and behaves like breath; sooooo it conveniently couldn't blow up the rocks that the Mothra larvae were hiding in, then he was a bad shot while being spun up in silk, when the mothra larvae were first landing on the island Godzilla had a clear shot at both of them and the writers said "no we can't do that even though it's realistic." Instead he shots near them!? In GTTHM his breath was even worse, It looked like a leaf blower hitting dirt. Another thing that's annoying about GvsM, when he was attacking the egg in that giant incubator, why couldn't he have just burned it with his breath instead of delaying the destruction by using his tail? Blame the screenwriting.

[NSZ]

Blame the screenwriting.

Before accusing the movie of having poor writing, have you tried looking at it from these angles?

1. The ray was barely consistent at this point in the series. Sometimes it would melt objects, sometimes it would blow up objects, and sometimes it would just ignite objects. Just be glad that the ray is completely consistent here compared to films previous.
2. Those are what we call 'warning shots'. The way Godzilla ignores the larvae until they engage him makes it clear he ain't interested in fighting them.
3. Instead of it being an attack, have you considered that G was merely investigating the egg?

[edgaguirus]

I think Godzilla had more than curiousity about the egg. If he just wanted to investigate like a tourist, why smash the glass? Godzilla wanted that egg for some reason, whether for food or thinking it could be an enemy or something else.

[three]

i thought he was moving to attack it as well. the way he was in that movie, intrigue could very well be perceived as an attack.

[Mr. Xeno]

2. Those are what we call 'warning shots'. The way Godzilla ignores the larvae until they engage him makes it clear he ain't interested in fighting them.

Since when does Godzilla go out of his way to NOT fight a monster? And why wouldn't he fight the Larvae? He literally fights and destroys everything everywhere.

[gojira96]

2. Those are what we call 'warning shots'. The way Godzilla ignores the larvae until they engage him makes it clear he ain't interested in fighting them.

Since when does Godzilla go out of his way to NOT fight a monster? And why wouldn't he fight the Larvae? He literally fights and destroys everything everywhere.

He probably didn't think the larvae were any threat to him.

[Mr. Xeno]

He probably didn't think the larvae were any threat to him.

And yet he thought all of Tokyo was a threat to him?

[gojira96]

He probably didn't think the larvae were any threat to him.

And yet he thought all of Tokyo was a threat to him?

Don't forget, he'd just spend the past 12 hours fighting Mothra and being bombarded with tank shells, firebombs, and electricity. He was probably in no mood for fighting.

[Legion1979]

And most of what he destroyed earlier in the film (the tower, the castle) he destroyed by accident.

I think this is a case of people trying way to hard to nitpick things about this movie in order to find fault in it and knock it down a peg.

[LamangoKaijura]

And most of what he destroyed earlier in the film (the tower, the castle) he destroyed by accident.

Godzilla just woke up from a two year nap, lost almost all his baby fat, and then stumbles around Tokyo for a good few minutes. He was having more of an off day then a rampage.