Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

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Spuro
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by Spuro »

Rando Yaguchi wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 7:11 pm
Spuro wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:33 pm I'm still convinced it's the best Godzilla movie we've gotten over the past decade. Shin Godzilla comes close, but I find Shin Godzilla's quality to be too wildly inconsistent to confidently award it top spot.
Shin has its fair share of quirky flaws - and I'm willing to concede that its low points are lower than anything in G14 - but Shin's high points (namely the script and its themes) make G14 look bland and thoughtless by comparison. G14 plays it safe, while Shin aims much higher, takes much bigger risks and (mostly) succeeds.
I wouldn't go so far to say they make G14 look bland and thoughtless by comparison (Generally speaking I quite like Gareth Edwards' directorial style, and wish he made more movies.), but I would agree with the overall statement of your post: That Shin's high points are higher than G14's.

I got into a very similar conversation with eabaker years ago; I tend to value overall consistency in movies when determining quality, whereas he valued the best points a movie had to offer, believing they made up for the low points of a movie. I think both views are totally valid and that it's largely in part down to personal preference.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by Rando Yaguchi »

Spuro wrote: Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:04 pm I wouldn't go so far to say they make G14 look bland and thoughtless by comparison (Generally speaking I quite like Gareth Edwards' directorial style, and wish he made more movies.)
I also enjoy Edwards' style, I just think G14 has a really flat script with nothing to say. It raises certain issues (nuclear power, man vs nature, etc) but it doesn't do anything with them - these issues are simply window dressing in an otherwise generic creature feature.
I got into a very similar conversation with eabaker years ago; I tend to value overall consistency in movies when determining quality, whereas he valued the best points a movie had to offer, believing they made up for the low points of a movie. I think both views are totally valid and that it's largely in part down to personal preference.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by attilagodzilla »

The best of the mv godzilla movies in my opinion

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The best of the mv godzilla movies in my opinion
one of the few Godzilla fans from holland
Top 5 godzilla movies:
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Shin Godzilla
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

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Honestly, I think it's got the makings to be one of the best Reconstruction films I've ever seen. It's basically a reconstruction of the classic Showa Vs. movie formula. The reason the monsters are in conflict makes perfect sense and doesn't require a simplistic good vs. evil format. Godzilla isn't evil, but he's not a superhero either. The human cast is flawed, but having the lead do something to directly help turn the tide to give Godzilla the opening he needs is something very sorely missing from many kaiju films where the human cast often just amounted to watching. The sense of scale for the kaiju I honestly don't think had looked better outside a few stand-out moments. This wasn't just the biggest Godzilla yet in film, but he darn well looked it with how positively gargantuan he and the MUTOs looked next to the humans and how a majority of the damage was out of just merit of that size.

And, weird as it'll sound to say, I think it had one of my favorite leads with Ford. ATJ's acting I found fine, but the structure of the character I found very refreshing. Here's a guy practically tailor made for the Ahab-archetype. He'd lost not one, but both parents to the same monster, is a military man, and saw the killer first hand. The moment Joe is dying and has some last choice words, it would have been extremely easy for him to ask for vengeance. But instead, Joe realizes what obsessing got him in life and just tells his son to be a better man than him by going home and protecting his family. Ford takes this to heart and that subversion was a delightful surprise. The rest of the film paralleling Ford and Godzilla was also a pretty clever way of getting some extra mileage out of Godzilla's character that might not be readily noticeable at first; while not being overt.

G2014 has plenty of problems, but objectively speaking I just can't dislike it on its merits as they come to me.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

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Desghidorah wrote: Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:05 pm Honestly, I think it's got the makings to be one of the best Reconstruction films I've ever seen. It's basically a reconstruction of the classic Showa Vs. movie formula. The reason the monsters are in conflict makes perfect sense and doesn't require a simplistic good vs. evil format. Godzilla isn't evil, but he's not a superhero either. The human cast is flawed, but having the lead do something to directly help turn the tide to give Godzilla the opening he needs is something very sorely missing from many kaiju films where the human cast often just amounted to watching. The sense of scale for the kaiju I honestly don't think had looked better outside a few stand-out moments. This wasn't just the biggest Godzilla yet in film, but he darn well looked it with how positively gargantuan he and the MUTOs looked next to the humans and how a majority of the damage was out of just merit of that size.

And, weird as it'll sound to say, I think it had one of my favorite leads with Ford. ATJ's acting I found fine, but the structure of the character I found very refreshing. Here's a guy practically tailor made for the Ahab-archetype. He'd lost not one, but both parents to the same monster, is a military man, and saw the killer first hand. The moment Joe is dying and has some last choice words, it would have been extremely easy for him to ask for vengeance. But instead, Joe realizes what obsessing got him in life and just tells his son to be a better man than him by going home and protecting his family. Ford takes this to heart and that subversion was a delightful surprise. The rest of the film paralleling Ford and Godzilla was also a pretty clever way of getting some extra mileage out of Godzilla's character that might not be readily noticeable at first; while not being overt.

G2014 has plenty of problems, but objectively speaking I just can't dislike it on its merits as they come to me.
Exactly!

Glad someone else found Ford enjoyable as well. He’s seemingly unemotional for the most part because he’s just a guy, a soldier, who has a job to do. He doesn’t resort to melodrama or long-winded speeches, he just does what he needs to do in order to succeed. And Ford doesn’t, in the end, stop the bomb from going off!

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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by Jetty_Jags »

Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, I don't think it has nothing to say. I'm not going to argue it couldn't be done better, but I think it has a very interesting story with regards to how trauma can effect and impact generations of families, especially with regards to emotional distancing. Ford is a bland character because his arch is overcoming the emotional isolation he had with his father and passed along to his own family. That is why the movie focuses on him getting home to his wife and son, and why the dynamic with the muto's trying to start their own family works on a thematic level.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by Kaltes-Herzeleid »

Too much Spielberg influence in it.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by Voyager »

Better than KOTM and GvK.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

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I think time has been good to this film overall. It's made people more open to its flaws but at the same time seeing different contemporary takes on Godzilla (even in this same continuity) makes me appreciate the picture's quirks. Killing off the emotional core of your movie and holding off on letting the monsters loose until the final act was a bold move. Not necessarily a good one, especially taken in tandem but bold nonetheless. It doesn't even feel like that long ago and yet I doubt we'll see anything like that in a blockbuster again.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by donaldino »

Recently, I noticed that during the fight between Godzilla and the two Mutos in San Francisco, mists of blood are shown spraying from the monsters' wounds, like when Godzilla first bites the female Muto and when Godzilla is stabbed by the male Muto. I like that it does, it adds realism to the film.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by GodzillaFan1990's »

Since King of the Monsters, it's made me appreciate the film more for how different both are from each other. Basically this film is to Alien (1979) as King of the Monsters is to Aliens (1986).

I like them both for rather different reasons. Godzilla (2014) for a slow-burn and build-up to the finale, whereas King of the Monsters for its fast-pace monster eye candy action.

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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

Bumping because this film was released 8 years ago today. I've been having the itch to watch it, popped it in not realizing the date!
I swear I have a different experience every time I see this film. And I'll maintain my only significant beefs are with the script. But I'm gonna say Gareth really managed to elevate the script with Seamus McGarvey's team. Their world shines through the ridiculously dark blue ray release.
The Muto's arrival in San Fran is probably the most effective kaiju horror in the Monsterverse. The sound design is incredible too, maybe even better than Godzilla vs Kong.
I think Bryan Cranston could have lived longer, it might have been cool if he was dying but still trying to help Serizawa or something. But really, Ford just needed more meat to his role after his dad bites the dust. ATJ is low-key doing some great acting when him and Bryan are on screen together, but once the movie catches stride he's basically got nothing to work with, so I don't really blame him for being "wooden."
The best part is the tension that's not really present in any other MV film. Even if the bomb plot is a little contrived and kinda muddy in terms of classic "nuke bad" Godzilla themes, the pacing of the back half really makes you feel the tension boiling in the film.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by GoKelley85 »

I love the pacing and atmosphere of the film. I also love how they handled the Monsters, treating them like true gods and natural disasters unleashed on the world, and we are just the unlucky ants caught in the crossfire.

Writing wise, I wish Cranston had lived longer. He was the emotional hook in the first act and I felt like he needed to be a consistent presence throughout the film, especially as the scientific mind that uncovered these creatures when everyone thought he was nuts.

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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by MothraRocks »

I can’t believe I saw this 8 years ago, wow. I still remember seeing the amount of G-Fans fill the theatre and I was shocked, and absolutely loved the cheers from the audience and clapping throughout Godzilla’s big moments.

My opinions are mostly the same on it; I wish Cranston had lived longer, I wish Elizabeth Olsen had a more prominent role in doing something but I loved the directing style (wish for a few less cutaways though) love the monster designs, the MUTOs are cool, and Godzilla’s atomic breath build up still gives me chills. Also, that airport scene is pure perfection.

Happy Birthday 2014, and Happy Birthday MonsterVerse!
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

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Watched this again the other day. Taylor-Johnson's acting was even more wooden than I remembered and I'm sure it played a major role in people being upset about Cranston's early exit. I know that some have said Taylor-Johnson's role was meant to be this way. That is why it's important to have a character like Cranston in scenes with him, or as the poster above me said give Olsen a larger role to offset him and give him some tension. Otherwise there is a lot of Taylor-Johnson kind of staring without anything to react too.

I have a love-hate relationship with the ending more than ever. Who doesn't love watching a victorious Godzilla wade back into the ocean? On the critical side though, the movie tries so hard to be 'grounded.' Would a news station really be touting this monster as a hero already? Would people just be standing around looking at it? Maybe random bystanders, but even top secret government employees and military? The good ol' USA would be looking at any avenue to murder Godzilla while taking a nap after San Fransisco is in ruins.

The film still has the most consistent special effects of the Monsterverse to me (Skull Island gives it a run for its money though). Barring the somewhat strange shift at the very end, it also has the most consistent tone of the Monsterverse even if it is a somewhat boring tone at times. I can't believe its been this long either.

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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by LegendZilla »

^We need to have a Monsterverse entry that ends on a lower note.

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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

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I still have a lot of love for this film, even if I prefer later Monsterverse entries. My biggest issue lies in the cutaways from the built-up monster clashes. Less can be more, but building up to Godzilla's reveal only to cut away from the majority of the clash felt like a poor decision. The visuals, ideas, the MUTOs, even the soundtrack all worked for me, and it was an even better experience in IMAX back when I saw it in 2014. The iconicity of the kiss of death scene also remains one of my go-to Godzilla moments. Overall, a solid Godzilla movie.
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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

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LegendZilla wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 12:39 pm ^We need to have a Monsterverse entry that ends on a lower note.
This is a good idea. At least some kind of ending that switches it up a bit.
CyberZilla wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 1:14 pm The visuals, ideas, the MUTOs, even the soundtrack all worked for me, and it was an even better experience in IMAX back when I saw it in 2014. The iconicity of the kiss of death scene also remains one of my go-to Godzilla moments. Overall, a solid Godzilla movie.
Yeah it was my first IMAX experience and that was something special.

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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by king_ghidorah »

Lately my thoughts are…..favorite Godzilla movie and favorite Godzilla design.

Hoping we see a return of Gare Goji sooner rather than later

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Re: Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

Post by Legion1979 »

king_ghidorah wrote: Tue Jul 05, 2022 5:39 pm Lately my thoughts are…..favorite Godzilla movie and favorite Godzilla design.

Hoping we see a return of Gare Goji sooner rather than later
I'm a little confused here. "Gare Goji"? Are people actually naming the 2014, 2019 and 2021 Godzillas as if they were the Japanese suits, using the directors names?

Either way, why would the 2014 Godzilla design return?

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