Thoughts on the 2014 Godzilla?

[VOID GHIDORAH]

So, it’s been 7 years since Godzilla came out, and we’ve got three more movies. After seeing the MonsterVerse in action, what do you think of the one that started it all in comparison with the rest?

I personally think that 2014 holds up great, and that it’s one of the best of the series.

[Mechagigan]

I feel it has it's shining moments, but the lackluster human elements taking up the majority of the screentime really dampens it's appeal. Everyone but Serizawa, the Monarch society in general, and Bryan Cranston were simply uninteresting, and I never liked how one dimensional the main character Ford felt. Little things like that tend to make any movie feel like a slog, to me anyways.

The fun parts are really amazing, though, and it's a shame they're so cast aside. Really amazing monster action, and I quite liked the new concept for Godzilla's origin. I also liked that rather than make yet another Godzilla origin story, G14 all but blatantly assumes you already know who he is, and gives us way more time dedicated to the MUTOS.

[Terasawa]

I think it's a well-made and enjoyable movie, in both regards easily the best of the Monsterverse.

[DynomikeGojira]

Certainly better than KOTM and GvK if we're talking about tone and how the film was made.

[Jetty_Jags]

I'd say its one of my favorite G-films (top ten at least). Not that it is without its flaws, but I do think it is smarter than people give it credit for. It's not a Cassavetes film, and I'm not trying to pretend like its themes and messages are super deep and complex, but I think its an interesting reflection on the generational impacts of trauma. And it only makes sense that its a nuclear threat which destabilizes two generations of nuclear families.

[Dynomy-DX]

Rewatched it recently, and there’s a ton of elements I like in it! While I agree with the criticisms that a stronger showing for their main protagonist could have been better (Joe you were gone too soon) and that the darkness in some scenes is a bit much, I think it holds up well enough. It did Godzilla justice, introduced new monsters that had great designs, and have some memorable lines and scenes.

[HannibalBarca]

It's...fine. I would call it fine. It's easily the most well put-together of the three American Godzilla films of the past decade, although that veers perilously close to damning the movie with faint praise. If the entire movie had been up to the standard of G'14's score, cinematography, and overall visuals, it may very well have been a masterpiece. Sadly, I think the screenplay and story drop the ball in a lot of important ways. Obviously the whole "Cranston's was the only interesting character" canard has been discussed to death, but it's still true in a lot of ways, unfortunately. I don't think the rest of the cast being dull is really a problem with the actors, either -- the movie just doesn't give the majority of the characters enough interesting things to do.

On the level of personal preference, I don't want to restart a whole "Godzilla screen-time" debate (especially since actual screen-time is a bit of a red herring), but I do wish the movie had been about Godzilla a bit more than it was. But, again, that's a personal preference and I can't really hold it against the movie in an objective sense. If the story that the movie ended up going with had been executed in a more interesting way, I might not have had such a problem with it.

[Gawdziller1954]

So-OK-it's-average and wasted potential are 2 things that immediately pop into my mind

I watch a video like this that makes me want to rewatch it-and then I remember I have to sit through ATJ being a plank of wood for 80 minutes and then have a battle where nothing is visible because of the stupid crappy bluray transfer, and inbetween the battle we cut back to ATJ being a wooden plank at random intervals

The 2012 script was so much better in some areas and in general the movie would be better if Bryan Cranston was the protagonist

Edwards is a great visual director but as a director of actors he isn't the best, though given what a visual feast a color-corrected 2014 is it makes me wonder what KOTM would've been like had he stayed on

[Rando Yaguchi]

The movie looks and sounds nice, and Cranston was great. Those are the only positives for me.

[shadowgigan]

The build up was better than the film itself. Perhaps someday it will have the same effect on me as the classic films did. Although that seems to be an impossible bar to meet given the nature of childhood nostalgia.

[Julia Bristow]

For me Godzilla 2014 is just an okay film (despite the fact that ATJ is a terrible heroic lead for a giant monster films) that being said it has a few good things going for it: The new American design for Godzilla (I actually like Legendary Godzilla overall) and the MUTOs make for villian great monsters.

My score for the film:

6/10 (Average)

[LegendZilla]

A thoroughly mediocre film if you ask me. You can tell that they wrote the script before they picked the cast as evidence as to why Brian Cranston got the short end of the stick. They could not have foreseen him landing in the specific role he ended up being in, nor Breaking Bad having a sudden surge in popularity.

[BasedGFan]

Hate it.

[Jermobooka]

Hate it.

Truly, a based G-Fan

[Major sssspielberg!]

Hate it.

Truly, a based G-Fan

[Terasawa]

You can tell that they wrote the script before they picked the cast

Yeah, this is... usually what happens. And I don't understand what you mean, "they could not have foreseen him landing in the specific role he ended up being in," unless you think casting a film is a totally random process.

[eabaker]

A thoroughly mediocre film if you ask me. You can tell that they wrote the script before they picked the cast as evidence as to why Brian Cranston got the short end of the stick. They could not have foreseen him landing in the specific role he ended up being in, nor Breaking Bad having a sudden surge in popularity.

With a studio production that went through as many re-writes (and different writers) as G'14, my guess would be that the script was not finalized until after Cranston was cast, but I can't be sure about that.

But I think you're misunderstanding the reason that Cranston was cast in that role. They were absolutely aware of his increased box office value from the success of Breaking Bad, and were casting Cranston largely because he would be an audience draw. It is entirely possible that, with the amount of money going into other aspects of the production, they could not have afforded to have Cranston around for the additional weeks of filming that a larger role would have required. It's also possible that his schedule for BB (or other projects) simply would have precluded him from being available more. But they could also have been trying to "pull a Psycho," as it were, by killing off a presumptive lead character early to disarm the audience.

I hardly see how Cranston got the short end of the stick, anyway. Joe is generally regarded as the most dynamic and memorable character in the movie. The success of their gambit is proved by how many people wish that they'd gotten way more of Joe in the movie.

[Spuro]

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.

[ShinGojira14]

The best MonsterVerse Godzilla film, and the second best film in the MonsterVerse behind Kong: Skull Island.

[Rando Yaguchi]

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.