Godzilla -1.0 (2023) General Discussion Thread

[Kagutaba]

Mostly just the scene between Shikishima and Noriko where he's squeezing her and lamenting whether or not he's truly alive.

Somewhat reminded me of the scene in The Host where the families in hysterics during the ceremony for their lost loved ones.

[king_ghidorah]

Mostly just the scene between Shikishima and Noriko where he's squeezing her and lamenting whether or not he's truly alive.

Somewhat reminded me of the scene in The Host where the families in hysterics during the ceremony for their lost loved ones.

Yeah that’s the main one. It’s so over the top I thought it was supposed to be funny originally.

[JAGzilla]

I want to preface this with saying that I still love this movie….

But…

Do some of the acting and dialogue bother anyone else from the standpoint of being over the top melodramatic? Some of the opining and agonizing just seems kind of silly and artificial to me.

Okay, so I'm not the lone weirdo! You're at most the second person I've seen who agreed with me on this. The acting in this movie was totally fine, but just... exaggerated. It reminded me of what I've seen from K-Dramas, where the emotion is cranked up to eleven. I think it was a stylistic choice rather than bad execution, though.

[king_ghidorah]

Yeah. Melodramatic for sure. A choice. It works for most everyone but it’s so saccharine over the top at times that it can be a little off putting if you’re not in a good place to appreciate it.

It’s a movie where people shout and yell their emotions at the top of their lungs instead of more human like interactions

[JAGzilla]

Half an hour into the rewatch right now. Kinda spontaneously... I was going to watch a Marvel movie, but my sister wanted to rewatch GMO instead (primarily for the actor that plays the young minesweeper kid, but so?) and I can't, in good conscience, turn that down.

Man, I kind of forgot how brisk the pacing is. They waste no time at all getting dramatically to the point, and then the first act character establishment stuff zips right by while still feeling like it has plenty of time to breathe.

[Mechagigan]

I want to preface this with saying that I still love this movie….

But…

Do some of the acting and dialogue bother anyone else from the standpoint of being over the top melodramatic? Some of the opining and agonizing just seems kind of silly and artificial to me.

Okay, so I'm not the lone weirdo! You're at most the second person I've seen who agreed with me on this. The acting in this movie was totally fine, but just... exaggerated. It reminded me of what I've seen from K-Dramas, where the emotion is cranked up to eleven. I think it was a stylistic choice rather than bad execution, though.

Definitely something I notice on rewatches, too. Doesn't really bother me, like you said I think it fits the whole style of the movie, but it's there. At risk of making some fans mad, I do think it's occasionally a little heavy-handed with it, like the scene Kagutaba mentioned. Makes me a little hesitant to rewatch just because of how emotionally huge the movie is

[JAGzilla]

The dramatic performances still stood out to me on the rewatch, but they work very well. They fit the movie like a glove; it's very dramatic across the board. Imagery, tension, music, timing. Arguably Godzilla's most horrific rampages, last second rescues, deeply emotional experiences for the characters. Everything about GMO is raised up a notch in intensity compared to the series average.

[Dr. Professor]

The dramatic performances are a big part of the appeal to me. I love a lot of the more subtle performances from across the franchise, but I’m a sucker for intense emotions being expressed in an intense way. Emiko and Ogata confronting Serizawa in 54, that heated exchange between Glenn and Namikawa in Astro-Monster, the ending of Katsura’s story in TOMG, and the “I deserve answers” moment in G14 are all some of very favorite scenes in the franchise. To me, Koichi’s breakdown and the moment of him screaming as the black rain falls on him are right up there with those scenes and, in my opinion, surpasses most of them. I’ll happily take some more in the sequel.