Creature22 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 8:50 am
In general I go by the notion that if the rest of the film is executed well, you won’t notice the short amount of screen time for the monsters. Obviously there are some exceptions, but this is why I can’t get behind the “only in it for the monster battles” mentality.
There's definitely a matter of pacing, proportion to run time, and balance.
Invasion of the Astro Monster can get away with little monster screentime because the film really isn't about Godzilla, Rodan, or Ghidorah. It's about the Xilliens, and their schemes. The monsters are really just tools in that film, so it's okay they really only appear in a couple of moments in the middle, and end of the film. The film is also oozing with other things to make up for the discreprency: fun aliens and SF spectacle, charismatic actors, and a more human-centric plot.
Contrast that to
Dogora. While I like
Dogora a lot, the monster, sans a few amazing moments, really doesn't have the same presence in the film, despite being roughly equivalent to, in my mind, probably the run time of the monsters in IOTAM. It's too much of a focus, but also completely forgotten about in large swathes of the film.
Destroy All Monsters and
Godzilla Final Wars will never cease to be interesting to compare.
Godzilla Final Warsis 30 minutes longer than
Destroy All Monsters. Both have a handful of monsters that really have zero impact on the film: Kumonga appears for under 40 seconds, and I suspect . Don't get me started on Varan and Baragon in DAM, and Hedorah in GFW. Still, both attempt to give individual monsters spotlights in the film: Manda charging through Tokyo in DAM, Gorosaurus putting a lot of work in the climax. GFW has a scene devoted to Manda vs. the Gotengo and Ebirah vs. the Mutants. Even though Manda doesn't participate in climax in both films, and really has zero relevance on the films overall story, Manda still at least gets a scene devoted to it in both films. Ebirah may get obliterated with little fanfare, but it gets an entire scene of fighting the mutants and destroying things early on. But despite that simalirairty of trying to focus individual scenes on different monsters, the aforementioned difference in run time, and the amount of monsters, really skews with that perception.
DAM feels like it spreads out it's monsters evenly, where sans Varan, Baragon, and Kumonga, each monster gets moments to shine. So instead of focusing on one new monster, or primary antagonist, it focuses on a menagerie of monsters. Meanwhile, Godzilla Final Wars is really a Godzilla, Gotengo/Mutants, Gigan, and Monster X/Kiezer Ghidorah film. Maybe Rodan and Angurius are still important a little, maybe, but you really could scrap a lot. DAM is way more of an ensemble piece, while GFW is a Godzilla spotlight, and the runtimes, narrative, and whatnot change the perspective even if some of the raw numbers are the same.
Another point:I've mentioned this before, but a kaiju's screentime isn't the only indicator of the impact or signifance it has on the film. The tension, or looming threat that it has over the narrative, even when not on screen, is just as important. Good examples of that would be Godzilla vs. Biollante. Even when Godzilla isn't present for the first half, the A-side of the story is trying to stop his release, and a gradual building on tension to his inevitable comeback. Biollante, save for the moments with the Super X-2 fight in Osaka, is a near constant presence and motivator for the characters throughout the film. (Speaking of, I'd be curious to how the runtimes of "special mechs" Super X 1-3, Gotengo, Moonlight SY-3 and various UFOs factor into runtimes.
And sorry for so many questions and stray thoughts, but is stock footage being factored into all this? What about stock footage that is altered or changed significantly to represent a new imagined conflict (Godzilla vs. Kumonga in AMA for example).
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