Godzilla! The King is Back Baby!

I went to see the new Godzilla movie Saturday and I have glad to say it far exceeded my expectations! I highly recommend to anyone that love Godzilla or monster/disaster movies in general. Your inner 9 year old will be pleased.

It is not without its problems but that is to be expected. No one really expects a good story from a monster movie but I will say this is the best human story to a Godzilla movie since the original 1954 version.

The following may contain spoilers so stop here if you care about such things.

My critical thoughts in no particular order:

• Warner Brothers did a glorious bait and switch in the advertising. The previews would have you believe Bryan Cranston is the main protagonist. While his presence is memorable and by far the best performance, it is too brief in my opinion. His son is actually the main human character. The guy on the ground that you follow most of the movie.
• Ken Watanabe turned a plot device character into something more. I liked that.
• The epic speech in the "Halo Jump" teaser is completely cut.
• Some of the footage from different previews is either recut in the movie or not there at all.
• The military advisor (if there was one) was an idiot. There is an over head shot a Godzilla swimming at the surface while being flanked by two navy ships. The ships were so close that if the big G decided to turn they would have been rammed. They also had planes flying in an EMP zone.
• Must be seen in IMAX. It was shot for it.
• The classic old cliche of the all knowing General deciding to "nuke everything" to solve the problem while level headed scientist objects but ignored is used. Then the nuke plan backfires. Didn't care for that.
• As a matter of taste I didn't like the design of the MUTO that Godzilla fought. They were too much like the bugs from Starship Troopers.
• Godzilla breath was awesome. My only complaint was not enough of it.
• Godzilla was described as being a natural predator of the MUTOs. But all he does is kill them. He doesn't eat or consume either. You could assume that he fed of their radiation that dispersed when they died. But if that was the case they should have shown it.

I really could nitpick some stuff. But I don't really care. I was thoroughly entertained! I look forward to the sure to be sequel that I hope has other familiar monsters like Rodan or Mothra.

I havent seen it yet but you just made me antsy to see it NOW!! Ha.. ha... They have been remaking Godzilla since.. forever and I've enjoyed every single one. Like you said, its my inner 9 year old that gets giddy. My sons have no interest in seeing it so this movie will be just for me at a matinee when they are at school. As for the bait and switch, movie companies really seem to be doing this more and more and its damn annoying. The trailer has you thinking one thing OR has some super cool scene and its not so in the actual movie. Is there someone we can sue? Its not right.

As for the Godzilla breath (again, I havent seen the movie yet but,) you can never have enough of that. I agree with you there. Every monster movie has the gun-ho captain that wants to nuke everything to solve the problem. LOL.. Funny.. Thanks for the review and your critique.. Either way, I know I'm going to shreek like a little school girl at a Beaber concert when I hear the Godzilla roar for the first time in the movie... LMAO..

It was a good movie, wish I could have enjoyed it more. Baby didn't enjoy the noise level and I found out that I can't tolerate that level of noise at this time. I would suggest this movie to anyone though!

I never planned on seeing it, your review..oddly made me want to see it

I was disappointed with it: it wasn't awful nor great, just meh. I wouldn't have paid money for it but what can you do lol

Saw it Monday night. It was better than expected. Mason, your review made me want to see it in the theater. I was gonna see it anyway but was going to wait until HBO/netflix/dvd. I think it was well done with a few items which I did not care for but were overshadowed by the whole of the movie itself. Of the few friends I talked to about it, I'm the only one who watched the older movies as a kid and thought it paid good homage to the older films with Godzilla's fighting style and how the fight scenes were scripted/directed.

It's definitely the best adaptation of the series made by a North American film studio.

It doesn't need a sequel but will probably get 1-2+. If they keep the same director, I expect a decent follow up.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

I was disappointed with it: it wasn't awful nor great, just meh. I wouldn't have paid money for it but what can you do lol

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Buzzkill ;)

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Originally Posted by Pyrate81

Buzzkill ;)

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Just hard to please! :D

I had a problem with the whole" balance of nature stuff" if Godzilla was preying on the bugs then why didn't he eat them. Like he's the megazord and fights bad guys "just cause"?
Didn't mind it though.

I hate how movies portray tanks, they look weak and pathetic

With a film titled Godzilla I was hoping to see a movie with giant monsters fighting and a city being destroyed. This movie did not deliver that at all. Any time it looked like something good was about to happen, fight starting or something, it would happen for a second then go to the next scene and the battle would just happen off camera. There was a couple small fight scenes towards the end with 2 sweet moments, but no where near enough Godzilla action. The movie wasn't bad, it was just a bad Godzilla movie.

If you wanna see a movie with giant monsters fighting, check out Pacific Rim.

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Originally Posted by vangarret2000

If you wanna see a movie with giant monsters fighting, check out Pacific Rim.

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One of my top favorite movies ever! I was actually going to say the same thing in my first post in this thread :gj:

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Originally Posted by vangarret2000

With a film titled Godzilla I was hoping to see a movie with giant monsters fighting and a city being destroyed. This movie did not deliver that at all. Any time it looked like something good was about to happen, fight starting or something, it would happen for a second then go to the next scene and the battle would just happen off camera. There was a couple small fight scenes towards the end with 2 sweet moments, but no where near enough Godzilla action. The movie wasn't bad, it was just a bad Godzilla movie.

If you wanna see a movie with giant monsters fighting, check out Pacific Rim.

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I liked Pacific Rim. But it had more plot holes that swiss cheese. But I still enjoyed it. But I don't think this Godzilla was bad at all. It's 1000000 X better than the 1998 version. And better than any Japanese version has been for decades. I do understand your complaints though. But for me it wasn't enough to not be thoroughly entertained by it.

As a huge Godzilla geek, from the original 1950 movie right up through that awful excuse for a movie Matthew Broderick did, I really enjoyed this movie.

Sure, they could have done things better in certain respects, but honestly you could say that about pretty much every movie ever made. All in all, I liked it quite a lot. They did a good job with the Godzilla design, the creatures were good, the movie had it's highs and lows. I saw it in IMAX, and to me it was well worth the price. I will probably see it again in theaters, because I have discount coupons, and I feel it is one of those movies where you can't possibly catch everything just seeing it once.

I hope they do at least one sequel, as long as the same writer and director do it.

Gale