Godzilla Reboot coming 2014

[JasonPratt]

Luke Thompson's review for Topless Robot: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2014/05/tr_review_godzilla_is_back_big-time.php

Nothing like having foreigners lecture us on an issue as complex as illegal immigration by just flat-out implying it's all our fault, and with Godzilla also historically being a political parable, there was every reason to fear Edwards could drop the ball there too.

Fortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, Edwards has somehow morphed into the best directorial impersonation of a young Steven Spielberg I think I've ever seen.

[JasonPratt]

ScreenCrush, 9/10: http://screencrush.com/godzilla-review/

[JasonPratt]

Finally for tonight, what's up at AICN itself already, grouped together.

Nordling's review: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67311

If anything else, GODZILLA really illuminates how disastrous Roland Emmerich's GODZILLA really was, which was a fundamental misunderstanding of Godzilla on every level.  The elegiac tone of the trailers, for once, thematically conceals what GODZILLA really is, and at its best, GODZILLA is about as Saturday morning as it gets.  Edwards takes great joy in showing the power of his monsters, and that joy is infectious.

Quint's review: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67271

The short version: they got the monsters right. Hoo boy, did they get the monsters right. Godzilla himself is treated with the awe he deserves. All aspects of his design (look and sound) are perfect and Gareth Edwards teases him so hardcore that when the big payoff happens it's epic and crazy and fun. [...] [D]espite some of my complaints with the writing of the human characters, I want to be clear that this isn't just some big effects extravaganza... I mean, it is that, but there's a visual storytelling element that is very specific and guided by a singular voice. This isn't Emmerich's Godzilla just trying to give the audience spectacle. The human characters aren't goofy and stupid like in the '98 film, they're just not as fleshed out as they could have been.

To be clear, all reviewers are saying much the same thing about the human elements. And that's okay with me. I was more worried from the pre-release materials that the human characters would gum up the works.

Another quote from Quint's review:

I ended up talking with producer Thomas Tull and while I was thanking him for helping me out with the tickets a Japanese man came up and Tull immediately looked nervous. "So, what did you think?" The man answered that he and his colleagues were amazed with the movie and couldn't believe how perfectly Godzilla was captured. "This is the Godzilla from my childhood." He said this with a hand over his heart, I swear to God. Tull looked taken aback, both relieved and amazed at the same time. After the man left, Tull leaned over to me and said, "He's the head of Toho."

No question Toho sounds like they're ready to give Legendary Pictures the keys to the whole Island.


Finally from Big Red Harry himself: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67288

[mirth]

Thanks, Jason. Those are all well written reviews and they only added to my excitement for seeing Godzilla.

[W8taminute]

Hmmmm...after reading those articles I'm convinced that there may yet be hope for man.  I'll find out Sunday which is when I plan on seeing the movie. 

[JasonPratt]

^^ Thematically appropriate.  ;D  O:-)

[Martok]

Thanks for posting the reviews, Jason.  Sounds like I might be checking this out after all. 

[mirth]

Nice review from the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/movies/godzilla-grandaddy-of-movie-monsters-stomps-back.html?hpw&rref=movies&_r=0

[BanzaiCat]

[mirth]

That was actually a highly positive review from the Times.

[BanzaiCat]

Indeed, but what mystifies me is there's almost always, invariably, some form of hate out there...and there's nothing for this movie that I can see. Very odd.

[JasonPratt]

Not exactly a hater, but MovieBob focuses on the obvious problems with the movie which are kind of mentioned as an aside in other reviews upthread.

i.e., why the hell are we mostly watching boring white American soldier guy and his even more boring wife so much instead of Watanabe and Cranston (whom the marketing rightly sold the movie on); and why is Godzilla "a tertiary character in his own film"?

Because the film's story is really about the MUTO's (also kind of boring and characterless, thus why the movie keeps implicitly teasing about connections to other kaiju like Rodan and the mantis and Mothra etc.). Godzilla's motivations, even when spelled out by Watanabe, boil down to "because he's Godzilla, whooooo kickass!"

Incidentally, all the reviews so far confirm how shockingly wrong-headed on so many levels the Fiat commercial was. The old-school Showa costume commercial with Godzilla bipolaring between chilling with the bros and tantruming the city, are closer in spirit.  :-\

Anyway: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/9210-Godzilla-Breaking-Kaiju


(Incidentally 2, if this hasn't become apparent yet, there's no Gorgo-esque surprise Macro-godzilla in the film. Which wouldn't be so bad except that means SOME ACTUAL SHOTS IN THE FILM, not merely a few marketing posters, don't make sense to scale.)

[JasonPratt]

Nice review from the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/movies/godzilla-grandaddy-of-movie-monsters-stomps-back.html?hpw&rref=movies&_r=0

Also a rather more neutral review -- not hater, but definitely zeroing in on similar problems.

Interesting that this is the first I've seen someone say the generic MUTOs (a designation which applies to all kaiju really) are Mosuras -- which is literally the Japanese name for Mothra. (Though they behave more like Gyaoses from the modern Gamera trilogy; with Godzilla in the same role as Gamera for those films, minus the intelligent design agency.)

I'll have more to say perhaps after seeing it (this afternoon hopefully, and/or tomorrow/again.)

[JasonPratt]

IGN seems to call it a 10 at the top of the page, a 9/10 at the bottom, reads more like an 8.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/11/godzilla-review

[BanzaiCat]

I might go see this, but if Puff Daddy/Puff Diddy/Puff Whateverthef*ck comes out and starts covering a Led Zep tune in the middle of the movie, I'm outtie and demanding my money back.