GODZILLA RESURGENCE (aka TRUE GODZILLA) trailer

[JasonPratt]

I'll buy a ticket. I want to see Godzilla do some fancy new Bruce Lee moves.  O0

This G doesn't look like he'll be doing any kung fu. ;)

[mirth]

I'll buy a ticket. I want to see Godzilla do some fancy new Bruce Lee moves.  O0

This G doesn't look like he'll be doing any kung fu. ;)

What's the point then?

[JasonPratt]

Shock and awe.

[W8taminute]

This does indeed look like a triumphant return for Toho and Gojira.  I will see this movie somehow for sure. 

[JasonPratt]

A semi-trivial update: promotional materials recently revealed that Shin Godzilla (the official nickname for this version of the character) is fully CGI. Not three guys in a suit or anything else like that. (I suspect there are partial shot elements like a foot in models, his head in closeup, and his tail, which are occasionally not CGI, and so operated by live actors using puppetry, and this is where the confusion came from. Updated to add: there was evidently an 11 foot tall puppet at some point, worked by three operators, but this was eventually dropped from production.)

This is a little important, since that means this will be the first Toho Godzilla to not be primarily a man in a suit. That era has passed. But hopefully we'll get better looking movies as a result, while not disrespecting the amazing things Toho fx specialists were (occasionally) able to do with what they had previously.

[JasonPratt]

Early reviews today suggest a visually artistic film; with particular note called on how the CGI is used to make Godzilla seem like a prop suit. Which is bananas.  ???


A summary of the first Japanese press screening reviews: https://skreeonk.com/2016/07/26/the-first-japanese-reviews-for-shin-gojira-are-in-hailed-as-a-masterpiece/


"So far, all signs point toward a film the Japanese will embrace, and western fans perhaps will scoff at as "boring" and "political"."

[JasonPratt]

Catching up on things: reviews have been steadily good. My impression is that the film is not at all "boring" and "political" but rather a science-fiction procedural with relevant cultural-political elements, very much in line with Godzilla vs Hedorah (aka the Smog Monster). The focus stays very much on the 'problem': identifying that there's a problem, investigating the problem, dealing with the problem.

In fact, reviews indicate this Godzilla is, conceptually, a combination of the original 54 Godzilla, the Smog Monster, and the Destroyer (or "Desotroyah" or whatever the official Toho English spelling is supposed to be that they can trademark. ;) )

Lots of spoilery things can be found on the web now, which I won't link to. But I'm excited to see the Bluray whenever Toho lets Filmation distribute it in North America (and with Filmation on the job, we should get both good dubs and good subtitles, as well as a clean, crisp production transfer.)

Some slightly spoilery bullet points, which don't actually spoil things any further than commercials now do (and rather less so since I won't be linking to how things 'look'):


* Since Legendary Pictures seems committed to making 'heroic' G movies, Toho went for the 'threat' G again: and this Godzilla is more of a threat than any previous version. The tone of the film, except for being not so shadowy, is much more what we thought we were going to get from the original trailers for G2014.

* Most of this film happens in broad daylight, but there are at least a few striking scenes at night.

* We're so used to Godzilla having a fiery breath weapon (if I may apply D&D terminology there), that it's easy to forget that for original audiences back in 1954 the foggy fire was a novelty, introduced late in the movie and then used heavily. As in many other ways, ShinGoji follows G54's cues on this, too: Godzilla does have a fiery breath weapon which shows up relatively late in the film but hits hard and frequently when it does show up.

* This is a new continuity, not a sequel to G54 or to any previous established Godzilla continuity. However, Godzilla's alien roar starts off directly sampled from G54 and evolves over time.

* Akira Ifukube's classic score is indeed used at least once, and not just the main G theme (not sure yet that's used at all) but one of the related creepy horrifying destruction themes which didn't get used much or at all after G54.

* The filmmakers take the fan theory that Godzilla's form in the first series (the classic "Showa" series that ran until the mid 1970s) kept changing because Godzilla kept mutating into less primitive forms, and make that the new canon within the film! -- and they really run hard with it! They even go so far as to nod to how the suits were often falling apart and rotting in the Showa series!

* This Godzilla is meant to be a rotting, festering abomination, increasingly scarred and burned from humanity's counter-attacks as well as from his own burning radioactive energy.

* Godzilla is very much an enemy to all life, including humanity (though not especially so, or not yet anyway), because going back to early drafts of G54 he's growing larger by eating other lifeforms. (This point is practically eliminated in G54, aside from an ancient legend of maidens being sacrificed on a raft to him.) His whole reason for being on shore originally is to eat the plentiful humans; and once he gets too large to effectively eat humans, he's still absorbing them by crushing them into his skin!

* Godzilla's traditional segmented tail design is an actual plot point in this film: the tail is basically growing out into its own creature as G's body absorbs and redirects organic material!

* G goes through at least 4 forms in the film, although we never quite see more than 3 of them. The first trailer (linked to in the thread above) showcases G's 4th form, which is still mutating into a fifth form. (It gets about halfway there before the film ends.) The first form provides the unseen mystery threat slowly revealing itself in the first act of the film.

* The first shown form (at least the second in his development), is a sickly yellow, and doesn't look much like Godzilla aside from the dorsal spines. It does feature the original G54 roar, which may have been added to assure fans that this is in fact Godzilla; but this multi-form developmental plot also allows the filmmakers to give us multiple kaiju, in effect, despite Godzilla being the only monster in the film.

* The yellow form is highly aquatic, with gills that gush blood! For reference this is typically called the first form or Form A. It's meant to be the size of G54, about 50 meters.

* G's Form B is larger (around 80 meters), and closer to standard G shape but still with a lot of differences. Among other things, he looks like his skin has been flayed off! The googly insane lidless eyes (borrowed in design from G54) feature prominently in Forms A and B.

* G starts growing into Form C while on land, so we get to see a transitional version. When this process starts, the creepy horror destruction Ifukube score from G54 also starts!

* G also starts growing into Form D while on land, toward the end of the film, and this is when the breath weapons develop -- although there may be a Form C breath weapon, too: at some point Godzilla exudes a fuel-air explosive mist which he ignites, firebombing the city, and this may happen before the more focused beam form develops.

* The breath weapon(s) are evidently a way for Godzilla to help regulate the radioactivity tearing apart his body. In the unseen pre-A Form(s), he has to stay in the water; in the twisted amphibious Forms A and B, he still needs to go back to the water to cool down. (This calls back to G54 again, explaining why after G's first major rampage on land in the dock area, where the metro train hits his foot, he just turns around and goes back to the sea of his own accord.) Form C has developed a hard burnt shell (shown in the trailers) containing the radiation better, but it's building up inside, so to stay out of water indefinitely he has to exude it. (Again giving a plot explanation for why in G54 he just starts randomly breathing a radioactive firestorm even though he hasn't been effectively attacked yet. In ShinGoji, he has been counter-attacked several times, and his beam weapon develops to fight this.)

* The iconic train-slamming-his-foot scene from G54, which takes a concept from King Kong and ramps it up to show how much bigger and more dangerous Godzilla is (I remember finally watching G54 as a kid, late at night with my brother, waking up around 3am to see it in the days before VCRs, and how impressive it looked when Godzilla picks up the train in his mouth and throws it), gets an epic re-imagine: it's done on purpose with several trains to try to knock him down! The idea here being that in Form C, he's too large to get up again easily so they'll have an easier time dealing with him once he's knocked over.

I could get into plot spoilers about Godzilla's origin in the film, and why he's developing the way he does, but that might be going too far -- I don't think the commercials are spoiling this yet. Anyone familiar with the plots to Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (from the Showa era) and Godzilla vs the Destroyer (from the Heisei era), will be able to make an educated guess, combined with a national disaster for Japan in recent years.

[Sir Slash]

That man knows his Godzilla.

[JasonPratt]

Literally the first film I ever saw at a theater: G vs Megalon. 

[W8taminute]

Literally the first film I ever saw at a theater: G vs Megalon. 

Believe it or not same here.  I had to practically beg my mom to let me go with my friend to see it.  When I told my mom that my friends mom was taking us I got to go!  :)

[Staggerwing]

The first movie I actually remember seeing in the theater was 'Latitude Zero' (though I had probably been to a disney film or two when younger) and, what do you know, it was a Toho film:

[mirth]

The first theater movie I can recall is Across the Great Divide.

[W8taminute]

^^That looks like it was a good movie.  Gonna have to check that out.

[JasonPratt]

For that matter, the first movies I was ever in the proximity of (so to speak) were kung fu and kaiju films late at night when Dad had his turn giving me a bottle.  O0

The only way that could be earlier would be if Mom pressed her tummy regularly to the TV so I could hear what was going on! 

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, limited theatrical showing for 9 days in American this October, presumably as marketing for Filmation's Blu/DVD release which, on this theory, would likely be Halloween.

So coming to America sooner rather than later. But alas, no showings in theaters anywhere near me yet...  :'( :'(