Godzilla! (2014 remake) (cinema, films, Hollywood, scenes)

[Gatsby1925]

As most of you may already know, the King of the Monsters is getting another remake that is set to come out in May of next year. Another trailer was released yesterday at Comic-Con, and the reaction toward it has been extremely positive. From what the director, Gareth Edwards, said in regards to the film, it is an origin story, there are going to be at least two additional monsters, and he wants to focus heavily on character development so it doesn't become a simple monster smash movie with cardboard characters. From what the trailers depicted, Godzilla looks HUGE, and actually looks like what Godzilla is supposed to look like *coughEmmerichcoughDevlincough*.

The original Godzilla (the Japanese uncut one, not the one with the bad dubbing and Raymond Burr awkwardly injected) is one of my favorite movies and, in my opinion, a classic. It was more than a monster movie; it dealt with issues that the Japanese were facing less than a decade after World War II. While it was the origin of an iconic monster, the deep themes of nuclear war and scientists creating weapons made it a classic. Plus, it being in black and white helped with the technological limitations of filmmaking at the time. If you watch some of the Godzilla movies that are in color, it's not hard to see how artificial the monster looks. I believe that this movie being in black and white makes the monster look much scarier, and the destruction much grimmer.

Toho would go on to make a lot of films starring Godzilla, but those range from being delightfully cheesy to really bad (see Godzilla vs. Megalon.) in 1998, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were brought on to reboot the franchise, on the condition that they would be allowed to do it "their way." Unfortunately, that movie was an absolute piece of crap of epic proportions. The acting was terrible, the "monster" looked and acted nothing like Godzilla, and the amount of scenes ripped off from Jurassic Park were laughable.

With the original film's 60th anniversary coming up the year this reboot is set to come out, I want to ask you a few questions. Are you excited about this film? Do you think that Godzilla is a franchise that's worth rebooting again, even after the absolute failure of the first attempt? Do you think it would hold up in this era? And are the relatively low amounts of box office receipts that Pacific Rim is earning a warning about this type of movie?

[skel1977]

The king kong remake wasnt terrible. I think CGI could help make this a success.

[Nerf Herder]

I thought Pacific Rim was doing well?

[Gatsby1925]

Originally Posted by Nerf Herder

I thought Pacific Rim was doing well?

Its opening weekend numbers were disappointing. It finished third to Despicable Me 2 and Grown Ups 2, respectively. It makes sense that the former would still be going strong in the box office, as it is a kid's movie and a GOOD kid's movie, at that, but I am stunned that Grown Ups 2 did as well as it did. The trailers looked absolutely horrible, and the reviews blasted everything about the movie. When you compare the hype that the movie got and the fan anticipation behind it, the end numbers are disappointing.

King Kong was a great remake, but filmmakers have to be careful with how they use CGI. CGI is a great thing when used properly and when not used as a crutch, but a trend I have noticed over the years is directors and cinematographers relying on CGI to the point that it looks far more phony than it would using models. Plus, you don't want to shower your audience with shiny special effects at the expense of neglecting a solid plot and good characterization.

I am optimistic that this will be a good reboot. There hasn't been a Godzilla movie since Final Wars came out in Japan 9 years ago, and so long as he doesn't do anything that the first "reboot" did, he'll be fine. he did a great job with his indie film "Monsters," so I am confident that he is the right man for this job.

[DesG73]

I am very skeptical. As a life long Godzilla fan the bitter taste of that POS from '98 is still in my mouth. Hollywood needs to accept that they will never do the legend justice. Just like they need to accept that horror as a genre is dead. The only way I'd be interested is if Toho was doing it. Heck it's been almost 10 years since Final Wars so when are they doing a new flick?

[Darthfrodo]

I've always been a huge monster movie fan, so I'm actually looking forward to it. Or at least hoping that they do it right more so than thinking it needs a reboot. The 1998 one isn't what I'd call a classic.

Just keep Mathew Broderick, and Jack Black out of it.


I want to see Pacific Rim eventually, but I didn't care for the promotion. Instead of a Monster Movie, it was promoted more as a Giant Robot movie. I'd be more interested in seeing Voltron.

[Gatsby1925]

A model taken at Comic-Con. It may or may not be the final design, but it will give us a descent idea of what Godzilla will look like:



Plus, a teaser poster of his tailer and some helicopters.



He looks HUGE.

[legalsea]

Originally Posted by Gatsby1925

A model taken at Comic-Con. It may or may not be the final design, but it will give us a descent idea of what Godzilla will look like:



Plus, a teaser poster of his tailer and some helicopters.



He looks HUGE.

That model looks like the original Godzilla, at least to me.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Gatsby1925

Toho would go on to make a lot of films starring Godzilla, but those range from being delightfully cheesy to really bad (see Godzilla vs. Megalon.) in 1998, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were brought on to reboot the franchise, on the condition that they would be allowed to do it "their way." Unfortunately, that movie was an absolute piece of crap of epic proportions. The acting was terrible, the "monster" looked and acted nothing like Godzilla, and the amount of scenes ripped off from Jurassic Park were laughable.

With the original film's 60th anniversary coming up the year this reboot is set to come out, I want to ask you a few questions. Are you excited about this film? Do you think that Godzilla is a franchise that's worth rebooting again, even after the absolute failure of the first attempt? Do you think it would hold up in this era? And are the relatively low amounts of box office receipts that Pacific Rim is earning a warning about this type of movie?

In the 1990s Godzilla, I prayed the big lizard would eat Mathew Brodderick, Maria Pitillo (who must be some weathy movie guy's girlfriend), the casting director and the NY Rangers in Madison Square Garden (I was an Islanders fan ). It's my favorite example of WORST CASTING EVER! The weird thing though is that movie had the absolute BEST EVER TV promo ads. Whoever conceived the fishing dock ad and the New Year's ball dropping ad for that Godzilla movie were geniuses. Not excited about a new Godzilla.

[Mark S.]

They had me at Bryan Cranston. I'm in.