Godzilla

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**Grey Templar**

Spoiler:

**Manchu**

Bit of having your cake and eating it, too. Visually and thematically, the film posed as sober and realistic. But all of these conceits cut against that grain. For example, I hear lots of praise about the film meditating on the destruction (contrary to, for example, Man of Steel). And yet

Spoiler:

This is just the most egregious example. Oh I get it, this is where I'm supposed to say "well it's just a Godzilla movie."

Grey Templar wrote:

Spoiler:

Maybe not the blast, but the fallout from a modern nuke that close would have still exposed hundreds of thousands of people to very high levels of radiation. No way is just a minute by ferry boat off the Golden Gate Bridge outside the safe zone.

Nope, the Captain said we don't have to worry about that. So forget it and "meditate on the reality of destruction" unlike that awful, callous Man of Steel.

**BobtheInquisitor**

Godzilla 1985 did the whole thematic thing better. The new Godzilla really was an hour and a half of near-filler with one very exciting monster fight.

Speaking of having your cake and eating it, too, did they really think it would be a good idea to take the tone, pacing and screentime from 1954 and then apply it to a 1960's-style "Godzilla vs _________" plot? He's an unstoppable force of nature, destruction unleashed, who avoids harming children and saves the world? Huh?

**Ma55ter_fett**

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Godzilla 1985 did the whole thematic thing better. The new Godzilla really was an hour and a half of near-filler with one very exciting monster fight.

Speaking of having your cake and eating it, too, did they really think it would be a good idea to take the tone, pacing and screentime from 1954 and then apply it to a 1960's-style "Godzilla vs _________" plot? He's an unstoppable force of nature, destruction unleashed, who avoids harming children and saves the world? Huh?

Also he's an alpha predator that never eats anything.

**A Town Called Malus**

I enjoyed it.

Spoiler:

Why must it always be a soldier who saves the world Hollywood?

Please don't forget spoiler tags! ~Manchu

**Ahtman**

Ma55ter_fett wrote:
Also he's an alpha predator that never eats anything.

He eats the radiation from the Earth, and doesn't want to share it with other creatures like the MUTO, which threaten his nap time absorbing the radioactive nom noms.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

A Town Called Malus wrote:
Why must it always be a soldier who saves the world Hollywood?

While he was the main character, I didn't feel like he alone saved anything, barring the one scene where he set the eggs on fire. For the most part it was a group effort. I imagine they showed military because most civilians don't have access to aircraft carriers and fighter planes.

**Manchu**

Ma55ter_fett wrote:
Also he's an alpha predator that never eats anything.

Nice one. I guess the idea is, he is a predator in the (non-technical) sense that he kills other organisms that compete for the same resources as him.

Ahtman wrote:
he MUTO, which threaten his nap time absorbing the radioactive nom noms

How do you mean, threaten?

Spoiler:

**Alpharius**

I think that the assumption is that Godzilla literally cannot rest while other Kaiju are active.

I think!

**Manchu**

Alpharius wrote:
I think that the assumption is that Godzilla literally cannot rest while other Kaiju are active.

The film asserts an ecological explanation:

Spoiler:

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
He's an unstoppable force of nature, destruction unleashed, who avoids harming children and saves the world? Huh?

That's a pretty awesome point. For example

Spoiler:

Contrast that with All Out Monster Attack (2001), where the hospitalized girl sighs in relief as Godzilla stomps off only to be killed when his tail whips around and smashes the building.

A movie about the real horrors of violence and destruction would be better without an impossibly large reptilian sea monster.

**Ahtman**

Manchu wrote:
Ma55ter_fett wrote:
Also he's an alpha predator that never eats anything.

Nice one. I guess the idea is, he is a predator in the (non-technical) sense that he kills other organisms that compete for the same resources as him.
Ahtman wrote:
he MUTO, which threaten his nap time absorbing the radioactive nom noms
How do you mean, threaten?

Spoiler:

Closest I could figure is parasitical infestation.

I have no idea, just reiterating what was presented. They call him an alpha predator but if anything they seem to posit that Godzilla is some sort of Gaia white blood cell.

**Manchu**

The scientists seem torn about whether he is an animal or a deity.

Not sure they are the best scientists.

**Nevelon**

Manchu wrote:
The scientists seem torn about whether he is an animal or a deity.

Not sure they are the best scientists.

To be fair, Godzilla has elements of both going on.

**Manchu**

Nevelon wrote:
To be fair, Godzilla has elements of both going on.

Agreed in terms of the overall franchise. The world this movie attempts to depict is hard materialist, however, which leaves the scientists looking foolish. But that's par for the course for them.

Spoiler:

In fact, the only thing useful a scientist says in this film sounds suspiciously like a lie.

Spoiler:

Interestingly, the film does not seem to critique science or scientists. If anything, Watanabe's Serizawa is portrayed as something of a prophet and moral compass. But upon closer examination, he's totally superfluous except as a mirror for the filmmakers' and audience's flummoxed credulity.

**Ouze**

Isn't Godzilla's blood radioactive? I believe I read that somewhere, although possible it was non-canon.

That might have been a problem for

Spoiler:

**Slarg232**

Well, I'mma go see the movie at in two hours, so I'll let you guys know what I thought of it when I get back.

**AegisGrimm**

Nevelon wrote:
[/spoiler]In fact, the only thing useful a scientist says in this film sounds suspiciously like a lie.

Spoiler:

When Ford asks Dr. Graham why Monarch did not kill the MUTO in Japan, she says they were afraid its death would create a radioactive disaster. She does not give any explanation as to why that would be the case and the audience has no reason to believe Monarch would dispose of such a rare and valuable specimen.

Interestingly, the film does not seem to critique science or scientists. If anything, Watanabe's Serizawa is portrayed as something of a prophet and moral compass. But upon closer examination, he's totally superfluous except as a mirror for the filmmakers' and audience's flummoxed credulity.

Spoiler:

**thedarkavenger**

Soladrin wrote:
Manchu wrote:
Soladrin wrote:
story was better
True

Soladrin wrote:
characters were more interesting
True (TBH the main characters were about equally boring)

Soladrin wrote:
the CGI was better
False

Soladrin wrote:
there was a lot more of it
True

Fair enough, saying CGI is better is a bit of a over generalized statement. What my point with that was is, because there was so much more of it, more environments too, it left a way better impact on me. Also, Godzilla suffers greatly from the curse of BROWN. Apart from glowy godzilla and glowy MUTO's, that movie had 2 colours.

I've figured it out. A mummy Mothra and a Daddy Rodan had a special hug!

**Manchu**

AegisGrimm wrote:

Spoiler:

You mean, why were they worried about killing the MUTO in Japan, when they explained in the same scene that it was absorbing all the radiation leaking from the entire ruined plant, and made it easy to allow the viewer to assume that killing it would release all of it? The MUTO containing the radiation in it's body was the only reason that the disaster scene was "clean" for humans.

Spoiler:

**Jimsolo**

If there's no Godzilla Shuffle, I give it zero stars.

**paulson games**

Maybe Godzilla is just a baller and killing is his thing, doesn't need a reason outside being an ice cold killa-zilla.

Other monsters roll up in his hood without proper respect and he's gotta show them just how OG he is really is.

**CptJake**

paulson games wrote:
Maybe Godzilla is just a baller and killing is his thing, doesn't need a reason outside being an ice cold killa-zilla.

Other monsters roll up in his hood without proper respect and he's gotta show them just how OG he is really is.

Exactly, he puts the Alpha into Alpha Predator, which is how they referred to him.

**paulson games**

Alpha predators often drive off or kill anything that they see a threat to their dominance, it's not just about eating. Lions routinely go after a wide number of animals in their domain to kill not only them but their offspring so that they can prevent other predators from competing with future generations of their pride. Similar behavior has been seen with killer whales and dolphins who go after sharks in their area.

**BobtheInquisitor**

Manchu wrote:
The scientists seem torn about whether he is an animal or a deity.

Not sure they are the best scientists.

Communications science is still a science...?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ouze wrote:
Isn't Godzilla's blood radioactive? I believe I read that somewhere, although possible it was non-canon.

That might have been a problem for

Spoiler:

all the bystanders at the end, when he's laying there with presumably many open wounds.

Traditionally, I think his mere presence rendered an area radioactive. Also, everyone in SF will die from Firefighter's Lung in a few years, anyway.

**Manchu**

The idea that Godzilla is just a bastard is fine with me but it's not what the film presents.

**Ouze**

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Also, everyone in SF will die from Firefighter's Lung in a few years, anyway.

I also thought that when watching that scene. Don't worry, guys, Christie Todd Whitman said there's no problem.

**Ashiraya**

I hope the next film contains a little less bland protagonist and a little more guess what.

**Slarg232**

Ashiraya wrote:
I hope the next film contains a little less bland protagonist and a little more guess what.

Ooo, Ooo, Ooo.....

Gardening tips.

**nkelsch**

Ouze wrote:
BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Also, everyone in SF will die from Firefighter's Lung in a few years, anyway.

I also thought that when watching that scene. Don't worry, guys, Christie Todd Whitman said there's no problem.

The death count is going to be insane... and no one to 'sue' either. So one would hope 'humanity' would come together and be thankful to be alive... Realistically, Sanfransico would need to be closed for a decade to take down and clean out all the damaged buildings and deal with all the issues before they can even bother rebuilding.

But we all know that ain't how it is gonna go down. Humans are dicks and we are terrible to each other.

Bring on Mothra!!!

**Alpharius**

Rumor has it that Mothra is going to be the Bad Guy in the next one! :O

**Medium of Death**

Been reading this thread, but I seem to have taken away that Mothra is "good"...

Also, thank you Ouze for your amazing Dakka Bingo thing which I have only just discovered! No longer do I need to keep track of dakka bingo with my feeble mind. Truly, we live in a time of kings.