Godzilla '14: Good, But Sadly Disappointing (Spoilers, Duh)

[adriane23]

thismeintiel said:

adriane23 said:

curl-6 said:

It's not just about Ken Watanabe's line. Since his birth in the 1954 film, Godzilla has represented nature biting back, whether it be punishing man for our nuclear sins, or in this case neutralizing a monster we awoke. It is well established in canon across 60 years and dozens of films. It's not just a throwaway line, it's a reference to a core element of the character that has been well established in series lore.

And this being a giant monster movie, perfect realism is out the window from the start. But the pulses the male emits before birth are concluded by the characters to be communication with the female; they only become a weapon after the male notices that what was presumably a cry for help conveniently disables his tormentors. 

Now you're basically just repeating yourself. Just like you say that perfect realism is out the window in a monster movie, so is coherence in a franchise that's lasted this long. It makes absolutely no sense that a predator shows up just to fight other big monsters and not see them primarily as a food source. It's just ridiculous and a plot point like that would actually make the movie complete garbage, so why do you believe in it so much?. It's 2014, not 1954. That kind of plot just doesn't fly anymore, especially for a serious movie. In this movie, Godzilla is the predator and the MUTOs are his prey. That was specifically said and I really don't understand why this basic facet of the plot bothers you so much.

The pulses before birth were concluded to be a method of echolocation, yes. They were not EMP blasts as the electrical equipment didn't get shut down until the monster started to hatch or until the military tried to kill it (I forgot which happened first). Which goes back to my first point. To be able to communicate that far of a distance with EMPs would disrupt electrical equipment for several miles each time the monster wanted to say hello. But you know what, maybe the people that made this movie were that dumb in not understanding how EMPs work, even though they were trying to bring some semblance of realism to this genre of movies. That's entirely a possiblility, but I don't think it's likely.

This has to be the most pointless argument I've had in my life. Reply if you want, I don't care anymore.

See, I didn't mind if Godzilla didn't eat the monsters.  Of course, I don't think you're saying that he needed to, either.  What you're saying is that within the own movies logic, Godzilla should have eaten them.  This is why I like the way the Toho movies set up Godzilla better.  He was an animal himself.  He caused destruction himself.  But, when he felt a monster was on "his turf," he would lay down some whoop-ass.  In this movie, they act like nature is a sentient being who just summons Godzilla when there are monsters attacking.  If you think about it, this whole "balance of nature" doesn't work, because what would Godzilla's purpose be in the beginning?  What balance was the MUTOs putting out of whack?  The truth is, they only brought Godzilla about because the MUTOs were attacking (well sorta) humans, even though Gareth stated that Godzilla doesn't care about humans.

I'm also getting tired of these weak strawmen arguments. 

"Well, Godzilla doesn't show up for about an hour in any movie."  I'm pretty sure I have come across 2-3 people complaining about it taking too long to get to Godzilla.  Everyone else, including me, enjoyed the buildup.  So, why use such a weak argument that almost no one disagrees with.

"Well, Godzilla is in only ~20-30 mins of his other movies."  That may be true, but you know why people don't complain about that?  Because when Godzilla gets there, he's treated with just as much importance as the other characters in the movie.  No cut aways so we don't see him destroy buildings and/or fight monsters.

"Well, it would get boring if the movie was just 2 hours of fighting."  Well, no shit.  Who asked for that?  No one.  But, I don't think expecting a 5-10 min fight (one that THE DIRECTOR even sets up to happen) is too much to ask.

"But, there was a 20 min fight at the end.  Didn't that satisfy you?"  Really?  What awesome director's cut did you watch.  I would love to see this 20 min fight.  Oh, there wasn't a director's cut?  You're just adding all the mins from when the fight starts (which, again, we cut away from to follow humans/Ford) to when Godzilla kills the female, even though most of that time is filled by us spending time with the humans/Ford?  Gotcha.  In reality, the fighting we do see is only 5-10 mins of screen time.  Which wouldn't be so bad, but unfortunately, the rest of the movie has been nothing but cock teases, so you're actually expecting to SEE a 20 min fight at the end.

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. I'm pretty sure I made my point clear, but whatever.  It's the internet after all and people will defend what they want to defend. Even if it's a movie that fails its own logic. And I agree that Godzilla took a back seat to everyone else in this movie. I wouldn't have minded that as much if Bryan Cranston stuck around for the whole movie, but well, he didn't.

I'm still looking forward to the next one. Hopefully, Godzilla is given more relevant screen time and the "movie science" is consistent throughout.