How many times is Godzilla going to be rebooted? 2014 edition

I have to admit, part of the expectation of a "back-to-basics" Godzilla was hoping for a dude in a rubber suit, and being a little disappointed with how generically slick it was, though maybe with such lax labor laws the guy would probably drown a few times while filming. Was the last hurrah for that sort of thing in the 80s?

even the 90s movies largely had rubber suits, and I think several of the ones into the 21st century.

ahh this is helpful!

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/22234-special-effects-in-godzilla-movies-history

I guess Godzilla 2000 is the first to have a fully CGI Godzilla

I'm with the quote here - I know it was CGI but it didn't look it:

But it's still necessarily CGI, which is what's great about this film's effects: Yamazaki and his team are using the latitude of computer animation to push their Godzilla to do things that no stuntman in a rubber suit could have possibly down, constrained as they all were by physics, but they also very carefully make sure that it always looks like a stuntman in a suit. As Godzilla thrashes its way through the Ginza district, in the film's big landbound setpiece (this Godzilla is primarily an aquatic animal), the flexibility and full-body vitality of its movements are like nothing else in this franchise, but it's never weightless. It's the very best kind of popcorn movie magic.

yeah they did a really good job with it. I'm usually put off by big computer monsters in blockbusters but he was dynamic and terrifying. lots of great open water scenes too which I loved.

ok I lied about the break. taking it after finally finishing Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah - Monsters All Out Attack.

think that puts me at 18....only half or so, but most of them watched in a month's time so give me credit.

My buddy wanted to see this again, so I saw it again. Held up! And while it was a smaller theatre, it was packed.

So I guess they are re-releasing this for a week in black & white for some reason. Has anyone ever preferred the B&W versions of movies, when they do this? "Fury Road," "The Mist," what else? Soderbergh made that B&W silent version of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," I guess that was a cool novelty, but mostly I prefer the original color versions of these gimmicks.

Really want to see this, so does my son, but we've had a hard time lining up a screening that works for us.

They also did a black and white version of Logan.

I massively prefer the b&w mist

That might be one where I slightly prefer the black and white version, but I didn't have a big problem with the color version.

Okay so I've seen the new Monsterverse one and SIIIIIIGH

My happily spoiler filled rant follows!

* First, an immediate breaking point for a lot of you: GODZILLA IS BARELY IN THIS. Maybe 15% of screentime or so? A more accurate title is _KONG (feat Godzilla): SOME BULLSHIT_
* Said ape's personal problems are the core of the movie and the first plot point involves whether his dental insurance plan covers tooth replacements. (I am only slightly kidding.) And indeed, a good chunk of his whole arc can best be called 'divorced/widowed/old dude hangs around with a young punk who he teaches the ways of goodness to as part of setting him straight given the bad crowd he's fallen into.' Imagine _Gran Torino_, but without the Torino, and only in ape noises. You will feel your mind melt into mush.
* The most 'I guess I didn't expect that' moment is when a typical-these-days sloooow motion goodie vs baddie personal clash moment is ridiculously interrupted. But it's still not that great.
* The implied body count in the film if you count all the various buildings smashed to bits across the globe is likely in the hundreds of thousands. To say that none of this has the slightest hint of resonance and overwhelming, shocking loss in comparison to something like, I dunno, let me pick something at random, _Godzilla Minus One_ maybe, is to understate. (I grant this is feature not bug with so many of the movies and this new one is long in the works and etc. etc. but...ya know?)
* KINDA speaking of which, a quick sequence in which three bridges are smashed in succession with people on them, well, they couldn't plan for that being all too resonant this week, but having a famed Muslim-majority city get violently trashed...well...ANYWAY MOVING ON.
* The Golden Earring "Twilight Zone" sync, I did like that, I haven't heard that in a while and I always liked that song, and it probably helped it was during the most visually interesting and weird part of the film. The Kiss, Foreigner and Badfinger drops, eh.
* At one point Kong and Godzilla shout at each other across the entire length of the Mediterranean and then one gets to the other five minutes later. Somehow, it is all very unimpressive and uninteresting!
* Various actors are on screen and they do act. I have nothing to say about any of them. (Except Rachel House, who always rules, but is given little to do except run around a headquarters and say things urgently, but awesome glasses, though.)
* Look, the end fight is okay enough, I guess. But that's faint praise.
* This is such a dumbass, haphazard 'franchise.' Even though it wasn't perfect or anything, I have to give a certain credit to Matt Fraction and crew for using the _Monarch_ series to try and retcon the previous four films into a vaguely consistent story instead of one that stumbles from situation to situation at best. But this new film doesn't help things any and probably just makes it all worse again.
* There is no easter egg or anything after the end credits. Just go home. Better yet, don't go.

Thank you for your service.

The advantage of a monthly Alamo pass that pays for itself pretty quickly is that I don't feel like I've shelled out for this thing.

ugh that sounds like more of the same from the 2014 Evans and 2019 Dougherty movies.

cosigning josh thank you for yr service it sounds dire

how hard is it to make a fucking monster movie ABOUT THE GODDAMN MONSTERS

Especially after Minus One got it done.

I do still hold Gareth Evans personally responsible for this infernal trend

It's never too late to blame Zack Snyder for everything being in slo-mo as well.

I'd put that more down to The Matrix (in terms of popularising it over the brim)

Wonder why del Toro wasted so much time with Pacific Rim, let alone Frankenstein and Pinocchio, when he probably could have made a really awesome (American) Godzilla.

wtf Pacific Rim was great

I thought it was fine and saw it once.

I don't recall it bringing anything to the table that would not have been brought by Godzilla.

i saw it MANY times so i think i am qualified to disagree with “it was fine” :D

Many!!! Hats off.

I recall Charlie from Sunny In Philadelphia getting swallowed by a monster? Also, robots controlled by stair masters, something like that.

Seen Pacific Rim maybe three times it's as fun as Del Toro Giant Mechs vs Kaiju could be. I like the flawed yet effective-above-its-weight Edwards-directed Godzilla also though.

Edwards has a gift for big imagery that often only shows in moments, but they last. Whoever thought up the paratroop drop silhouette moment, whether himself or someone else, had the best brainwave.

Godzilla Minus One still isn't streaming and has left theaters; and no streaming date in the forseeable future. I read somewhere the rumor is that there is some IP contract that is keeping it off because of this new shitshow movie.

Would watch the hell out of a Godzilla vs Big Man Japan franchise flick, otherwise it's a no from me I'm afraid

yeah Mr Veg was telling me it was some weird deal
with Showa & Paramount where if Showa releases the movie theatrically Paramount won’t show it on streaming for x amount of time, like a year?

idk i may have the details all wrong

Showa meaning Toho? (I mean, Toho is happy to take Warner Bros/Legendary money!)

ugh yes toho sry

I watched the new one with my 14yo Godzilla suoerfan son. My expectations were near zero, so to that end it surpassed my expectations and was perfectly entertaining, albeit with a low bar. But all of Ned’s comments above are spot on too.

Even with the threadbare connections from movie to movie, I just don’t think this franchise can sustain multi-film narrative arc. By now the majority of the film takes place in the fictional Hollow Earth realm, and the human characters are on more or less friendly terms with the titular monsters. There’s just no TERROR. And yeah like Ned said, when the action does take place in recognizable cities, the carnage is so cartoonish it’s totally devoid of any sense of what ought to be inconceivable tragedy.