So from what I read after Final Wars they wouldn’t make another in 10 years, and we’re magically 10 years later and this American version is out. You bet Toho is keeping a very careful eye on this.
Didn’t the '85 Godzilla involve him going into lava? What the hell am I thinking of? That’s the one with Raymond Burr back in it, right?
— Alan
No the American film is just it’s own thing. Like any other hypothetical American Godzilla movie which does not exist would have been it’s own thing. If it had existed. Which it does not.
Gareth Edwards has openly stated he hoped it did so well and that Toho liked it so much that they made it a part of a new Continuity. Of course, I can publicly state that it would be awesome to have super powers and could the universe please give them to me. . . and well let’s just say I’m not currently super powered.
But if this does well, yes I think Toho will at least kick off another series, even if they ignore this movie and we’re resigned to a future where the next American Kaiju movie is “Gypsey Danger, Cthulhu, and Godzilla Fight it Out!” One assumes the reception in Japan is of paramount importance in this case, but I wonder. It’s a brave new world, and I think future Toho releases will enjoy more widespread release abroad than ever before. I’m hardly alone in thinking this, I should note. And for all I know Toho has announced plans for something and I am simply unaware (I don’t scour the tubes for this sort of info as a general rule).
Certainly, it would be nice to produce an American series if nothing else. If this does well, unlike the hypothetical. . . well you get the idea. That is a definite possibility.
Didn’t the '85 Godzilla involve him going into lava?
Yes, where he as trapped. Or something. Except you know, he wasn’t.
That’s the one with Raymond Burr back in it, right?
That’s the American release of 1954.
Excellent scholarship, sir. I feel educated.
I learn all of these things because I love each and every one of you.
They brought him back for the American release of the '85 movie.
— Alan
Did they? I had forgotten.
Seriously? I’m not in a position to criticize another nerd’s tastes, but one of the fundamental requirements to show up on any of my “best of X movies in Y years” lists is “do not want to punch each & every cast member in their smug, stupid, pretty faces.” Cloverfield failed that one spectacularly.
In my book, there are two kinds of people: those who think the original Gojira is still the best monster movie ever made; and those who are crazy. :)
Anyway, the teaser looks promising; if nothing else, it suggests the director understands Godzilla should fundamentally be a disaster-horror film, not simply a giant-monsters-smashing-skyscrapers action film.
I hated Cloverfield so much. What a terrible execution of a good premise…
A prize for the first mention of Gojira rather than Godzilla!
Personally, I fall into the “crazy” camp. Gojira is a bit dated for me, and I can easily rank Carpenter’s The Thing, the Fly remake, and Alien higher. Gojira is possibly the best giant monster movie ever made, but that’s not a difficult achievement.
I’m surprised nobody has commented on the 2001 music used in the first part of the trailer. So ummm… hey, how about that music? Right. Carry on then.
I noticed it, but thought it might be just me, rather than an actual reference.
Oh I caught it as soon as I saw it, but kept forgetting to mention it.
— Alan
I am of course assuming that the actual soundtrack for that part of the film will be Danger Zone or equivalent.
And the last shot will be a dissolve to a wasted Archer preparing to go on a Godzilla ride again?
I probably should’ve said “best kaiju movie ever,” but I didn’t want to cross the streams with the “Pacific Rim” lovers `n haters.
If you’re excluding the original King Kong, then Godzilla 1954 is certainly a good choice for best giant monster movie ever. That said, there have been so few that have been good movies at all.
But they’re like pizza for me - even bad giant monster movies are still giant monster movies, and therefore need to be watched. But Cloverfield was just fantastic - no other movie has even attempted to make giant monsters feel credible, or spawned those primal “what would I do in the situation” thoughts that are so much fun, because most giant monster movies are fantastical and nonsensical.
All of the giant monster movies Japan produced from 1954 until King Kong vs Godzilla in 64 at least tried to make some sense. Almost everything after that had the sensibilities of professional wrestling or, even worse, was some maudlin polemic in which the plot was barely coherent.
I honestly don’t understand this perspective at all. It sounds brain-damaged to me, like someone proudly declaring how terrible Usain Bolt runs.
I mean that in the nicest way, lol.
That about sums it up. As with professional wrestling, the highs are still amazing in their own way. But the lows are what they are.
Giant Monster movies are also like pizza for me. I’ve still have one Millenium era movies to see (in fact, I think I may polish them off this weekend; Tokyo SOS). The only other Godzilla I haven’t seen is Godzilla versus Megalon. And the reason I haven’t seen it is sort of complicated; the universe basically interdicted on what must have been 10 attempts to watch it between 1979/1980 and 1987. I have since seen snippets, but I kinda of feel like I’m not supposed to watch it.
Consider:
Summer of 80 or 81 - Swim Team practice, agonizingly, starts like 30 minutes into this leg of the creature-feature thing that comes on during the week during the summer. So you get like 15 minutes and then mom wisks you away. It’s basically raining lightning. We have power, though, and through Kid Physics I have determined that we won’t lose power. And there is NO WAY we are going to have practice for an event that invovles swimming in water. Outside. During a rain of lightning. We never practice in this situation. EVER. Mom says they didn’t call to cancel practice. We go to practice. We sit under shelter for AN ENTIRE HOUR while it’s raining lightning twice as hard before they finally cancel practice. No power is ever lost. Get home in time to have completely missed the movie.
Next summer - THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENS. This is like the 2 times out of 27 in 4 years Swim Team practice is not cancelled at the times it is very obviously cancelled. WTF.
Summer 81 or 82 - I get into an argument with “Rick” about whether Godzilla could defeat “a giant-sized Demogorgon”. I don’t know what Demogorgon is, or what “D&D” is (I will in 1983, though). “Rick”, who is older and VERY cool, is sadly wrong in this case. Another kid then says “hey, Godzilla versus Megalon is coming on, you haven’t seen that, let’s go watch it!”. And then Mom calls me home, middle of the fucking day, because I have something stupid like a play date with some kid I have never heard of that nobody ever told me about. I think he played with dolls and that’s what I sort of had to sit and watch happen. Look, I’m not judging a boy playing with dolls here, but do you honestly think me at age 8 or whatever gave a flying fuck about dolls when there was a Godzilla movie on?
Summer 82 - GODZILLA DOUBLE FEATURE THIS IS GREAT. Mom says, “No, you have to go to a birthday party.” I blow gasket. Mom says “it’s a chuck-e-cheese party, you love Chuck-E-Cheese, and you’ve seen those Godzilla movies” (for those not in the know, Chuck-e-Cheese was awesome back then). I can’t actually explain to her that I haven’t seen one of the movies because my head has exploded and I’m bleeding out of strange places on the floor. End result: the one time in my entire life I am not feverish with excitement at stepping into an arcade. I enjoy myself, but it isn’t the same. My two great passions in life have collided, and the end result is me learning that it’s possible my parents hate me and I should never trust adults.
Spring 83 - Another birthday party, for my best friend. I have the decency not to complain, because he is one of my two best friends. But the cake tastes like ash.
Summer 82 again- there it is, clear as day. Godzilla versus Megalon. But my other best friend wants to go exploring. Have great day exploring, but damn building is passionless while I wonder how Godzilla is fairing.
Late Summer of 84, possibly early fall - for the FIRST TIME EVER I find a Godzilla movie on TV after we moved at the end of the 1983 school year. Fate, because she is sometimes kind, means it’s Megalon again. Mom, because she hates me, has banished her two sons from the house for the day. It will be something like 6 months before I find another Godzilla movie on tv. I will never forgive her.
Godzilla vs Megalon isn’t one of the good Godzilla movies (far, far from it). The universe has basically said “You are not going to watch that movie”. So what happens if I try to watch it now? Aneurism? The chick from Ringu crawls out of my tv and eats me? Or maybe the universe admires my pluckiness and my next lottery ticket purchase is my last ever lottery ticket purchase? Hard to say, really.
I know that it wasn’t the point of the post, but that story really underscores what a charmed era we live in in terms of media consumption. Back then, basically the only way you could see it was to luck into catching it on some obscure cable channel creature-feature. Now, it’s just a Netflix this and a Hulu that, or worst case scenario Amazon and free 2-day shipping.
Unlikable characters, excessive shaky cam where the guy never actually films what “you” want to see, or films in a remotely believable fashion, oh I could film the giant monster everyone is looking at, or I can just film everyone looking at it. Film makes the same mistake as Godzilla '98, going with a long segment of tiny monsters, though they were arguably cooler than the big monster in this instance. Monster design was kind of meh in my opinion as well, suffering more so from a lot of the early leaked designs being far better.
As a long time giant monster movie fan, that movie remains a huge disappointment.
Also the viral campaign and extended universe stuff around it just makes the movie worse, negating some of the cool bits of the movie. What seems to be the origin of the monster arriving from space being caught in the old footage is actually a satellite that bumped him on the head and woke him up? What? Ugh…