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The Godzilla Franchise


GojiColin

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I liked it. I am def interested in learning more about the Ambassador 's aide or whatever her title is. 

And not only can i use my standard "nick fury didnt show up to ask Gojira to join the Avengers," i can add "dum dum duggan did not show up in the helicariier to attack him."

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Caught the movie this morning with my brother and we both dug the hell out of it. I think its the first Japanese Godzilla film I've actually seen in full. One thing that left my brother scratching his head was the ridiculous amount of bureaucracy

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The bureaucracy was important.  It seems strange but if you understand Japanese culture this is how the government and businesses operate.  The elder members make the decisions while the younger members watch from the sidelines.

It was the perfect counterpoint for a few reasons.  They tied the government's response back to how they responded to the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown.  Career bureaucrats whose hands are tied over a threat which they do not understand nor do they have rules in a manual even when the disaster is unfolding right outside their window.  Not that they did a bad job it was just their hands were tied due to the overwhelming bureaucracy.  

The bureaucracy is an odd counterpoint because in most movies people make bad decision after bad decision before accidentally stumbling onto the correct solution.  In Shin Godzilla, the bureaucrats never made a bad decision.  They just struggled to answer a threat for which there was no manual to fall back on.  The Americans wanted to nuke Tokyo which would seem ok except the US already dropped two atomic bombs on Japan.  China and Russia wanted to haul this off somewhere where they can study it.  Every warlike country wanted a piece of the monster so that they could study it and make one of their own.

You had a government that was not only tied up due to their bureaucracy but the multilateral treaties stopping them from responding going back to World War 2.  

The first PM called off an attack to save two elderly people.  A very honorable action which may have cost him his life.

The second PM bowed in humility to the French representative asking for help to stop the bill in front of the UN Security Council.

These parts of the movie made it more realistic because this is what would have happened in real life.

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I dunno, it seemed they would announce findings as facts without evidence to back it up despite clear evidence otherwise.  First the evidence that the disturbance was a massive creature.  Than the expert female scientist who offers insight into what the creature is.  It seems like they wanted to ignore the problem until it swam up and bit them right in the ass.

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Remember Fukushima?  They putzed around making a decision hoping it would go away on its own.  Then when everyone realized how bad it was they froze unsure of how to respond.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster#Response

Two articles that dig into it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Godzilla#Allusions_to_3.2F11_Earthquake_and_Fukushima

https://www.inverse.com/article/22023-shin-godzilla-s-japanese-politics-and-meaning-of-godzilla-films

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3 hours ago, evilwaldo said:

The bureaucracy was important.  It seems strange but if you understand Japanese culture this is how the government and businesses operate.  The elder members make the decisions while the younger members watch from the sidelines.

Oh my brother understood the point of it. It was more him wondering how realistic it was comparatively to reality and whether or not our own government is like that.

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Saw it Saturday and it was absolutely wonderful.  I never thought I'd see a Japanese Godzilla movie in theaters, and I was amped just just by seeing the Toho logo.  There was a definite buzz in the room for this too, especially when you could tell he was approaching.  I liked the evolution from the dopey-looking creature to mega-evolution Godzilla.  The way he destroyed the city was awe-inspiring, such phenomenal shots of the destruction.  I was initially confused by the relatively quiet tone of the movie aside from the destruction.  It took a few minutes for me to fully appreciate the relatively realistic nature and I enjoyed it immensely for that.  @evilwaldo is spot on in his assessment of it, and it added a sense of gravity to the movie.  The idea of nuking Japan (again) left me with a sense of "Goddamnit, US, really?!" and I could feel the heaviness of it all.

As far as Godzilla movies go, it's easily one of my favorites.  I'm still unsure if it ranks above the original but if it not then it's a super close second.  If it ends up being my favorite it'll be due to the realistic nature that I was able to latch onto.  I really wish that folks like @Curt McGirt had a chance to see it, but man was this a blast.

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The night attack was one of the best horror/attack/monster destruction scenes I have ever seen.  Start to finish it was amazing to watch.

Shin Godzilla broke $1 million in its first four days in a limited release.  I wonder what it would have done with a wider release.  There was a lot of positive buzz after the first two nights.  Philadelphia and New York were late adds.  

 

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I need posters and figurines and everything they can market just for that night scene.  It was so ungodly glorious.

It was a pain for my wife to have a chance to see this so sadly she missed out.  Ended up going by myself which was great, but if they had this for longer I'd see it again and again so I can take her and whoever else.  I'm hoping they see this as a positive sign that there are people in the States who would not only watch it but love it.

And @odessasteps I didn't know what to expect with that original incarnation.  I was kind of laughing thinking "What the hell is that?"  And then it vented blood.  When it came back on shore and started evolving that was such a wonderfully crazy moment where the laughing stopped and the amazed wonder kicked in.

 

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...

So I popped in The Return of Godzilla today, mostly because it's been over a decade since I saw the Godizilla 85 cut   Toho wanted to steer the big G away from his kid friendly image and man do they do give it a go!

- I had totally forgotten the horror-esque opening bit with the reporter and the missing boat. Corpses and radioactive sea louses for everyone!  Honestly it kind of reminded me of the start to Zombi 2 in a way as well as the bug monsters from Cloverfield.

- Japan almost kicks off World War III by not wanting to admit they have a radioactive lizard problem.  Thankfully this is fiction and the world leaders of the USA and Russia are understanding folk.

- The big guy has certainly put on some mass (Rick Rude approved!) and has ditched his friendly wide eyed look for more narrow angry eyes.

- Scratch my prior statement statement. America and Russia are ready to nuke the crap out of Japan

- I was going to call the film out for its blatant nationalism, but having just watched The Green Berets recently I feel like it's a glass house situation.

- STAR WARS US REAL! RUSSIAN STAR WARS IS REAL! SECRET RUSSIAN NUKE CONTROLS IN JAPAN!  That won't backfire in any way. Nope.

- It's a little thing, but I love the animatronics in Godzilla's face/  The little snarls and lip curls are a great touch.

- Secret Russian nukes controls backfire, I'm as shocked as you are.

- Godzilla certainly has no chill here, He melts the JSDF, lights up a freeway full of escapees and then Gronk-spikes a train.

- The random Hobo trash-talking Gdozilla was random, but hey its Super-X!  Let's hear it for everyone's favorite jobber!  Super-X then takes out Godzilla with really fancy Tums.

- I think the Russians just killed more people via fallout then Godzilla will in this film.  This revives Godzilla and kicks off Super-X's string of defeats.

-Random hobo guy helps our main characters out, then keels over randomly.  At least he died as he lived in this film.

-In a fiery twist on Godzilla Raids Again they lure Godzilla to a volcano where the detonate N-7 mines (not to be confused with N-2 mines, right Anno?) and bury him where will never ever rise again.  For sure this time.

This movie's human plot is kind of weird as it's split between the usual lovers and the Prime Minister.  And I want to give props to Keiju Kobayashi as the Prime Minister; he gave one of those classic Morgan Freeman/Michael Caine "I will bring some class to this film damnit!" performances. The serious tone was a good change of pace but this wasn't an all time great.  Though it is the start to my favorite era of Godzilla movies,



 

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/28/2017 at 5:53 PM, GojiColin said:

I meant to post this a bit back, but Shin Godzilla gets its official US release on the 1st of August.  Plus it seems we'll be getting more limited theatrical screenings over the summer.

I have already put in my reservation on Amazon.

On 10/17/2016 at 2:27 PM, odessasteps said:

I've been hearing folks,esp kids, creeped out for the first incarnation. Between the googly eyes and venting blood, very weird. 

I think it was Godzilla's jaws unhinging before an atomic breath blast that freaked out most of the audience when I saw it in the theater.

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On 5/28/2017 at 5:53 PM, GojiColin said:

I meant to post this a bit back, but Shin Godzilla gets its official US release on the 1st of August.  Plus it seems we'll be getting more limited theatrical screenings over the summer.

Well, shit, color me excited.  Now I can see to get others to watch this with me on the big screen.  Any word if they're doing Blu Ray or is it still going to be DVD?

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2 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

Well, shit, color me excited.  Now I can see to get others to watch this with me on the big screen.  Any word if they're doing Blu Ray or is it still going to be DVD?

Both along with digital HD.

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Oh, and back to what evilwaldo said.

All of the stuff with the Japanese bureaucracy in Shin Godzilla may be a bit boring, but it is extremely important to the story.

Remember that Shin Godzilla is a not so subtle critique of the Japanese government's handling of the tsunami crisis that led up to the Fukushima Daichi nuclear disaster.

In Shin Godzilla, the bureaucracy moves decisively and always seems to make the right decisions on behalf of the citizens and that's important because apathy and lack of proactive leadership gives the monster more time to destroy everything in its path.

Good governance ultimately is what defeats the monster in the movie.  Poor governance is what made Fukushima Daichi a far worse tragedy than it should've been.

I know that monster nerds love to speculate about the ending of the movie, but I think it is more metaphorical than literal.

Spoiler

The reason that Godzilla has frozen humanoids in its tail that have fins as it does is because "we" are the monster. 

I don't think that the creatures in Godzilla's tail were asexually created offspring as the movie hints at.

Godzilla, like FD, was a disaster whose destructive potential was enhanced exponentially by human beings.

Whether it be government apathy or growing dependence on electricity to power our increasingly internet connected existence, humanity played a significant role in building the perfect engine of its own collective destruction and the only power capable of stopping it was the collective effort of humanity.

 

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