I wanted to tackle this movie on some other special occasion, but with all that's going on, I guess now is as good a time as any to show the nonbelievers that I might actually have competent reasons for disliking Shin Godzilla. And to back this up...I'm gonna throw arguments that have been used against me into this analysis of America's first ever attempt at Godzilla filmmaking. I'm actually surprised to say, but happy to say that there aren't too many people on my case about my opinion of Shin Gojira. But they are persistent. Which is kinda what led to this. And by the way, I'm going on the record to say that when I put this movie on today, I watched it with my friend, who's an exchange student from Japan. I don't know if he's a huge Godzilla fan but we talked briefly about the new film (which he hasn't seen), before moving on to Roland Emmerich.
This is the "Godzilla" movie that most fans will call the absolute worst of the worst. A film so bad, that Toho went out of their way to claim that the monster in this movie in no way was related, or represented the King of Monsters. And if that wasn't enough, they bought the rights to the film, just to kill the monster in Final Wars. For many Americans, this was actually the film to introduce them to Godzilla. However for me personally, I didn't see this movie until about halfway through high school. 2006-2007. And I'd already established myself as a fan of the big guy. I still remember my first movie (Godzilla VS Mothra: Battle for Earth), and remember the endless trips to Hollywood Video just to rent some Godzilla dub that I hadn't seen yet. It drove my parents insane. I didn't care. The first time I saw this film, I was much like the fanbase. I kinda hated it. But as years passed, it gained my attention, and now I see it as rather...harmless honestly. Not good, but the worst? I wouldn't call it that.
Despite what others would have you believe, this film doesn't just crash and burn at every angle. In fact, I'll go on a limb and say there is a lot of very well done aspects in this movie. The monster design. I loved it! If not for a point that we'll get to soon enough, this monster would actually be one of the coolest things on screen. It needs to be said that the dated CGI definitely shows at times. It can stand out like a sore thumb, but Roland has been there, done that, got the shirt before, and his visuals can still be very wonderful to look at. But that one point that I mentioned up above comes into play here. For a monster called "Godzilla"...there's surprisingly very little resemblance to Godzilla. But ironically enough, here's where my first argument for Shin Gojira comes into play. I've been told that my problems of the monster itself in that movie are irrelevant because it's a new incarnation, and not the same. So "New Godzilla" can be different. Well if that's the case then this Godzilla should have been flying high. Sure he can be wounded by the military, lack his trademark atomic breath, look more animal-like, and eat fish. This is a new Godzilla! The possibilities are limitless! This is point number one. If Japan can go through, not one, not two...but FOUR different eras and even more incarnations of Godzilla, why didn't this reimagining get a little less trash from the fanbase? It was America's first attempt. Their first incarnation. Surely no wrongs could be done! Hell, the opening credits strictly state that the character is "based on" the Toho monster of the same name. Based on. So we obviously did nothing wrong with this monster....Do you see the logic of this argument? I sure don't. I think I've made my point.
The characters of this movie can be ridiculously clichéd, if not downright annoying. One thing Godzilla movies never seem to nail are characters. They're so bad at this, that I actually made myself make a list of the Top 25 Best Human Characters in Monster Movies. And guess what...a few characters from this movie actually made the list believe it or not, because there are a few in this movie that are actually pretty fun. I like Colonel Hicks, the French Agent Philippe. Even Nick Tatopoulos got a mention...but I had to specify that it was the incarnation from the animated series, because the moment you see fucking Matthew Broderick on the screen, you wanna knock his block off. Why did they hire him off all people? The token Roger Hebert, and Gene Siskel characters are more than likely intentionally annoying, and Audrey...oh my God Audrey and the rest of the news channel characters in this movie just suck. They. Suck. I honestly believe their role in this movie was meant for a completely different story at times, as their interactions with other characters kinda just seem to drop the fact that there's a 100 foot tall radioactive lizard tromping all over New York City.
But when they're not on screen, the movie can be a fun watch. The action of this movie is very well done. Even if you're looking at scenes that borrowed heavily from other films from Alien to Jurassic Park, I find myself having a lot of fun watching the monster run through the streets of New York, outsmarting helicopters, and causing all sorts of havoc. I enjoy watching our protagonists trying not to get eaten alive by the hundreds of infant monsters in the ruined Madison Square Garden. But this action isn't backed by all that impressive of a story. While I will say that their reimagining of the origins of "Godzilla" can be very fun, bringing up comparisons to things like Chernobyl and whatnot, once that initial first wonder is done, very little can hold this story up. The middle acts can drag and be rather uninteresting. Again, the character interaction between Nick and Audrey can be very...off putting. It doesn't belong in this movie. In fact...I hate any scene that features only Audrey. She just complains about how she isn't treated fairly by her boss, or cries when she messes up Nick's reputation with the army. The political side of Herbert and Siskel is laughable at how pointless it is. You could literally cut it from the film and nothing would be different. I think Roland just wanted to give the finger to two of the best film critics out there who weren't impressed by his films...but they weren't even killed in the movie. Good job there Roland. And with little interesting story, the film quickly becomes its own excuse to blow up every NYC landmark it can. The Chrysler Building, Metlife building, Madison Square Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge...I'm surprised half the buildings remained standing in this film. This brings up point number two that I've been getting...where people say I didn't like Shin Gojira because it wasn't just explosions and nonstop action. Well compare that to this movie which kinda just...is that at times, and you find that I'm still not too impressed. The only thing I've really complimented this film on is the decently original beginning parts of the story. Before it just becomes a big cliché. The only reason I liked that is because it was competent enough and told well enough to keep my attention. Shin Gojira focused roughly 75% of its story telling to people sitting around tables. Tell me how that is good story telling for a two hour movie. Just try.
With as many problems as there are in this movie...I'm surprised I don't really bash it too much. Well there's a reason. I think the movie can be an entertaining watch from time to time. Take away the obvious problems, overlook atrocious characters, and focus on the actual decent elements in this story that pop up from time to time, then throw in a pretty decent musical score by David Arnold, and you actually have a decent monster movie. But that's the key word there. MONSTER movie. That's not what this movie was supposed to be. The title is Godzilla. When you put that as your title, there will be expectations, and nearly all of those expectations were absent in this film. Which is why I'll be honest and say I'm surprised so many seem to like Shin Gojira. It can tackle all the problems this movie tackled 18 years earlier. Differences in origins, monster design, hell...the military actually makes Godzilla bleed a lot in the new film. And that's just on the monster alone. I won't even get into how forgettable those characters are. The characters of this movie may be bad, but at least they're memorably bad enough to make an impression.
Godzilla is a movie I find very hard to rate. It's not good. But it's far from the worst. I doubt I'll ever really see anything worse than Godzilla's Revenge in this franchise. But for what this movie was...it wasn't a bad monster film. In fact, it can be a lot of fun...as a monster movie. If it had any other title, I'd be tempted to rate it a strong three stars out of four. But the title holds it back. When you call your movie Godzilla, there will be expectations. Expectations this movie failed to meet. And so while not the worst, I cannot rate it higher than a two out of four stars. It's...average. Maybe even slightly below it. But not nearly enough to annoy me in ways other Godzilla films have. I actually kinda commend this film in a lot of ways. It gave us a good monster even if it is the butt of everyone's jokes in the Godzilla fandom. But plain and simple, this movie isn't worthy of the title it bears and doesn't earn it. It's a damn shame because if this were to be renamed...Beast from 10,000 Fathoms...it would have faired so much better. It follows that movie much more faithfully than Godzilla. But it doesn't have that title...and therefore suffers.
Well there you go...I hope I've made my criticisms of Shin Gojira a bit clearer to those who disagree. Though I know deep down a lot of you probably won't get it still. Toho isn't perfection to me and never will be. They'll make mistakes as any other movie company will. I certainly hope their future Godzilla projects will be better, but if you'll remember right...I said that at times, this movie had more going for it than Shin Gojira. I know, how dare I. I'm sure that angered a lot of the fanboys but what can you do? They keep the fandoms alive, and they aren't going anywhere. I can admire the passion many of you have for Godzilla, and tip my hat to you...I just hope I can make my stance on things clearer in the future and whatnot.
Please feel free to suggest any movies you'd like for me to review. Leave a comment down below explaining what you thought of this movie, and as always...thanks for reading.
Final Verdict: 2/4
No comments:
Post a Comment