Not gonna lie. I was disappointed in the movie

@GMAN2887 : I can see where you are coming from when you made those comments in response to those who harped about their utter disappointment with Gareth Edwards. To me, I think there are those who misunderstood what Gareth Edward's vision for Godzilla 2014 truly is, and how he intends to propel the movie franchise forward. 

Let me put it across, the way how I see this new Godzilla movie. Basically the difference between enjoying the show or being disappointed by Godzilla 2014 is determined by people from two camps.

The first group of people are those who have an eye for deeper engagements, story depth and the style of cinematography, the art direction including the broader meaning of what Godzilla 2014 attempts to represent and achieve. And not surprisingly, many top critics who lavished praise on Godzilla belong to this category. And if you belong to this category, chances are, you will love Godzilla 2014.

The second group of people, are those who look for surface level engagements, they do not really care about the foreground, nor the broader level of issues. They prefer to catch awesomeness exploding right at their faces, the pummelling and all the adrenaline rush happening which brings out that kick factor. This to them, are ingredients of what a blockbuster movie should encompass. After all, its ficticious, so the more, the better. And this group of people would surely enjoy movies like the Transformers and Pacific Rim. Which is why you would notice that a number of audiences who criticized Godzilla for being weak often drew their comparisons with Pacific Rim. Likewise, worshippers of Godzilla expecting the King to do just that, will not enjoy Godzilla 2014 because his destructiveness wasn't brought out loud and clear enough.

Which brings me to interpret the intentions Gareth Edward has for Godzilla 2014. His style of direction is similar to how the lead monster remains elusive in Jaws and Jurassic Park. Once they make their presence felt, the allure is astounding. In Godzilla 2014, I can see that he tries to keep Godzilla's presence looming throughout the movie, but keeps his appearance to a minimum until the climax. Why is this so? Let's put ourselves in the shoes of a member of the general audience. If so much has been withheld and you ended up truely impressed with Godzilla by the time he makes his appearance right at the end and then goes back into the ocean, it leaves the door WIDE open to more questions about Godzilla's origins, and his history including his future. This is the perfect recipe for a sequel or a prequel to happen, which is why Gareth Edwards is putting his instinctive bet on this movie to spawn success. 

Just take a look at Pacific Rim. I enjoyed the movie, but a sequel or a prequel? Maybe not, cos I've had enough of all that smashing and whacking. Whatever follows will be the same, which is why even the producers themselves are unsure of a follow-up. There will be people of course who will bring Transformers into the picture to say nobody's tired of their sequels. Do bear in mind that in the Transformers' universe, the existing character-list is ever-expanding and they just get bigger and bigger with every incarnation, which gets people going. But to do this with monsters? Not so-cool an idea. 

Imagine if right at this reboot of Godzilla, one is exposed to everything that's to know about the titular character, his history, his origins, and all his awesome smacking and devastation. If Godzilla is directed this way, its not a bad thing, but it tires the audience out in the course of just one movie. If Gareth Edwards took this path, he can enjoy success in one movie but chances are people would be tired of the sequel or even the prequel because Godzilla's bag of tricks are already out in the open. So what if there's a sequel? It will just be the same smashing and wacking old shit. 

And I'm glad many people out there no longer just want to see a movie directed in that all-too-familiar classic Pacific-Rim style. Which is why you see more bouquets than brickbats handed out for Godzilla 2014. The only people I hear who have issues with Godzilla, are those who went in with smashing-expectations and came out with none. 

@GMAN2887- I had no particular Godzilla in mind. What tipped me off was the fact he didn't seem like a force of nature, but that's just me.

Another thing, I made this thread to see whether or not they were people who were actually disappointed in the movie, not to attract the attention of butt hurt fanboys, as Skreooonk1789 so generously demonstrated. If you are the the latter (like the above), please exit this thread and have a good day :)

@AggressiveKaiju45: No offence, but when you set up a thread like this in a Forum (Yes, this is a forum for discussion) telling people that you are disappointed with the movie, you shouldn't expect only 'Like-minded' people to respond and agree with your thoughts about the movie. You might as well call your topic an "Exclusively-for-those-who-are-disappointed-in-Godzilla-Thread. "

You are entitled to your opinions, likewise others are. When you label others like Skreoooonk1789 as butt-hurt fanboys, aren't you yourself a butt-hurt fanboy too? - The fact that you are in a Godzilla fan-site, and you expressing your disappointment makes you a fanboy too who's being butt-hurt about Godzilla 2014 with all that fanboy expectations of yours. Or are you just being selective about who to pick on? I dun see you asking the moderator to "Exit your thread" even though he too doesn't seem to be seeing eye to eye with you on your disappointment. 

I read here and there how this Godzilla was not  mean as he should be for this film; but I am pretty sure there was a good reason for this: the appeal with general public, and maybe the sequel . Maybe you already know it and let face this fact: when Godzilla become more popular was with the kaiju fighting formula, specially with the hero role back in showa era. Gareth wanted to make him strong but symphatetic for all the public, so the film should get great acceptance.  I was afraid in the past for a too dark tone with a mean Godzilla in this film because, at least in my opinion, that would hurt him more than help him to get accepted by the public. If you remember the first film, no body lamented Godzilla´s last moments, because according his role there represented the horrors that humakind could unleash to the world ruining and destroying the lives of others, like the atomic bombs launched over Hiroshima and Nagasaki; there are plenty references of it on the film: the guys in the train talking about to take shelter again, the mother that could not scape from the attack trying to comfort her children saying they will be with their father again, the orphan child contaminated with radiation, to mention some; afterwards it is mentioned at the end that if the atomic tests do not stop, maybe another monster like Godzilla would appear.  Maybe some fans would liked a tone similar to the original movie or even GMK, but think in a average guy seeing the movie, looking at the monster responsible of it getting throught the military attacks and killing everybody on his path without any remorse raising from the last round to continue with the next step in his destructive schedule. That viewer could thinK: "DAMM! Does he still continues?? When would they kill that f#####g beast? Come on guys, YOU CAN KILL HIM!!!!" If the character was accepted by the people, the film would be very, very accepted, and maybe get the chance to have its sequel, so all the developers could have the chance to get more money

@DestroyahX- Fair enough. I do apologize to everyone for my unwanted set of aggresion. I did not mean to use the label 'butt hurt fan boy'. I simply got provoked at Skreoonk implication of me being a retard. All I did was say that the blue colour of the atomic breath did not complement the new design, and for that he implied that I was some retard based on his misinterpretation. I'm not demanding special treatment of some sort, but atleast extend the courtesy of justification to my statements, like you have done so.

Once again, I apologize. That being said, it would be beneficial for all of here to lay of this topic now, for the sake of peace.

I think the movie was disappointing but when a film is so,people usually complain about the direction but I personally think this time the direction was good.The best thing about this movie are the visuals.Even when watching the trailer me and all of us and even non Godzilla fans thought this movie had good direction with those awesome and thoughtful shots.The bad thing in this movie was the human drama.If the human characters were more emotional and had a little more development it would've been more entertaining and also if Godzilla was teased just a little bit better.Overall I think this movie needs a sequel ASAP but with better screenwriters.

Something Real > - Well my least favorite part was the first half of the movie...with the humans.Some say its the best part but I didnt connect to them at all.Yeah there were a few touching scenes but it wasnt enough.Like I said in my last post I would've made the humans more deep to actually give a shit if they are gonna die or not.

Yeah but lets think about the positive things about it.Godzilla's design in this one was awesome and he was such a badass.The MUTOs were awesome.In short the animals were well made.The fight scenes were good and exciting.This is movie was not so bad if u think a little about it.It didnt throw its best scenes on the screens for their sake and at the beginning and the most important thing is that it didnt insult us fans like the '98 thing (i am not gonna call neither Godzilla nor Zilla).

@Something Real: Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. That's what I derived after going through many of the professional reviews found on Rotten Tomatoes' website and also those of many of my friends' comments on Facebook about the movie.

I found that most of them who weren't Godzilla fans or whose last experience with Godzilla ended off with the 98' version, were impressed with the tonality of Godzilla 2014 and many heaped praise on the impressive graphics. While those who grew up in adoration of being so used to seeing Godzilla smash buildings and terrify humans felt the new movie didn't quite do Godzilla the justice that it truly deserves as far as the storyline is concerned but they too were impressed with the CGI effects.

And to an extent, I could see why people, including @AggressiveKaiju45 felt Godzilla was underwhelming and unimpressive. It really comes down to a matter of perspective and whether we are judging Godzilla in this new movie with a clean slate of mind, or with a feverish pride that refuses to allow anything that would tarnish the majesty of this creature. If I judge this movie with that Godzilla-baggage I've brought along with, then I will say this movie is simply a let-down, but if I judge this movie from a fresh start, it is a good beginning. 

Let me bring out an example to consider. In the scenes where the US military attacked Godzilla with little/no effect, we could see that Godzilla was merely annoyed by the attack but at no time did Godzilla turn his attention towards the humans or obliberate them when he simply could, and instead focused his pursuit on the MUTOs. From a clean perspective, one would think the humans are so insignificant and powerless that Godzilla simply doesn't care about them, which makes Godzilla seem like a God. - Omnipotent and humans are impactless to him.

But from a pride-perspective though, Godzilla has turned so meek that its almost as if he is showing the basic 'courtesy' to humans by wrecking havoc, but not wrecking it so much so that it harms them or destroys them. It's like suddenly Godzilla has this consciousness in him that says humanity deserves to be saved on Earth akin to how God sees humans as an image of himself worthy of preservation, but Godzilla is certainly no human God. And by this consciousness, it all suddenly makes Max Borenstein's story script seem so wrong and absurd, because his theme revolves around the so-called 'Balance of Nature'.

And as far as the "Balance of Nature' theme is concerned, humanity as a whole isn't exactly balancing Nature very well. In fact humanity is wrecking the environment and decimating wildlife in the millions. Surely, Godzilla, in all his entirety and omnipotency should know this tiny little 'ants' to him are wrecking serious havoc to Nature. And to top it off the level of absurdity, humans are extracting nuclear power and leeching onto it. - Which is the very source of Godzilla's survival. If Godzilla is supposed to act on his survival instincts like how an animal would do, then based on this logic, the MUTOs should not just be the target. Humans should equally be targeted because what difference lies between humanity leeching on nuclear power in controlled quantities VS Mutos leeching on them in larger quantities? Its almost as though Godzilla is able to calculate similar to a human to think: " The humans don't pose a threat because they are controlling their nuclear use well, so I'll just sit it out in the ocean depths and do nothing."  If Godzilla is truly acting with his 'animal instincts', shouldnt' he come up and massacre all the humans, keep all that radioactive power for his own enjoyment and think about starting a family like the MUTOs too? How nice that would be. - Ah yes, now we remember this movie script was written by a human, hence the imperfection and absurdity in the storyline.

So when you consider the points I raised above, do you see why as much as many people adore this new Godzilla movie, there are also others who see absurdity and pour scorn on it?

It is a beautiful movie, only if you see less deeper and think less deeper. 

Since we're all being a little honest, I guess I should admit it's partly my fault. It's just that all the hype Gareth bought on me was too good to be true, especially from the trailer. The trailer made him look like he was the devil incarnate of nature, heck what sold me was the dark underlying tone in the trailer. But then in the movie, he seemed docile in comparison, taking care not to damage the boats in his way, not to mention very clumsy. I'm not expecting something similar to the "Expendables" or "Pacific Rim", but he could have been more. Every time he appeared on screen, it would immediately divulge to human characters, making the human drama element overwhelming and quite frankly, annoying (not to mention the human drama wasn't very emotional). Was he even the star of his own movie? Also another thing was that they replaced the closing shot of Godzilla roaring with him and muto fighting. Basically in a nutshell, the trailers and clips exceeded my expectation but the actually movie was far beneath it. 

Although I will say this. The way Godzilla himself come out was very good. And while it captured his bestial essence well, it wasn't enough in my opinion. @Talisman does a good job of explaining it.

At last! Finally got to watch Man vs Mutos (feat godzilla)!!!

I went to see it a second time today and it was so much better.The first I guess I didnt like it that much because I wanted just Godzilla + some things I didnt catch and didnt like and really because of this I didnt connect to the human characters but this second time I just went to see a movie not ONLY about Godzilla and I was able to connect with the characters a lot more and then the things that bothered me the first time this time I just accepted them and liked them and that enhanced my experience.In conclusion,go see a second time Godzilla and accept it as a film about some people too not only Godzilla and it will pay off a lot more.My first rate was 3 now its 4/5.Really good.

Hey all first time posting. I saw movie Thursday and waited a few days to post. I let the movie and lead up to it sink in some before deciding to post. A lil background so pleaee excuse the length. I have seen all but one of the eintire Godzilla series. I enjoyed pretyy much all of them to a.degree some more than others. FINAL WARS to me was by far the worst. It just felt like a Power Rangers movie. My faves. DESTORYAH, Godzillas Revenge.  G vs Smog Monster.  VS Biollante  and the first one. I actually saw G vs Megalon whenI was a kid and thought it was kinda hokey. And yes I know I love Godzillas Revenge but hated Megalon.

Leadin in to the movie I also thought that Godzilla was gonna be this bloodbath and carnage film. The trailers surely led us in this direction. At first wuen I saw Muto designs I was ticked. They resemblemed the Gyaos from Gamera and Cloverfield. I loved Cloverfield but was so.ewhat dissapointed that all the viral lead up was not included in movie. But with that film and this one I realized what they were trying to convey. Tbey were trying to show the message from the human and monster side while using the first film to set up a series where they could have both prequel and sequels. 

Im thinking Gareth dropped us right in the middle of something bigger.  He used modern day to show whereGodzilla the species had evolved from many people million years of existence.  If you think about it why didnt Big G go nuts on humanity after we tried to nuke him off the planet.  surely he was annoyed but probably thru evolution just decided to do his own thing and stay away from the pesky humans. Why did he return well this was pretyy simple and alot of people are overlooking this. The Muto was some form of natural enemy to him. Like when the fojnd the bones I the cave I think Serazawa pointed out that thse things were like parasites feeding off godzillas energy as he laid dying and possibly after that Godzillas death.  They only awoke after we helped them . Godzilla knew thru instinct if these two mated the world would be over run with Mutos as we saw in the hundreds of eggs that nuke would have helped spawn. Hence why AJT risked his life to light up the nest.  Im just thinking that Big G didnt try to straight out harm the humans cause it wasnt that important to his future survival as it was to rid the world of the Mutos before they bred.

And just because they didnt show it one can assume many people died because of Big G himself comi g assure you just didnt get to see the total scope of that.

Its setting us up for a sequel or prequel tyoe thing that shows and explains more of the Muto Godzilla relationship and im assuming at least Mothra and who k ows what other monsters I  future movies. Like Destroyah X had mentioned to try and tie uo and include all this in one film would have been a huge mistake. The movie would have been way too rushed and scatterbrained and im guessing we would be questioning why Edwards had tried tbat approach. Im thinking he was thinking at least two to three movies with more reveals and a conclusion in a few films. 

If anyone has watched his movie Monsters you can cleary see the title is misleading. It was us who was ghe monsters and not the animals that were spawned from the crashed probe. I thought back to the scene where the monster was toyung with the jet I the water almost like a play toy for a child.  Then at the scen at the end where they mated. By nature they didnt seem mean but the humans drove them to be agressive. Same theory apllies here to some extent.

In setting up the film this way Edwards hands are not tied moving forward. He has many different directions to go in. I for one am I intrigued to see where he chooses though ai have my own ideas and think this will be 3 or 4 films at most. 

I for one had no issue with Godzillas film time or how he acted. There was more than enough going on I the film to keep me happy till Big G arrived. I thought Female Muto scene with the train was creepy and suspensful. It actually showed a sense of how smart the mutos were. I wont divulge the whole scene.

I thought the final scene was one of the most realistic battles ive ever scene in a kaiju driven movie. Right down to the fatigue and sense of finality show by the combatants. It was even sad for all of them as my son  pointed out.

I think we need to let time and space decide how this movie and its future entries are viewed. Im thinking with yhe second and most likely third film all those who were dissapointed will get what they are looking for.

I didnt like that a bunch of cool things in the trailers were left out. Including the giant millipede or whate er the hell it was.  I also wasnt fond of Brian Cranston's only because you cant include him in any sequels and honestly if Edwards stays true to this movie you suddenly cant go back to say 2001 and have another monster show up. That in my eyes would take away the credibility of the first movie and Edwards grand visions. . Ill trust him here. Ive waited years for Clovefield answers im sure we will get them much sooner than that with Big G.

A few final thoughts. Take from it what you will but we all at least fohnd someyhing we liked from the film and lets hope it gets better from here.

I also would love to know if the rumored Mothra and Muto scene after crsdits kn some countries was true because it would lay a very cool scenario for a prequel sequel.

I will stop here and expound any thoughts further after any comments.

I will say two final thoughts. 

First I am thinking I may be only person on planet who caught someyhing absolutely hilarious going on in the background during one short scene. I laughed my butt off in the theater and everyone kinda stared at me. If u didnt look close and realize what you were seeing I csn see how it was missed but no review or discussion has mentioned it yet. Im actually gonna see film again before I bring it up. But if what I saw was actually what I tjought I saw Gareth put someyhing totally funny amusing and some what of a tribute to all those goofy Godzilla movies from years past. And no its not whats written on the sign.

Brings me to my final though I think we all know whose showing up in the next film. Not one but twoeaster eggs definately set that up. And lossibly a third egg.

Thats all for now. Great forum great discussion

There were definitely elements of the movie I found disappointing. However, I wouldn't say I was 'disappointed' in the movie. That's going too far. The good DEFINITELY outweighed the bad to create what for me, was my favorite Godzilla movie I've ever seen. 

Major Disappointments:

1. The script/story. It was a very 'let's get from point A to point B so the monsters can fight' sort of set up. It lacked the depth of what was advertised in the trailers. There were no character arcs (characters who changed over the course of the story). They NEED a better screenwriter for the next one, no doubt. 

However.....the script/story was still way more solid that MOST Godzilla movies. So as a Godzilla movie goes, it was still top notch. As a general movie, it was below average, although not necessarily poor.

2. Aaron Taylor-Johnson: He was bad. Like just bad. I know the script didn't give him much to work with, but that's not an excuse, because the script was thin for almost ALL the characters, but the other actors made it work. The emotional depth and layers that Sally Hawkins or Elizabeth Olsen pulled off with their characters was exponentially greater than what Johnson pulled off with his.

In fact, with Johnson's character being a specialist and NOT doing very much physically in his role, I almost wish he had just traded places with Elizabeth Olsen in character. (Well most ideally, I wish he had been re-cast altogether...but failing that....) Olsen could have delivered a lot more depth to the role, and still would have believable in the stunts....since less face it....there weren't that many. Women are allowed in the military after all in non-combat roles, which was what Johnson's role was. And then Johnson's flat acting as a male nurse wouldn't have hurt the movie as much because he wouldn't have been in it as much. 

However....bad as Johnson was, again, it was cheesy or embarassingly bad. It's not something I would be afraid to show my friends if they were sober like most Godzilla acting performances are. So again, as a Godzilla movie, this was still awesome :-)

3......nothing. Really nothing. Everything else about the movie I either really enjoyed (like the effects, the monster battles, the cinematography, etc)....or was more of a nitpick, rather than a disappoint. 

Nitpicks:

1. The score. Eh....it had a couple of highlights, but otherwise was pretty bland. Didn't hurt the movie though. It never detracted from a scene. It just didn't enhance many scenes either. 

2. The human response....it either lacked urgency or was irrational too much of the time. But the characters were still believable, even if some of their decisions were kind of silly. As opposed to the over the top, outlandish, implausible crap they've tried in previous Godzilla movies, this most recent movie seemed totally rational. 

3. A little more explanation....I do wish they would have explained a little bit more....Not a whole lot more. I don't like a movie where everything is blatantly, obvious, repeated, and in your face. I like subtle information delivery. But this movie was scating the line of just pure non-information delivery in a 'shaddup and just watch da movie' sort of way, where just a little bit more info would have raised the stakes of many scenes.

Like if they explained how Godzilla's atomich breath worked and/or what the drawback was, it would have added more to the scenes where he used it, rather than him just arbitrarily having the ability all of a sudden. When he just picks it up out of the 'blue' (ha I liked my pun) like that, then the audience is left with the "Well why the hell didn't you just do that out of the gate???" feeling....but eh...its still just a nitpick for me.

This is a sin practiced by MANY Godzilla movies....where he either doesn't use his atomic breath when he should....or he uses it all the damn time and the fights get boring. If he's going to use it in a limited manner, why don't we have some concrete limitations so makes more sense???? Still, nothing wrong with the breath in this movie that isn't also wrong in other films. And this breath looked SOOO Amazing, and the way he used it....almost completely forgiven for the lack of explanation in my book. 

4. Godzilla the Anti-hero/hero??? I'm ok with any role Godzilla plays in a film. I understand that the Japanese won't like it as much because he was more 'just an animal' than a 'metaphor' in the film, but that doesn't personally bother me. That being said, animal, metaphor, hero, villian, anti-hero, whatever way you're gonna portray him, it should be consistent I think. This movie didn't 100% make its up its mind on whether or not Godzilla was a hero or anti-hero. They seemed to be leaning on anti-hero for the most part, but then had some weird stuff happen (like the golden gate bridge scene) which made me feel like they weren't quite committing to that. Not a huge problem, but more consistency would be appreciated in the next film. I do generally prefer anti-hero portrayals of Godzilla over other types, but a true anti-hero needs to be a little darker/harsher/objectively apathetic than what this one was.

So yeah, that's everything. If they get a better script writer, recast Johnson, get better music, add maybe 10-30 minutes of world creating explanations + scenes where they find out why so it's not all just conference room dialogue exposition, define Godzilla's status a little more, and make the humans just a little smarter/more realistic, then this movie is damn near perfect for me. The Batman Begins of Godzilla movies :-)

By itself, taking as it is, the movie got close. As it stands, it's just the Dredd of Godzilla movies. Still pretty damn good...and my favorite one of the franchise to date.

***Not to confuse favorite with best....the 1954 film is still the best....but it's boring for me to personally watch....this new movie though I enjoyed watching more than I've ever enjoyed a Godzilla movie....so favorite is the term I will use***