About the movie(Long read)

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tl;dr

Sorry guys I wrote the entire thing and when I posted the it, thw whole "You must be signed in to do so" But I WAS...so I had to do it all over again v__v 

I agree with you, everyone whas expecting something difrent, i whanted an Evil godzilla, but still good movie

I feel the advertising failed the movie, it was marketed as a different product than it was. However, Gareth actually told us a long time ago what to expect. He said he viewed Godzilla as a noble samurai who had to come out of retirement to set things right (or something close to this). I think that is exactly what we got. People were upset for a lot of reasons, but I think if it had been marketed in the way that Gareth had talked about, people would have had a better understanding of what they were in for.

First off, yes, you're right in that Godzilla's character has been inconsistently portrayed over the last 60 years, and different people expect or want different things from the character.

My issue is not how Godzilla was portrayed; wasn't crazy about it, but I could forgive that. Although the movie that was marketed and sold to the viewing public was decidedly different than the one we got. Can we agree on that? My issue is that all or most of those (Japanese) movies (and there are some I won't/can't watch), are pretty much entertaining experiences. You come away feeling entertained and perhaps getting out of it what you hoped you would. Now they don't have to be light-hearted, funny or goofy to be entertaining. I was just as entertained, if not more so, when Godzilla was "the bad guy".

As for the amount of time Godzilla's in each movie, I've never timed his appearances in each one. I'd honestly like to at some point, for shits and giggles. I'm sure it has varied, sometimes perhaps driven by budgetary or artistic restraints. I did time his screen time in the very first, Gojira. He appears maybe 15-17 minutes total, give or take a couple minutes either way. The thing with that movie is first, you're talking 1954 here; different audience, different sensibilities and expectations. This was also the first one. Also Godzilla makes his presence known in a pretty dramatic way 3 minutes into the movie, and he's peppered throughout until his first big reveal in Tokyo almost 46 minutes in.

I certainly would have liked to see more of Godzilla in his own movie. I'm not gonna lie. However, one of the main differences between the older Godzillas and the 2014 G is that when he's onscreen in those movies it counts. He's actually doing something. It may only be 14 minutes, but they make that time matter. They don't cut away from him doing cool stuff. The new movie takes a while to reveal him, which was fine, but when they finally do, he literally does nothing, or nothing we get to see! You're right when you said "based on what they wanted". Guess what? I wanted and expected to see Godzilla and to see him doing the cool things I've come to expect from a Godzilla movie! There was very little of that. Does he ever engage the military? How much destruction does he do? That's what I mean. When we see him he doesn't do anything! There's basically the fight at the end, which was fine. Of course, it was in the dark, and they kept cutting away to see what boring Ford was up to.

Look, I'm only speaking for myself. Others will weigh in one way or another. You liked the movie and I respect that. I liked it too. I just didn't love it. I was disappointed and thought that because of certain creative decisions this movie fell far short of what it could/should have been and it angers me. I'm really hoping the sequel(s) give us the Godzilla movie we deserve.

This was a good piece of writing about the King of the Monsters.

(Personally, I loved the idea of Godzilla being a nuetral force of nature.)

"People viewed this movie and judge it based on what they WANTED. Not what they GOT. To me that is a biased approach, and its unfair to the movie."

No, not really. Not when they CONSTANTLY kept pushing this movie by comparing to it everytime with Gojira (1954). So it's not fair to judge it by the way they advertised it? It's like advertising a product, if you say it does something it cant do, of course people will be upset. It is a FAIR argument, especially when they pushed it SO MANY times to be that way. Look, im OK with what we got, but to say it isnt fair to judge it because of the misleading marketing is just wrong.

@Asroturf, from what I've heard by a majority of people(Not from this forum) is that there was not enough monster action. Not enough fights. Not enough Godzilla. Most people are un familair with the 1954 unless they are a little older and or are Godzilla fans. They judge the movie by it not having the action they wanted. 

Great post Akio! :)

I think no matter what Gareth Edwards and co did, it was going to upset someone. Perhaps his respect for the 1954 original, led to too much constraint?

Personally, I do wish there could have been a little more of Godzilla on show. That being said, when we did see him, the impact was amazing! He looked so stunning that it had a real emotional impact on me! 

I'm pretty sure we will be treated to much more Godzilla action, and hopefully more of Dr. Serizawa in the sequels! 

This is why I don't talk about Godzilla 2014, too much different audiences which makes it almost always arguments only. I won't bash on the movie right now, all I'll just say is that I don't see it as a real Godzilla movie.