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American Godzilla

RobertScorpio

RobertScorpio

Pariah
I hated Godzilla 1998...I went out on a limb, when I heard they were making it, and told my friends that it would be the greatest movie ever...IT SUCKED!!!

Then Cloverfield came out last year. I liked Cloverfield. I think, if they do a sequel, it will lose the 'raw' feel of the first one. And if they do the 'hand held' camera bit again, it will feel forced..

So what did I expect an American Godzilla film to do, and be? I thought they should have stuck to the formula (which cloverfield borrowed from)....Rumors of a giant reptile beast terrorizing some far off islands have sprung up for the past 60+ years with no proof..until one night, Godzilla surfaces off the coast of Los Angeles and tramples through LA...using his fire breath he pretty much lays waste to LA..and when the army comes, they can't risk a nuclear attack....

The end of the movie has the American forces driving Godzilla back to see...does he live or die? (Depends how box office does)..

But the message about Godzilla being a product of Nuclear testing/enviromental stuff (dumping chemicals the ocean, all that pro-Gore stuff) gets mentioned...But Godzilla is seen as a natural threat that can strike..at any time...

Godzilla 1998 got off track and, well, I just don't like it. What do you think should have been done to make an American Godzilla movie work???

Rob
scorpio
 
They should have done what they did with ID4 - take the original basic story and rename it, to reflect the sometimes-vast changes. As a giant monster movie, it isn't bad at all. Its the expectations game caused by the brand name that hurt it. Also, they should never have promised to keep the classic G look, then gone with their own very different design.
 
Godzilla had something to say, and it was something that only Japan could say effectively at the time.
The American Godzilla had nothing to say.
Cloverfield was, I suppose, a reaction to mindless terrorism that NY has had to deal with, but it was a piss-poor effort.
 
Gojirob said:
They should have done what they did with ID4 - take the original basic story and rename it, to reflect the sometimes-vast changes. As a giant monster movie, it isn't bad at all. Its the expectations game caused by the brand name that hurt it. Also, they should never have promised to keep the classic G look, then gone with their own very different design.
Click to expand...

If they promised to keep G's original appearence, and then went back on that, then that was wrong..

I have no trouble with G's change in of appearence in the various Godzilla series from Japan. I liked how he looked in the 90s and the more 'grouchy' look he had in the 2000s...But the American Godzilla movie was just badly made with bad actors and was just, IMO, dumb....Cloverfield was far better but not as good as a properly made Godzilla movie could have been....

Just last night my son 'made' me watch Godzilla vs Gigan (the one where Godzilla and Anguilas talk to each other)...It is mindless, and relies to much on stock footage (how many times must we see them shooting at the green gargantua's butt in the trees?)..but still, as bad as it was, it was still fun in its own way...

Rob
scorpio
 
RobertScorpio said:
I hated Godzilla 1998...I went out on a limb, when I heard they were making it, and told my friends that it would be the greatest movie ever...IT SUCKED!!!

Then Cloverfield came out last year. I liked Cloverfield. I think, if they do a sequel, it will lose the 'raw' feel of the first one. And if they do the 'hand held' camera bit again, it will feel forced..

So what did I expect an American Godzilla film to do, and be? I thought they should have stuck to the formula (which cloverfield borrowed from)....Rumors of a giant reptile beast terrorizing some far off islands have sprung up for the past 60+ years with no proof..until one night, Godzilla surfaces off the coast of Los Angeles and tramples through LA...using his fire breath he pretty much lays waste to LA..and when the army comes, they can't risk a nuclear attack....

The end of the movie has the American forces driving Godzilla back to see...does he live or die? (Depends how box office does)..

But the message about Godzilla being a product of Nuclear testing/enviromental stuff (dumping chemicals the ocean, all that pro-Gore stuff) gets mentioned...But Godzilla is seen as a natural threat that can strike..at any time...

Godzilla 1998 got off track and, well, I just don't like it. What do you think should have been done to make an American Godzilla movie work???

Rob
scorpio
Click to expand...

Nothing. I happen to be the one person in the known universe that liked American Godzilla as is - as well as the one person in the known universe that thought Cloverfield was shit.
 
The American Godzilla was like a big friendly Barny the Dinosaur. I want to see a fucking monster. I'm amazed it didn't start singing, "I love you, you love me..." Then there was the whole velociraptor rip off thing. I was very disappointed.
 
broberfett said:
The American Godzilla was like a big friendly Barny the Dinosaur. I want to see a fucking monster. I'm amazed it didn't start singing, "I love you, you love me..." Then there was the whole velociraptor rip off thing. I was very disappointed.
Click to expand...

FINAL WARS decided Zilla's fate quite well..

Rob
 
What is Final Wars? I didn't mind the look of the American Godzilla, but I want some nuclear fire breath and a monster that pretty much enjoys fucking up a city. Also, why the fuck wouldn't Godzilla eat people? You would think an animal that big would be starving all the time. A whale would be about the only decent meal it could get and that would be an appetizer.

Edit: I just watched the clip on Youtube. The 13 seconds of the fight gives way too much credit to psuedo-Godzilla. It was fun watching his destruction though.
 
Last edited:
I must be in the minority since I really liked Godzilla 1998 ... even went out and bought the DVD when the format was still new.
 
I'm a member of an even smaller minority: I like both Godzilla 1998 and Cloverfield.

We're too small for cake, though. Just cookies.
 
Gojirob said:
As a giant monster movie, it isn't bad at all. Its the expectations game caused by the brand name that hurt it.
Click to expand...

I agree completely. It isn't "true" Godzilla, but it's a decent monster movie in its own right. And Patrick Tatopolous's creature design was actually very effective. (Although I thought it looked even better in cel-animated form in the cartoon sequel series to the film, which ran for a couple of seasons on Fox Kids. That was actually a pretty well-written show, although unfortunately it achieved that by stealing the good writers from Men in Black: The Series from the same studio, which degenerated greatly as a result.)
 
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