Godzilla Resurgence

Great trailer!
I'd watch this film.

 

Shin Godzilla U.S. Screenings »
List of screenings in the US

 

Hopefully there will be more announcements, because I'm not driving to the other side of the state for a screening.

 

I agree. It is weird that they are showing it in a small college town instead of where the people are.

 

They're probably just testing the waters. It's not guaranteed to be a successful run in the US. Godzilla (well Japanese Godzilla) isn't exactly as popular in the US nowadays. Also, it's worth noting that Funimation haven't made an English dub yet, and knowing them, they'll want to make one, so there will probably be more screenings if it does okay.

 

As an actor he's never got the credit he deserves.

 

Just so long as with a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, he pulls the city's high tension wires down...

 

I've been going to a lot of the Fathom Events screenings locally, which are usually only 1-2 showings on a single night of films that draw a dedicated crowd. I've seen lots of anime this way, and since it is only a single showing they don't bother with dubbing.

Frankly, I'd rather Funimation do something like this that dub the film. I remember the fiasco when Sony imported Godzilla 2000 - they dumbed down the film to make it appealing to kids and then it flopped.

 

There are more showings than the one listed on that tumblr page I posted
Shin Godzilla | Funimation Films »

 

Agreed, I think the poor fellow has been typecast as well...

 

Awesome! Going to go see it October 11th!

 

Just got back from the theater, awesome movie!

 

Thanks so much for this thread. I totally would have missed it but now have tickets for Thursday night!

 

just saw it,great movie!Effects are awesome and has a very serious almost dark tone.As some have said the multiple character/scene titles and subtitles on screen all at once gets confusing.Funny tho that I'm used to 15 minutes of trailers and crap this started at 11;00 on the dot,i actually missed the first few seconds when i thought i was early.

 

I saw this last night finally in a theater after seeing the crummy screen shot bootleg that's been floating around for a few weeks. My theater in Huntington Beach was probably about 1/2 full with some obvious diehard Godzilla fans. After the movie finished, there seemed to be a *very* mixed reaction about what people had just sat through.

Most of the Godzilla scenes are just jaw-dropping incredible. Way better then the 2014 US movie. But it's tough sledding, especially in the middle stretch of the movie where there's endless rapid fire political discussions how to deal with a sleeping Godzilla in the middle of Tokyo. This social and political commentary is the heart and soul of this film and I get that the movie is supposed to expose (often with ironic black humor) the snail's pace that Japan's political system deals with major issues in their country and their position in global politics, especially in relation to the US, but they could have drastically streamlined that stuff and still got that point across.

SPOILERS BELOW!





Regarding some key points in the movie...

First off, I was wrong on one key point in my original synopsis months ago in this thread. Godzilla *does not* eat people although there is one scene early in the movie were he topples over a building killing a mother and child inside trying to evacuate their apt.

Subtitles and filming methods:
This movie has subtitles on top of subtitles. It's probably the most text-rich film I've ever seen. There's Japanese subtitles in white introducing every character, location, military, even machinery and then there's yellow English language subtitles often on top of the white Japanese subs. At times, there's a *lot* of fast, overlapping dialog resulting in scenes with a lot of subs moving pretty quickly. It gets almost comically absurd when a few English language speaking characters have overlapping dialog text translations on both Japanese and English!

The Godzilla scenes are filmed and framed imaginatively and effectively. When Godzilla is on screen, it's a beautiful thing. The many character dialog-rich scenes are filmed well, but there's a few scenes that take these kind of shots to new extremes - several scenes are filmed from *behind* a laptop screen as characters stare into the screen (at the viewer) complete with paragraphs of text and images overlayed across the screen. One quick shot is filmed from the perspective of the seat of a chair being pushed across a room.

The 2nd and 3rd Stage Godzilla:
I know some people don't or didn't like the early forms, especially the armless, belly-crawling 2nd stage version with the goofy grin and big doll eyes but I thought that was the best part of the movie just because it was so out there and creepy looking. I was a bit surprised to see during the evolving stage where Godzilla first stands upright that the weird rippling effect seen on the bootleg video is actually an effect and not some strange digital anomaly from being shot off a screen in a theater.

The music:
I'm no doubt in the minority but I thought using classic Ifukube music cues was kind of jarring and out of place. I think that modern day re-recorded versions would have worked better if classics bits *had* to be used, but using the original cues in all their often tinny mono glory just didn't suit the otherwise surround soundtrack. Same with some of the classic sound effects used (buildings crumbling, tail/body hitting the ground, footsteps, etc), they just didn't have the kind of modern punch needed for a movie of this scale. I will say, using Godzilla's classic roars, especially when Godzilla first stands upright *did* have great impact. Speaking of which, I agree with some comments elsewhere that the overall soundtrack mix really didn't have a lot of "OMPH.* There were times I really wanted some massive bass and it was never there.

Godzilla's new powers:
There was an audible gasp from many in the audience when Godzilla first got seriously injured by the escalating bombing attack and used his atomic breath and then his back lasers. I think that this could have turned out to be a really silly move (and some complaints I heard did mention this was goofy) but imo, it worked really well and was more or less logically explained as not only as Godzilla's evolving defense mechanism but a way for Godzilla to expend pent up nuclear energy (and a way to "exhaust" Godzilla to force him into dormancy).

Godzilla's tail:
Through the 2nd half of the movie, especially once Godzilla started shooting lasers out of his tail, there was a *face* growing out of the tip of his tail. At one point while Godzilla was dormant after the big attack in Tokyo, there's a scene where it's only days away from Godzilla waking back up and there's a quick night shot of the jaw of the face on the tail moving as a harbinger of Godzilla's impending awakening. Up to the final scene in the movie, imo it was implied that another single Godzilla-type creature was going to split off the tail at some point or at least Godzilla had two functioning "heads" hence, the coordinated lasers from Godzilla's head and tail.

The final scene:
In the middle of the movie when they are analyzing and trying to figure out Godzilla's biology, there's a brief mention that Godzilla is not only continuing to mutate and evolve but will soon propagate asexually (including a mention that "smaller" offspring Godzilla could sprout wings!). Clearly this is what was about to happen when Godzilla was finally frozen at the end although watching the ending carefully, the Godzillaoids were never starting to grow off his tail while he was awake - they only showed up after he was frozen.

Perhaps the sequel could be called "Sons Of Godzilla" where the dormant 15-20 foot tall Godzillaoids revive and wreck havok.

 

I got a ton of trailers including Dr Strange and Rogue One.

 

I am a big fan of Godzilla's evolutions and his new powers. I look forward to owning the Blu-ray when it comes out.

 

I'd imagine Funation's US Blu-ray will be pretty much the English subbed theatrical release along with just the US trailer but I'd bet the Japanese Blu-ray which will come out first will have a lot of extras. It would be nice to have a completely non-subtitled version.

 

Plan on seeing this Saturday the 15th - will post thoughts at a later date. I just hope the movie doesn't include a whining, sniveling, annoying teenage boy whose special abilities make him one of only a handful of gifted pilots that can save the world from alien intruders (Hideaki Anno reference).

 

When i heard this I thought Rodan or Ghidorah for the next one.

 

No annoying kids, no telepaths, no aliens, no giant robots... you're safe.

 

Good to know, thanks. I would allow cameos of Asuka and Rei, but that's about it...

 

Saw it last night with my 11 year old son, Great time. Surprised how many were in theater also.

 

Very different from any other Godzilla film. The first half of the film is almost solid dialogue. More of a political thriller about how politicians respond to disaster than a kaiju film. I enjoyed it. Some very funny dialogue at points.

 

The theater was packed when I saw it too. Glad to see that.