GODZILLA: MINUS ONE

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Just got back from seeing it in MXC.  Wow. It was pretty epic, no kidding. Story and visuals were great. I actually cared about the people this time too. There is a lot I'd discuss but not without spoilers unfortunately. I agree with just about everything others have said.  I will say there was some jerky fx work, may have been on purpose to simulate some movements in 54', lot's of call backs to other G-films too..one music selection kinda threw me out of the film for a bit though.  There were a couple times it felt more like a people affected by Godzilla vs a Godzilla film but that could be the intent anyway for this film. I went in pretty blind. Overall I'm thrilled with it and it was made even made even better seeing it on the big screen I can't say more without giving anything away.

A buddy of mine called it "Oscar Drama Vs Godzilla"... 

Man..it's so hard to put into words..without spoilers lol  I think both elements worked very well together despite there be very little reason they should have.

[rm0918]

Emmerich's Godzilla is a direct remake of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  Just like Independence Day is a remake of George Pal's War of the Worlds.

I wish people would stop touting this line. To my knowledge, Devlin & Emmerich have never cited Beast as a reference point for GODZILLA, and there's very little similarity between the two in plot, characters, or monster design/personality. GODZILLA 1998 is just a bad tongue-in-cheek Godzilla movie, nothing else...

I came out of the theater touting that line.  Watch them back to back.  If Emmerich would have named it The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms, it would have been much better received.  The main complaint has always been that it wasn't Godzilla.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Emmerich's Godzilla is a direct remake of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  Just like Independence Day is a remake of George Pal's War of the Worlds.

I wish people would stop touting this line. To my knowledge, Devlin & Emmerich have never cited Beast as a reference point for GODZILLA, and there's very little similarity between the two in plot, characters, or monster design/personality. GODZILLA 1998 is just a bad tongue-in-cheek Godzilla movie, nothing else...

I came out of the theater touting that line.  Watch them back to back.  If Emmerich would have named it The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms, it would have been much better received.  The main complaint has always been that it wasn't Godzilla.

I know I enjoyed the movie as a kid and had the toys and merch, so something worked. At the time GFan magazine was calling it GINO and I didn't get it for a long time. Yeah it wasn't "Godzilla" but it was a decent monster design, filmography/story.

Toho has acknowledged it though by putting it in Final Wars so I'm ok with it.

[Fembrogon]

I came out of the theater touting that line.  Watch them back to back.  If Emmerich would have named it The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms, it would have been much better received.  The main complaint has always been that it wasn't Godzilla.

It would only have been "better recieved" because there are far fewer Rhedosaurus fans to rile up with the poor monster design - and because fewer people would even recognize "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" as an existing IP in the first place.
G1998 is very specifically designed as a Godzilla movie. A bad parody of Godzilla, but Godzilla through and through.

Anyway, I'm going to have to be careful how excited I get about this film. I'm amazed how overwhelmingly positive he reception has been, but just in case I don't want to get my hopes up unreasonably high.

[Carnoking]

Just saw it and I gotta say, good or bad, Toho or Legendary, these movies just never get old 

[Carnoking]

That being said, this one was certainly a refreshing return to form for the big G! Emotionally charged (although bordering on melodrama at times) and somber with all the smash-bang you would want to see from a giant monster movie at the same time. Godzilla doesn't even have many scenes but what's there is sure to satisfy!

I'd be hard pressed to choose between this and Shin though. This film certainly felt more "classic" but Shin did some really interesting and unsettling things with the idea of Godzilla, even if all the elements and design choices didn't stick the landing for me.

As far as the question of "Oscar Drama" goes, I say, what's wrong with that? High time Godzilla got some love from the Academy!

[Carnoking]

This meme got me! I whispered to myself "Smile you son of a--" while this scene was playing!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's not often I can rate a Godzilla film as "scary". It started with GMK that Godzilla was the first scary one since 54' . Then Shin made him terrifying again. Now Minus One has done it as well. I'm enjoying the trend. TOho can make scary films while Legendary can use him as a protector. We get both. 

Toho mentioned awhile back wanting to establish a new monsterverse of their own. I wonder if this was the first? Certainly left open as a sequel, I'd love to see Rodan and Mothra used in  a new similar film type.

[Faelrin]

Just got back from seeing it now. For starters I'm glad I watched Shin Godzilla before seeing this one, as perhaps aside from the original, is one of the few films that took the creature, and the resulting fallout of its actions, the destruction and death, seriously. Spoilers below, beware:

Spoiler

This was the first time Godzilla had a terrifying presence for me, other then the original film, or maybe even Shin, but I found Shin more goofy then anything except his final forms, despite what his presence was there to convey.

This takes that and amps that up. It's not afraid to show on screen death, and it happens a lot. At times much like Jurassic Park, but by Ginza, it ups the scale. I also love how much the design rings home the classic menacing look of the original one, or like even the Heisei era design.

This was way more compelling then the 2014 Legendary one. This one had some real soul put into it. The actors did a great job conveying how grave the nature of the situation would be, along with taking things like PTSD, survivor's guilt, etc seriously as well. I won't lie the very nature of the subject matter and setting definitely reminded me of Grave of the Fireflies, which my heart hit like a bunch of trucks.

CGI was top notch, but like after seeing the credits roll and that Square Enix had played a role, I can't say I'm too surprised. Don't know how much they contributed, but they've been very good at this game for a very long time now. The music (the classic theme hits so hard), and sound design (roars, etc) are so dang good. I really like the attention to detail of when he would get radiation burns after using his blast attack as well.

I'm also a bit surprised they didn't get into the origin of the creature (other then the name some locals had for it, and the deep sea fish thing), other then just playing it straight as a big dinosaur like creature. I wonder if any potential sequels will dig more into that?

The ending kind of also touches at radiation poisoning (and cancer), which the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki endured (when they weren't outright killed), between the mark on Noriko, and Godzilla's regenerating flesh.

[close]

I don't usually collect Godzilla stuff, when my money gets into real dinosaurs, etc most of the time, but man do I really want a figure of this one.

Thoughts on this brand?

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/261091?o=4

Edit: I might go more into detail on this tomorrow. I have a bad sinus headache now, so I'll try to go more into my thoughts on this tomorrow, since this was kind of rushed I suppose. Also bruh this and Oppenheimer back to back would be one heck of a marathon of sorts. Both of these movies were in production for many years it seems, but man it does make one think about the world's current events.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Just got back from seeing it now. For starters I'm glad I watched Shin Godzilla before seeing this one, as perhaps aside from the original, is one of the few films that took the creature, and the resulting fallout of its actions, the destruction and death, seriously. Spoilers below, beware:

Spoiler

This was the first time Godzilla had a terrifying presence for me, other then the original film, or maybe even Shin, but I found Shin more goofy then anything except his final forms, despite what his presence was there to convey.

This takes that and amps that up. It's not afraid to show on screen death, and it happens a lot. At times much like Jurassic Park, but by Ginza, it ups the scale. I also love how much the design rings home the classic menacing look of the original one, or like even the Heisei era design.

This was way more compelling then the 2014 Legendary one. This one had some real soul put into it. The actors did a great job conveying how grave the nature of the situation would be, along with taking things like PTSD, survivor's guilt, etc seriously as well. I won't lie the very nature of the subject matter and setting definitely reminded me of Grave of the Fireflies, which my heart hit like a bunch of trucks.

CGI was top notch, but like after seeing the credits roll and that Square Enix had played a role, I can't say I'm too surprised. Don't know how much they contributed, but they've been very good at this game for a very long time now. The music (the classic theme hits so hard), and sound design (roars, etc) are so dang good. I really like the attention to detail of when he would get radiation burns after using his blast attack as well.

I'm also a bit surprised they didn't get into the origin of the creature (other then the name some locals had for it, and the deep sea fish thing), other then just playing it straight as a big dinosaur like creature. I wonder if any potential sequels will dig more into that?

The ending kind of also touches at radiation poisoning (and cancer), which the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki endured (when they weren't outright killed), between the mark on Noriko, and Godzilla's regenerating flesh.

[close]

I don't usually collect Godzilla stuff, when my money gets into real dinosaurs, etc most of the time, but man do I really want a figure of this one.

Thoughts on this brand?

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/261091?o=4

Spoiler

Loved the soundtrack other than the one from Godzilla vs King Kong..which almost ruined that part for me.

CGI was overall well done, a few times the lurching motion of Godzilla was so jerky as to be distracting though.

Yeah that was kind of odd. No explanation of how he came about or anything really. He was a creature the locals knew about so they must have avoided him. He didn't wipe out all of them just the military base/mechanics there and let's be fair they sorta provoked him.

I kept wondering how she survived in the first place. My guess as of now is that she regenerated like Godzilla did. She didn't have much emotion at all when he came for her.  That might be a place they go in a sequel if they do one.

[close]

Ive heard some negative things about the Ultimates line, I bought the SDCC comic Godzilla and he looks alright, haven't opened him yet. I also have the meltdown Godzilla one on preorder.  I'd check some Youtube reviews.

[Faelrin]

I forgot to mention earlier I watched this at an IMAX too. Man was it totally worth it. Edit: And mostly blind, aside from like the first two trailers I guess. But honestly I forgot most of it, other then he was pretty dang mad looking. For once my bad memory paid off.

Spoiler

My brother thought the same thing tbh. Possible perhaps? Certainly need to wait and see.

[close]

[Fembrogon]

I'm hoping to see it Tuesday. My anticipation is building!

Regarding Super7: I've never purchased a Super7 product before, but while the Ultimates line seems to be generally well-regarded, the Godzilla figures available so far have been getting mediocre reception from the Godzilla community. The figures also take a LONG time to actually hit shelves.
I'd at least wait to see factory samples of the figure before putting down money. Or just get one of the Bandai soft vinyl versions.
If Hiya Toys gets the license for this design that'll probably be the best option, but that's just an "if".

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'm hoping to see it Tuesday. My anticipation is building!

Regarding Super7: I've never purchased a Super7 product before, but while the Ultimates line seems to be generally well-regarded, the Godzilla figures available so far have been getting mediocre reception from the Godzilla community. The figures also take a LONG time to actually hit shelves.
I'd at least wait to see factory samples of the figure before putting down money. Or just get one of the Bandai soft vinyl versions.
If Hiya Toys gets the license for this design that'll probably be the best option, but that's just an "if".

I'm waiting on a Gigantic. I know Omega Beast Studio is working on one. I can't believe XPlus hasn't already planned it too.

[Faelrin]

@Fembrogon Thanks for sharing your thoughts about that. I pre-ordered one on BBTS so can cancel if reception to it is poor. The alternative is the S.H. Monsterarts one, but pre-orders for that was already sold out, plus the higher price. Date is September 2024 which is quite a wait, but I have way more on my wishlist to tackle that I'm not in any particular rush I guess.

[Over9K]

I'm waiting on a Gigantic. I know Omega Beast Studio is working on one. I can't believe XPlus hasn't already planned it too.

The X-Plus Shin was released a year after the film, and the Legendary G'19 was 6 months after KOTM. I'm betting by this time next year there will be a Gigantic MinusGoji on offer.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'm waiting on a Gigantic. I know Omega Beast Studio is working on one. I can't believe XPlus hasn't already planned it too.

The X-Plus Shin was released a year after the film, and the Legendary G'19 was 6 months after KOTM. I'm betting by this time next year there will be a Gigantic MinusGoji on offer.

S.H.Monsterarts managed to get one out already, I think it's due to this Godzilla being 100% CG so it's just a matter of printing a sculpt from the files on hand then producing it?  Maybe sooner rather than later.

[Fembrogon]

WOW.
Godzilla: Minus One is unquestionably one of the best Godzilla films (and giant monster films in general) to date. I was a little afraid that I'd get my hopes up too high and be underwhelmed, but no - this movie completely delivers. Any criticisms I could think of right now feel like quibbles. Minus One is excellent.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I'm glad it made it to #1 in the U.S. that's some goal for a 15 million dollar film from Japan and all that entails. Might teach U.S. film makers a few things and show Toho we would like a new Godzilla film more than once a decade.

[Pliosaurking]

Man I really want to see this in theatres! Unfortunately it's not in my area as far as I'm aware, so hopefully I can see it online shortly.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Man I really want to see this in theatres! Unfortunately it's not in my area as far as I'm aware, so hopefully I can see it online shortly.

I'm awaiting news of the Bluray release, I could see it coming the end of first quarter next year.