Godzilla trailer

[JLTucker]

I do wonder if there will ever be a monster movie where the monster actually wins. I can't recall a recent one where that happens. You can make it work by tying it into man's inhumanity to man and stuff like that.

Has there been a recent one?

[TithonusSyndrome]

There's been plenty; Cloverfield ended with Clover being driven away without sustaining serious injury, Godzilla: Final Wars ended with Godzilla swimming off into the sunset after having had his fill of smashing, Monsters ended with the journalists watching the titular aliens getting it on, etc, etc... really, upwards of 90% of Godzilla or Gamera movies have an ending that's a variation on "monsters leave when they're through smashing, Japanese government officials stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the Dr Strangelove room and look relieved." The constant need to kill the monster is a much more American phenomenon.

[Oskuro]

The constant need to kill the monster is a much more American phenomenon.

The need to kill Villians in general seems to be hardwired into US popular culture, and, by extension, most of the western world where said culture was exported. I still feel weird when watching movies where the villiains are not only not killed but even rehabilitated (The example that comes to mind is Kung-Fu Hustle, where the villian submits to the protagonist as his master rather than being killed off), which is indicative of the influence said mindset has had on me.

Now, if I may digress, despite how hated it is, I didn't dislike the 98 Godzilla movie that much, I had fun with it... Up until when they came up with the "It is perma-pregnant and will overrun civilization if left to its own devices" which, to me, it read "We HAVE to kill it", and kill it they did.
For a moment there I had hope they'd go with the "Godzilla is not evil, just a big confused creature we keep making angry" angle some of the original movies went with, but no, halfway in, we're back into "we must kill it" territory.

Wonder if Chuck (SFDebris) will take a look at this movie, seeing how he recently did the original Gojira.

[Ted C]

I do wonder if there will ever be a monster movie where the monster actually wins. I can't recall a recent one where that happens. You can make it work by tying it into man's inhumanity to man and stuff like that.

Has there been a recent one?

Not recent, but I'm pretty sure Gorgo is a "monster wins" movie.

[Tsyroc]

If the nuclear "tests" in the Pacific during the 1950s were actually attempts to kill "it", I think there's a pretty good chance that something monstery might win out in this movie.

[TithonusSyndrome]

I like that they went with Godzilla having existed in his current form before the nuclear weapons, rather than being mutated by radiation as per Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. For what it's worth, no audience these days is going to buy anything like Godzilla being created from nuclear fallout, and it behooves Godzilla to evoke something a bit mysterious and ancient and even Lovecraftian.

[Dargos]

I am not takeing credit to finding this.. but could this be an easter egg for fans? Mothra twins for the win?

[Tsyroc]

I like that they went with Godzilla having existed in his current form before the nuclear weapons, rather than being mutated by radiation as per Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. For what it's worth, no audience these days is going to buy anything like Godzilla being created from nuclear fallout, and it behooves Godzilla to evoke something a bit mysterious and ancient and even Lovecraftian.

I think there still might be some element of mutated/changed/damaged by the nukes but I don't think it will come close to the super magic power up that nukes were doing in the Heisei Series.

[Tsyroc]

Empire Magazine has it's new cover online that includes a frontal view of the new Godzilla.

He resembles Toho's own CGI version from Always 2 but with a bit more Iguanadon style bulk. People have also commented that his skin resembles the burnt look of some of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors.

[Borgholio]

I read somewhere that his fighting style will be similar to a big Komodo Dragon. That'll be quite impressive to watch, since a Komodo is really a nasty fucker.

[Metahive]

Komodo dragons bite their prey and then wait until it perishes from the venom so they can eat it. That's so not-Godzilla.

[Borgholio]

Fighting, not hunting.

[Grumman]

The constant need to kill the monster is a much more American phenomenon.

The need to kill Villians in general seems to be hardwired into US popular culture, and, by extension, most of the western world where said culture was exported. I still feel weird when watching movies where the villiains are not only not killed but even rehabilitated (The example that comes to mind is Kung-Fu Hustle, where the villian submits to the protagonist as his master rather than being killed off), which is indicative of the influence said mindset has had on me.

This was something I hated about Spoiler

The Departed. In Infernal Affairs the villain switches sides, going from a triad member infiltrating the police to a honest cop. Even in the Chinese version, he surrenders to police. In The Departed, they kill him off too for no good reason.

[Metahive]

Well, unless it's popular comic book villains, they never die or stay dead/confined for long and that's what ultimately drove me off superhero comics.

Fighting, not hunting.

How could a bipedal Godzilla fight like a quadrupedal Komodo Dragon without it looking awkward?

[Borgholio]

Well most of the Godzilla movies I've seen involve him fighting like a boxer or a wrestler. If we see him grabbing another monster by the throat and ripping it out with his teeth...that would be awesome.

[TOSDOC]

Well most of the Godzilla movies I've seen involve him fighting like a boxer or a wrestler. If we see him grabbing another monster by the throat and ripping it out with his teeth...that would be awesome.

Gigantis the Fire Monster may be the closest you get with that.

I do wonder if there will ever be a monster movie where the monster actually wins. I can't recall a recent one where that happens. You can make it work by tying it into man's inhumanity to man and stuff like that.

Has there been a recent one?

Definitely Gorgo. Godzilla 2000's ending has him with the upper hand against people.

[jollyreaper]

I still feel weird when watching movies where the villiains are not only not killed but even rehabilitated (The example that comes to mind is Kung-Fu Hustle, where the villian submits to the protagonist as his master rather than being killed off), which is indicative of the influence said mindset has had on me.

Why weird?

I've always been a sucker for the heel/face turn or the honorable henchman thing. Caught it bad as a kid with Storm Shadow and the whole Snake-Eyes backstory. It's so much more interesting than simple white hats and black hats. I loved Breetai's Zentraedi coming over to the human side in the face of anihillation by Dolza's armada in Robotech. Darth Vader's turn was great as a kid but as an adult feels more selfish. How can someone who is willing to be party to blowing up planets still capable of having good in him? All that we really saw is blood is thicker than water; he'll commit genocide every day of the week but don't mess with his kids. That's not good. Hell, even Hitler loved his dog.

I liked what happened with Kung-Fu Hustle because the villain there was solely interested in the challenge. He could be cruel, he could be sadistic, but he couldn't even be bothered to break out of prison without having good reason. He's bored because no one else can stand up to his kung-fu. And once he's been utterly defeated, he's holding true to his beliefs. He has found a master. He submits. And the master will teach. That's some old shit right there, goes back to Gilgamesh and Enkidu, but it resonates.

[Oskuro]

Why weird?

Oh, it's not that I dislike it, it's just that it somehow feels wrong inside me, and I suspect it is because popular culture has indoctrinated me to expect the bad guys to be killed.

I actually like feeling this kind of weird, which also explains why I like learning about different cultures, it makes me feel there's more to discover out there.


As for Godzilla's fighting style, I would like for it to switch stances depending on the situation. In my head it makes sense for a creature that size to go all-fours or bipedal as the situation requires it. It will hopefully have bulkier arms than the '98 or classic versions.

[Vehrec]

So, the following quotes all come off Tumblr, and I'm reposting them here for the smackdown contained within. They're all reacting specifically to the revelation that the US purposefully nuked Godzilla trying to kill it.

This take seems to lionize the very thing the original Godzilla was trying to warn against, doesn’t it?

This is a good example of missing the point entirely. Godzilla was a metaphor for nuclear weapons - the idea that we had unleashed something in weaponizing the power of the atom that we could not contain, and that no amount of further weaponry could hope to defend against. I mean, there’s a reason all those tanks and jets and rockets can’t hurt Godzilla, folks, and it’s thematic, not biological.

Turning these same nuclear weapons (tests or actual use) into our attempts to defeat this beast which now appears to not be *our fault* is both deaf to the themes of the original and unsurprising.

It looks like they trying to go for a “nature’s revenge” angle, maybe. I don’t hold much hope.

Fuckers missed the point so hard they proved it.

#please just leave godzilla to japan #i realize it’s iconic and lucrative #but americans attempting to reinvent the mythos is embarrassing and uncomfortable at best #and kind of offensive at worst #i know the original mythos doesn’t exactly look that good for americans #neither does the history #don’t fucking erase it to make the cultural icon of a completely different nation satisfy your hollywood disaster movie boner #oh wait except that’s what always happens #this does look better than the broderick godzilla #but that’s like saying genital herpes looks better than chlamydia #(which is also better than the broderick godzilla) #I probably take my kaiju movies too seriously

^By standing the original message of Godzilla on its head, they’re furthering the commentary on human response to global threats, or just problem resolution in general. It seems that in this version, we found a global threat (Godzilla) and exacerbated the problem by trying to resolve it with one of our greatest technological achievements, i.e. harnessing nuclear energy. Our attempts to resolve the issue backfires and instead worsens it by causing Godzilla to go on his global rampage. This is simply a reflection of man’s ability to fuck up an already fucked up situation, thus putting the survival of the species in danger. Global warming, nuclear energy, genetic engineering. Whatever, pick your poison. We create a problem (Godzilla was dormant, we woke him up), try to fix it through nuclear weapons, which only make him angry, and make it worse (global rampage and destruction).

Also, I’m fucking sick and tired of the “Hollywood ruins everything” argument. The film industry is simultaneously art and commerce. You want more films to be made? Well, you’re going to need some fucking money to make it. People don’t work for free and the supplies aren’t cheap. You’re putting the “mythos” of Godzilla on a pedestal where it doesn’t belong. It’s a fucking story, just like every other story told in human history. Stories change over time - adapted to fit the audience, thus improving the story’s ability to reach its listeners.

And fuck the ridiculously erroneous statement that Hollywood regurgitates the same things over and over again, remaking films and making sequels because they’re out of original ideas. You’re ignoring so many great films that come out of Hollywood that aren’t a remake/sequel, as well as demeaning films that are sequels, remakes, or adaptations. Are you people forgetting that The Godfather was originally a novel, made a shit ton of money in 1972, and was followed by two sequels? A literary adaptation and sequel, Part II, is pretty much seen as one of the two or three greatest American films of all time, and no one bitches about that. I forgot, contemporary art is rarely appreciated because of the bullshit idea that everything that came before, anything that’s older, is therefore “better.” Golden age thinking. Go fuck yourself.

I think it’s interesting - and very telling about the Western mindset - that people assume trying to kill Godzilla with the atom bomb tests makes America look good.

Imagine this is a real thing that happened. We discovered a unique, possibly one-of-a-kind creature that is far larger than any other living thing, or even anything in the fossil record - a beast so big that it would literally redefine what we know about the biology of terrestrial organisms, since our current science states that it could not exist. We also discover the creature is able to survive levels of radiation that would kill almost all known forms of life (except for certain extremophile bacteria). By all accounts this thing is basically a living natural wonder.

And the US decided they need to kill it.

To accomplish that end, the US drops atomic bombs - the most deadly weapons known to man - on the creature while it’s out at sea, despite the fact that we know it’s resistant to them. These weapons poison islands and ecosystems and, because the US wants to keep it a secret, even some Japanese people. There is a good deal of collateral damage caused by our efforts to kill this miracle of the natural world, and it doesn’t even work!

How the fuck does this make us the good guys?

I mean, the only way the US comes off as noble from this is if you believe that killing, or trying to kill, anything that could possibly threaten the US is always justifiable and virtuous, which is, frankly, a fucked up mindset to have. It’s the kind of mindset the Godzilla movies have always challenged, in fact - except the terrible 98 remake, but let’s not talk of that.

I’m not saying the movie is definitely going to play up all the negative aspects of America trying to bomb Godzilla that I just listed, because all I’ve seen - all practically ANYONE has seen - is just a couple of trailers. But I think some of us G-fans are getting so protective of our cherished monster king that we’re leaping at shadows and looking for jingoism that may or may not exist, and that McCarthy-style viciousness is the kind of thing Godzilla opposes.

Don’t pick a fight with imagined enemies, guys. That makes monsters.

So we go from bad analysis to good in one comment chain.

[Tsyroc]

On IMDB I saw someone bitching about Godzilla's origin in the new movie based on the trailer. He didn't like it because it didn't specifically say, "we created this creature with our nukes". So he just jumped to the conclusion that the movie wasn't going to be anti-nuke etc....

The trailer states that in "1954 we awoke something" and that the 1950s nuclear tests were trying to kill it. Granted that doesn't specifically say that we woke it up with nukes, or that we made things worse by nuking it but c'mon, it's Godzilla. The director has already stated that G has his radioactive breath so unless he always had that then the nukes are going to play into at least some part of his origin.

I'm hopeful that we get the large unknown creature mutated by nuclear radiation origin and not the Gameraesque bio- engineered by ancient aliens (Rossio/Eliot G script for Jan DeBont) or an ancient civilization (Atlanteans in the Heisei Gamera series) explanation.

One thing the trailer does make pretty clear, from Bryan Cranston's speech, that it is very much a "man shouldn't fuck with nature"; which was a pretty big part of most of the various Godzilla series.

[Darksider]

I think the attempts to nuke the G-man will end up creating the other monsters that have been teased, so there should still be a theme of "our use of Nuclear weapons has created something horrible."

[LadyTevar]

Video Interview with Director

Gareth Edwards thoughtfully gives us a breakdown on the trailer, what he was thinking as the shots were laid out, how the Origami is definitely A CLUE, and how No, that is not a tentacle holding a bomb.

[Dargos]

Could one of the monsters be Rodan?

[Oskuro]

Wait.... Wasn't the origin of the Japanese Godzilla that of a mythical undersea monster that is awakened by nuclear bombs?

How is that different from what the trailer is indicating?

[TithonusSyndrome]

Much as I wish it were Rodan in the trailer, Legendary apparently doesn't have the rights to any kaiju except Godzilla. I don't know if Legendary could acquire the rights to other kaiju without publicly disclosing it, or if they'd even want to considering they'd be shelling out serious coin for something that they'd want to get their marquee value out of by plastering it in every ad, but at present it seems like the flighted creature is a species of the new "Muto" kaiju in the film.

How could a bipedal Godzilla fight like a quadrupedal Komodo Dragon without it looking awkward?

There's not a lot of references available for bipedal predators in the modern natural world, so you have to go with what you've got. Jim Rygiel has also examined reference footage of bears fighting, but that's not strictly Godzilla-like either, so he's probably just compiling a lot of different material from different sources to come up with some sort of composite fighting style that works.