Godzilla 2012
- Thread starter bananaoil
- Start date
I don't follow you, OMNI.
Godzilla's been a franchise for nearly 60 years and it has 29 films under its belt including Dean Devlin's '98 picture.
The last film (Godzilla Final Wars) came out back in 2004. Currently, Toho doesn't want to produce further features, but considering the character makes them so much money, they licenses him like hell.
Legendary Pictures bought the rights two years ago, and even though Toho isn't directly attached to the project, Yoshimitsu Banno, who directed 1971's Godzilla vs. Heodrah, is one of the producers.
Godzilla's been a franchise for nearly 60 years and it has 29 films under its belt including Dean Devlin's '98 picture.
The last film (Godzilla Final Wars) came out back in 2004. Currently, Toho doesn't want to produce further features, but considering the character makes them so much money, they licenses him like hell.
Legendary Pictures bought the rights two years ago, and even though Toho isn't directly attached to the project, Yoshimitsu Banno, who directed 1971's Godzilla vs. Heodrah, is one of the producers.
OMNI
My avatar speaks for itself.
thats my point how could it possibly be done diffrent and well after so many years under its belt?
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
The Devlin "Godzilla" left a bad taste in my mouth so now I'm wary about the new one. Fingers crossed that it's done well this time. It needs to be fairly believable with characters that I can actually care about and empathize with. If it's just a stupid wise crack fest then it won't be worth it.
Illiterati
Council Member & Author
Devlin's "Godzilla" was a bipedal iguana, as far as I could tell. I hated the whole concept, and threw up a little in my mouth when what could only be a bored Matthew Broderick decided to use a home pregnancy test on a little something the critter left behind.
I'm SO glad that piece of celluloid feces didn't spawn any sequels.
Plus -- they KILLED Godzilla at the end of the film!! That's a massive no-no!!
I'm SO glad that piece of celluloid feces didn't spawn any sequels.
Plus -- they KILLED Godzilla at the end of the film!! That's a massive no-no!!
Toho killed Godzilla at the end of his very first film.
The same way there have been so many incarnations of James Bond. Toho has always treated Godzilla and their other monsters like actors, resulting in lose continuity and dramatic changes in character traits.
Allegedly everyone involved in the Legendary Pictures film want to make it a faithful homage to the '54 picture.
Meh. The original Godzilla, despite the cultural nuances that gave the film its somber flavor, was a by the books example of American monster movies of the time. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and King Kong were huge inspirations for the film. Americans can make a giant monster movie just fine, as long as those Americans aren't hacks.
Illiterati
Council Member & Author
Well, he obviously wasn't really dead...as he DID come back.
Ultimately, he seemed to show up whenever Japan needed saving from gawd only knew what was determined to destroy it. Please take this reply in the tongue-firmly-in-cheek tone in which it was intended.
Well, he obviously wasn't really dead...as he DID come back.
Please take this reply in the tongue-firmly-in-cheek tone in which it was intended.
No. Godzilla literally dies at the end of the first film. The audience witnesses his body disintegrate into a skeleton which then dissolves into the ocean. This is followed by Dr. Yamane voicing his fear that man's actions may create another Godzilla.
Dr. Yamane returns in the first sequel, Godzilla's Counterattack (aka Godzilla Raids Again/Gigantis the Fire Monster) and asserts that Japan is being menaced by a second Godzilla.
Furthermore, Toho insists that the titular monster that appears from 1955's Godzilla's Counterattack to 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla is a 2nd Godzilla.
Godzilla was also killed at the end of his 1984 reboot (which was released in America as Godzilla 1985) when he fell into Mt. Miahara. This reboot, which disregarded all previous entries save for original film, implied that it was the same Godzilla. Then Toho retconned his death five years later with Godzilla vs Biollante. Suddenly, he was simply trapped in the volcano, and terrorists planted explosions that released him. And the next sequel, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, went a step further by saying that the Godzilla in Godzilla 1985 was a second Godzilla which was created as a result of people from the future tampering with the timeline.
Illiterati
Council Member & Author
I like my story better.
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
This is just off the top of my head but I remember hearing how the original Godzilla was supposed to be symbolic of the American domination and destruction of Japan during WWII. Doesn't Godzilla destroy Tokyo and a good chunk of Japan in the first film? Of course since Godzilla gets killed at the end that is supposed to symbolize Japan defeating America or something like that.
There is also the nuclear bomb connection which many giant monster movies had as a theme at that time.
Illiterati
Council Member & Author
Japan's atomic/nuclear theme seemed to be a response to the horrors that were created as a result of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The timing certainly was there, as they would be seeing deformed offspring as a result of radiation poisoning.
Can't really say that I blame them.
Strangely enough, the film never bothered directly or indirectly referencing America. Producer Shigeru Kayama came up with the story, but Ishiro Honda and Takeo Murata wrote the screenplay. Honda directed the film, and since he had more of a world view, the film blatantly blames all of humanity for the atrocities of war. This marked a trend in his subsequent films: Humanity came together.
Godzilla is a metaphor for the atomic bomb, and his rampage borrows imagery from both America's fire bombings of Japan and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
But Godzilla is the result of humanity's tampering with nature; there's no ill will towards America in this film, and even though Godzilla is killed by Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer (at the cost of the Dr.'s life and the loss of the plans to his weapon), the victory is bitter-sweet with the revelation that more monsters may appear because of mankind's sins.
As for Godzilla's path of destruction in the film, he attacks a small island, destroys some fishing ships, attacks Tokyo Bay, and then later comes further inland, but remains in Tokyo proper. Then he's killed.
bananaoil hits the right marks here.
Really you need to watch the original Japanese version of the film, not the Raymond Burr one. That film shows the intent of its creator better.
An interesting variation of this is in the GMK movie, where Godzilla is attacking Japan because of the refusal of the nation to take responsibility for the atrocities it committed in World War 2.
Really you need to watch the original Japanese version of the film, not the Raymond Burr one. That film shows the intent of its creator better.
An interesting variation of this is in the GMK movie, where Godzilla is attacking Japan because of the refusal of the nation to take responsibility for the atrocities it committed in World War 2.
The best route in my opinion is to rent/purchase/watch Classic Media's Gojira/Godzilla King of the Monsters release found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Gojira-Godzil...4TLQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1298419151&sr=8-3
Watch both versions of the film, plus the supplemental material.
I personally prefer the Raymond Burr version (and Honda really enjoyed it as well), but there's no denying the original is a (mostly) superior film.
I do recommend GMK, as Jolist does, even though it's one of my least favourite Godzilla films. I find the idea behind the film far more compelling than the execution.
http://www.amazon.com/Gojira-Godzil...4TLQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1298419151&sr=8-3
Watch both versions of the film, plus the supplemental material.
I personally prefer the Raymond Burr version (and Honda really enjoyed it as well), but there's no denying the original is a (mostly) superior film.
I do recommend GMK, as Jolist does, even though it's one of my least favourite Godzilla films. I find the idea behind the film far more compelling than the execution.
Illiterati
Council Member & Author
As do I.
And then, wildly off-topic, but the wax is getting poetic...
I'm silly, I know, but I've always had a soft spot for the man. It could very well be because I come from strong legal background and appreciated that one of the reasons he did Perry Mason was that he wanted people to know that they had a right to defend themselves.
It's funny that when he auditioned for the show, he auditioned for the part of Hamilton Burger (as he was basically known as a movie bad-guy for most of his earlier career), and William Tallman (who played Burger), auditioned for the part of Mason.
It was a happy chance the casting department decided to cast them as they did.
In a bit of trivia, Tallman was blackballed from appearing on Perry Mason for awhile after he was caught smoking pot in a police bust of a Hollywood party. Ironic, eh?
Fascinating; I know next to nothing about Perry Mason.
I want to re-edit Godzilla 1985 to give Burr stronger ties with the original film; I'm thinking flashbacks to his first encounter with Godzilla and some Game of Death style doubles intercut with close ups of his face and the faces of actors from the Japanese production.
I want to re-edit Godzilla 1985 to give Burr stronger ties with the original film; I'm thinking flashbacks to his first encounter with Godzilla and some Game of Death style doubles intercut with close ups of his face and the faces of actors from the Japanese production.
Illiterati
Council Member & Author
Perry Mason was something different because it wasn't the "good guys" going after the "obviously guilty" bad guys. This show was about the innocent being wrongly accused and having to find a lawyer (in this case the wildly successful Perry Mason) to prove that innocence.
Burr also had a wicked sense of humor. Barbara Hale (Della Street) told the (to me) hilarious story of the time that Michael Rennie guested on the show as the defendant.
Ms Hale had a habit of doing things like working on her grocery list between takes and just before the called "Action!" she went to put her grocery list into the desk drawer in the "courtroom" and came face to face with a large lizard.
As she tells the story, she calmly closed the desk drawer, turned to look at Michael Rennie, and promptly screamed into his face.
There was also the time Burr put a bunch of farm animals into a co-star's dressing room...