The film has won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
Well, they’ve finally gotten the level of special effects up to standard.
Actually, having re-watched the original Japanese film Gojira from Criterion, I’m prepared to cut the original film more slack than I used to. Honda really did want to use good stop-motion effects back when he made the first film, but couldn’t afford it in time or money. So he went with the “Man In A Suit” method. To his credit, they did use these effects to best effect for the most part – undercranking so that things moved slowly and ponderously, suggesting great mass and heft. Shooting most scenes at night, where the flaws were less obvious.
But these couldn’t disguise the bad matte shots, the obvious puppetry at times, and the limitations of the godzilla suit. Gojira looks like bargain-basement Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
But I admit that I always liked the glass painting images on the island, especially the shot down from the mountaintop, showing Godzilla’s huge footprints and the mark of his tail dragging i the mud. It wasn’t until I looked through the “extras” on the Criterion version that I saw that there were many more glass painting hots on the island, showing the devastation Gojira wrought on the village. I hadn’t even realized those hots were effects shots – they looked too natural.
Heheh, for April 1st, Drachinifel addressed the importance of Godzilla Minus One in naval history. I loved it.
Quick Godzilla hijack/question - my wife is out of town this weekend, so should take advantage of the loss of viewing restrictions by watching “Godzilla X Kong” in a theater or “Shin Godzilla” on TV?
My opinion (although I haven’t yet seen Godzilla X Kong) is that Shin Godzilla is a much better movie. I’ve grown increasingly despondent about the “Monsterverse” Godzilla and Kong movies, which make less and less sense and are becoming even more ludicrous. These aren’t movies where you have to “turn yor brain off” to enjoy them. I think you’d have to get a lobotomy first.
They’re completely different sorts of movies, and which sort you’ll prefer is more dependent on your own personal tastes than on the movies themselves.
I’ve seen all the Monsterverse movies, and agree in general that after the first 2 they’ve gone downhill (though watching Fenway Park get destroyed was amusing). But there’s something about watching monsters on a big screen that cannot be duplicated.
The US Godzilla films are weak sauce, compared to Minus One.
Oh yeah, if Minus One was available I’d definitely watch that, but AFAICT it’s unwatchable in the USA at the moment.
I agree. I saw it when it was released to theaters here late last year.
Compared to American studios, Toho tends to take its time before putting out a home release. IIRC, they didn’t even provide screeners for the Academy when they were up for the Visual Effects Oscar, which makes the fact that they won that much more impressive.
Shin Godzilla is available on Crunchyroll, though.
Do we have any Blu-ray or streaming date for this movie? Yeesh, it’s been awhile.
It all depends on how long Godzilla x Kong remains in theaters and probably after that film has streamed at the highest rate. Toho is contractually obligated not to compete with the American film.
The color and B&W versions both release on Blu-Ray in Japan on May 1st, but they haven’t announced an international release date yet.
FWIW, I wound up watching Shin Godzilla, Godzilla X Kong, and the original 1954 Godzilla over the weekend. Shin Godzilla was excellent, Godzilla X Kong was goofy and made no sense but was nice looking in the monster fights, the original was slow at times but an amazing piece of movie history.
Shin Godzilla is possibly the greatest combination of harsh political satire and rah-rah nationalism I’ve ever seen in a movie. Godzilla Minus One is the second greatest.
I showed the original 1954 Gojira (the Japanese original, with nothing cut out and no extra scenes with Raymond Burr cut in) at the Arisia science fiction convention in Boston this past January. (Most of the films we ran were from my personal collection). It’s worth a look. There are actually a lot more special effects shots – lass paintings and the use of a “puppet” Gojira top half – than I originally thought. It’s not just a guy in a rubber suit, slowed down by undercranking. It was also a lot more serious than later films. Gojira is a real and palpable threat. He’s obviously The Atomic Bomb made manifest in a single giant creature, but that doesn’t detract from the significance. People die, often horribly, and cities and villages are ruthlessly destroyed.
Similarly, Shin Godzilla is a post-Fukushima disaster film. As I stated a long time ago, it’s “Godzilla vs. the Bureaucrats”. And, while that’s initially a funny idea, it isn’t in practice.
Both versions of the film will be coming to Amazon Prime on May 3rd, but only in Japan for now. Presumably it’ll release on Prime in the US later.
Well, after months of no news, they’ve finally announced the US streaming release.
It’s TODAY.
Those of you who haven’t seen it - now’s your chance. There is an English dub available if you insist, and judging from clips I’m seeing on X The Site Formerly Known As Twitter it’s decent.
Watched this over the weekend, it was excellent, though I’m not sure Shin Godzilla wasn’t a little bit better.
Koichi’s character was freaking heartbreaking. Everything with him reluctantly rebuilding a family from broken pieces of other families was really well done.
For some reason, Akitsu seemed like an anime character, especially during the final sequences.
And I’m really glad I watched the 1954 Godzilla a few weeks ago, there were so many references back to the original.