Godzilla (2014, dir. Gareth Edwards)

The teaser trailer released at Comic Con's just been taken down off the web. Apparently uses Ligeti's Requiem - pretty ballsy move for a modern blockbuster.

With it being Godzilla, I don't suppose there's any chance there's a smaller-scale threat? The 'destruction of Earth/end of the human race' thing in back-to-back summer movie releases is wearing very thin.

If the whole film (and not just the trailer) would feature music from someone like Ligeti, that would be something for a change. Based upon my memory of Monsters, I could even imagine something like that. But based on the same memory, I´m afraid the human protagonists won´t differ that much qualitatively from Emmerich films.

Sad but probably true. Here it is:

Poor thing, seems lonely, noone there to play with it.

I hope we see his BFF, Mothra. Where's Sykes? I thought he was a huge Godzilla fan.

Based on the teaser I am very excited. Unlike the 98 film this effort seems to truly respect and understand what makes the original film work.

i.e. a Hiroshima/Nagasaki allegory?

Who the f*ck is Gareth Edwards?

M wrote:

Who the f*ck is Gareth Edwards?

Good question. He's only got one feature film under his belt. 'MONSTERS' from 2010.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/

Largo's Shark wrote:

i.e. a Hiroshima/Nagasaki allegory?

Yeah and they seem to understand the power of the creature. I mean, the original film is very powerful. It's stark and it's bleak and it's wrapped up in a lot of complex cultural emotions in terms of where it was coming from in Japanese culture at the time. It was the first time to actually address Hiroshima and Nagaski in Japan as the topic was forbidden during the occupation. Most importantly the monster is a force of nature, an unstoppable titan and the real drama is playing out among the human cast. Most of the conflict is crystalized in the inner conflict of Akihiko Hirata's character, Serizawa, who's scientific research has led to potential weapon that can destroy Godzilla, but could also lead to greater suffering in its own right. It's about man's responsibility to man and the dangers of scientific progress co-opted for military use and all that stuff and it's also very moving and powerful emotionally -- the sequences of a devastated Tokyo while bodies are carted away and children watch their mother die of radiation and choirs of schoolgirls sing a prayer for the dead and so on are very affecting.

Of course, within the space of a few sequels this was all mostly gone and we were into the "Godzilla vs. X" era, but even those movies are fun because for all their "cheapness" (and really that's only a relative value) they have an unbridled sense of imagination and fun (okay, the late sixties and early seventies entries are pretty lame). I mean at the end of the day if you can't have fun with a movie like Mothra vs. Godzilla or Invasion of Astro-Monster then I don't really know what to do with you. And the Godzilla films actually did the "cross-over movie universe" thing years before Marvel and the Avengers, and even did the "back-to-our-roots, gritty reboot" thing in the 80s, years before Batman and Bond.

The Emmerlich film was just completely soulless however, it just missed the mark on so many levels -- it's a lot like how I'm feeling/dreading the new RoboCop remake will be - missing everything that made the original more than just an action blockbuster.

Now, I'm not saying I'm getting all of that depth and complexity from one teaser trailer -- but I DID like Monsters (despite an underwhelming ending) and generally what IS in that teaser suggests to me that Edwards and Co. get it and are making a movie that's respectful to its Japanese roots and amplifying that, rather than the Emmerlich effort which seemed to me to say "Those old movies were STUPID and LAME, but this one is AWESOME because it's AMERICAN and we're EXTREME TO THE MAX!" It felt very cynical and cash-grabby.

After the latest trailer, I am still very very excited for this flick. Tonewise it definitely feels on the money with Ishiro Honda's work, flicks like the original GODZILLA, TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA, RETURN OF GODZILLA, GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE and GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH. Somber and apocalyptic.