Godzilla (2014)

[filmscorerundowns]

Mini-Review:

 

My wife & I went to see GODZILLA (2014) tonight in 3-D (but not IMAX). The best I can say is that it's ok. The most generous rating I would give the pic & music score is C+. Of course other people (especially the Godzilla diehards) will probably like it and give it at least a B+ rating. I am not a Godzilla fan. Remember that I have always focused on the avid appreciation of the so-called  "Golden Age" of movies and film music (roughly mid-Thirties to mid or early Sixties). I am realistic to realize that "times change" and one cannot expect such conditions to prevail. I believe the last time I was really excited about a film score, for instance, in the post-Golden Age era was James Horner's score for KRULL (1983). And of course earlier I really admired John Williams score for SUPERMAN (1978) and even earlier with Goldsmith's  PAPILLON (1973).

 

  As I wrote quite briefly on my Twitter account, I would give GODZILLA an "okay" rating of C or C+ (at best). I was not particularly impressed, and in fact I was annoyed by several script developments in the pic that I'll maybe clarify later once the movie has been out a week so as not to give spoilers now. Being so involved with serious film music research for 32 years, I was particularly interested in the music score. Again, it was ok. I heard that Desplat utilized a largely 8-note motif in C time: 8th-8th notes crossbeam-connected 3 times to 4th one higher pitch (half-tone or whole tome, not sure now). Later, as the action develops, it becomes 3X as "3" triplets to the fourth one as duplet 8ths. Etc. Otherwise, nothing struck out to me. The instrumentation was nothing special (unlike, say, Herrmann would definitely do).

 

    The movie itself was highly predictable to me, and I cringed when the script tried to manipulate feelings, especially at the end scenes. Ho-hum. I was certainly not impressed. There was one really BIG (not Godzilla or other MUTO) error in the film emotionally, and its absence after the 1st or part of the 2nd act really made my wife & I very sad. I'll tell you about that later. BIG, massive error of judgment. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! The hero is not Godzilla but....

[MovieMadness]

Thanks for the review, it sounds like another bad remake. I love the original with all of its quirks, I wish they would leave well enough alone.

[filmscorerundowns]

  Well, it's not necessarily a "bad" remake; it's just that for me the negatives/deficiencies outweigh the positives/assets in this 2014 version. Of course it's "just a movie" but I paid $30 for entertainment, and I simply was not that entertained. In the Kubrick movie, Barry Lyndon, there is a character who stated, "I have not received satisfaction." Similarly for me. The screenwriter and director messed it up in certain key areas. I will not go into details of the unsatisfying approach now because it's still too early in the release & I don't want to give spoilers here. Even as a popcorn movie, I did not receive satisfaction. I felt more fun in that area from Roland Emmerich's 1998 version. And I liked David Arnold's score far more than Desplat's music. The best Gozilla was the original--including the Americanized one with Raymond Burr, serving as a sort of emotional core.

 

   But see it for yourself & come to your own conclusions.

 

  

[mr6666]

for fans of the older, goofy Godzillas, there's this:

 

Chiller TV will be airing a Godzilla marathon on Sat., 5-17:

http://www.chillertv...dzilla-marathon

 

9am: Godzilla (1998)

12pm: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus: The G Annihilation Strategy

2pm: Godzilla 2000

4:30pm: Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack

7pm: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

9pm: Godzilla vs. Mothra

11:30pm: Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

[mr6666]

some weird moments from Godzilla series:

http://www.chillertv.com/news/2014-05-14-the-weirdest-moments-from-the-godzilla-series

 

[primosprimos]

for fans of the older, goofy Godzillas, there's this:

 

Chiller TV will be airing a Godzilla marathon on Sat., 5-17:

http://www.chillertv...dzilla-marathon

 

9am: Godzilla (1998)

12pm: Godzilla vs. Megaguirus: The G Annihilation Strategy

2pm: Godzilla 2000

4:30pm: Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack

7pm: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

9pm: Godzilla vs. Mothra

11:30pm: Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

But not the original and the best, with the inserted Raymond Burr, from 1956? Did everyone else cry when Godzilla's flesh was melted off his bones at the end with that magic capsule? Poor Godzilla.

[filmscorerundowns]

No, I did not cry...but I almost cried when Steve (Raymond Burr) got close to being stomped on which would have definitely squished his budding attorney career.

 

  Seriously, I liked the original GODZILLA in the sense that it was a real monster, not a mystique that it later became (even now in the 2014 version!)--not a sort of over-sized Redeemer, Savior of Planet Earth to keep balance, and fix the mess we got ourselves into due to atomic bombs! I would not be surprised if the sequel shows Godzilla determined to reverse climate change, or be nominated by the Republicans to run for President opposite Hillary Clinton, and so on !  :  )