Destroyah-x
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-25-2014 11:01 AMWell, well, what do we have here? The first wave of Godzilla reviews are in on the 1st day of the King's debut in Japan. Taken from Yahoo Japan's movie site, whats the verdict so far?
An average score of 3.52 out of 5 stars *(Do note that these are the first batch of reviews, and the score is expected to change in the days to come)
Through such reviews, I usually pick out key words mentioned that are most commonly associated with the movie. In the case of China and the rest of Asia, Godzilla 2014 has been largely associated in social media along with thousands of reviews highlighting the word '#Ultraman'. In Japanese reviews, the new Godzilla is currently associated with the words "#Heisei Gamera".
Below are some notable reviewers' comments translated from Japanese:
Positive reviews (Between 3-5 stars)
1. " This time, the new Godzilla is the perfect Godzilla. Unlike Roland Emmerich's version which isn't a genuine Godzilla. The design of this Godzilla is stocky and original. It depicts a Godzilla that I've always loved since childhood and I am impressed! "
2. " As a child, I've always found Godzilla superbly irresistable, and even so now as an older person. I am addicted to monster movies and I found Pacific Rim to be good, but this is a Godzilla movie exactly. It pays respect to the original and is a great production. The presence of enemy monsters follows the Heisei VS series. Hollywood has revived a superb character that Japan gave birth to."
3. " My review is divided into two extremes. The fondness for the movie monster Godzilla is unquestionably strong from people who watch it. Cheers and applause erupted during the movie when Godzilla made his first appearance and roar. In my opinion, the movie is a symbol of harmony and destruction, and through its works we could call Godzilla somewhat a dark hero. While others who are expecting a giant iguana to jump about and stomp the city would think otherwise. "
4. " Caught the premiere. While my colleagues fell asleep during the movie (laughs), I would still give a 3.7 score for this movie. It does remind me of a Gamera movie, and while it had a B-grade plot, the movie drifted well thanks to its great CGI and impressive cast. The villains (The MUTOs) in particular, are similar to Legion and Gyaos of Heisei Gamera. This movie has a closeness more to Heisei Gamera than Godzilla. The fighting scenes in Hawaii and San Francisco are heavenly."
5. " First, I would like to say this movie is a faithful reproduction of Godzilla of Japan. I've been waiting for this kind of Godzilla from Hollywood. Godzilla's movement gives a sense of weight, physique macho (which is a little thick, but well), more than any other versions of Godzilla thanks to the state-of-the-art technology of Hollywood. Also, you will not be able to forget some parts with an emphasis also on family love. Actors who have gave us a good taste of the part there. But most impressive of all was a depiction of Godzilla to say somehow, an ally of the human race."
6. " This new Godzilla is good, terribly good! The design of Godzilla is great and follows the original Godzilla of Japan. However, there are some changes in Godzilla this time. First, Godzilla is not set up as a monster born from the effects of nuclear testing. It is now an ancient creature that has the ability to absorb radiation and has emerged in order to keep the balance of nature. And that enemy monster MUTO, is a monster that hits the human race in order to absorb the nuclear energy, which puts it in the position of the Heisei Godzilla VS Series. That said, the large battle towards the last is a great power scene. Some fans might shed tears of happiness seeing the return of Godzilla after such a long time. I say that it is a must-see. "
Negative reviews (Between 0-2 stars)
1. " I was excited to catch the movie and bought the tickets early after seeing all the thrills and spills in the trailers. It seems to me Hollywood, you do not know well about Godzilla. It is a boring movie and I have tried my best not to sleep in the movie theatre. You are hiding Godzilla all the time, and only one moment do we get to see the full shot of Godzilla, while the rest is either Godzilla's dorsal spines or its all dark. Is it because of the lack of money to do the full CG effects? Only the last 15 minutes was okay, but there is still nothing good enough to serve the original Godzilla! "
2. " This movie distorts history. Godzilla used to be the symbol of the horrors of nuclear tests and a lesson for mankind. Instead this new Godzilla affirms the use of nuclear tests without remorse. Do not be swayed by the propaganda of America."
3. " There's good and bad points. The good thing is, this movie is better than the previous Hollywood version. The bad - It contains the same depth as many bad Hollywood movies do, along with typical rubbish stereotypes of Japanese people. Why must a Japanese kid be always seen wearing a baseball cap? The potrayal of Godzilla, even with the battle of monsters is weak, and is similar to the useless Showa Godzilla. "
4. " I watched it today, and regretted. It was wholeheartedly disappointing, and the storyline was less interesting than Roland Emmerich's version. The story seems to jump at every opportunity too, and the trailers are just stinking lying about the reality of the movie. Characters are too stereotyped, and we don't feel empathy for them. The scene cuts abruptly all the time, where your state of frustration cannot be released even until the end. The movement and modelling of Godzilla is also not Godzilla. Come on, you are not a bear! "
5. " The maturity level of this movie is low. The title should be called MUTO instead of Godzilla? Every appearance of Godzilla cuts into another scene. I think the basic 'Stop, Character, Music' is the movie's pillar. The tempo was very bad. Much boring scenes drift on for almost 1 hour before highlighting the action. A lot of focus was also on the American troops, which was another boring 1 hour and 50 mins until the last 10 mins. Depiction of the human characters was thin and the focus on the useless Aaron T Johnson from the beginning to the end, including the small role of Ken Watanabe. Even depicton of the US military is often frustration with handling of the bombs and not much of actual combat as well. I do not recommend watching it as you will regret it. "
6. " I cannot help but remember the anger as a Japanese. Do not watch it as the original Godzilla. However close this Godzilla looks to the original, as long as you draw a Godzilla through the eyes of the strong, as long as you continue to turn away from war and nuclear issues, you cannot make this a true Godzilla movie. It only follows the look but you've written nothing close to the sentimental value and workmanship of the original."
" Your kind feared the Darkness. "
ShowtimeOrtega
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-25-2014 12:19 PM"along with typical rubbish stereotypes of Japanese people. Why must a Japanese kid be always seen wearing a baseball cap?" Seriously? Not even going to say anything bad about that. But, I'm glad that a good amount of the people liked/loved it :)
Daikaiju Danielle
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-25-2014 12:54 PMMy thoughts exactly, ShowTimeOrtega! It;s obviously a nod to dear Ichiro from Godzilla's Revenge!
"Daddy's home- cake every night,"
Durp004
MemberBaragonJul-25-2014 1:09 PMHeisei Gamera makes sense as a ccomparison. Getting a 3.51 is pretty much what it deserves.
JRR
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-25-2014 1:18 PM''the useless Showa Godzilla''
that person knows nothing about monster movies
Evacuate?, Godzilla is just a Legend!-Woman in GMK
GG
ModeratorGiganJul-25-2014 3:17 PMDurpoo- Why do you rag on Godzilla 2014 so much lol? i mean you could atleast be a little happy for it.
Good grief.
Durp004
MemberBaragonJul-25-2014 3:24 PMHow is saying the score it got is fair? It wasn't a bad score it was above average. Just because I'm not praising it and asking for 5/5s doesn't mean I'm ragging on it.
GojiJonesy91
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-25-2014 3:51 PMFunny how a lot are comparing it to heisei gamera, even some notable g-fans have made some comparisons. Well at least we see a few positive responses, now we'll have to wait to see what the whole nation feels.
KoldWarKid62
MemberBaragonJul-25-2014 5:34 PMThe first thing I thought when he plunged into the sea to headlines of "Saviour of our city" was Heisei Gamera. I think the reviews are going to reflect what we've already seen here and abroad; some will love it, some are going to have issues with it. Those that are critical are pretty universal in what they are critical about.
GG
ModeratorGiganJul-25-2014 6:02 PMSo what if its heisei Gamera? Isnt change good? Should every Godzilla movie have him as a horrible beast? Isnt it cool to for once see Godzilla as a force of nature thats not good nor bad? If your saying this Godzilla is Heisei Gamera. Then what about the Showa Godzilla? Arent they heisei Gamera to with them saving citys and fighting for earth? Isnt that a heisei Gamera. If your saying having a headline calling Godzilla as saviour of the city which had a ? mark means he is heisei gamera then that means that every good Godzilla is.
Good grief.
Destroyah-x
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-25-2014 11:08 PMWell, a 3.52 score in Japan which is considered a 70/100 isn't bad at all. We have had Godzilla previously sitting around 8/10 during the initial reviews before averaging out to 6 - 6.8 /10.
What I do notice so far though from the nearly 200 reviews on the site, the ones who heaped mostly praise on Godzilla were self-proclaimed long-time G-fans. I am more interested to hear what non-fans have to say about the movie, but so far the largely negative reviews appear to come from the latter.
" Your kind feared the Darkness. "
Durp004
MemberBaragonJul-26-2014 2:04 AM@Gorillagodzilla did anyone say that it was a bad thing it was compared to heisei gamera? If I always "rag on it" why are you so protective of it? I love Godzilla vs Destroyah, but you don't see me getting super defensive if someone said anything about it that wasn't pure praise as you seem to for G14. Literally if some one says the smallest things that is anything but, "i love it and it is the greatest movie ever" you jump to the defense of g14. Chill out dude everyone's allowed to have an opinion, just because you like the movie doesn't mean everyone does, I don't even hate it I simply state its faults and say I think it's about average for a godzilla movie, but you defend it every single thing it's posted about even if no one is seriously saying it's bad.
Something Real
MemberGodzillaJul-26-2014 2:19 AMDESTROYA-X - This is an incredibly interesting assortment of information you've presented! I greatly enjoy the mix of reviews; seeing how others felt the film was both good and displeasing is most compelling. Thank you ever so much for sharing this information with us! :)
GG
ModeratorGiganJul-26-2014 5:26 AMDurpoo- Lol. Your right. But still i am making a point that saying if your calling this Godzilla saving the earth, Then your calling the Showa Godzillas heisei Gamera to. Since the majority of the Showa movies had him saving the world!
Good grief.
KoldWarKid62
MemberBaragonJul-26-2014 6:11 AM@GorillaGodzilla77897 - You're right in that, basically after Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla became a defender of earth pretty much for the rest of the Showa series. That was a conscious decision on Tsuburaya's part to gear the movies toward kids. I think it was surprising to me (and a lot of other fans), that Godzilla (2014) in this movie was as benign as he ended up being, especially after the teasers and trailers we saw, and Gareth Edwards stating "Godzilla is the punishment we deserve". Punishment? Really? The big guy really doesn't do anything! He's one of the kindest, gentlest Godzillas to come along in quite some time. When I saw the 2102 teaser I can't tell you how excited I was for this movie. One of the best teasers/trailers I've ever seen; it was terrifying. Then the other trailers that came out gave a very serious tone of dread and darkness that this movie and character didn't deliver on. I think a lot of people felt that way, expecting one thing perhaps and getting something different.
So yes, the latter portion of the Showa films were kid-friendly, but since then Godzilla's pretty much been a bad-ass who would just as soon tear up the place as well as any other creatures in his way. In that regard the 2014 G is closer to the Heisei Gamera than his more recent Japanese counterpart.
Where does Edwards and co. go with this? Does G stay friendly, or do the filmmakers have Godzilla turn into that deadly force of nature? That would show some real balls IMHO.
ScreamingStukas
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-26-2014 6:35 AMMuch thanks for the translations DESTROYAH-X. Anymore would be much appreciated.
It's good to see alot like the movie so far. Much like everywhere else the general consensus is that it's a good but flawed movie. Roughly 70 out of every 100 folks like it, good job Gareth and co. Reach higher for the sequel next time.
Some of these negative comments make me roll my eyes though.
The comment regarding the "baseball cap wearing Japanese kid" as an "ignorant stereotype".
I say this person needs to chill. The Japanese were guilty of an "ignorant stereotype" themselves if people recall the New York scene with the pimp and such in Final Wars. I live in New York and rolled my eyes yet LMFAO. Don't take it so hard lol.
"It reaffirms the use of nuclear weapons. Do not be swayed by American propaganda"
I disagree. Yes I shook my head when the US military resolved to nukes as the problem solver but they were lucky it didn't make everything so much worse. The nukes aren't portrayed as a problem solver in any way in this movie so how does it reaffirm it's use? Please explain lol. The US military is shown here to be just as useful at stopping these beasts as a toy army is at stopping an 8 year old kid from stomping all over the toy room. No offense to those in the military but it's the truth in this movie.
ScreamingStukas
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-26-2014 6:47 AM"As long as you continue to turn away from war and the nuclear issues, this is not a true Godzilla movie"
This movie is not in the same league as the original but I don't think this movie turns away from the horrors of what war and nuclear issues can cause. Every mess in this movie is a direct result of the usage of nuclear weapons and testing. How does it get viewer's to think nuclear usage does not cause problems? I think people misunderstand the point of making the US military resolve to the use of nukes as the problem solver in this story. I believe that was the whole point of getting to the point. As the disasters in this movie's story appear I can picture mother nature sitting up above looking down at the humans saying.."Ignorant humans, still won't stop using nukes... more suffering will result, when will they learn? This is why this whole issue exists".
GG
ModeratorGiganJul-26-2014 7:05 AMKoldwarkid- Godzilla 2014 ferocity is not in humanity but in the protection of earth! He is a true monster, He has no care for ants like us or are dumb buildings. In that way im calling this Godzilla perhaps the most ferocious! He doesnt give a crap about any of us except the task at hand.
Good grief.
DJacobs
MemberMothra LarvaeJul-26-2014 5:28 PMThe 2014 Godzilla is not paying attention to what man wants or needs, he is hunting the Mutos. The long-time G fans seemed to have liked it, and the rest got a good taste. There should be much more monster action in the sequel, which should please everyone.
