Godzilla Movie

Adam Wingard as director-Is he up to the task?

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Godzillatheking123

MemberBaragonDec-05-2018 7:32 PM

So tell me what you think about Adam Wingard being the director. Is he up to the task? His track record is mixed, the horror flicks "You're Next" and "The Guest" were well-received, but then he also made clunkers like "Blair Witch" and the poorly adapted Western live-action version of "Death Note".

So I really have no idea about whether he can do Godzilla and Kong justice. Now he has posted his five favorite Godzilla movies on twitter: 

1.Godzilla (Japanese)
2.Godzilla Vs. Hedorah
3.Godzilla vs Monster Zero
4.Destroy All Monsters
5.Godzilla Vs Destroyah

With the quirky exception of Hedorah, those are all good Godzilla movies, so that may raise hopes of G fans in his ability. Still, a lot of questions still hang in the air. Like the whole premise of Godzilla vs Kong. If Godzilla wins, that will piss off the Kong fans. If Kong wins, that will piss off the Godzilla fans. So Wingard might be stuck in a no-win situation in offending either group of fans. That is why there has not been a Godzilla vs Gamera film after all, because Toho and Daiei film could not agree on which monster will prevail in the match-up.

 

17 Replies

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaDec-05-2018 8:30 PM

I'm concerned.

To be fair I'm concerned about Godzilla: King of the Monsters as well--I like Dougherty a lot and he's saying all the right words, but sometimes I get a, "too good to be true" feeling from him.

With Wingard we have an inconsistent storyteller with obvious directing talent, so I can only hope the screenplay is iron clad. Aside from his last two favorite Godzilla movies, I'm okay with what he could potentially draw inspiration from. Ultimately we just don't know if it will work yet.

Wingard's never tackled this genre--It may fit him like a glove or it may not be his strongest work. Either way I look forward to following the production and getting hyped for it regardless of what the end product is.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

MilqueChocolate

MemberBaragonDec-05-2018 11:45 PM

He's a mixed bag, but sometimes a director can really step it up when it comes to certain films. I'll have to see the initial trailer for it to get a firm read on it.

Godzillatheking123

MemberBaragonDec-06-2018 12:14 AM

" I can only hope the screenplay is iron clad."

True, film-making is a collaborative enterprise, every team member has to carry their load and do their job right for the overall film to work. Casting-wise they seem to have a collection of good actors, so it's the script I am concerned about. Even if there is a brilliant director at the helm, but the story and script is complete crap, with a hackneyed plot and forgettable characters, then there is not much the director could do to rescue the film. Now the screenwriter here is Terry Rossio, who has long list of credits to his name, including penning the Pirates of the Carribean franchise and Shrek, some of the films he scripted earned rave reviews, others...not so much. But I have no idea if he knows or care enough about Godzilla to do it right. 

As for Dougherty, his resume so far consist mostly of smaller scale horror flicks, well-received to be sure, but he also has not tackle a film of this scale before. Although in his defense, that Godzilla King of the Monsters trailer that came out this summer blew everyone away with how awesome it was. That surely help ease the concern of some G fans. But you are right, until we see the finished product, there is no way to be sure. Let's see if the 2nd trailer will show a consistent quality with it being as good as the 1st trailer. 

KoldWarKid62

MemberBaragonDec-06-2018 5:43 AM

Cautiously optimistic on all fronts. Although the more I see and hear from Dougherty the more hopeful I am. He seems to be a true fan. Hoping the finished product is good. As for Wingard, again, it's wait and see. Way too early to pass judgement.

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaDec-06-2018 11:12 AM

To me, Rossio is a concern for both King of the Monsters and vs. Kong. Yes he penned, the first Pirates of the Caribbean, The Mask of Zorro and Aladdin, which I love. But he also wrote the Pirates sequels, the putrid Lone Ranger and a variety of bargain bin action/thrillers.

I hope he's stepped up his game for both Godzilla films.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Godzillatheking123

MemberBaragonDec-06-2018 5:47 PM

Wait, Rossio is also scripting King of the Monsters?  I thought Max Borenstein and Dougherty is writing King? 

 

P.S-I guess I should have been clearer in my earlier post, I was referring to Godzilla vs Kong for Terry Rossio.

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaDec-06-2018 6:58 PM

Godzillatheking123,
I had a momentary lapse of sanity. You're correct, Rossio is only doing Godzilla vs. Kong. Dougherty and Zach Shields wrote King of the Monsters. (Of note, Borenstein did not have anything to do with the screenplay. He's only being credited for the inclusion of his characters, Serizawa and Graham. Thank God...)

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Godzillatheking123

MemberBaragonDec-06-2018 7:21 PM

No worries, that can happen to anyone. ;)

At the end of the day, making any movie is tough. Making a good movie is even tougher. The constraints of budget, time, and studio demands/interference all work as challenges for any director or screenwriter that can limit what they can achieve. Now Legendary and Warner are known as more director-centric studios, which allow their directors more leeway in controlling how a film is made, unlike other Hollywood Studios. But let's not kid ourselves, with a cross-over franchise like the monsterverse, the studios have a certain set of criteria that the director must met. That can either hamper or help the film.  I just hope Dougherty for KoTM and Wingard for G vs K has the talent to do the job well, and more importantly, be allowed to do their job well. 

 

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaDec-06-2018 9:27 PM

Dougherty strikes me a little more in an "auteur" role than Wingard. Wingard was brought onboard after a general story (and possibly screenplay) had been settled on--That gives Godzilla vs. Kong a, "film by committee" and "director for hire" vibe. Especially considering how many names were attached to the writer's room.

Dougherty was brought onboard to write Godzilla: King of the Monsters first and then got the director's chair second. So, for better or for worse, it's his baby through and through.

Strangely different production directions for two films in the same series. We'll see how it ends up.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Godzillatheking123

MemberBaragonDec-07-2018 4:27 AM

Hmmm....film by committee, that can end up well with diverse ideas producing a satisfying film or produce a movie that is nothing but an incoherent mess due to conflicting demands of it's producers. 

A "committee" film that worked was Wonder Woman. The DCEU universe led by Zack Snyder was generally slammed by critics as far inferior to the Marvel universe. But with Wonder Woman, Snyder made the wise choice of getting Geoff Johns, the DC comic book writer, involved as the screenwriter. Johns knew the character and knew how to write a decent script. So when they hired a talented director in the form Patty Jenkins, the underlying "foundation" of the film was relatively solid.

Conversely, a commitee film could fail spectacularly. Like the Mummy with Tom Cruise. Universal was so focused on starting their Dark Universe, they put the cart before the horse. As in forgetting to actually tell a good story to be begin with. I mean, the tone was all wrong. The Mummy could not decide whether it was an action film or a horror film. And there was far too much info dump that dragged the pacing down. All in all, a bad film that killed the franchise before it began.

Hopefully, the Monsterverse has learnt that lesson and focus on telling a good story...with Godzilla as the focus.

Godzilla's_Tail79

MemberMothra LarvaeDec-07-2018 9:43 AM

I haven't seen any of this director's previous work but the trend in Hollywood now is to take small-time directors and put them in front of big projects so the studio can have more control. Sometimes this works out well like Jurassic World but other times it fails like The Last Jedi (at least in my humble opinion). 

I think its too early to tell for sure now, KotM hasn't even come out yet and so far things are looking good on that front. If it is well received I imagine they will try to keep GvK in the same vein and style. I think the Studio probably exerts more control over these movies now since 2014 wasn't as well-received as they hoped. They gave Edwards too much control on that film and while I think he's a good director he didn't give the people what they wanted - kaiju action with Godzilla as the focus. 

Wish they kept the Skull Island guy for GvK though. Really thought that movie's style really stood out compared to Godzilla 2014. Made up for the movie's lack of plot, once again, in my humble opinion. 

JUiCEZiLLAJOE87

MemberMothra LarvaeDec-07-2018 9:55 AM

As far as the tile Emma of pissing off Kong or Godzilla fans... It has been said in previous interviews as well as general information about the direction of this movie would be, that Kong and Godzilla would fight with both getting their punches in and showcasing how awesome each one is.  Then they would team up much like in The avengers and take on a bigger threat.

    I'm not sure what that bigger threat can be other than Ghidorah maybe Destroyah hell Gigan (wishful thinking I don't know if they have the rights to these monsters I would think we would have heard something if not it's the best kept secret ever) could show up there's so many questions now of where this movie is going to go and how they're going to pull this off.  I have faith though in Adam wingard.

SupēsuGoji123

MemberMothra LarvaeDec-07-2018 1:55 PM

Knowing that Adam directed the live action Death Note scares me a bit, but I still believe this movie will be great.

Related image

Godzillatheking123

MemberBaragonDec-07-2018 6:08 PM

Godzilla's_Tail79: I have no doubt Studios prefer to exert greater control over franchise movies like this, given the big budget investment they put into these movies, they would naturally expect it to turn out a certain way, rather than give full control to the directors as in smaller movies. But like I said, that can be a double-edged sword. It depends a lot on whether the studio know what they are doing, and not butchering the very film they want to promote, like what happened with Mummy.

As for 2014, I didn't think that was a bad movie, certainly better than 1998 at any rate. I found 2014 enjoyable to watch. But I get the criticism that it seem more like a stand-alone action movie with occasional glimpse of Godzilla, rather than being a Godzilla-centric movie. But I think Dougherty will fix that issue, those who saw an early preview of the first part of the movie report a lot more footage of Godzilla. 

JUiCEZiLLAJOE87: Yes I heard those rumours too, but unless I get a clearer confirmation, that is just rumour at this point. It's still quite possible for G vs K to focus on that alone, that would be risky in my opinion. As for the Gigan being the ultimate threat, I don't know man. His "buzz-saw" chest has always been kinda cool, but he could end up looking stupid if not done right. I mean leaving aside the Gigan kaiju itself and just look at the Godzilla vs Gigan movie, it has it's charms, but I wouldn't list it as one of my top Godzilla movies.

EmptyH

MemberBaragonDec-08-2018 12:14 AM

Sadly, I can't get into a discussion with you because you start with a false premise.

Hedorah is in fact a good movie and Destroyah is not.

Host of the podcast Giant Monster Messages where we watch EVERY giant monster film and look for the messages.

Godzillatheking123

MemberBaragonDec-08-2018 2:26 AM

EmptyH: It would have been a waste of time to talk to someone like you anyway. There is no such thing as "false premise", only different opinions.

Im Durp

MemberBaragonDec-10-2018 12:02 AM

"Hedorah is in fact a good movie and Destoroyah is not."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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