Godzilla (2014) or Shin Gojira???

     Many Godzilla fans, myself included loved the new Shin Gojira film. As I mentioned in my review, it was a very well acted, well-shot and just wonderfully dark film. There is another common trait among Godzilla fans regarding new films, however. There is a compulsive urge to compare the most recent ones. The rivalry has never been more prominent than between Legendary Pictures' Godzilla or Toho's Shin Gojira. As a fan I wanted to look at each film and see what each did right and figure out which one "wins". After re-watching Godzilla (2014) and rereading my review/going off memory of Shin Gojira, I believe I know my stance on this issue.

     First thing to mention is without a doubt the acting. I am hard pressed to remember a single bad performance in Shin Gojira. There were a small handful of over-the-top bits, but that doesn't translate as bad. If I were to give any negatives to the acting of Shin Gojira, it's that there are so many characters that I would understand if somebody lost track of what was going on between a few of them. I'm hesitant to use the word "cluttered" though. I believe the acting was still done in it's best efforts and was still relatively easy to follow, but if I put myself in the shoes of somebody who is not as familiar with Japanese media as myself, I can understand if they lose track of few things. Full disclosure, that was an important factor in making my stance about how I view these movies. I must look at these in the eyes of not just me personally, but other Godzilla fans who may be more hardcore as well as people who are not fans of the franchise at all. I used this approach to the acting of Legendary Pictures' Godzilla as well. When I look at the acting for that movie, I am not so sure that it's bad all around, but it was more complicated to figure a few things out.
     I do believe there is a common misconception with how we view some of the characters in Godzilla (2014). Mostly we falsely identify characters as "main protagonists" when they are not. The main characters are the character(s) we follow throughout the movie as it is told through the perspective or from a perspective that focuses on them. The main characters in Godzilla (2014) were: Joe Brody, Ford Brody and Dr. Ishiro Serizawa. Aside from, arguably, Admiral Stenz, no other characters were a primary focus that moved the plot forward. The biggest offender of this misconception is Elle Brody. For some strange reason many want to see her as a main character despite her only having two or three major scenes. Her Role was give Ford something to fight for and to let the audience relate to a worried wife and mother. We wanted Ford to be reunited with Elle so they could be happy. Those actions did not depend on Elle though, as she was a nurse in the city with no way to stop, or in some cases, reach Ford. The truth is Ford is the primary protagonist
that should be the focus of character discussion when talking about this movie.
     The problem, everyone can agree on though is that Ford Brody, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, was not acting well in that movie. I 100% disagree. The problem is not that Ford was not portrayed well, the problem is that Bryan Cranston was TOO good. Joe Brody was a charismatic father with nothing to lose and everything to gain, and it didn't hurt that he was played by a dam good actor. We compared Ford Brody to Joe Brody and saw Ford as more bland and uncaring and therefore a bad actor. Did anybody stop to consider that Ford Brody was a military man from a family that fell apart, and being somewhat jaded to everything revolving around his father as well as being serious towards anything outside the home is what his character was? Yes, there were some reactions to the MUTO's that I felt were slightly not genuine. Even with that, however, I still consider the performance good. It's not like he never showed emotion. The scene with Ford and Elle at home in the beginning is, although short, very pleasant as it shows that Ford is a caring family man fully capable of showing a wide range of emotions.
     The acting in Godzilla (2014) is not terrible, but it is not as good as Shin Goji most of the time. There are moments where characters really shine, but it varies so much.Shin Goji tried to have the audience follow the story of how the nation will respond while Godzilla (2014) was very much following the events of one character. There is nothing wrong with either, but I would say that Shin Gojira pullled off its method a bit better.
     One key difference I noticed in the movies is how Godzilla, is written into them. In Shin Gojira, he is meant to be an animal yet treated as a force of nature for its sheer destructive power and uncontrollable and unpredictable nature. Legendary's Godzilla is portrayted much more as a character in his own right. Everything from showing facial expressions, to just experiencing battles through his perspective offer depth to Godzilla as a character. Neither approach is wrong. Godzilla has been portrayed as many things in the past, including a father. Choosing to give the Big G somewhat of a personality is something that Toho has been doing for years. By that same token, portraying the big G as a force of nature as oppose to a character is another thing Toho has done many times over, and is in fact how Godzilla was portrayed in his original film.
     Truth be told, both films are really good in there own way. In some regards, Godzilla (2014) can even be seen as a better representation of certain aspects of Godzilla. Shin Gojira was meant to portray Godzilla as a monster, an unstoppable force. The movie did this in spades, but that was not how Godzilla always was. In fact, I'm willing to bet that most fans were introduced to Godzilla through a more light-hearted film than the original. Legendary Pictures' Godzilla more closely represented a Godzilla based around spectacle and action that we are all very familiar with.We don't keep watching Godzilla because he is a dark representation of nuclear war. We watched Godzilla movies because they were good, because the monsters look amazing, because the effort behind them was real and most of all because they were fun to watch. That is important.
     Many fans blam Godzilla (2014) for not showing Godzilla enough, yet conveniently fail to remember how much hes not in most of the Showa era films he supposedly stars in. It is a common trope in older Godzilla films, even the original btw, to spend time focusing on the people, then focusing on the monster in the third act. Shin Godzilla changed the formula and did it well. Legendary pulls an homage to that trope and gets criticized for "not showing enough Godzilla".
I could go on but I honestly believe that there is an unfair bias against the 2014 Godzilla. The reality is, both films are good.
     Shin Gojira is better at portraying the dark side of Godzila. It re-imagines the story that brought the legend to life in an honorable and respectful way. Godzilla (2014) is better at catering to the fans of the series and having fun. The film goes off it's own original story yet pulls easter eggs and tropes from past Godzilla films while giving fans, not only of Godzilla, but of blockbusters in general, some really awesome fights and visuals. The more I think about it I am sure that Shin Gojira is technically a better movie, but I still had a lot more fun watching Godzilla (2014) for the first time than I did Shin Goji.
     Everyone enjoys movies for different reasons. It's high-time we start understanding that even movies we personally don't like may have a lot going for them and movies we love may have a lot of negatives. We can't declare "Only Japan can make good Godzilla movies" lest we forget Godzilla's Revenge is a thing. We also cannot declare "any giant monster movie, or anything remotely similar to Japanese media, made in America is bad". King Kong Gypsy Danger and Lord Zed have a few things to say to that.
     Both movies are good and deserve your time. Which is better depends solely on preference and nothing more. The last thing our fandom needs is stupid infighting about whether or not a film is a poor bastardization or whether a portrayal of Godzilla is too scary/ stupid looking or not. I am the Kaiju Kidd and I think it's time for this fandom to chill out

Shin Gojira Review

     This Godzilla movie probably had the most expectations to be good than any other Godzilla movie I've seen. People would argue that the 2014 Godzilla had pretty high expectations, but as a mass we did not assume it was going to be good from the get go. People expected to hate it and generally the movie is received as okay. Shin Gojira was assumed to be good before they even started filming. So many spouting about "Japan will show us how it's done" or something else to that effect. After Japan had given the movie such praise, many people collectively decided it was good and made way to the theater with somewhat of a Bias. Truthfully, I think this movie is great. Objectively speaking, it is among the best Godzilla films to date in terms of acting and cinematography. Despite the movie being great, it is not without flaws.
     To start, the acting was amazing. The stand out stars being: Rando Yaguchi (played by Hiroki Hasegawa) and Kayako Ann Patterson (played by Satomi Ishihara). Both of them had worked together before under director Shinji Higuchi on the recent Attack on Titan film and it shows. These actors work well off each other and the camera seems to love them. The film did not rely on the strength of these two alone. There were many colorful characters, all of them very welcome additions to the Godzilla series. I really think anybody who aspires to be a leader needs to watch the performances of Rando Yaguchi and Prime Minister Seiji Okochi. These two exemplify the types of leaders we all should aspire to be. They are Decisive, yet open to all options. They are Stern, but have a genuine concern for all people of the country. Most importantly, they are active and assertive enough to do exactly what needs to be done.
     While the acting was superb, there were times where the writing left something to be desired. The script, itself, wasn't terrible, but there were times in the movie where people were talking too fast, too much was happening on screen, or just scenes that droned on for too long. To be fair these were very few and very far between, but I feel affected the pace of the movie just a bit and kept it from being the best it could possibly be. The best example of this is all the meetings in the beginning. Too much time is spent teasing that Godzilla is coming ashore and having board meetings. After Godzilla's tail flapped around and they had those meetings, the spectacle of seeing Godzilla emerge from the depths lessened just a bit for me. Credit where credit is due though. That whole sequence simultaneously displayed the tedious retardation as well as the organized effectiveness of the bureaucracy and its role of keeping things together in a time of crisis.
     Now we come to the big guy himself. I hate to say this but most of the flaws of the movie are centered around Godzilla himself. Yes, there are problems with the design, but there is an in-movie reason for why he looks the way he does. This is excusable to an extent. I can't quite give a pass on when Godzilla makes landfall for the first time. I understand they were trying to show what a realistic Godzilla would look like. The thing that comes on land is clearly of aquatic or amphibious origin, but frankly, it looks silly. So many in the theater laughed when the saw Godzilla make landfall, and I do not blame them in the least. This design was quickly saved however. Even before Godzilla changed for the first time, it was made clear that this was an unnatural and dangerous thing. Blood everywhere, buildings demolished. Many people went from "Teehee" to "...oh shit..." by the time Godzilla changed.

     From here I must say it gets better for a while, Godzilla just seems to be walking and before they start firing on the potential threat (side note: I just realized how many movies name Godzilla as a "potential" threat and its hilarious) Godzilla turns around and heads to the ocean to, as the scientist discern, cool off the rising temperatures of his body. After a while of the Japanese government planning and mobilizing, Godzilla emerges in his "final" form, or at the least the form we are most familiar with for this movie. Once the Military tries to fend off Godzilla, greatness begins. Everything from the pacing, to the way Godzilla is lumbering around, to the camera angles wonderfully encapsulates the terror that is being unable to kill Godzilla. After much Struggle, American allies hit the back of Godzilla with some bombers and hit a sweet spot. I will allow this considering most of Godzilla's flesh is exposed, especially on the back and neck area so it stands to reason that it would be the most vulnerable. Once Godzilla senses the danger, He lets out his atomic breath. The way Godzilla charges his breath is marvelous. The heat from his mouth is condensed from smoke, to fire, to laser and it is crazy powerful.
     The scene is then made weird when Godzilla launches lasers from his back. I still don't get why that is a good idea over a good old fashioned nuclear pulse, or why Godzilla couldn't just use his normal breath to get the planes. This notion is made weirder when Godzilla launches his breath from his tail later on. I can't think of a way to describe it, other than weird. The weirdness continues with the last scene but, I feel this review has enough spoilers in it. I wont go in to detail about how they bring down Godzilla, but it is very clever and very well executed. I know I said no more spoilers but...train bombs are awesome and I love everything about them.
     At the end of the day, this was a very good Godzilla film. I see an argument for this standing alongside the original as one of, if not the best films from this series recently or even ever. The beautiful cinematography, excellent acting, and dark tone really raise this film up to great heights. This movie is flawed, but I recommend it to everyone. Godzilla fans will love this addition to the franchise and new fans will have a great dark monster movie to watch.
     Now, unfortunately this film does have to be compared to the 2014 Godzilla. Many have viewed Shin Gojira as the "proper way to do a Godzilla movie", but I don't think it's that cut and dry. I plan on comparing the pros and cons of both to see which movie is the definitive Godzilla movie.