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