Bagheera wrote:So, like, every Godzilla movie ever.

Godzilla (1954) featured a 20 minute destruction scene with Godzilla. This doesn't count the two appearances he had prior to that scene, nor does it count his final appearance as he died. The shorter 1956 edit of this movie for American audiences removes none of these scenes. Though, it might be true that we've never seen that much Godzilla in a single movie since then.

Also, for me, the most distinct and creative looking Godzilla monster was Hedorah, which probably means I'll be banished from the rest of the Godzilla fandom. Mechagodzilla would have counted if he wasn't a robot instead, and the "creativity" in King Ghidorah's design was merely gluing the same modeled head on three different identical-looking necks, and copying the tail and wing design over twice. Awesome? Yes! Distinct or creative? Not until Mecha King Ghidorah changed it up. (Cyborg attachments tend to make any monster design better in these movies.)

Seeing as how the Pacific Rim monsters do have variety in weapons and attack modes, and even silhouette recognizability making them distinguishable from one another, I can't say they have the personality of wet cardboard. Not visually, at least. But they do all kinda sound the same, and that's probably what makes them seem too similar. When I think of distinct Godzilla monsters, I think of different roars or screeches, not really different designs and appearances. Adding as much variety to Pacific Rim's creature sounds as they did their appearances and fight modes probably would have gone a long way in giving them a more distinct "personality."

Say what you will about 2014 Godzilla, but what we got was one of the best fight scenes in any Godzilla movie. I'll take quality over quantity any day (though admittedly with some reservations once Chuckman pointed out some rather disturbing connotations of the whole mess).

But anyway, the main problem with the monsters in PR is that they had so little screentime. They all seemed the same to me because none of them were developed at all. I don't blame people for hating the M.U.T.O.s in Godzilla, but they were given time to develop and had understandable motivations. The PR monsters, by contrast, were just tools. They were boring. Now, granted, that was true of many monsters in classic Godzilla movies as well, but even so most of the time the monsters were given room to be characters in their own right. Not so with PR.

Well, being tools was just part of the PR mythos. They were cloned for a very specific purpose, planned by supposedly more interesting creatures that lived elsewhere. Translated into Godzilla terms, they used us Mechagodzilla without letting us know too much about the Aliens from the Third Planet in the Black Hole who built him. Which is kind of unfortunate, yes.

Also Mako is a character in her own right. I won't give a lot of credit to character development or sympathy overall in PR, but they certainly did it well with that one character. So I was happy there.

I was talking about the monsters there, not the humans. Humans don't need to be developed in kaiju movies (though it's a nice bonus if they are).

I love Pacific Rim. It's one of the nerdiest big budget films ever & it embraces that uncool nerdiness & in doing so goes full circle & becomes cool again. It's a great & very silly movie. Also it's the closest we ever need to come to a live action Evangelion & perhaps the best thing to come out of the sequel possibly falling apart is it makes LAME a far less appealing concept.

If Pacific Rim II does fall apart I'm saddened but not surprised. The film was strictly being willed into being by the Chinese box office alone. In the rest of the world it was a modest hit but left WB financially in the red.

Anywho, I've come to really love Godzilla 2014 but I hope when they do the next one they don't 100% follow the style of the original movies & at least give us one human narrative that is compelling from start to finish. Keep the monster fighting the way they handled it but put a little human emotion into the movie past the 30 minute mark. Good human characters help make the film that much stronger.


P.S. The crossover is official. GODZILLA VS KONG at somepoint in 2020.
http://deadline.com/2015/10/king-kong-godzilla-warner-bros-legendary-pictures-1201582155/

The article also reconfirms the fact that Warner Brothers is intent on bringing Mothra, Rodan & King Ghidorah to the screen. Most likely in Godzilla 2.

So Anno's New Godzilla in 2016. That new Gamera movie in 2016. King Kong: Skull Island in 2017. Godzilla 2 in 2018. Godzilla Vs. Kong in 2020. Probably more Toho movies in the future too. And if these big monster movies turn a profit Warner Brothers will probably reignite Pacific Rim 2 for a maybe 2019. Kaiju fans are going to be happy the next couple years.