Legendary, Warner Bros. officially to reboot Godzilla

[Night_stalker]

Yes, you are.

[Molyneux]

Am I the only one who thought Zilla looked decrepit because he was hunched forward so, and geriatric because of the shape of his jaw and how wrinkly his mouth looked? I'm not just saying that because I'm a G-purist; I thought most of the Millenium Godzilla designs looked less potent than their Heisei predecessors.

Eh...the intended effect was to make it look more like our current conception of theropod dinosaurs - a forward-facing body, balanced by a heavy tail (rather than "upright" like the older Godzilla design).

To me, it always makes it look more effective as a monster; there are things I dislike about the design, but that's not one of them.

[Shroom Man 777]

They should do a remake of Final War, that's what I think.

That was such an awesome movie. Just what WERE all those guys from the Matrix doing in there?

No fucking clue. But man, it was good that they swapped Morpheus for Joseph Stalin with a samurai sword.

Man, Godzilla should also play football with Anguirus and also blow up an asteroid and fight a Satan that turns into King Ghidora.

Goddamn, Final Wars.

[Majin Gojira]

I think it's rather funny that Them! is being used as a stalwart of "Bad Radioactive movie monster" when the only failing it has in in FX. The only reason it is in black & white to begin with is that the budget was cut after pre-production. So the most expensive things on the film are the Cast and Script--which shows!

I mean, it has James Whitmore (who has parts in The Shawshank Redemption, Tora! Tora! Tora! and Oklahoma!--though I'm noticing a pattern here with exclamation points...), Edmund Gwenn (best known as Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street) and James Arness (best known for his lead role in Gunsmoke).

Hell, that film spawned its own subegenre of radioactive monsters--the Giant Bug Film.

If you're going to use a film to exemplify "Bad American Radioactive Monster Movie," I can think of dozens of others: The Monster that Challenged the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Deadly Mantis, The Amazing Colossal Man, Q: The Winged Serpent.

What really differentiates them from a Kaiju? It's already been said: Near Invulnerability. The creature isn't hard to defeat because of some biological habit, habitat or the idiocy of the attackers.

I forget who said it, but when Toho/The Director of Final Wars announced that the American Godzilla would appear in Final Wars as "Zilla" they stated it was because "(The Americans) to the "God" out of him."

Lets hope Legendary pictures keeps the "God" there.

[Shroom Man 777]

Oh man, Them was awesome. Scientists and the US Army killing monster bugs, with goddamn flamethrowers. It's the quintessential radioactive monster movie. It's fantastic!

[Night_stalker]

Yeah, it's a classic.

[TithonusSyndrome]

I think it's rather funny that Them! is being used as a stalwart of "Bad Radioactive movie monster" when the only failing it has in in FX. The only reason it is in black & white to begin with is that the budget was cut after pre-production. So the most expensive things on the film are the Cast and Script--which shows!

I never said it was "bad", I said it was a bog standard popcorn flick with nothing really to say, except in a sort of incidental, perfunctory way because the monsters happened to be affiliated with nuclear power. Would the children's choir and the montage of the ruins of Tokyo have been the kind of scene that fit with the tone and message of Them?

[Night_stalker]

Yeah, don't mess with radiation. That's a bloody commandment!

[RazorOutlaw]

I'm really excited to hear the news, and I'll be happy if it's a good action movie with elements of Godzilla being a "force of nature/man" from 1954/1984. Although I really enjoyed the overall look and feel of Godzilla 1985 I'm not sure how well that would go over with the public. I've seen more praise heeped on Godzilla 1985 by fans recently, but will the movie do well if they try to do Godzilla from that angle? I wonder how many fans prefer campy action Godzilla over grim, people crushing Godzilla? And would it be right to appeal to fans or a wider audience?

[TithonusSyndrome]

If they want campy action they can watch one of the 26 or so films made with that in mind. For fuck's sake, after such a protracted, frustrating hijack of the series (which I've enjoyed at times, don't get me wrong) is it too much to ask that a restart honors the intent and tone of the original?

[RazorOutlaw]

I would prefer something a little more serious than Godzilla: Final Wars. But, as you say, the other 26 being campy might set an expectation. "Serious" Godzilla movies don't seem to do well, although I think Cloverfield, the only other building-stompy movie besides King Kong, did reasonably well financially.

If they can make it work, cool. I'd be happy to see it. If not then it'll just be an already campy franchise pretending to have a point.