Legendary Pictures' GODZILLA - !!SPOILERS!!

[thenammagazine]

There's gotta be a Godzilla didnt read gif out there somewhere

This'd be perfect for it.

 

[Khev]

at the gifs above.

As for this:

I kind of want to put Kong in tonight to do the whole back to back Pepsi challenge but a big part of me is just thinking, "nah, I'll just watch Godzilla again."

Yeah I did go ahead and watch King Kong 2005 again for the first time in several years tonight and it is a much better movie than Godzilla. It's not even close. But I do stand by my earlier claim that you've got to be prepared to give Kong its due time and attention when you're ready to watch it while Godzilla is the easier one to just kick back and watch over and over.

 

[MaulFan]

Kong is definitely a better overall film, the monster and human sides are well balanced compared to Godzilla, but the pacing is awful. It's a 3 hour movie that should have been 2. One thing I really like about Godzilla is the pacing, I feel it has a good flow from the opening to the end, there's no parts where I feel like it slew down too much or went to fast, it was just right, you get on the ride and it keeps you entertained until it's over. Kong has plenty of moments where I want to just hit fast forward. The bug pit scene is definitely one, it's just so slow, it's cool in concept but it needs to unfold faster. Also, I'll take Aaron Taylor Johnson over Jack Black any day, Adrian Brody is great though.

 

[jye4ever]

Then there is Kong extended edition, the movie is like 37 hours long.

 

[MaulFan]

Then there is Kong extended edition, the movie is like 37 hours long.

Haven't seen it, curious to though. I have such mixed feelings about the movie. I love American King Kong (don't care for Toho's monstrosity) and I watch all 3 versions, '33, '76, '05, my favorite is still '76, I grew up on that one and Rick Baker's costume design is just awesome. The CGI in 2005 is incredible but for me Kong looks too much like a giant version of a real gorilla, I like him sort of looking like his own thing since he's so much larger than normal, kind of like how Godzilla looks like a dinosaur but he's also very unique.

 

[jye4ever]

PJ Kong has some awesome monster bits, extended adds the large sharp toothed water monster, but man is that movie a chore to sit thru.

LOTR EE it is not.

Well, I guess it's the equivalent of watching the TT ENT tree thinking scene for a full 3 1/2 hours. lol

Godzilla much better pacing and ride.

Nothing in Kong. not even the ferociously cool T-Rex battle, matches Godzilla's introduction and atomic breath scenes for me.

 

[MaulFan]

I'd rank the Kong vs. V-Rex fight over the Godzilla vs MUTO fight only because of the flow of the fight, it was brutal and non-stop, but for the awkward pause in the vines, and capped of with the brutal head crushing of the V-Rex. Godzilla's fight with the MUTOs had all that, but there were breaks in the fighting so it's like 10 small fights adding up to a whole. Imagine a fierce battle with the female MUTO ending with the kiss of death move instead of him just sneaking up on her and owning her.

 

[Khev]

Kong is definitely a better overall film, the monster and human sides are well balanced compared to Godzilla, but the pacing is awful. It's a 3 hour movie that should have been 2. One thing I really like about Godzilla is the pacing, I feel it has a good flow from the opening to the end, there's no parts where I feel like it slew down too much or went to fast, it was just right, you get on the ride and it keeps you entertained until it's over. Kong has plenty of moments where I want to just hit fast forward. The bug pit scene is definitely one, it's just so slow, it's cool in concept but it needs to unfold faster. Also, I'll take Aaron Taylor Johnson over Jack Black any day, Adrian Brody is great though.

The funny thing with Kong is that I agree the first hour is a chore but once its over I'm glad that I got the establishment of the characters and setting that it provided. Kong 33 and 76 were both "modern" films and I get that since 05 was a period film why PJ would want to really remind people of what the 30's were like. But still, I'm sure there had to be a way to get that message across and still cut a good 30 minutes out of it at least. Because I'm now familiar with Godzilla's pacing I kept noting during Kong how slow things were going. At the 30 minute mark when the characters in KK are still getting settled in to the ship I couldn't help but think, "man, Godzilla would have that first MUTO hatching right now," or when he defeats the V-Rexes at the two hour mark that that's where Godzilla would be ending.

I actually did watch the extended Kong last night which was a little over 3 hours long. I think it would have been ideal if PJ cut the ridiculous brontosaurus stampede and replaced it with the fish monster attack for the theatrical cut. For one that would have matched the 33 version more and two that bronto scene is just so, so silly and it goes on forever. I also noticed just how many badly composited CGI scenes there are in KK (some scenes during the bronto chase literally look like an actor running on a treadmill in front of a green screen, which I'm sure is exactly what it was.)

Yes Godzilla came 9 years later with the luxury of all those improvements in CGI but also by not having 18 different monster attack scenes they got to settle in and make the five or so scenes where the monsters do show up virtually perfect. The visuals in KK are absolutely spectacular, and often beautiful even, but I couldn't help but notice how artificial a lot of them looked compared to Godzilla. In fact I don't know that there's a single dodgy looking scene in all of Godzilla's two hours.

But the emotions in Kong are just sky high. It really feels like you're watching the monster version of Titanic or something. A really amazing achievement. But again, its so taxing in both good and bad ways that while my appreciation for Kong is higher my excitement for Godzilla is higher. Godzilla is an 8 that I can watch over and over and over and Kong is a 9.5 that I can watch once every few years.

 

[Khev]

Haven't seen it, curious to though. I have such mixed feelings about the movie. I love American King Kong (don't care for Toho's monstrosity) and I watch all 3 versions, '33, '76, '05, my favorite is still '76, I grew up on that one and Rick Baker's costume design is just awesome. The CGI in 2005 is incredible but for me Kong looks too much like a giant version of a real gorilla, I like him sort of looking like his own thing since he's so much larger than normal, kind of like how Godzilla looks like a dinosaur but he's also very unique.

You know I actually agree. I think it's strange that PJ took liberties with dinosaurs and even invented some of his own but then seemed to be so bound by the science of a "real" gorilla, right down to him eating bamboo. Why couldn't he be carnivorous like he was in 1933? It's freaking Skull Island, do whatever you want man.

Luckily Serkis' performance and Weta's CGI overcame the somewhat uninspired look of Kong. To me we've never seen the definitive look of Kong on screen which will always be how he appeared on that awesome 1976 poster:

 

[Khev]

Nothing in Kong. not even the ferociously cool T-Rex battle, matches Godzilla's introduction and atomic breath scenes for me.

For me there is nothing in all of monster movies more iconic than Kong swatting at biplanes atop the Empire State Building. Hell it's one of the most iconic images in all of cinema. Take your pick, 33 or 05. Otherwise I'll give all other "monster" scenes to Godzilla 2014. I think that with these two franchises we've got a really awesome foursome of classics and remakes.

King Kong 1933
Gojira 1954

King Kong 2005
Godzilla 2014

How often do you get such a choice of vintage and modern greatness?

 

[jye4ever]

True, at the end of the day not much to complain about right there. lol

 

[Khev]

Thinking about how colorful PJ's Kong movie was (and beautifully so) I'm still able to appreciate Edward's decision to make the final battle in Godzilla take place under overcast skies and in an ashy, cloudy city. It feels like a neat homage to Gojira's black and white origin.

 

[thenammagazine]

Then there is Kong extended edition, the movie is like 37 hours long.

Yup. I bought it in anticipation of seeing the extra Skull Island footage, but man, when it gets to NY, the movie drags like a quadruple amputee who fell out of bed.

 

[jye4ever]

Thinking about how colorful PJ's Kong movie was (and beautifully so) I'm still able to appreciate Edward's decision to make the final battle in Godzilla take place under overcast skies and in an ashy, cloudy city. It feels like a neat homage to Gojira's black and white origin.

Yup. I bought it in anticipation of seeing the extra Skull Island footage, but man, when it gets to NY, the movie drags like a quadruple amputee who fell out of bed.

It drags like Bryan Singer and Ian Mckellen in a Greenwich Villiage parade.

 

[thenammagazine]

It drags like Bryan Singer and Ian Mckellen in a Greenwich Villiage parade.

It drags like Divine from Pink Flamingos.

 

[jye4ever]

Paa Paa Poo Mow Mow
Paa Paa Poo Mow Mow

 

[crows]

 

[thenammagazine]

 

[Khev]

And the guy freaking out about the door. I don't know if he was still in the control room. My understanding was everyone was being evacuated. So he was just talking to him trough a radio he was using outside. Yeah that sounds plausible. Ill go with that

Works for me!

 

[jye4ever]