How can anyone like the Millennium Series?

"Weak characters has been a problem that has plagued over 75%-90% of all Godzilla films ever regardless of the series."

@Madison

Can't agree with this in the least. Even in the 1970s, the characters were fairly strong, even in a pulpy sort of Forbidden Planet kind of way. But that was the genre for any related movie in the 60s-70s. The fact that, circa 1950s, post-Godzilla, Honda and his team didn't really know what to do with characters during the third act really made an impression later on. (Which is odd sense the original film made very good use of them by then.) Rodan, Varan and Battle in Outer Space, all botched the third act with spectacular effects-- but it got boring since the characters had nothing to do. The 1960s rectified this and were typically given some great, rounding arcs, particularly in Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster and especially Monster Zero.

I recently watched Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and was astounded by how good that movie really is. Akira Takarada's character is absolutely sublime and he exits the Showa series with one hell of a performance. You could tell he was having fun playing a fugitive.

Even when Godzilla was a hero that didn't omit some great characters and dark movies. Terror of MechaGodzilla is about as drab as the Showa series got since the original movie. While the film features some classic telescoping, popular in the 1970s, the tragedy between Ichinose and Katsura is no less enriching.

Realism regarding the series is never and issue for me as that was very far from the point by the time the 60s rolled around.

As for the Millennium series, I by and large agree, but mostly in connection with the Heisei series. It has some fine merits to it, but no greater than the stuff that had come about a decade before it. vs. Megaguirus is pretty boring though... And the characters are just awful. Absolutely dislikable...

Well, since what character arcs one finds compelling is subjective, I'm not sure we will find agreement here. 

I will concede that part of my disatisfaction with the characters is the language barrier. Whether watching dubbing or subtitles, it really does detach me from being able to really get emotionally invested in the movie. For me, this isn't just with Godzilla movies, but really any foreign film I've watched. It's just hard for me to get it past it. If you don't have a similar problem, then seriously, good for you (not meant to be sarcastic).

That being said, what I do think is worth mentioning, is just because they give the characters something to do, or create a characte arc doesn't mean that the arc itself has weight or resonance. It's kinda like when you have that friend who tells a lame joke...and you GET the joke, put the punchline just isn't funny.

Many Godzilla films don't even bother developing significant character arcs, and the only purpose the characters serve is to pilot a machine or observe from a boardroom (Heisei MechaGodzilla film and Final Wars are the two jumping to the forefront right now as egregious offenders of this, but there are many others) 

There are Godzilla movies which attempt a little bit more, but the success is limited. Like the 1974 MechaGodzilla film and it's sequel, or GMK, in fairness DID give their characters relationships and things to do. They even gave them some sympathetic moral conundrums to work out. But in the end, it just didn't suck me in. They get props for trying, but the execution just wasn't there for me personally. 

And even the movies which DO have character arcs that succeed in drawing me in, only achieve that success with a few of the main characters. They aren't hitting on all cylinders. Granted, there a lot non-Godzilla movies which do succeed on all character fronts, so I don't begrudge the Godzilla movies too strongly for this. Movies like the original 1954 film, Godzilla 2000, Heisei's King Ghidorah movie all had some character(s) who struck a chord with me, but then missed the mark with others. 

So yeah, I understand we probably won't reach an agreement here, but yeah, the number of Godzilla movies with interesting characters for me personally, could probably be counted on one hand. The number of movies where they at least TRY would probably take may hands and my toes, but still. 

That doesn't mean I dislike all those other Godzilla movies. I enjoy almost all of them on some level. Just at different levels of depth for different reasons depending on the film. 

And that's part of why I'm so excited for Godzilla 2014. It might be the first Godzilla movie ever for me which really does hit on all cylinders for me. Best Godzilla movie ever incoming! It will hopefully be quite a treat :-) 

Fair enough. I agree the language barrier can be a hard sell, but I typically don't have that issue when I'm watching a foreign film that's subtitled. Granted I've spent the past decade studying the different approaches to acting/language in each country and Japan does tend to have a more theatrical approach to on-screen performances than most.

And while I agree that even though a character is given an arc it doesn't mean it always works, there's plenty that still work in relation to the genre and the times. Could Glenn and Namikawa's romance have been fleshed out more in Monster Zero? Absolutely. But Glenn was a supporting character in a sci-fi epic where his romance was a mere subplot. The movie was Godzilla's first foray into pulp-science fiction and the character's off-beat romance fit in to that subgenre's mold. Namikawa's death may not have had a lot of weight to it, but Adams and Mizuno have such strong performances that their final scene bleeds off the screen with great importance. Sometimes it's not the weight or development of the characters, but the energy they promote. 

Granted, both energy and arcs don't always work-- I find Destroy All Monsters' characters fairly stale and The Return of Godzilla's characters are about as boring as GINO's. But for every failed attempt there's that many more that offer something worth looking into.

I hope to God that the new film features strong characters with lively energy and I'm fairly certain it will, even if I'm not convinced they'll be as memorable as some that have come before.

dude i love the millinium series gmk godzilla 2000 all great