To Gareth Edwards: The Direction Style of Godzilla 2

1.Rodan, Mothra and King ghidorah will not be the only ones godzilla fights in the sequel.

There will be more. Remember Gareth's Monster Island concept for the sequel.

2. The screentime in the movie was not the issue, Godzilla was awesome when ever he was on

camera. 

Im gonna go ahead and say it as it is; You can have your opinion, and your suggestions. But im very sure Gareth will STILL use the same style. Godzilla wont have much more than 11 minutes of screen time, and the other monsters not much more than 6-7 minutes. Thats what he does, thats how he does. And frankly; Thank god for that.

But how do i know im right? Gareth himself said in an interview thats how he would do it for once. And there is no way he would just all of a sudden change style.

I'm not sure he'll change his methods either. But I do hope he will insert a more interesting group of characters (but still keeing Serizawa and Vivienne). 

I don't think HE would change it. I will hope, however, that the studio will MAKE him change it. Anyone with sense over there has to know that even though the movie did well, that it could have done better. And I think the overall critizisms were consistant and fairly obvious.

And just to add, the Bu-ray is a practically worthless load of crap. It's so dark you can barely make out what is happening. Even more frustration from this film. What are these people thinking?

Ewwwww, what you want is Michael Bay Transformer crap? NOPE.

I prefer a story, an actual story. Not just action with action and more action. I like the human perspective field of view and like it a ton more than birds eye views and over the top camera angles. I watch Godzilla movies for both the monsters AND the human characters, because lets face it, if the movie doesn't have ineresting characters dealing with whatever terrible calamity in the wake of these monsters, there really isn't an interesting plot besides monsters brawling, and if that's all they showed there wouldn't be much of a movie. Animal fights usually last less than 20 minutes with either fleeing the victim or the hunter fleeing/dying. It wouldn't make sense to have an hour of battling between Godzilla and a foe, especially since they want these movies to be remotely believable when it comes to animalistic behavior.

@ZillaHater.

Well but the teases would be annoying and pointless because...why tease something people had already seen ?

@The True Batman

Not exactly. I was just thinking about how the teases would be pointless. There's obviously a lot more from Godzilla that we could have seen, but we just...didn't.

I do want an actualy story, I do. But I want the monsters as well, they are also characters and they need to be treated just like any other human characters. And more screen time for them means, very likely, less screen ime for the human side.

It's not like I said "Screw the humans ! Make only the monsters appear !" I'm just saying more of this and less of that. Maybe from 90% human + 10% Monsters, they can push it up to 70% humans and 30% monsters.

Just remember that "less is more" with the new Godzilla. For the most part, when he did show up, Godzilla made his appearances count, though I do agree that a bit of extension on those particular parts would be nice. However, I do NOT want any sort of "super full-out" stuff you see in most other films. At all.

@The-True-Batman

I like I good story too. I don't remeber seeing much of that in this film. In fact, this movie was hack writing at best with nothing original or interesting to offer. My five year old son was able to point out that the killing of the MUTOs brood was the same as the killing of Zilla's brood in 98. And then there's that force feeding of info of as to what Godzilla is and where he came from, with no suspense or mystery surrounding him whatesover. And then there's Brody going from one place, to another, to another, while all the while unable to complete calls to the one dimentional character that is his wife. What was her name? Oh yeah, who really cares.

The first 15 minutes at the power palnt nails it, and then from there, there isn't anything wonderful.

ThePike- Class A Micheal bay lover :).

ThePike- So what your saying is, you didnt scream when you saw Godzillas first appearence,

You didnt scream when he used his atomic breath, you didnt scream when he killed the female Muto. And i have a feeling your son really enjoyed the movie but your using him as an excuse to say things that know child could really think of.

@GorillaGodzilla

Let me get this straight, you're trying to diss a guy for something he didn't say ?

He also said he demands a good story (like all of us do). So CLEARLY, he's no Michael Bay lover. A Michael Bay fan who demands a good story ? Those people don't exist...

Let's be clear....I don't like, or dislike MB movies. In fact, I haven't seen too many of them. I've seen parts of the first 3 Transformers movies, and quite frankly, can't figure out why some of you people think the story writing is so much worse than Godzilla. None of it is very good. But at least MB gives you something else, that being the Tranformers doing just what you expect-FIGHT! Godzilla gives a thin story, frustrating cut-aways, and short action drenched in utter darkness. So even the fight, which is the thing you most want, can barely be seen.

No, I did not scream when I first saw Godzilla. Should I have? It was cool, sure, but screaming? Really? Although, I did feel like screaming in frustration when they cut away and never returned.

And, my son DID love the movie. Of course, he only saw about 20 minutes of it because he couldn't sit through all the talking. When I told him I wouldn't FF to the fighting, he started to cry. So I did, because it was getting late anyway. So sure, he liked the same stuff we all did. He didn't have to sit through the travels of Ford. Doesn't change the fact that a child spotted an unoriginal idea from a mile away.

Yeah, the scripting and story could've used some extra work, but at least it doesn't feel as out of place in a movie like this as some of those "action-y-er" flicks where only the explosiveness is of any importance to the whole product.

-Pike Have you ever seen a Godzilla movie? In almost all of the movies Godzilla only appears for 10 14 minutes, look at Godzilla vs Hedorah, or 1954, or Godzilla vs King Ghidorah or Gigan.

The storys are populated by overall bland characters, with one or two major fights in the film.

Gareth was trying to redo that sort of aspect, and wanting FIGHT FIGHT. And FIGHT FIGHT makes you a Micheal Bay fan.

Every time Godzilla is on screen it is amazing, just like most Godzilla films.

@GorillaGodzilla

Now now, let's not try to label people, and let's be real, who's actually a Michael Bay fan lol ?

And besides, since you're such a big Godzilla fan, I'll have to ask if you're really not frustrated everytime they cut away from the battles... If there's 11 minutes of it in 123 minutes, can't they at least actually show him clearly for 1 whole minute in the final battle without the darkness and the smoke shrouding him ?

Yes there is a whole minute of battle, 11 minutes is fine with me, if Godzilla looks fine and fights amazing.

And no i wasnt frusturated, i loved every minute.

Umi Kun your obviously not a Godzilla fan if you think every film is jsut them fighting.

Godzilal only appeared 8 minutes in Godzilla vs Gigan. 10 ins Godzilla vs king Ghidorah. And get this Destroy all monsters? 7 minutes of Gojira. This is actually a higher screen time then most.

i have to agree with the umi kun. i was watching the movie with my grandma yesturday and even she thought it was boring. "she kept asling why do they keep cutting away the fight was only starting" i love godzilla but i dont love cut aways. they really are annoying.

GG...Yes, I have seen every Godzilla movie. I own many of them. I'm forty and have been watching them since I was a young child. For every movie that you mention with the short screen time, there are others with more. G 2000, a little more than 20 minutes of Godzilla, in an hour and a half film. That's JUST Godzilla, not scenes in total. So that's almost half the film. And you know what? I liked that film more. If it had the level of effect as G14, it would blow it out of the water. Most of the Heisi and Millenium films showed a lot of Godzilla, so please stop cherry picking. And although I love the early Godzilla movies, I would not use them as a benchmark for good film making. It's 2014 after all.

Umi- I agree, and thanks for some of the things you said in regards to GGs comments. But if you stick around you are going to see that GG gets hung up on Micheal Bay, without being able to see why some of us feel that G14 isn't really any better. I believe its to at least some degree, rationalization. I'm not sure why I allow myself to get dragged into all of this.

Alright, people, I think there's been enough of this. I will end it right here. The style of directing so far? I think it's good, with just a few minor tweaks needed, that I shall list below :D

First and foremost: retain the "less is more" approach, but give a tiny bit more to what we do see, enough so that scenes don't feel as "cut away" as many have claimed

Second: showcase a bit more natural progression of the knowledge we learn a.k.a. no huge one-up exposition periods a.k.a. "steady but not overwhelming stream"

Third: show more of the impact on Human society as a whole with the revelation of metaphorical "gods" using our cities and living spaces as battlegrounds

Fourth: maintain the grandeur of the monsters, and the angles that show off their sheer size

Fifth: pace out the story more smoothly so that the characters fit more naturally into their roles

I think we'll never be done until GG actually gets it. He keeps assuming that everyone here wants the movie to go FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, but no-one is.

I'll spell it out once again for you. Pike wants a great story. I want the tease to stop. Let's not have them. I'm even fine with them walking around. Just don't troll the audience. I don't want more fighting, I just want Gareth to put the fight where they should be, not constantly cutting away. No, I don't want 2 creatures staring at each other with murderous intent and then there's no action between them. I don't want them slamming in each other and I get to see one bite and the action ends.

Don't ever insult people telling them they are a Michael Bay fan or not a Godzilla fan. You are getting more and more annoying with every comment by acting all high and mighty and judging other people.

@The Gman

I completely agree.

Im actually getting everything, but im  trying to convincing all of you on how crazy your opinion is.

ThePike to say a MichealBay film has a better story then the new Godzilla is literally, like you lose all credibillity.

Almost all the godzilla films have boring human characters and storyline's, just like this one.

Take Godzilla 2000, you really thought those characters were better then G 2014's? I mean sure they had interesting dialog and more Godzilla scenes, but when Godzilla appears in 2000 you dont feel his presence, you dont feel the awesome and kingly nature that you feel in 2014.

in 2000 sure Gojira was in for 20 minutes (Im actually not sure about that i think he was in there for lik 15) it was bland and was like one of those, alright im done and gonna take a nap films.

You say the Heisei films had a tons of Godzilla?

Godzilla 84- 12 minutes

Godzilla vs Biollante- 9 minutes

Godzilla vs King ghidorah- 8 minutes

Godzilla vs MechaG 2- 14 minutes

Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla- 12 minutes

Godzilla vs Destoroyah- 15 minutes

Nonetheless its always in the teen range nothing more.

Infact most of the best of Heisei had less then Godzilla 2014 had.

What also shocks me is how ungrateful you two are.

There hasnt ever been a good Cgi Godzilla movie, let alone a good american one.

And we actually got a great one and you complain about it. ThePike your opinion on the film is weird in the way how you accuse me of things when you barely know what screen times most godzilla films have and the cutaways they do compared to the cutaways Godzilla 2014 had.

Take Destroy all monsters, they show Godzilal coming into the city then a 10 minute cutaway.

Anyways im done here as you dont know what your talking about and barely understand what Godzilla films screen time is.

More meat to the tile character Koldwarkid?

So you mean like a ful fledged fight on every seen Godzilla appears in? You know losing the feeling of suspense and danger that Gareth was going for, you know taking away the feel of godzilla by wanting him to fight a creature that he can easily kill for 2 hours. And before you all go on your BS of (NO WE DONT WANT HIM TO FIGHT FOR 2 HOURS WE WANTED JUST TO SEE GODZILLA WITH LESS SMOKE BECAUSE IT LOOKS MORE AWESOMERR!!)

Okay, GorillaGodzilla, I think that's enough. They simply didn't like some aspects of the film, and those were deal-breakers to them. Doesn't mean they are to others, like us, but, you know, you might wanna tone it down a bit, okay? o3o

*****Rage levels lower*****

You didn't read at all. GG.

I completely understand why the techniques CAN be used in the FIRST one. I considered it great. In which part do I say I don't like the first movie ?

I am not ungrateful to the first movie. I paid for the movie tickets 6 times in 4 different theaters just to finally find an audience that will finally scream with me at the Atomic Breath. And I bought the Bluray discs package on the day it came out. I absolutely loved the first movie.

The point that I was trying to deliver is the techniques that works the first time probably won't work a second time. People has been teased, and they get it, that teasing was one of the main part of the first movie, they understand the teasing's purpose. But for the  sequel, do we still want to be teased ?

I am trying to make some legitimate suggestions here. I want this series to succeed and its success means it will continue to grow and we will have even more Godzilla movies in the future.

And just for nitpicking: About Godzilla fighting in every scene he appears in: I did not say that, the fights can be limited but just put them where they need to be... So pretty much I'm saying if you're opening a fight scene, finish it or don't even put the opening in. Even just them walking around is better than cliffhangers.

So pretty much not complaining at all about the past, just worrying about the future ones.

And some other nitpickings: While it's true past Godzilla films has the amount of screen time you listed, you gotta admit they looked really darn clear. Godzilla was never covered by all other elements that much. Take the Megaguirus movie, he was in broad daylight, on an island, shooting atomic breath at those pesky mini Megaguirus.

The fight between him and Zilla in Final Wars, or his silhoette when the female character was on her bike recording him in GMK (2001), the scenes with him in Vs Destroyah are also very clear. The Battle for Earth one with Mothra and Batra showcases him clearly in the dark as well.

In space Godzilla and mechagodzilla, again he looked really clear. So even if it's that amount of screen time, you feel content. You don't feel like you could have had more, like in the 2014.

Credit is where credits due: I'm content seeing him revealed at the airport, the bridge, the Atomic Breaths, the smack down with the Female MUTO. I feel like I want more at: right after the airport stare down, after the bite then they shut the doors, at the shadows of Godzilla right after the Halo drop, at the tail waving after he enters Honohulu.

You know GG when you make up numbers it makes anything you say less credible. The final fight scene in Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla is almost 30 minutes long and you expect me to believe that he only appears in it for under 10 minutes since prior to that he had scenes rampaging through the city and fighting Spacegodzilla on Birth island? Yeah I don't know where you're getting what are apparently at least semi made up numbers of Godzilla screen time but if you don't know them don't list them, as I said it just makes you less credible.

As for Gareth's choice it worked for this movie semi well. It was the introduction the character needed to be built up and have suspence behind him, but that being said it was widely disliked by the general audience. Almost every review addressed it as a negative and no matter what Gareth may want to do, when you have a concensus that something is bad and hurt the film from a general audience, who I know most of you don't know this but, are more important than the small amount of g fans that make up box office receipts chances are it will be changed.

IMO i'm fine with him keeping his filming style. Through the angles he chose he was able to show the size of the monsters in a way that wasn't achievable with suitmation.

As for the teasing, I think for GODZILLA it should stop. He's no longer a mystery, the world has seen him. No reason to hide it. I'm totally fine if Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah get little screen time and teases.

Cut outs were a fun way to poke at the audiences expectations but for the sequel it should be removed.

Adding a few more minutes of screen time wouldn't be bad either, or at least spread it out evenly throughout the film. The first film had most of it at the end of the film.

Durpoo- its actually 14 minutes for Spacegodzilla, the final scene is 30 minutes long, but that takes up the time for, Moguera to fight, Spacegodzilla to do things while fighting Moguera and Godzilla to appear after every other scene, remember Godzilla is in every shot of the final battles.

Durpoo also im not going to really engage you since we have fought many time about Godzilla 2014, i know your personallity and you will never agree so.

The funny thing here is that GG is trying to defend G 14 to Godzilla fans. WE ARE ALL FANS! Who would come to this site as a casual viewer of Godzilla movies? Look, we all wanted to LOVE this film. After the dissapointment that was G98(for me,) you could say I waited 35 years for this movie. That's a long time! Do you think I just decided to be underwhelmed by this movie so I could argue with some Micheal Bay obsessed comments poster on a fan site? I put a lot of hope in this movie and so did a lot of others, as seen by many comments above. While there where things worth liking, it has many weaknesses to both hardcore fans and the general audience. So much so that it's the argument that is more indestructable than Godzilla himself! The oxygen destroyer could not kill this argument.

But you want to know what GG? I'm glad you loved it. At least someone did.

Wow Pike...So now your saying no one loved the movie? a Class A narcisist so the 73% on rotten tomatoes is nothing. Its overall good rating from audience is nothing, the the fact that most people on this site like it! That right there has ended are arguement, you are a dope.

The thing is....... we're all arguing points that are either deal-breakers or not between fans and general audiences. What some might consider a fatal flaw, others did not. I personally think this film is better than most previous ones by sheer virtue of its production value and direction, especially when compared to late Showa, Heisei, and Millenium films.

Story-wise and character-wise in comparison to previous films for me? About equal or lesser, and a bit better, respectively. However, I respect that others think differently. This film's flaws easily are less noticeable than in previous Godzilla flicks to me, and I'm proud to say I might be in the minority C:

Well at the end of the day, what PIKE said.

I'm sorry I couldn't keep my cool. I pretty much lost it when I'm told I'm not a true Godzilla fan even after all my efforts to get whatever I can of the movie or to reach this forum and actually posted something I'm serious about.

So...no hard feelings ?

Umi Kun its fine, im just chocked at the blatan disrespect people have for this rletively good film.