Godzilla | Teen Ink

Godzilla

March 2, 2016
By Chris_Modrak SILVER, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
Chris_Modrak SILVER, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

When a group of paleontologists were on an archeological dig in Argentina they stumbled on what is thought to be biggest dinosaur that ever walked the earth. With a probable length of 40 meters and thigh bone as tall as an average adult male, the giant dinosaur potentially could have weighed around the same as 14 African elephants. This giant beast may seem gargantuan, but in comparison with godzilla it becomes “ just another dinosaur ”. Personally myself being a movie fanatic have come to conclusion that “Godzilla” (2014) has the potential to be one of my favorite movies so far. In the movie Godzilla there are many things that I think influenced my opinion for it to be one of my favorite movies. A few of them would be how they kept the original Japanese story, but blended it for any audience or how they keep you wanting to see more godzilla throughout the film and lastly how they made Godzilla the good guy.


The first ever Godzilla movie was produced by Japanese director Ishir? Honda in 1954. This was the first movie in a now extensive movie collection of 28 or more feature length films including “Godzilla” (2014). A very large majority of the movies were filmed and produced in Japan with mostly Japanese actors. Then Americans started to grow a liking to this Japanese icon and decided to create their own version “Godzilla” (1998). This movie actually did fairly well considering it had a budget of $130,000,000 and a total worldwide gross of $379,014,294. A thing that made some people edgy was that this was very much an American Godzilla and it only showed glimpses of the japanese background.


After a long awaited return of Godzilla, finally the great beast rose out of the water and returned for another American produced Godzilla, but Instead of being made by Sony films this time it was Warner Bros which is a more “trusted” movie developer. I think they must have realized something because in this new addition to the Godzilla collection there was a greater amount of Japanese heritage. A good example of this would be how they used the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor meltdown disaster to link the creation of Godzilla, hinting it was caused by all the radiation. Another would be that a lot of the movie was filmed in “Japan” and scripted in Japanese. This movie pulled in a total worldwide gross of $529,076,069 shattering the previous American Godzilla amount. There will always be other opinions on the fact that is there should be Japanese culture in Godzilla, but it's mostly personal preference.


The next thought I have is on whether Godzilla should have had more screen time throughout the film. I thought it was a good touch by the director to create the tension in the audience by not showing much of Godzilla until further into the movie. Just by making this single conscious decision, it produced one of my favorite scenes in the entire film. Allow me to set the scene, it was on a gloomy day in downtown (no spoilers) with the intense sense of battle between three giant monsters destroying the city as the people scream and run to the safe house. Then right before you see the battle, the safe house doors close. When I was in the theater the whole audience erupted with sounds of disapproval on all sides of me. This soon became a major problem for some theater attendees and critics. The scarcity of godzilla on the screen made for a drop in movie ratings and popularity. In my opinion though I think It was a good touch, but I’m hope they'll show more of Godzilla when the next film is said to release June 8, 2018. 


Godzilla’s Japanese and American reputation is not the best considering its  destructive nature, but like most humans if we want to get rid of a problem...launch a nuclear warhead right at the problems face. Though the missile method never really works when it comes to Godzilla, so it doesn't really matter. When are we going to learn Godzilla is trying to protect something or help us not trying to kill us. Another reason why I like Godzilla 2014 so much is because they realize Godzilla is helping them and they stop the bomb dropping. Well not totally because they still try to hit the bad monster, but that's beyond the point. What the point is that my all time favorite ending scene ever comes from this Godzilla movie. Godzilla is getting the living crap beaten out of him until he gains the special attribute that all most godzilla junkies know, the moment when Godzilla used the original blue fire breath to roast the flying crustacean thing which is actually a parasitic alien called Muto gets roasted to a burning husk of embers. As the majestic Godzilla lays on the shore, no one attempts to destroy him they just let him be until he gets up and walks back into the water not to be seen again.

I see it as “Godzilla” (2014) was a great movie that kept all of the rich japanese heritage, enough godzilla screen time and, portraying Godzilla as the nice guy for once, but also staying within the boundaries of a good American film. I strongly agree with my decision of picking this as being one of my favorite moves that I have seen. There are many opinions out there about this movie, but what some random critic says is not my or anyones opinion. So the next time I hear a random man say GODZILLA and see a 120 meter tall reptile coming at me compared to the that 40m long dinosaur maybe I’ll think he's just misunderstood and wants to be my friend, but then realize what I was saying and start running for my life. In the end Godzilla has become a Japanese and American Classic that can be enjoyed by any age group as long as you have a slight imagination.


The author's comments:

The thing that inspired me was the rich haratage of Japenese movie production and my liking for good monster movies.


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