Yes, I've seen it. And whilst I wouldn't say I hated it, or even that it was BAD exactly. But it has problems, and that's the sort of thing I find interesting to talk about. So we're going to do that for a little while. Needless to say, there will be spoilers.
Whilst I'm no real expert, I am something of an aficionado of Daikaiju Eiga. So I feel reasonably confidant positing that there are, essentially 2 opposing poles in the broad spectrum of Godzilla movies. Firstly we of course have the dark and serious end of the spectrum, as exemplified by the original Gojira in 1954.
This is the grim and more overtly horror inspired side of things, and also the place where the more allegorical plot threads come from. Monsters symbolizing nuclear weapons, natural catastrophe and the hubris of man type stuff. Serious business type stuff. In keeping with the themes and symbolism here we would tend to see only the one monster.
On the other end of things we have the brighter, more colourful end of the spectrum, perhaps best illustrated with something like Destroy All Monsters.
This is the home of the monster mash. Where the beasties exist not so much to symbolize some great and meaningful something, but rather just to have awesome fights because that's inherently cool. The focus is more on action than terror. The films may well still have a point to make, but the allegory tends to be lighter than on the other end of things. This is the realm of many monsters, the home of the battle royale. Freed from the need to confront a particular thematic embodiment we can turn the dial up 11 and just let the monsters fight for the sheer fun of it.
We could probably add another axis to this to chart the differences in age demographic focus, or "Kiddiefication" if you like. Because adult vs child is by no means the same as light vs dark. But aside from over complicating things my fondness for 70's era tokusatsu has already shown me more than enough small Japanese boys in hotpants to put me on a dozen watchlists as it is. So I really don't feel like making things worse.
Can we just all agree that this is not going to end well and move on with our lives?
Now, I'm not saying that any giant monster movie must be one or the other, but I think that most will fall somewhere between the 2 ends of the spectrum, and it's how they mix the elements of these different styles that matters. Let's try a couple of recent examples:
Cloverfield is of course almost entirely serious business. The monster is a singular force of destructive allegory. I'd call it a dark tale of survival were it not for the fact that everyone dies. Spoiler alert there I guess. On the other hand we have Pacific Rim, which although it maintains a certain edge of serious business is primarily a good excuse for large things to punch each other in face over and over again. I've already spent more than enough time waxing lyrical about that film. But here the monsters aren't representing anything specific outside of the sort of thing humanity can overcome if only it would work together.
So, (hopefully) having established this theory of the elements of Daikaiju Eiga, where does the latest Godzilla film fit into the spectrum?
And I think that might the crux of the problem. Because I'm not sure the film really knows what it wants to be. The many trailers all gave the impression of something that was going to be very in line with the G54 serious business end of the scale. And to be fair it's not at all bad at establishing this sort of mood. But there is a distinct sense that they spend so much time establishing mood that they never succeed in capitalizing on it. The build up goes on to long, and eats into time that would be better spent in establishing other things.
Such as Godzilla. You know, the guy in the title of the film?
Holding back on the monsters is not in and of itself a bad thing. Even Pacific Rim wasn't JUST an hour and a half of robots punching things. You need time for developing characters and building tension and all that stuff. But you should also remember that the monsters ARE characters as well. And they need some love as well.
So yes, Godzilla doesn't appear at all until something like halfway into the film. And even then it's incredibly briefly and we quickly switch back to yet more build up just as we think we're getting somewhere.
So at least we know where you're coming from now ladies. Or not, as the case may be.
And in theory this holding back COULD work. But I think at least part of the reason it doesn't is that these glimpses frustrate more than they excite. Because the one thing a film called GODZILLA should do is establish Godzilla as..... Well, SOMETHING. A radioactive force of vengeance. An unstoppable force of nature. A misunderstood giant or a proactive hero. Something. But the prime mistake the film makes is to never actually do this for this particular version. It simply assumes a sort of vague understanding of Godzilla on the part of the audience (I.E. that he's a big lizard dude that is kinda scary but beats up other monsters) and just leaves it at that. We start with the intriguing notion of the whole history of nuclear bomb tests being a cover up for trying to kill the big G, but this is never developed and the plot meanders off to concentrate on the MUTOs and Corporal Boring being the surprise main character.
"Everything in this universe is numbered. Your number is GET THE FUCK OFF THE SCREEN."
Now, to be fair it's not like the human characters are exactly the main draw in any giant monster movie. But if you're going to devote quite THIS much of the run time to them you better make sure they're some sort of interesting. Or at least useful. This guy is neither. The oddity being that the actual main character barely features in any of the trailers. They were all cashing in on the dude from that show about the drugs and stuff.
And he had a WAY more interesting character. But then they kill him off rather abruptly. And whilst that's kinda shocking it does rather leave a large Mr Astronaut Glenn shaped hole in proceedings. So rather than an interesting lead character who actually helps drive the story...
Or at least driving something. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
We instead have a dude who just sort of ineffectually wibbles along after the plot. He is, in the final analysis, actually LESS useful that bloody Ferris Bueller in G98.
This is not, all things told, a good sign.
Then there's the MUTOs. As monster designs go they're actually pretty good. Indeed, if I was to level any criticism it would be that they're a little TOO successfully alien looking. I mean, I know there was a lot of weird ass gribblies back in the Permian and all. But it's implied they're somewhat contemporaneous to Godzilla himself. And he doesn't give off the same sense of alien vibe.
Not even Space Godzilla does. And he's FROM SPACE.
The issue with the MUTOs isn't then that they aren't effective monsters. It's that their success as monsters comes at the expense of Godzillas. Partly of course is the fact that they get to stomp around and break stuff for way more of the runtime than the title character. But there's also something else that's kinda difficult to pin down, and that's why this entry is running as long as it is. Because this is a little more tricky to get across.
The reason I started this by establishing the 2 poles of tone in this type of movie is because the modern Godzilla is presenting itself very much as the Serious Business end, but really feels like it WANTS to be closer to the Monster Mash side of the spectrum. And I think the reason why (and why it ultimately doesn't quite work) lies in the relationship between Godzilla and the MUTOs.
See, in a Serious Business style monster movie it's not that you can't have monsters fighting. I mean, just look at GMK. A near perfect synthesis of the concepts of both Monster Mash AND Serious Business.
No, the point is that when you're taking this tone, you can't have the monsters be HEROES. Even in GMK, the monsters opposing Godzilla are portrayed as forces of nature rather than allies to mankind. In a Monster Mash, sure. You have Good Monsters and Bad Monsters. But when you're taking the serious tone you need to have Bad Monsters and WORSE Monsters. Indeed, a large amount of both the Heisei and Millenium series of Godzilla films is spent trying to deal with the issue of Godzilla, before something nastier turning up and leaving humanity to essentially try and point them towards each other and then stand well back.
If this sounds familiar that's because it's the plot they TRY and use for this latest film. But they never take the time to establish Godzilla as being actually DANGEROUS. An oft used phrase is "Show, Don't Tell". But due to the way they hold back on Godzilla until the very end of the film we're never actually shown anything much. We're told some stuff, sure. But even that's mostly confined to the frankly baseless belief that Godzilla will come beat up the other monsters espoused by this movies version of Doctor Serizawa.
Eye see what you did there.
Quite why the good professor, who has allegedly spent most of his life working for an organisation created especially to STOP Godzilla believes his nemesis will turn up to punch the other monsters out and make everything okay is never adequately explained. Outside of course for the fact that that's what happens in Godzilla movies. But then the fact that this is precisely what DOES happen, and the way that Godzilla is then treated by the film when he DOES show up all frames the mighty saurian not as an uncontrollable force of nature (despite all the earthquake and tsunami symbolism they throw in), but as the hero. From the full naval escort, through the awestruck children and straight into the cheering and celebratory headlines, it's made quite clear that this version is, in fact, on our side. The destruction he causes (and there IS death and destruction from his actions, let's be clear) is never really dwelt on. But then it's kinda tricky to cheer for an allegory of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami.
Oh, and as a side note, if you absolutely MUST set your Godzilla film in an American city, please don't ever have anything laying hundreds of eggs. It brings back bad memories.
Hey, Jurrasic Park was cool, right? What if we did that instead?
So, yeah. The final confrontation when it eventually comes is kinda cool, but is still not without issues. The way it's done is very.... muted. Everything seems muffled and distant. I get what they were going for, a kind of shell-shocked, overwhelmed by the scale of it all vibe. But for me this only served to rob the fight of it's sense of impact. As much as I've tried not to, I'm finally going to have to resort to a direct comparison with Pacific Rim. It feels slightly unfair, since the two films are going for fairly different things. But the fact is that one just WORKS on a very fundamental level, and the other just doesn't. I imagine comparisons to Pacific Rim are actually one of this films major weaknesses, as without that we may well feel a little more forgiving. Still, there it is.
In Pacific Rim the fights have a real sense of IMPACT. Partly this is in the sound design and cinematography, giving the blows areal sense of weight and power. But partly it's due to the fact that in every fight in that movie all the combatants get utterly FUCKED UP. Flesh is torn, bones break and hideous unspeakable icor sprays all over the shop. Gypsy Danger loses more limbs than a goddamn Star Wars character, all in the space of a single movie.
Start as you mean to go on.
But in Godzilla there's never any real sense of damage or injury to the combatants. They just keep going, perfectly undamaged, right up to the point they lose their last HP and finally fall over. When Godzilla collapses, apparently overcome by the trying battle you have to wonder why. He looks fine. Maybe he might want a sit down for a minute to get his breath back, but that's about all. Keeping the violence sanitized in this way just seems odd. I mean, Pacific Rim was hardly what you'd call gratuitous.
So.... yeah. Not a great film. But not honestly terrible. Just deeply, deeply flawed. The build up whilst waiting for Godzilla to turn up is fairly effective, at least at first. It just goes on WAY to long. Combine this with killing off the interesting character and replacing them with a bland action film pretty boy and leaving all the monster action to the new guy rather than the title character, as well as the odd dissonance of presentation and intent and you can't help but call it a mixed bag at best. I mean, I guess the story makes more sense than Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah. But only just.
BECAUSE TIME TRAVEL!!!
At the end of the day I guess I can only say that the film winds up as less than the sum of it's parts. It contains many of the right ingrediants, but is ultimately cooked like a cheap microwave meal. Some parts are way overdone, and the core is still frozen and need of extra treatment.
Oddly I think this means I'm not actually dreading the inevitable sequel. After all, they did manage to get some stuff right, and obviously have some good ideas. So maybe with another go they might really get it right and give us a truly classic piece of Daikaiju Eiga. Just as long as they don't bring back Minya.
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