AN AMERICAN GODZILLA THAT LOOKS LIKE GODZILLA AND FIGHTS MONSTERS!

As a huge kaiju fan I'm excited. As someone who read AICN back in the day, I'm fucking terrified.

Short. A Godzilla movie should in no way approach a two hour running time. That the '98 version was over two hours is its most ridiculous and misguided aspect. Even the Toho movies are too damn long. The original universal monster films had a usual running time of just over an hour. And they're kinda perfect for it. While I know you can't release a non-animated film with that short of running time into theaters these days you don't need anymore than an hour and 20 minutes (with credits) for a good giant monster bash to play out.

My rule #1 (besides the obvious likeness and VS monster gripes):
If you don't have interesting human characters, don't focus on them. At least not for ANY stretch of time.

I'm here to see destruction and kaiju abusing each other. Not to see Broderick reunite with his back-stabbing ex who doesn't deserve a 3rd chance.

Checking IMDb:

Godzilla '98 ran 139 minutes. Jesus.

You don't fucking tell Roland Emmerich how long his giant lizard movie has to be, he fucking tells you. Whatever, I've never even seen it. =)
To be honest, I missed the boat on giant monster movies. I've seen a few, Godzilla and non, but I never fully grasped this genre.

Giant Jason Statham cameo and I'm sold.

You had me at "looks like Godzilla and fights monsters." I'm down with this, but I just hope they don't screw it up (and as Emmerich and Devlin proved, that is monumentally easy to do).

No origin. Just start with Godzilla kicking the holy shit out of the Cloverfield monster and I'm there twice on the opening weekend.

Though at the same time just saying it'll look like Godzilla and fight other monsters is a huge step in the right direction, proving that it's also pretty easy to at least be in the ballpark of getting it right.

If this does turn out to be good I want to travel back in time and comfort my crushed 1998 self by telling him about it/showing it to him

This would be the...3rd attempt at a...US Godzilla film. Godzilla 85 was the first...Monsterous Miscalculation! I hope that the filmmakers get...Godzilla right. The, Non-Godzilla sequences are usually fairly dull, even the early Kaiju Classics. On the other hand, they were never as bad a...Godzilla 98! I loved seeing, Zilla 98 getting, KO'd in Ryuhei Kitamura's Godzilla Final Wars.

If GODZILLA 1985 counts as an American Godzilla film, so does GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS. But they don't. This is the second attempt.

I say they should wait, begin negotiations with Disney and Marvel, and make Godzilla the villain in a Shield movie.

Abbott & Prospero, I would be up for that, especially if the Super Robot...Red Ronin is used first to...fight Godzilla, then, Team Up with him against an...EEEEEEvil Monster! Red Ronin, could be, S.H.I.E.L.D. tech.

These guys have to show up as well, Fleed...

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/megamons.htm

IMAX 3D wholly justifies this film's existence.

I would like it if they just simply had someone dressed in the Godzilla costume causing destruction and fighting some huge monster. If Godzilla's son showed up and spit those funny circle shaped rings I would love it!!

I choose you, Krollar-chu!!!!

EDIT: Inspired me to finally pick up the Essential Godzilla Marvel reprints.

Abbot & Prospero, While we are at it, I fully approve of adding...The Shogun Warriors Raideen, Combatera, and Danguard Ace, to aid, Godzilla, against the...Mega Monsters.

I need some Jet Jaguar,

It would be completely awesome if they used a Godzilla design that looked liked the one Stan Winston did a long time ago.

More what could have been...
http://www.kaijuphile.com/rodansroos...dzilla3d.shtml

Keeping an open mind.

I'd vote for Hedorah if they're picking from the Toho library. But, it might be a bit too heavy handed on the environmental message front.
And let's hope the new monster is not just Godzilla DNA mixed with X. But I still love Biollante. Space Godzilla can suck it.

First, I agree that the Emmerich film is utter garbage. Complete shit. Having said that - and having grown up and loved Japanese monster movies - I still don't understand the hatred Emmerich's design receives. By itself, I thought it was a pretty cool reimagining.

I've never liked Godzilla's fat ass and weirdly thick legs. I favor any design that puts ole G on a lean and mean diet.

And having said all that, I like what I'm reading for the newest incarnation.

I'm genuinely curious, and maybe it's my being impertinent, but why would any supposedly faithful stab at Godzilla take place in the United States anyway? Even thinking of it on a purely superficial level, is Tokyo somehow not enough of a stomping ground. Place looks more exciting of a setting than any tired landmark littered American city to me.

Could it be as shallow as the perception by studios that Americans (and by greedily arrogant assumption audiences for American films around the planet) only care if it's Americans in jeopardy? I'll be honest, I really don't give the slightest of measurable shits what the person being roasted, stomped, flung or crushed by debris is speaking. Running and screaming tends to sound the same to my untrained ear whether it's english, japanese, inuit, esperanto or fucking xitsonga.

Yes! And a rule I'd like to add to yours:
No musical numbers. No mtv video the characters watch on a set...no musical act at some club the characters visit...nothing...unless (The only exception!) it's a 'source cue' (a stretch of a way to put it, I know), a reasonably anthropologically-honest seeming representation * of folks summoning one of the beasties.


* As reasonably anthropologically-honest seeming a representation as one can ask for in a film about giant monsters laying waste to man's cities.

As a godzilla fan I can't be more pleased to hear this (though part of me says, "of course this is the only way the movie's getting made after '98").

Fleed is technically correct that this is the third attempt at an american Godzilla, if you count the 3D one that was being worked on in the 80s by Steve Miner and Fred Dekker (which I see has been posted earlier in the thread).

Lets not forget the aborted Jan De Bont version, which is where the Stan Winston design is from. But that was also for TriStar, so maybe it doesn't count as a separate attempt.

Yeah, Emmerich and Devlin heavily retooled every aspect of the production (mostly worsening everything and costing TriStar more money the De Bont version would have) but it was still the same moneymen and what not.

It is tricky though, because De Bont version was a totally different (better) script, and a totally different production crew.

Yeah, it had Gryphon or whatever the other monster was called. Seemed more like a Heisei era Godzilla film.

One of the more recent incarnations of Godzilla was the culmination of vengeful spirits from World War 2. The message behind Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah (2001) was that the Japanese had become ignorant of the horrors of the war, and needed to stop ignoring the past so that they could build a better tomorrow. Godzilla was the physical reminder of war crimes the Japanese have famously denied. This wrathful interpretation of Godzilla could be used on American soil, but I believe thats just wishful thinking.

Renn mentions Banno's involvement, but I still don't know how much he'll influence the film. Toho execs have had a poor history with him, and the script he was shopping around prior to this film's announcement, Godzilla vs Deathla, had themes that were very similar to Godzilla vs Hedorah.

Any film would be an upgrade over that deplorable Mathew Broderick Hank Azaria version.

Yeah, Godzilla can ravage anywhere really (and he has ravaged more places than just Asia), Japan isn't really super essential to the idea of a giant radioactive lizard who is alternately the bane/guardian of humanity.

I love that dichotomy. G-Man is one versatile mofo!

He's got nothing on Gamera though. Big G's split can be attributed to mood swings, but try to wrap your head around Gamera being a bane of humanity/savior of children.

YES! I knew it would happen...I just hope this time Toho retains some (but not all!) creative control. We need someone with a vision to direct this film, but not one who will try to push dumb ideas like Godzilla just being a giant Iguana.

Godzilla was mostly consistent in character until the late 60's Kids films (Godzilla on Monster island, Godzilla Vs Gigan, etc). He's a pissed off badass out to wreak havoc, and gets challenged by humans or other monsters.

Even in Monster Zero he's now friend to Humanity...he gets mind controlled, then released from sad control by humans, then fights King Ghidora.

I hope they use the design from Godzilla 2000......I really liked that sleek, trimmed down version. And the actor who play the Big G in Godzilla: Final Wars was pretty damn great..he conveyed Godzilla's bad assery and determination better than most.

Oh and Space Godzilla the movie blew, but the monster design was great.

Been a fan of Big G for what seems like forever. So when Toho announced it was going to put him into "hibernation" after FINAL WARS (A fine update of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS) that bummed me out. I'm cautiously optimistic about this new Godzilla movie and I hope they don't screw it up.

Also, that trilogy of GAMERA movies from the mid/late 1990s are some of the best kaiju films I've seen in a long time.

The new Godzilla should take place in Boston, it's so hot right now.

On a serious note, TaylorF's picture of Jet Jaguar (never knew its name before) reminded me that I probably would be really interested in this film if we got to see an American interpretation of one of Japan's giant robot superheroes like Ultraman or whoever. That would be quite cool.

Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but this is going to be a CG take on the man-in-suit design? I mean, it's not actually going to be a guy in suit, right?

The human part of the story should be handled along the lines of Cloverfield, as in they have their own little dramas against the backdrop of the monster, but they have no chance in hell of doing anything about it, nor should they even try.

I'm sure it'll be CGI, but I really wish it would be a suit (which could be augmented with CGI)

There must be a middle ground to the CGI/Suitmation debate.
I know I've seen pictures of the suit version from the '98 Zilla, but does anyone know how much of it was actually used?
I don't know why I have the cynical opinion that they built that suit just to lay claim that they did use a man in a suit at some point.

I say they should do mocap cgi with a performer wearing padding that would limit his movement. Hell get Serkis to do it. That way he'd be able to say he played both Godzilla and King Kong.

It'd be nice if they actually built model sets. Part of respecting the kaiju genre is by honoring the roots and techniques in which these movies are made. There needs to be some practical shots.

Oh definitely. A fusion of practical and CGI work would be ideal. The movie won't be quite right if someone doesn't build a lifesize animatronic head or foot at leas.

Reminds me of when my Dad told me how he was driving into New York one day back in the '70s and as he turned a corner he was confronted with a life size King Kong head from the Jeff Bridges movie.

It would be pretty fucking groovy if they got it in their minds that at one point during the film the military somehow puts Godzilla to sleep for a few hours and the filmmakers decide that the only way to fully show the majesty and colossal vision of a sleeping Godzilla is to build a life size full body version in the streets of some major metropolitan city.
Basically turning that city into a living gridlocked nightmare for a few months. Just like the real Godzilla.

I remain an outspoken supporter for Godzilla 98's monster design. I think it's the bee's knees. It stays true to his origins as an irradiated iguana while keeping him monstrous and allowing him bipedal motion when the situation called for it.

I'm also not sure I support the idea of Godzilla fighting another monster, I just don't see how you could do a gritty and realistic monster film when the world you've chosen to depict is crawling with monsters a' plenty. Better to restrict the confrontations to members of the human military, IMHO (PS I saw a bunch of Godzilla films growing up so while I can understand the attraction of monster on monster combat, I just don't think it would work in the year 2010 AD)

You're in luck, Kate -- this movie is coming out in 2012!

Haha, OK, forget I said anything*

*though in all seriousness I doubt that enough will change in the next two years to alter my perspective

Emmerich's film featured far more shots of a guy in a suit than most people think. If you can find some making of material anywhere, it shows that many of the shots were exactly what people here are call for: a guy in a suit augmented by CGI.

And again: the film blows, but the monster design isn't the problem. You may not like it, but the reason the film sucked wasn't because of poor FX or creature design.

Why does he have to fight other monsters? Redoing the '54 film for American audiences is a perfectly decent idea in principle.