How big a problem is the lack of Bryan Cranston?

[Rodan]

Now, I don't mind being teased, but this was just too much. From what we saw in the trailers, we were going to get a lot of Cranston. I mean, this was his first big movie in years. We were all waiting to see him back on screen.

I get what they were trying to do with building suspense, but was it too much? Cutting away from Cranston to Aaron-Taylor Johnson after the prologue was a big let-down. It's like, "Come on! I wanted to see what he was doing!" The next half hour more than makes up for it, but then we cut right back to Johnson again! I think a little bit of teasing is fine, but I didn't need them to switch over to Johnson for the rest of the film. Cranston shows up and it's like, "Oh! Something's happening!," but you just can't get into it when it keeps switching back to the weak human characters.

What are your thoughts? Personally I hope this is something Edwards changes in the sequel.

[Godzilla21]

Now, I don't mind being teased, but this was just too much. From what we saw in the trailers, we were going to get a lot of Cranston. I mean, this was his first big movie in years. We were all waiting to see him back on the big screen.

I get what they were trying to do with building suspense, but was it too much? Cutting away from Cranston to Aaron-Taylor Johnson after the prologue was a big let-down. It's like, "Come on! I wanted to see what he was doing!" The next half hour more than makes up for it, but then we cut right back to Johnson again! I think a little bit of teasing is fine, but I didn't need them to switch over to Johnson for the rest of the film. Cranston shows up and it's like, "Oh! Something's happening!," but you just can't get into it when it keeps switching back to the weak human characters.

What are your thoughts? Personally I hope this is something Edwards changes in the sequel.

It was a big problem for me. The teasers made you think he was the main character. ATJ lacked everything that Cranston brought.

[Rodan]

Right?

Plus he had stupid feet. I get that dress shoes may have been more realistic for his job, but come on -- It's a monster movie! They should have just given him sneakers.

EDIT --

In all seriousness, while it's not a major issue I have with the film, it did feel a little hurt by its bait-and-switch. It's hard to transition protagonists when the first is so much more magnetic than the second. And I really didn't know we were in for that.

[Janjira54]

Now, I don't mind being teased, but this was just too much. From what we saw in the trailers, we were going to get a lot of Cranston. I mean, this was his first big movie in years. We were all waiting to see him back on screen.

I get what they were trying to do with building suspense, but was it too much? Cutting away from Cranston to Aaron-Taylor Johnson after the prologue was a big let-down. It's like, "Come on! I wanted to see what he was doing!" The next half hour more than makes up for it, but then we cut right back to Johnson again! I think a little bit of teasing is fine, but I didn't need them to switch over to Johnson for the rest of the film. Cranston shows up and it's like, "Oh! Something's happening!," but you just can't get into it when it keeps switching back to the weak human characters.

What are your thoughts? Personally I hope this is something Edwards changes in the sequel.

I pretty much knew he wasn't going to be in it much. If you noticed, we only see him in 2 outfits in the trailers. I think it was a ballsy move on Gareth's part but it didn't really bother me, same with Godzilla's screentime

[Plexton]

Joking aside, I absolutely loved Bryan Cranston in this film. He brought so much energy to every scene he was in that I wish that he'd been in the entire film...As well as the rest of the series.

Well, maybe he can come back as Mecha-Joe or something.

[Legionmaster]

I'm less bothered by the misleading trailers and more bothered by the fact that they killed off the only interesting character that was written in this movie. Especially since the narrative starts on Cranston's character, as we figuratively hop from mine-car-rail-to-mine-car-rail Indiana Jones style as far as narrative progression goes. Especially since the second mine car rail was so...bleh.

[junkerde]

a BIG problem really, he was the only character that had development, he was reaching it. also had the most emotion you can really feel it, he is a great actor. After he died, the emotion died along with the human cast.

[Rodan]

It's not the movie's fault you made a faulty assumption. The movie kept a lot of its true image to itself as well, which helped deliver surprises to the audience. Most would claim that's actually a good thing.

To be clear, this was mostly a joke thread, as I think the actual complaints about Godzilla's screen time are rather silly. But on a serious note, I'll normally never fault a movie for a protagonist bait-and-switch; it's a ballsy move. The only thing that lets this one down is that it comes with a loss in charisma and character the film never quite recovers from.

[demoylition]

Huge problem because ATJ's character isn't all that great as a main character.

[Gamingboy]

The "Decoy Star" has a surprisingly long history that goes back at least as far as Psycho. While I sort of wish that ATJ would have filled BC's shoes better (or that they'd given award-nominated actress Elizabeth Olson more screen time to compensate- I mean, she's a nurse in a war zone, you'd think they could have figured out more stuff for her to do), I kind of liked that there was an honest-to-goodness shocking death...

[Plexton]

I thought Cranston and Taylor-Johnson had very good chemistry together; Joe was very high energy, while Ford was more calm and collected. The two took turns being 'the grown up', and it was a very interesting dynamic that did get me invested in the story.

In truth, I would have liked Joe and Ford to have worked together for more of the movie, for three reasons:

1) The aforementioned chemistry between the two actors was great and Cranston practically stole the show from the monsters.

2) Ford spends most of the film talking to various military personnel we know nothing about, so there isn't as much investment in the second act as there would have been if Joe was still around.

3) The father-son tension is never allowed to reach a catharsis. You can argue that's realistic (after all, how often do we get a catharsis in real life?), and Joe does tell Ford that family is what's most important, driving home Ford's motivation for the rest of the film. Even so, Joe is never allowed to really accept his wife's death or get the answers he was looking for, and Ford never gets the chance to tell his father that he's sorry for shutting him out and that he believes in him. It just seemed like an odd choice to me.

More than anything though, I would have loved to have seen Cranston yelling at Godzilla.

[charliesheenkaiju]

As much as i liked the story and writing overall this was one dumb move by the writers and Edwards. Cranston could've still been a part of the movie if not a central focus,

Spoiler:

his death by the MUTO wasn't dramatic and killing him off wasn't neccesary

. There was still unfinished business with him and Aaron i'd agree, missed opportunity to tie things up. But the best we get is Ford regretting him doubting his father for a moment then it becomes irrelevant to the plot.

For the record i've hardly seen breaking bad so while i liked some of his work i wasn't on the bandwagon entirely, but my god he was one of the strongest parts of the film that drove the beginning and hes cut short. Again this mistake doesn't ruin the movie for me, but i do hope they treat the characters more properly in the sequel now that theyve tried things out

[Leunames]

^Definitely a spoiler.

[gatorzilla]

Will somebody please make a "What You Didn't Like Thread" so that we can merge a lot of these topics into one thing and stop the creating of unnecessary topics

[SaferEmerald]

Spoiler:

I'm glad he's gone so I won't have to put up with dumb "Heisenberg vs. Godzilla" comments for the sequel

[GodzillaDude]

It is still likely the biggest complaint I have about the movie as a whole. I'm a big Cranston fan (I like Breaking Bad more and more every time I go through all the seasons), and I was really excited about him getting such a "big" role in a movie about a character I've been into almost my entire life. Seeing clips/previews of his scenes in the movie gave me more confidence about how it would all turn out. I was saying months before it's release that because of him I would care about the human side of the story.

Spoiler:

After he was killed roughly 30 minutes (give or take) into the movie, it left a bitter taste for the rest of the running time for me. I immediately said to my father sitting next to me that they "wasted him". Meaning that it seems like they just used his good name/reputation to get more money flowing into theaters. Not just that, Ford was far less interesting and far less emotion was put into Aaron Taylor Johnson's acting. It also bothered me that Cranston's character ended up having almost nothing to do with Godzilla, despite the impressions of his big role in the movie.

[Spirit Ghidorah 2010]

Misleading trailers or not, he was still the only interesting human character in the movie. Almost everyone else was just plain and average. Like a meal consisting of stale bread with a glass of lukewarm tap water.

[Smuggers]

just plain and average. Like a meal consisting of stale bread with a glass of lukewarm tap water.

In what place is this considered the average meal? Are you homeless?

[Ivy Mike]

I think more went into the decision to truncate Cranston's role than we know.
Let's face it, when making a 160-million movie, there are rules which the suits will insist be followed, particularly if the director is largely untested in that arena. Gareth Edwards' choices, and the writer's, were scrutinized to ensure those rules were followed. Remember, Edwards, at this point, was untested at big-budget blockbusters as far as Hollywood was concerned.

The rule in question here is what I like to call "The Blockbuster Leading Man Rule". Which holds that, to maximize box-office potential, you need a leading man who can provide "swoon power" to the young girls who might not otherwise wish to see a monster movie. That means, a leading man who is handsome, well-built, and YOUNG.

Like it or not, Hollywood doesn't like to place actors in Summer blockbusters, in lead roles, who cannot supply appeal to the target demographic. As great an actor as Bryan Cranston is, he's no youthful "pretty boy". Gareth Edwards is also no Spielberg or Jackson wherein he can get exactly what he wants every time (though that's probably going to change now).

The Suits probably insisted on having a young, good-looking buff hero. Having Cranston's character around through the whole thing would've cramped that, stolen the spotlight, and, given Cranston's talent, upstaged the intended hero.

Blockbusters are ruled by young, attractive actors.

[Empress Jingû]

When I went the second time, the friend I went with was very upset he was gone so soon.
Unfortunately, it followed what was going on, and well, he lived the obsession because of the loss of his wife, for so long, and basically passed the torch to his son.
If Aaron is in the next one, I'm betting he's a bit Kaiju centric