Band-Aid fixes: Little Things to Make the Movie Better

[Captain Aktion]

If you guys are going to "quote argue" then please use the quote function properly.

[HannibalBarca]

I don't think that complaining about MONARCH being a poorly-used piece of window dressing is "grasping at straws" considering that this was the organization presumably tasked with keeping track of Godzilla and studying the MUTOs, both of which they seem to have completely failed at doing. As it is, MONARCH is just there so that we know Serizawa and Graham aren't weirdo conspiracy nut freelancers. We know literally nothing else about them. For all we know, everyone who worked for MONARCH died at Janjira. A little bit more fleshing out would have made the organization much less forgettable. As I said, earlier, the guy in the black shirt who proposed the nuke plan should have worked for MONARCH, if only to give Serizawa a philosophical antagonist.

[Captain Aktion]

I don't think that complaining about MONARCH being a poorly-used piece of window dressing is "grasping at straws" considering that this was the organization presumably tasked with keeping track of Godzilla and studying the MUTOs, both of which they seem to have completely failed at doing. As it is, MONARCH is just there so that we know Serizawa and Graham aren't weirdo conspiracy nut freelancers. We know literally nothing else about them. For all we know, everyone who worked for MONARCH died at Janjira. A little bit more fleshing out would have made the organization much less forgettable. As I said, earlier, the guy in the black shirt who proposed the nuke plan should have worked for MONARCH, if only to give Serizawa a philosophical antagonist.

Yeah and the military's only job in most Godzilla films is to stand around and shoot guns at him. They're totally faceless entities and entirely forgettable for the most part.

So what? I have plenty of issues with the film that actually effect it, but this isn't one that I can see. Sure, there could always be one more line of dialogue in every film, but you have to step back and evaluate what really matters and I don't think the majority of the audience was focused on this "problem".

Y'know, sometimes when you believe that a house is haunted you'll start to see ghosts every where and when people try to rationalize it out for you, you may just start to sound nuts the more and more you see them. Not saying they aren't there necessarily, but you can't expect everyone else to be affected by them the same as you...if you follow the belabored metaphor.

[HannibalBarca]

I get what you're saying, but at the same time I think a lot of this movie's problems are sort of like a gordian knot: all tangled together, and as you try to analyze one problem you come across a few others. We've had this conversation before, I know, and ended it with something of a gentlemen's agreement to stop arguing, but suffice to say that I maintain that the script it something of a mess, and that while MONARCH being an underwritten non-entity certainly isn't the movie's biggest problem it's one that sticks out prominently in my mind given how much world-building was attempted

As for the military, your point is conceded, but the military's sole job is to pretty much stand around and shoot at the giant monsters. MONARCH's role is presumably a bit more nuanced and intertwined with the monsters' history, but the movie didn't show them doing much of anything.

[Captain Aktion]

MONARCH's role is presumably a bit more nuanced and intertwined with the monsters' history, but the movie didn't show them doing much of anything.

Well...that is a presumption. Perhaps once the MUTO hatched and Godzilla hit the scene their job was pretty much done. What more could they do at the moment? All they did do was study dead or cocooned creatures, not go out to the monster war-zone and collect samples or fight them off with anti-MUTO cannons.

I don't know if I'd say the script is a "mess" since there's nothing fundamentally broken about it. Its real problems are lack of nuance and any kind of multiple layers or depth, for me. Nothing is confusing and what we're presented with has follow through but, yeah, it doesn't have much going on.

But I'll take that. So few things can hit all the marks we would like them to, it seems silly to hurt on a perfectly enjoyable popcorn flick for not being something more than just that. There's so many other films out there that fail so much harder than this even comes close to doing, so...perspective, I guess.

[Janjira54]

Hopefully, MONARCH has a bigger role in the sequel

[Mr. Xeno]

I actually find the MONARCH criticisms to be pretty nit-picky as well. If anyone's been harsh on this movie, it's me, but I never really noticed any overt problems with MONARCH, although that could probably be because they were pretty absent from the film itself.

Personally, I think that the events in this film should have been what got MONARCH started, rather than just have them as a pre-established essence of the world, and then we follow them mostly in the sequel, but that's just me.

[Synda001]

As far as band aid fixes go there was a few things I wished would have been handled better namely the removal of certain dialogues because of campiness and some small script/scene differences.

As far as other changes I would have made. Bryan Cranston's character died at the wrong time. I would have preferred if he and his son got away during the Muto escape sequence. This would have been an good chance for he and his son to have more development.

This works because we would have avoided the conversation with Ford and Seriazawa regarding Godzilla which would make Godzilla's appearance for the next scene more dramatic. Especially with the build up to with something larger heading towards Hawaii and towards the muto that nobody except for a few in Monarch really even having the slightest idea.

As far as the train sequence goes I would have preferred if Bryan Cranston's character and the asian boy swapped places and it was Ford's father who was in danger and it is at this scene is where Cranton's character should have died. His son losing his grip and his father falling to his death. This would have giving Ford's character the motivation and drive to protect his family and come to grip with what his father has been telling him about how he can't run away from his past and problems anymore.

Seeing his character die like that would have made Godzilla's appearance to fight the Muto more necessary and add more to his portrayal in this film as the hero saving the day.

The cutaways aren't bad but I think the film could have been improved with the fight being seen from street view or from the perspective of the people running. Also we could have seen more of what happened after the fight such as the destruction and the loss of life from the monster's battle.

With his father's death and Ford baring witness to Godzilla for the first time this would have been the better opportunity for him to have his conversation with Seriazawa regarding Godzilla(What we saw in the trailer) and to give him the motivation needed to be part of the team to stop the Muto.

I also think Seriazawa's conversation with the general about using Godzilla instead of the nuke shouldn't have happened. It would have been better for Seriazawa to talk about the watch and what his father been through(As we saw in the movie) and the conversation about "Gojira is the answer" should have been cut due to the camp factor. The alpha predator line is fine because it takes place after muto's took the nuke so it still works.

I wished the Halo jump scene would have been kept in full. And I wished when Godzilla fell to the ground when the building collapsed on him Ford had a moment with Godzilla where he touched him. I think it would have helped with showing a connection with them.

But overall these were my nitpicks. Mostly editing, swapping scenes around and removing a little bit of the camp but other than that I would keep 95% of the film the way it was with maybe some extra scenes of the post monster battle carnage so maybe add an extra 15-20 minutes to the overall length and thats it.

[gzilla46]

I also would've personally wished they made the final fight happen in the day time.

[HannibalBarca]

The CGI would have looked noticeably worse if they had done that though, so I forgive them.

[gzilla46]

Is that why they are always making fights between CGI creatures in movies take place at night?

[Tohosaurus]

Is that why they are always making fights between CGI creatures in movies take place at night?

Probably in part. I wouldn't be surprised if the same holds true of suits and miniatures, hence the frequency with which Toho or Gamera kaiju battles taking place during the day. In additon, the original Alien seems to have been credited with popularizing sci-fi at night. Even in Godzilla movies, you can see the popularity of night battles in the Showa (pre-Alien) as compared to Heisei and Millennium movies (post-Alien). I recall the director of Oblivion mentioning this, though where I read/heard that I do not recall. The battle between the V-Rexes and King Kong looked great to me though, which was both during the day and with nearly decade old CGI by today's standards. I really don't think it would be a problem. I'm all for daytime battles more often in kaiju movies, or any other movies for that matter.

[Shisa Caesar]

Given that there are plenty of films with CGI stuff happening during the day.... the only actual excuse would be that they didnt feel like spending cash to make it look nice during the day rather that CGI looking bad during the day. I guess matching light sources is more difficult during the day.

[Dorkzilla]

Given that there are plenty of films with CGI stuff happening during the day.... the only actual excuse would be that they didnt feel like spending cash to make it look nice during the day rather that CGI looking bad during the day. I guess matching light sources is more difficult during the day.

Or, you know, it was done for a...thematic reason.

You know, god forbid a director tries to convey something during a scene, right?

[Showa Gyaos]

I would have loved to see an encounter take place at dusk. Not only do I think it would look good, but it could also have lead to a night-time battle.

[G2000]

The main things that I would change have already been posted, but I'll list them anyway:

-Show something in the intro to justify nuking Godzilla. Reports of missing planes and ships, photos of a half sunk fishing trawler covered in bite and claw marks, destroyed native villages/military outposts, etc, etc.

- I'm fine with Joe dying when he did in the film (it made me mad then, but i realize that if he lived, he would have been regulated to a side character) but, for the love of God, show Ford greiving! The closest we get is him holding Joes hand when he dies and saying "Dad's gone" on a message. Even if it was just, as another member suggested, looking at the picture from their old home and shedding a few tears, that would give him a little more character than he wound up with!

-That little girl from the tsunami scene doesn't have to die, but she should at least fucking SHOW SOME DAMN EMOTION ASIDE FROM THAT STUPID BLANK EXPRESSION! Scream! Cry! ANYTHING!

-The kid that Ford rescues in Hawaii-I think that instead of the happy reunion with his parents that we got, there should have been a scene that implied that he got orphaned. Nothing overt-we don't need a scene where they just wheel his parents bloody bodies past him-but something like him standing there, looking around for a while, then beginning to cry when he realizes that they're not coming. This could also serve to further Ford as a character, as now he is even more concerned about his wife and kid, as he doesnt want his kid to become orphaned at such a young age too-or worse, killed.

- A few more scenes of Ford and Elle interacting. Heck, a few scenes of her treating victims from Honolulu and Vegas would be nice, with the explanation that hospitals there were overwhelmed and they have to accept a few of them. She was so underutilized here, she needed a few more scenes.

-Develop Serizawa and Graham more. The way Hawkins portrayed Graham, it seemed she wanted to have more of a relationship with Serizawa (of what sort, I don't know, but she always referred to him as "sensei" , so maybe it's like a schoolgirl having a crush on her teacher...I dont know, I'm speculating) but Serizawa was always so immersed in his work that he ignored her. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but...I dunno. They should definitely play it up in any sequels.

-Adress Godzilla/Gojira disrepancy.

-Address the megaton-kiloton disrepancy.

- Explain that Godzilla feeds on the MUTOs by absorbing their radiation-several people I know complained about them playing it up as "Predator/Prey" when Godzilla never ate them.

-Explicitly mention that the reason for lack of fallout was because Godzilla absorbed it.

-Instead of the news broadcast simply labeling Godzilla "Savior of Our City?", it should have been more ambiguous, such as "Savior or Menace?"

That's about it.

[HannibalBarca]

The CGI would have looked noticeably worse if they had done that though, so I forgive them.

How would it be worse? The CGI looked beautiful to begin with

Yes, the CGI in this movie was absolutely fantastic. You'll get no argument from me there. If we had major fight scenes (or any monster scenes at all, really) take place in bright daylight, however, I'm not so sure that would still have been the case.

[InstinctiveGigan]

The CGI would have looked noticeably worse if they had done that though, so I forgive them.

Yeah, I agree with Chris. When we did see Godzilla and the Mutos during the day, they looked great. Even that little fight tease as they closed the door looked really good. Better than most CGI movie day shots to be blunt.

[Showa Gyaos]

I would have loved to see an encounter take place at dusk. Not only do I think it would look good, but it could also have lead to a night-time battle.

We sort of got that, problem was it was during a rain storm so we didn't see the sun.

I know. It just didn't feel like "dusk" to me, hence why I said it would have been nice.

[Desghidorah]

The teasing bit Edward wanted with Godzilla was ok, though I found it a bit tedious after the 2nd cutaway from a fight. The audience came to see Godzilla rumble, so giving us a bit more of a fight would be loved. They obviously animated the Hawaii fight, so my only real band-aid would be show us the shreeonking fight THEN the news coverage.

Yes we don't need to (nor should) have a action scene ever 5 minutes, but giving us a bit more would have made the biggest complaint in the move null and void. Jurassic Park didn't overdo the Tyrannosaurus action, but it didn't cut away immediately after the T.rex broke out of her pen. I just hope that, now since the audience knows what Godzilla looks like and there's nothing to tease at; the sequel shows us more monster screen time.