The scene where G looks at Ford

[Fighing On Fuji]

Heisei Godzilla isn't your friend. Godzilla in Astro-Monster, Hedorah, Megalon, and Mechagodzilla 74 and 75 most certainly was. I hate it when people throw out arbitrary guidelines for what Godzilla is "supposed" to be.

Besides, he failed to convey a sense of conscious heroism even in 2014. Flooding Hawaii, showing abject apathy for the people on the bridge (many of whom were undoubtedly killed when he broke it), and showing a tendency to lumber through any building in his way all indicate a creature that really has no opinion on us. Ford was lucky enough to be the subject of Godzilla's attention, as any person might look at a bug when they are lying on the ground. The film was cut and presented in a way that places greater emphasis on his more heroic side and downplays the human cost of his movement (aside from the Hawaii scene), but complaints about this should really be leveled against the filmmakers, not Godzilla's personality as displayed in the film.

His purely heroic moments, namely saving Ford twice, were not consciously heroic on his part. The fight scenes, short as they were, did a good job conveying that he wanted to kill those things as quickly as he possibly could, and was getting visibly frustrated by the difficulty of doing so. By the time he reaches the MUTO in the bay, he is so fed up its actually a bit comical.

[Godzilla165]

Heisei Godzilla isn't your friend. Godzilla in Astro-Monster, Hedorah, Megalon, and Mechagodzilla 74 and 75 most certainly was. I hate it when people throw out arbitrary guidelines for what Godzilla is "supposed" to be.

Besides, he failed to convey a sense of conscious heroism even in 2014. Flooding Hawaii, showing abject apathy for the people on the bridge (many of whom were undoubtedly killed when he broke it), and showing a tendency to lumber through any building in his way all indicate a creature that really has no opinion on us. Ford was lucky enough to be the subject of Godzilla's attention, as any person might look at a bug when they are lying on the ground. The film was cut and presented in a way that places greater emphasis on his more heroic side and downplays the human cost of his movement (aside from the Hawaii scene), but complaints about this should really be leveled against the filmmakers, not Godzilla's personality as displayed in the film.

His purely heroic moments, namely saving Ford twice, were not consciously heroic on his part. The fight scenes, short as they were, did a good job conveying that he wanted to kill those things as quickly as he possibly could, and was getting visibly frustrated by the difficulty of doing so. By the time he reaches the MUTO in the bay, he is so fed up its actually a bit comical.

This. ALL of this.

[Kaiju Claws]

Heisei Godzilla isn't your friend. Godzilla in Astro-Monster, Hedorah, Megalon, and Mechagodzilla 74 and 75 most certainly was. I hate it when people throw out arbitrary guidelines for what Godzilla is "supposed" to be.

No worries Fuji-san, I had not intentions of making any statement about how Godzilla is supposed to be (in case that post was directed at me).

I just wanted to show some support for there being more to Godzilla than just being a destructive set piece. If Godzilla is/has character, I feel that there has to be more to him than just the "destroyer" aspect. That said, I doubt there was anything intentional about saving Ford.

That scene (like the scene with Shindo in GvKG) is used to give us a connection (no matter how slight) between our two protagonists and build a little character. Godzilla and Ford shared the briefest of moments, and I think that opens the door to a number of possibilities. If Godzilla is capable of noticing human beings on an individual level as the scene indicates, perhaps we could try something entirely different in terms of dealing with him. I've always been curious about why we've never seen a movie where scientists try to communicate with him in some manner (think Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind or whale songs vs a human conversation). If he's capable of such an interaction, perhaps that's something we could see in the future, perhaps as a way to keep him away from cities, etc.

[Godzilla Lover101]

By the time he reaches the MUTO in the bay, he is so fed up its actually a bit comical.

Kinda hope they incorporate this into the sequels. Be cool to see Godzilla unleash his full power and utterly kill his opponent.

[Kaijunator]

I think G was just curious as to "what the skreeonk is that?", as he had never seen a human that close. Sure, he saw buildings and cars and MUTOs , but those were everywhere he went.

[Gelo]

I think G was just curious as to "what the skreeonk is that?"

With this kind of face????
http://i.minus.com/iXBzJ6DgarJTL.gif
That doesn't look like curiosity to me..

[gzilla46]

I don't know. I personally kind of think he genuinely knew there was some kind of sentient being staring at him. He may not feel any particular emotional attachment towards the humans, but I kind of think he knew there was an actual being staring at them.

I kind of think he was thinking, "Protect these tiny creatures? Why? What have they ever done for me? What do I owe these worthless insects that makes me want to protect them from these abominations?"

[Vatarian]

I don't know. I personally kind of think he genuinely knew there was some kind of sentient being staring at him. He may not feel any particular emotional attachment towards the humans, but I kind of think he knew there was an actual being staring at them.

I kind of think he was thinking, "Protect these tiny creatures? I'm not. I'm killing the MUTOs because they are a harmful parasite and predator to my species."

Fixed. I doubt Godzilla's motivation had much of anything to do with helping us.

[PRIMEVAL]

Definitely wasn't purposefully helping us. Mentioned a few times that the MUTOs preyed upon the alpha predator species of Godzilla. He was hunting them to more or less preserve his own life.

[daveblackeye15]

I loved it and thought it was sweet. I never got the impression he was trying to help humanity, we were just lucky the two species are enemies and that he doesn't seem to hold grudges.

[The Godzilla Camp]

Well - perhaps the fact Big-G 2014 in the film is implying - compared to the 'Big-G stereotype that he doesn't care about humans and he's a bad-guy!' - perhaps Big-G 2014 is somewhat implying he's not downright oblivious to humans and the fact he is aware of them to an extent and the fact how he and humans might have had something in common at times - OR even the fact given Big-G 2014 he's got 250 million years of experience - and the fact how he SURELY may have been encountered in Ancient times even prior to 1954 by humans ... and the fact Big-G 2014 is a more tolerant if not benevolent Big-G incarnation towards humans not unlike Goji Junior ...

[king_ghidorah]

This scene REALLY bugged me in the theatre. It seemed to humanize Godzilla too much. But as others have mentioned, there's a damned near identical scene in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah and I've never really been up in arms about that.

With the some water under the bridge now, I can say that the I've come to accept the scene more or less. I just hope it's a one off and that Godzilla doesn't share too many moments like that with human characters as the series progresses. Even though I've come to accept it, it's the weakest Godzilla element of the film to me. Every other scene that the Big G is in feels perfect this one, not so much.

From what I understand Andy Serkis is pretty much responsible for this scene and while this guy is a tremendous talent, I think he has a tendency of over-acting with his monster characters. Kong is the same way...they tried to humanize him a bit too much.

Then again, I know a lot of people (Fans and non-fans alike) LOVE this scene so I think it's all a matter of personal taste at the end of the day. With the exception of Gamera, I prefer for kaiju to not interact with humans directly if it can be helped (something like Gyaos that hunts humans is a different story).