How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

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Ōei
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How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Ōei »

This is something that came to mind after some thinking and re-watching of both films. How would G-2014 have done (in public opinion, box office, critically, etc.) if it was like Shin Godzilla?

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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by GargantuaTarantula »

I can't see the general American audience responding positively to something like Shin.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by SomeknowmeasXeno »

If would have been equivalent to suicide if it had. The fans would've lambasted it like 98, the majority of critics would shit on it and the general audience would have walked away very confused.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Desghidorah »

Not quite sure where this viewpoint that general audiences disliked G'2014 comes from. Word of mouth I encountered almost always ranged from impressed to a "Flawed but still decent" stance.

Shin is a movie very much for a Japanese audience with a lot of political commentary that is completely lost on foreigners without previously knowledge. If G'2014 was structured exactly like Shin, I see GA reaction being much poorer with sticking point of the politics crowding out the monster. And I say this as someone who liked Shin Godzilla.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Ivo-goji »

What they said.

Anno's boldly experimental take on Godzilla would have been unacceptable under anyone else's hands, especially to the skeptical American GA. There are certain things Shin Godzilla did that G14 would have been better for observing, but being 'like' Shin in any substantial way would have been suicidal.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

I really don't understand the question. You mean if G14 was the exact same film as Shin but with an American cast and Hollywood production values? If so I say it would have performed almost the same but be a critically better film.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by PopInPicsPresents »

If it was like Shin in the sense that it had all around good acting, a good script and a likable protagonist then I'm sure it would have been better. More Godzilla action wouldn't have hurt either.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by tbeasley »

First of all I don't think an American production company could ever make a film like Shin Godzilla.
Look at how 2014 and 2016 approach the Fukushima disaster. 2014 opens with a scene partially inspired by it, there's the Q-zone, but there's not much focus on it. There's also an atomic bomb going off at the start and end of the movie, I don't think a Japanese film would ever do that.

It's no wonder Japanese audiences reacted to Shin G the way they did, it was reality looking back at them -

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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by ScrumpBump »

The film was influenced on recent nasty natural disasters. One of which did cause Fukushima. Some minor imagery of the disaster was used, yes, but it wasn't the main focus.

Now, for this very vague question.

Film wise, I'm not sure.

Monster wise, Shin probably would of been torn apart.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Mechagigan »

Probably better, all around - assuming it'd retain roughly the same storytelling and general plot, with punched-up writing and effects.

However, fans would have hated it, immediately lambasting it as G'98 2.

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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Mr. Xeno »

If it was done just like Shin, but with American flavouring, then probably a little less, somewhere around $150, I think. While Japan seems to really enjoy their political/social/environmental allegories, America fucking HATES that shit. Something like GMK, which straight up indicted Japan of their past actions, would NEVER fly in a US film, very sadly IMHO. While Shin is not really self critical, the intense focus on political banter would still dampen it, but the nationalistic message and the whole "Japan (I assume swapped to America in this hypothetical case) is the underdog on a world scale" thing would win back some major points.

As far as critically speaking, I honestly could not tell you. It wouldn't be slammed, though, the way many are saying.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by g2vd »

If Fans like JD and the "Super Fans" G-Fan had writing articles on how Godzilla 2014 totally ruined and betrayed Godzilla's character by adding his snout and DA FEAET!

It's safe to say there would have been a massive stretch of Heart Attacks leading up to Godzilla 2014. :lol: :P
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

Seriously Godzilla's design was FAR from G14's biggest problem. Hell it's one of the few things I would actively praise about the film. Would there have been things I'd have done differently? Most certainly but I could say that for a number of Godzilla's designs. It's sad when something like a character design is enough to completely make or break a film for somebody.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by SomeknowmeasXeno »

Ehh, I kinda see where the character design people are coming from: I had to live with DmC Dante's redesign... which is still far from DmC's biggest problems. So yeah I do understand character designs making or breaking stuff for some people...

But arguing about feet is fucking ridiculous...
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Mechagigan »

Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote: It's sad when something like a character design is enough to completely make or break a film for somebody.
The immediate judgement this fandom gives based on aesthetics alone is one of my biggest pet peeves... I honestly don't love Shin's design, for example, but the fact people dismiss the entire film based on the monster's design alone is almost laughable. That exact thinking is what keeps the majority of actually well-made Showa films under a layer of irrelevancy to the public mind - because they don't look beautiful.

This community - mostly outside of TK, actually - is one of the most rampant with fans unwilling to accept change. G'14 was an attractive, aesthetically correct, and appropriately 'real' version of the classic character (without removing his core concepts); obviously some aren't going to love the look, but it's absolutely 'correct', if that makes sense.

A look like Zilla is 'incorrect', with the wrong proportions and general colors. That, I can understand.

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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Underworld54 »

Desghidorah wrote:Not quite sure where this viewpoint that general audiences disliked G'2014 comes from. Word of mouth I encountered almost always ranged from impressed to a "Flawed but still decent" stance.

Shin is a movie very much for a Japanese audience with a lot of political commentary that is completely lost on foreigners without previously knowledge. If G'2014 was structured exactly like Shin, I see GA reaction being much poorer with sticking point of the politics crowding out the monster. And I say this as someone who liked Shin Godzilla.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by ToxicLove »

tbeasley wrote:
First of all, thank you for that incredible video. Needed a moment after watching that.

To answer the topic question, it probably would have gained strong critical support, decent to average box office run, and infuriated and annoyed the majority of the American Godzilla fanbase, which is a very good thing.

Now, apparently people were freaking out over Godzilla 2014's feet? I wasn't around the fandom as much back then to witness such quality qualms, but if people were indeed foaming and seething at different FEET, then I can imagine their reaction to an American Shin Godzilla.

I'll leave with a great quote by Andrzej Zulawski: To please the majority is the requirement of the Planet Cinema. As far as I'm concerned, I don't make a concession to viewers, these victims of life, who think that a film is made only for their enjoyment, and who know nothing about their own existence.

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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by BlankAccount »

General movie goers would have probably hated it. I'm sorry but most people think Godzilla is all about fighting other monsters. I had to explain to my sister that there is no enemy monster in Shin or the original move and she was surprised by this. And I've seen reviews for Shin bitching about lack of an enemy monster. Cause seeing Godzilla's Cutting Atomic Breath apparently isn't cool enough.

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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

Which is funny cause G14 barely showed monsters fighting to begin with. Still if G14 was more like Shin it may have been my favorite Godzilla movie ever. You can have monsters fight and still have both feel largely antogonistic, one of the things Godzilla Raids Again did very well. I mean making G14 more like Shin doesn't exactly have to mean taking out the Mutos too. At least it wasn't specified in the OP.
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Re: How would Godzilla 2014 have done if it was more like Shin Godzilla?

Post by BlankAccount »

Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:Which is funny cause G14 barely showed monsters fighting to begin with. Still if G14 was more like Shin it may have been my favorite Godzilla movie ever. You can have monsters fight and still have both feel largely antagonistic, one of the things Godzilla Raids Again did very well. I mean making G14 more like Shin doesn't exactly have to mean taking out the Mutos too. At least it wasn't specified in the OP.
I just don't get movie goers in my country sometimes. They want fantastical creatures but they want them to be "grounded". Kind of defeats the point of Godzilla. I was seeing people say there was so little of Godzilla in Shin and I'm thinking are you fucking kidding me? We see him in the first 10 minutes of the movie. To quote another user "G2014 cut away from Godzilla about to do something cool, Shin cut TO Godzilla about to do something cool." Yeah I know a lot of the comic movies we have now are fantastical but look at some of the earlier ones, they kind of had to work their way up to the more fantastical stuff. And yeah I've noticed a funny thing where our community wants solo Godzilla films because fighting another monster has been done to death but when they get it they don't like it cause it's boring. :lol:

I probably would have liked the big atomic breath moment in G2014 more if it was more like Shin. G2014 the charge up is so long and has a huge build up you expect it to be big and it's kind of underwhelming, partly cause longer charge just means 2 shots before a recharge but also because we don't really get to see how destructive it is, it doesn't hit anything but Mrs.MUTO. Hitting a building by accident would have helped. Don't get me wrong, the charging was cool but the actual shot was "that's it? Seems pretty weak for such a long build up."

What Shin did when he first shows his breath, that's actually more than what I expected. A lot more. I expected it to be powerful and cause a lot of damage but damn.

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