Godzilla
What?
Alongside King Kong, Godzilla is perhaps the most well known and most recognisable "movie monster" ever created. The Japanese have been responsible for, what seems like thousands of tie ins over the years, but a genuine Godzilla blockbuster had never been attempted before Roland Emmerich decided to bring one to the big screen. And hot on the heels of the uber successful Independence Day, Emmerich and his fans had high hopes for the big budget monster movie.
I hate ID4. I remember vividly how disappointed I was during and after watching the film at the cinema. How could such a premise be ruined by such a bullshit script, horrible over acting and embarrassing American patriotism? I know some claim it was all tongue in cheek, but I don’t buy that. Anyway, I digress. Having got over the disappointment I unwillingly became interested in Emmerich’s Godzilla because of the exceptional marketing campaign. First came the posters, followed by the brilliant trailers. The teasers gave a tantalising glimpse of what we could expect, the full on trailers made most of us foam at the mouth in anticipation. You know where I’m going here. Deja Vu time. How could such a promising premise fail? In truth, some of the film is pretty good fun and close to what I hoped it would be. The lead up to the discovery of the monster, the first sightings of it around New York City and the mayhem caused as the beast tears NY apart. All good. Unfortunately a number of major factors all but ruined the film. Firstly, we are made to feel far too sorry for the monster. My heart isn’t made of stone, I like a sad story, but Godzilla isn’t one. Secondly, the thing has babies. Wrong. And finally, the film just isn’t serious enough; there is far too much comedy and light hearted moments throughout the film. I wanted a serious monster movie – didn’t everyone? Whilst these points may seem fairly arbitrary to some, for me, they killed what could have been something pretty special. Perhaps one day J.J Abrams will take the character and deliver the movie we have always wanted. In the mean time, slip Cloverfield into your player for the tenth time.
Optics:
Godzilla’s first outing on Blu-ray would have been an unquestionable success was is not for a couple of niggling issues. Close up detail impresses but the image as a whole lacks sharpness or the pop we associate with the best transfers. The image is ever so slightly hazy, a trait that worsened in the darker sequences, of which there are many unfortunately. Colour reproduction is mostly good, vivid greens, yellows and reds really stand out but skin tones look a little over saturated and unnatural at times. So something of a mixed bag, but in truth the problems are not so distracting that they ruin the transfer completely. Overall I was reasonably pleased with this catalogue Blu-ray.
Sonics:
The new lossless DTS-HD track is everything you would expect from an Emmerich movie. Bass is thunderous! There is barely a moment when the subwoofer is silent. Giant footsteps, room shaking explosions, the awesome rumble whenever Godzilla breathes close to the camera (a la Jurassic Park) – bass heads are going to love this disc. Surround action is almost as aggressive as the bass. Again, there is barely a moment when the surround speakers are quiet thanks to helicopters flying around the room, stormy thunderclaps or all out war as the army throws everything at the beast. All action and always doing something, Godzilla on Blu-ray is as lively as hell!
Extras:
The extra features on show here are fairly similar to the UK edition. What that actually equates to in terms on bonus features is an audio commentary with the VFX team, two short featurettes, a music video and an interactive trivia game. A sneak peek for Emmerich’s next movie, 2012 closes things out.
Well?
Godzilla will always been seen as a missed opportunity through my eyes and watching again on Blu-ray has not changed my mind. The Blu-ray is sadly short on any new extras but fairs pretty well in the AV department. The choice is yours.
Tom Day
Alongside King Kong, Godzilla is perhaps the most well known and most recognisable "movie monster" ever created. The Japanese have been responsible for, what seems like thousands of tie ins over the years, but a genuine Godzilla blockbuster had never been attempted before Roland Emmerich decided to bring one to the big screen. And hot on the heels of the uber successful Independence Day, Emmerich and his fans had high hopes for the big budget monster movie.
I hate ID4. I remember vividly how disappointed I was during and after watching the film at the cinema. How could such a premise be ruined by such a bullshit script, horrible over acting and embarrassing American patriotism? I know some claim it was all tongue in cheek, but I don’t buy that. Anyway, I digress. Having got over the disappointment I unwillingly became interested in Emmerich’s Godzilla because of the exceptional marketing campaign. First came the posters, followed by the brilliant trailers. The teasers gave a tantalising glimpse of what we could expect, the full on trailers made most of us foam at the mouth in anticipation. You know where I’m going here. Deja Vu time. How could such a promising premise fail? In truth, some of the film is pretty good fun and close to what I hoped it would be. The lead up to the discovery of the monster, the first sightings of it around New York City and the mayhem caused as the beast tears NY apart. All good. Unfortunately a number of major factors all but ruined the film. Firstly, we are made to feel far too sorry for the monster. My heart isn’t made of stone, I like a sad story, but Godzilla isn’t one. Secondly, the thing has babies. Wrong. And finally, the film just isn’t serious enough; there is far too much comedy and light hearted moments throughout the film. I wanted a serious monster movie – didn’t everyone? Whilst these points may seem fairly arbitrary to some, for me, they killed what could have been something pretty special. Perhaps one day J.J Abrams will take the character and deliver the movie we have always wanted. In the mean time, slip Cloverfield into your player for the tenth time.
Optics:
Godzilla’s first outing on Blu-ray would have been an unquestionable success was is not for a couple of niggling issues. Close up detail impresses but the image as a whole lacks sharpness or the pop we associate with the best transfers. The image is ever so slightly hazy, a trait that worsened in the darker sequences, of which there are many unfortunately. Colour reproduction is mostly good, vivid greens, yellows and reds really stand out but skin tones look a little over saturated and unnatural at times. So something of a mixed bag, but in truth the problems are not so distracting that they ruin the transfer completely. Overall I was reasonably pleased with this catalogue Blu-ray.
Sonics:
The new lossless DTS-HD track is everything you would expect from an Emmerich movie. Bass is thunderous! There is barely a moment when the subwoofer is silent. Giant footsteps, room shaking explosions, the awesome rumble whenever Godzilla breathes close to the camera (a la Jurassic Park) – bass heads are going to love this disc. Surround action is almost as aggressive as the bass. Again, there is barely a moment when the surround speakers are quiet thanks to helicopters flying around the room, stormy thunderclaps or all out war as the army throws everything at the beast. All action and always doing something, Godzilla on Blu-ray is as lively as hell!
Extras:
The extra features on show here are fairly similar to the UK edition. What that actually equates to in terms on bonus features is an audio commentary with the VFX team, two short featurettes, a music video and an interactive trivia game. A sneak peek for Emmerich’s next movie, 2012 closes things out.
Well?
Godzilla will always been seen as a missed opportunity through my eyes and watching again on Blu-ray has not changed my mind. The Blu-ray is sadly short on any new extras but fairs pretty well in the AV department. The choice is yours.
Tom Day
Director:
Roland Emmerich
Starring:
Matthew Broderick
Jean Reno
Maria Pitillo
Doug Savant
Hank Azaria
Harry Shearer
Best line:
"We need bigger guns."
Tagline:
"Size Does Matter."
Description:
Sony Pictures
UK
Region free
Rated PG
2Hrs 18 Mins
2.35:1
MPEG-4 AVC
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
(English, French, German)
Subtitles: Eng, Fra, Ger, Arabic, Dan, dutch, Fin, Hindu, Nor, Swe, Tur
'All Time Best Of Godzilla Fight Scenes'
VFX audio commentary
Trivia game
'Behind the Scenes of Godzilla with Charles Caiman'
Music video
Ratings: (Out of 10)
Film 5.0
Optics 7.0
Sonics 9.0
Extras 5.0
Overall 6.0
