Does applause really have much to do with the quality of the film? I've heard all sorts of really awful summer films receive applause.

Sorry about that. I was excited.

The hypenotism seems to be wearing off unusually fast this time.

One of those emoticons is way off base

I've seen an estimate that within Godzilla's 123 minute running time, the lead character appears for a total of 10 minutes, if you include audio and rumbles - - if you only count actual on-screen time, it drops to 7 minutes.

What other movie has ever given it's star so little screentime?

Rebecca?

This

BJ's Grade: B-

The movie needed more Godzilla and Cranston.

That point has already been made by myself and several others in this thread.

Can't agree with this. Godzilla looked so good in the movie and his scenes were by far the best, but the whole movie was like teasing-teasing-Godzilla shot for 5 seconds-teasing-teasing- Godzilla shot for 10 seconds-teasing-teasing, and that became really frustrating for me.

I was fine with the amount of Godzilla in the film.

Did you like the human portion of the film, Arthur?

BTW, on the topic:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/weekendw ... ?id=118479

I thought it was decent enough not to have me bored. Could have been better. I loved the set-up and I loved the atmosphere.

Yup

This film definitely nails a couple Big Moments during the action sequences. It just badly needs vast improvement in regard to character and storytelling. It needs awe, doom, mystery, and suspense. It needs these elements in its in-between moments to sustain momentum and interest.

As with most, I agree that the story lacks a little... but the acting was good enough, and it moved along at a good pace. Nothing was overly stupid, IMO obviously. And I thought there was enough MUTO carnage throughout the film to hold me over until that finale.

And that finale? WHOOOO BOY. HOT DAMN. That was a helluva thing. Godzilla was a motha fuckin' BADASS. And that final fight alone brought this from a B+ to an A-.

Oh beat me to it. It was nice to read a decent article about the movie after the bitch-fest in this thread...

Why can't people learn the difference between an opinion and a fact?

No Magnus, those are still both just opinions. I'm not gonna defend the movie anymore though. I enjoyed it because the good stuff outweighed the bad for me.

Just wondering, if the film had focused on Cranston do y'all think you would have liked it? I think that will be the biggest reason it has mixed wom, more than a lack of Godzilla. The ads don't promise a lot of Godzilla, but they do promise a lot of Cranston which the movie undoubtably does not deliver on.

I know *I* was pissed when Cranston exited the picture. The ads were very misleading making him look like the lead.

People are being too hard on Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He is imprisoned by a bland character, as are other members of the cast. Beyond the orgasm-for-Breaking-Bad factor, Bryan Cranston stands out because his is the only character who grieves and rages and has a touch of the insane in his eyes. Everyone else is treated as a placeholder. David Strathairn is an actor of considerable talent, but boring here. Sally Hawkins is a favorite of directors as venerable as Woody Allen and Mike Leigh, but boring here.

If you went into this thinking Cranston was the lead, there's no helping you.

There's an interview clip of him recounting the story of his initial meeting with the producers pitching his role in a father/son story, to which he quips, "Great! Who's gonna play my father?"

And your point?

I was hoping Cranston and Watanabe would be buddies and have humorous back-and-forths about radiation.