Today in New York and Los Angeles, select critics got a chance to catch an early screening of “Godzilla,” and as you might guess, everyone is under embargo for the moment about how the movie plays out. But Vulture danced lightly around that issue, by not addressing the movie specifically, but instead talking about the monster at the center of it. Or rather, how long it takes for the monster to show up.
There is a trend in Hollywood blockbusters to kick off tentpoles with a bang — giving paying audiences what they want right away. All one has to do is look at recent movies like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and this weekend’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” which both kick off with action setpieces (the latter after a quick recap of the first movie). And hell, Fox just went ahead and put a clip online from the opening battle from this month’s “X-Men: Days Of Future Past,” featuring Sentinels and all. Basically, it’s not often you get a bit of mystery, but that’s where “Godzilla” differs.
Vulture notes that it takes a while to get a look at the monster in “Godzilla,” and basically you don’t really see him in action at the end of the film. But that is all by design. “[If] you throw everything you can at the screen, you’ve got nowhere else to go,” the director Gareth Edwards said, adding that he didn’t want “to frustrate the audience, but to tease them. It’s kind of like cinematic foreplay.”
Or, to put it another way: “What we were trying to do when we designed the movie was to incrementally build and build. So hopefully, you get the big climax at the end and it has the maximum power possible—and then it’s the end credits.”
And frankly, we love the confidence. Indeed, lots of blockbusters these days blow their load early and struggle to keep up the momentum, or just become a deadening array of fights and explosions (ahem, “Man Of Steel“) but we like that Edwards wants to deliver an experience, not just a lot of flash and dazzle. But will it work? Find out on May 16th. Until then, here’s a batch of new pics.
I'm usually the first to criticize reboots/sequels/prequels etc. but I am genuinely excited for this movie. The cast is great, Godzilla looks great, and judging by the interviews with Gareth Edwards I get the feeling he actually gave a shit enough to make a good movie. The soundtrack nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey also helps.