This Lived Up to the Hype

“My war isn’t over yet” is such a cold line,this movie was amazing

That scene when Godzilla arrives in the city with the original theme orchestra made my inner child light up with excitement. Pure joy.

The character arc of the "aunti" is truly impressive. There is not one expendable character. Also, the scene with Godzilla chasing the boat is genuinely terrifying.

God, the Ginza heat blast was fucking godly. That fallout rain/blood rain right after and Shikishima’s reaction are perfection.

I cried when Noriko was found alive. Tears shed. What a movie

Ive noticed a bunch of people missed the black in Norikos veins on the back of her neck. My theory is she did indeed get torn up from the shockwave, but the "GCells" that one way or another found their way into her body regenerated her. Which is why it took so long for them to find her.

I love the details in the crowd scenes. You see people fall down and get helped back up. People helping each other in the face of a disaster

Usually, the humans in Godzilla movies are boring, but the main character actually went hard

I attended the Hollywood premiere of this movie a few weeks ago. The director and actor who portrays Shikishima were incredibly kind, and stopped by every fan on the red carpet to hand out free stickers, sign autographs, and take selfies. They were amazing, so I am thrilled that so many people are enjoying the movie! I thought it was great too.

To justify the Noriko pushing scene, while it is a trope, it actually heavily supports the message of living above all else. Shikishima is wracked with survivor’s guilt; he believes that he should have died in WWII, as a Kamikaze pilot, and can never escape that. This guilt blinds him to the point in which he can’t see that he has plenty of reasons to live, in having a family through Noriko and Akiko. Noriko’s sacrifice is what pushes Shikishima to take action against Godzilla but it also serves as as a way to build tension and suspense through the viewer. Shikishima plans on taking his own life inorder to stop Godzilla and the film heavily emphasizes that plan. Noriko’s sacrifice is what helps convey the tragedy of this decision, as Noriko sacrificed her life for his but he is now wasting it away for revenge. The film keeps building on that angle of Shikishima tragically sacrificing himself, so when he does end up surviving we’re that much more relieved. The reveal of Noriko being alive could also serve as a kind of reward for Shikishima learning that living is most important and that he shouldn’t treat his life so cheaply.

The biggest flaw Hollywood Godzilla movies have is they make you sit through a human plot when all you want is to see Godzilla. This movie fixes that by: 1. Showing Godzilla within the first 5 minutes 2. Scaring you so badly, it makes you not want to see him a second time.

Thing with Noriko: So if you notice this weird black scale thing on her neck—I think if there's a sequel it'll be that was exposed so directly to Godzilla radiation that she kinda regenerated kinda like Goji does. But the purpose for this is that she'll be the Goji/kaiju Oracle archethype we've seen in other movies. So, I guess we'll see if they do anything with her in the future!

The godzilla roar is just timeless and unforgettable. You could go and not think about it for 50 years and when somebody asked you what it sounds like you'd immediately remember

A movie done with $15mil budget is beating out big studio movies with $200mil budgets, has better looking effects, and memorable characters, and a story you will remember. Hollywood needs to take some serious notes

While I definitely agree that Noriko being alive seems a LITTLE forced, this is the first time the "person we thought was dead actually survived!" bit hasn't felt like a contrivance, not only because of how heartfelt the reunion is (and following that joy up with the horrific Godzilla infection implications and his regeneration), but also because of how it's another sort of callback to Japan's lived reality. There are multiple accounts of both WWII soldiers and a-bomb survivors thinking they had lost someone only to find out weeks months or even years later that that person is alive. So while her revival came out of nowhere for me, I definitely don't hate how they did it. The power of likeable characters lol

In the final scene if you look closely at the wife’s neck, there is a black spot/goo present. Plus the wife’s face looks too clean considering what she went through. Looks like a small part of Godzilla got into her and gave her Godzilla’s regeneration. That already puts her 2/3 of the way into becoming Biollante.

This is one of the Godzilla movies where even non fans were super invested in.

Having the director also be the director of vfx was perfect for this movie, and should be the go-to for any large monster destruction movies. John Wick... the director was a stuntman. Perfect. We need more movies like this.

The fact that they used Godzilla as a metaphor for PTSD from the war is an absolutely genius storytelling decision

Godzilla was actually really scary in this movie and I loved it. I actually feared for the lives of the characters on screen whenever he was around. I even felt for the extras. Never has a movie made me care about the *extras*.