“This one better have more of the monsters fighting and less people talking!”
Had these people ever seen a Godzilla movie? Most Godzilla movies consist of a bunch of scientists, military people, and/or government officials discussing what they should do about Godzilla, then Godzilla appears, shots of people fleeing, more shots of scientists, Godzilla wreaking havoc, more people fleeing, more scientists, and then Godzilla leaves. Rinse, repeat. In movies where Godzilla has an adversary then there’s another group of humans who discover the native islanders, aliens, undersea dwellers, or subterranean monkey-men responsible for the other monster. Showing the monsters was expensive, even if it was just guys in suits. I know that’s baffling for Americans who are used to $100M+ trash dumped into our cinemas every week, but it’s true. The Japanese film industry, particularly in the 50s through 70s, was operating on C-grade budgets compared to their American counterparts. I can’t find any concrete data on this, but the original Godzilla film from 1954 looks to have had a budget of $1,500,000 when adjusted for inflation. In the United States a disposable straight to dumpster (i.e. Netflix) romantic comedy has a bigger budget than that. Every scene of that rubber monster foot smashing a model tank costs a lot of money, so they did it sparingly.
Now is this any excuse for the 2014 movie, which had a budget of $160M? Probably not. They probably could have shown the monsters more, but the build up to seeing Godzilla was important. It made the final battle, where we see how immensely powerful he is, that much more satisfying. This is actually refreshing in a way. So many movies go straight for the spectacle and bore us to death with twenty minutes of inconsequential fighting. In Godzilla 2014 all the fighting mattered.
I know I use this phrase a lot, but our society has become so narratively illiterate. It’s not the same as actual illiteracy. People can still read and comprehend words, but they have lost their ability to actually analyze and fully comprehend the components of a good story.
This is not the fault of the audience. Hollywood has dumbed everything down to lower risk and maximize profitability, particularly in non-English speaking markets like China. As we are challenged less by good stories; the ability to understand when a story is doing something well, and when it is failing, atrophies. We confuse irrelevant conveniences for plot holes while looking right past lapses in story logic so gaping you could drive a truck through them. But because the movie had lots of seizure inducing pointless punching we drool and clap like we’ve all been lobotomized.
Armchair Screenwriter 