Revisiting Opinions: Marketing vs Movie for Godzilla

Much like Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, there's one thing Godzilla evoked for me after the credits began to roll, after months of nail-biting anticipation, when I saw it opening night: Disappointment. I didn't hate the movie at all (I kind hate Crystal Skull though), but it was NOT what I thought it was going to be. That's entirely the fault of the marketing for the film.

I recall Godzilla getting a lot of flak because the movie that was shown is not the movie that was advertised...not by a long shot. This is a common method of effective marketing - hiding what's really in store. But there's a common division amongst Godzilla fans - those who prefer to see Godzilla as an unforgiving force of nature, and those that want to see him do the happy dance on Planet X after the sliding tail kick on Megalon, but before he flies away by breathing fire.

I fall into the former, as it seems a lot of others do. When I saw the marketing for this movie for a full year leading up to it...showing the dark, giant visage of Godzilla looming over a destroyed city during the HALO dive...the carnage and devastation left in his wake...I thought, "Oh man...this is gonna be great. Godzilla will be terrifying."

What we got was Gareth Edwards remaking "Monsters" with a Hollywood budget (complete with the monster love), under the stipulation that he entitle it "Godzilla" and put Godzilla in there for about 7 or 8 minutes. I know that Godzilla fighting other monsters was a welcome surprise for many, but I've always been a huge fan of the "Evil" Godzilla...Gojira 1954, Godzilla 1984/Return of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985, Godzilla Raids Again...there's something about those movies that makes Godzilla ultra frightening. I was expecting that from 2014.

Ultimately I do not dislike the movie - after subsequent viewings I liked it more and more. It works very well as a Godzilla movie. I just wish we could've seen the film that was advertised for over a year.