A buzz around the geekier side of the Internet is surrounding the recently released trailer of the new Godzilla movie, scheduled for release in May 2014. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is:
This isn't your grandfather's radioactive monster rising from the Pacific. But in a way, maybe it is.
A lot of us remember the numerous Godzilla movies produced by Toho Studios. And while a lot of the later films had a very campy feel (How could you not with a man in a giant lizard suit?), the first release in 1954 was both a financial and critical success. The film highlighted the folly of man and the consequences of entering the "nuclear age" with reckless abandon.
Now if that isn't the first Godzilla film you remember, don't be surprised. The critically-acclaimed film that made Toho Studios "Godzilla-sized" piles of money is the Japanese version. When the movie's U.S. rights were bought, the plot was changed and additional footage was added to included an American character, reporter Steve Martin, played by Raymond Burr of "Perry Mason" fame. And while the changes made Godzilla a huge success in the U.S. (it made a whopping $2 million plus in 1956), the film is a far cry from the original.
So fast forward to today. We've seen a trailer that has "impending doom" all over it. Could it be an homage to the original film's message: that nature ultimately will punish mankind for its hubris and audacity to "play God?"
Oh, no. There goes Tokyo...
No comments:
Post a Comment