'Godzilla: Resurgence' - Behind The Scenes And Trailer 2 Footage Breakdown

Time for the honored tradition of taking screenshots from a trailer and over-analyzing them. 'Godzilla: Resurgence' has a new trailer (Watch it here) that released early this morning and they also had a short behind-the-scenes special on a morning radio show (Watch that one here). There is a ton of new footage and plenty to talk about so let's dive in.

We open the trailer with a nice low angle shot of Godzilla's head with his hand in the foreground. I think this is the only shot of his hand that it doesn't look like a little baby hand (yeah I'm not gonna let the size of his arms and hands go) and it's a nice shot to start us off with. We get a couple of reused Godzilla shots from the previous trailer after this, with one cool perspective shot of Godzilla and his tail peaking through the buildings as the crowd runs away. Afterwards we get to watch a group of people talking about something, but unfortunately we still have no idea what is going on. Just like the first trailer, this one is completely devoid of dialogue and that makes the middle of the trailer especially hard to get through. But I'll tell you what there is a lot of... I'll give you one guess...

Boardroom scenes! You get a boardroom and you get a boardroom! Seriously though, in this trailer alone there are four completely different boardroom sets/scenes and to be honest it worries me. To me, this makes it seem like the main cast members are going to be away from the action every time, which will definitely cause a major disconnect when we cut from one to the other. The best Godzilla attack moments usually come when we have a person on the ground is involved in the action, like a military commander that gets to be right at the forefront when the tanks and helicopters do their thing. Speaking of helicopters next up we have an awesome shot from the TV spots.

I love, and I do mean love, how much the camera is moving around with the military vehicles during the attack sequences we have seen. This juxtaposes well with Godzilla's overall lack of movement (other than his tail...man that thing is crazy!) and makes the scenes exciting to watch. This movie is definitely going to be visually stunning!

I know everybody loves the charging shot from later in the trailer, but this is actually my favorite shot from this new trailer. The mini-gun bullets are literally bouncing off of his face! It reminds me of one of the cooler scenes from 'Superman Returns' (some might say the only good scene) where the bullet bounces off of his eye and Superman doesn't even flinch. Speaking of not flinching:

We now see a group of shots where Godzilla is bombarded to the face and knees, all of which show off some pretty impressive CGI explosions. Godzilla takes all these hits and keeps on coming like a champ! I think that these scenes are actually helped by this Godzilla designs apparent lack of movement as it really gives you the feeling that this monster is unstoppable. If all that ordinance does nothing, then what will? How can they stop this immovable object?

Just like I said in the TV spot article, this design really shines in the night sequences. These shots are some of the few from which I actually feel the terror that the design is trying to portray. This shot reminds me of the scene in 'Godzilla 1985' when he arrives at the nuclear plant and steps on the hapless worker.

Man this shot is cool! It radiates demonic vibe, and that is a very good thing. Now this would be something that would fundamentally frighten me if I saw this from the rooftop of a building. Love the glowing red parts of his body at night (very 'Godzilla vs Destoroyah').

We end on the roar shot from the first trailer but it looks less awkward now that we can see the beginning and end of the roar. I don't know why they didn't use this slightly extended version in the first trailer, since it looks better with just 5 seconds more of footage. 

Now we get to the biggest talking point of the trailer, Godzilla's beam charges up purple! In my humble opinion, I don't think that we are actually getting a fully purple beam but the glowing purple images are extremely striking. I think that the beam is going to start out purple at the base of his mouth and then turn blue as it goes farther out from his mouth. The reason he charges up purple is of course because this Godzilla is constantly glowing red. Red+Blue = Purple. This would also make sense given that a purple chemical flame is hotter than a blue flame, so naturally the farther the beam is from the source (Godzilla's gaping maw) the cooler and less intense the beam will be.

Now finally we have some shots from the little behind the scenes morning show clip. All of the good images are super far away shots to show the scale of Godzilla as he comes ashore. Please excuse the poor quality of the images and the little bits of text that sneak their way into the images.

Unfortunately this design still looks extremely silly from the front. If I were Anno (the director of 'Godzilla: Resurgence') I would have avoided this angle at all costs but it actually seems to be one of his favorite shots for an approaching Godzilla. Which is weird when it is followed by the following beautiful image.

Now that is a Godzilla silhouette that I can get behind! This is the first long distance shot of the Shin-Goji design that I have actually been stunned by. He really looks like '84 Goji, and I (personally) love it.

There are two other really cool sequences that I couldn't get a worthy grab of from the behind the scenes: a shot of Godzilla walking and making shingles fall off a building, as well as a quick scene with one of the main actors seeing Godzilla's head (very similar to the 'Gojira (1954)' puppet shots) and speaking a line of dialogue. Both of these are very interesting and I can't wait to see them in better quality at some point in the future.

I can't wait to hear fans reactions to the full film when it releases in Japan on July 29th. What did you guys think of the trailer? Do you agree that the breath may still turn blue throughout Godzilla's beam? Let us know in the comments below.

The Many Skull Islands Of Kong - Part 2

Continuing from where I left off in part one, I had just finished talking about the dull/lame island that acted as the setting in the 1976 'King Kong.' Now, it's time to move on to brighter shores. In part two, I'm going to break down the glorious Peter Jackson created island from 2005, and give some brief speculation on what we might see in the new film: 'Kong: Skull Island.' The Peter Jackson Skull Island is actually the reason for breaking this article into two parts, since there was a lot of thought put into it's design and ecosystem.

2005 - SKULL ISLAND

Say what you will about the actual 2005 'King Kong' film, but no one can deny the beauty and mystery that hides in every frame of this island. Peter Jackson and crew did an astounding job creating a literal lost world, one that had remained relatively untouched by human hands for sixty-five million years (minus the villagers, but I'll get to them in a second). This island is unlike any jungle seen in the real world, and it definitely brought back that sense of 'going into the unknown' that the 76' Kong was sorely lacking. The beautiful-but-hellish island is slowly slipping back into the sea (a plot point Jackson borrowed from 'Son of Kong') and is an extremely harsh environment for everyone and everything attempting to live on it. The island is still located somewhere off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia just like in the original 1933 film.

The creatures of the island aren't just dinosaurs that stuck around after the mass extinction, but actually feel like completely different animals from what they were before. These dinosaurs have been continuously evolving for millions of years, and have changed distinctly in order to live in Skull Islands' harsh environment. The Tyrannosaurs are now a new creature called Vastatosaurus Rex that have wider feet to climb rocky terrain and are covered from head to tail in hard scales to protect them from all of the other alpha predators on the island (the third finger is still there as a reference to the original Kong). The raptors have evolved to be thin and tall. They can now hunt down some of the larger prey on the island like Brontosaurus, and compete with much bulkier predators. Instead of trying to be completely accurate to science, Jackson decided to create an island that had changed with the times.

This time around dinosaurs aren't the only fauna that our adventurers had to overcome in order to save Ann, as the film is bursting with an ecosystem of diverse animals. We have giant leeches, humongous insects of all sorts, large hairless bats, and huge man eating eels that live in the swamp (the eel scene was cut from the theatrical release).

These other animals really flesh out the fact that this island is a massive threat to any and all fleshy little humans that dare come near it. And the humans that live here are just as harsh and cruel as the island on which they reside.

The natives are brutal and scary humans that make the other two film's villagers look like friendly next-door neighbors. The first thing they do is literally stab the audio guy through the chest and then attempt to crush Carl Denham's skull. These people are barley surviving on a tiny little strip of the island, and have seemingly cut into the rocks to create little dwellings. You really get the feeling that these people are not the rulers of this island, instead they feel like they are part of the unique food chain and are nowhere near the top.

I would highly suggest people check out the book The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island if you are interested in the thought processes that went into imagining the island of Kong 2005. It reads like someone studying the animals on the island, as well as how the inhabitants of the island have survived.

2017 - VIETNAMESE SKULL ISLAND

So, we really don't have much information on this Island as of yet, (considering we have yet to receive an actual trailer) but I have some ideas based on the behind the scenes footage and the leaked set photos. Obviously, this island looks very Pacific-Asian. The mountains and the foliage look like documentary footage I could recall from that region. It is interesting that they are going the realistic jungle route with the film, but it makes sense that this Skull Island would have to share the tone of the Legendary Godzillaverse.

I think that we will be getting monsters instead of dinosaurs/giant animals in this film. Now that we know Kong will be at least 100 feet tall, I really doubt that the film will just use generic or evolved dinosaurs as the side antagonists to go along with Kong. Again, since this film is part of the Legendary Godzillaverse, it would be great if they could bring some lesser known Toho monsters into the movie, and have Skull Island essentially be Monster Island from Toho's Godzilla series.

From what we have seen of the village it looks like they are going to be Asian-inspired as well, which fits the time period and setting of the film. Using the Vietnam War as a back drop will really help this film get a style for the island that we have never seen before. I would like to see these villagers still be cruel and unfriendly, but with the more realistic setting (especially with the Vietnam war raging in the background of the film) I think it should be a little toned down though from what we saw in Peter Jackson's Kong.

I'm sure that I will probably do an additional article once we get more footage of this new movie, but for now there really isn't enough information about the film. Keep a look out for our continued coverage of this upcoming film and I hope you've enjoyed our little retrospective of the mysterious island Kong calls home.

'Godzilla Resurgence' News Round-Up, Massive Plot Detail Emerges

These last few weeks have been peppered with tiny pieces of information about 'Godzilla Resurgence' and we thought there might be enough little bits of info to warrant a full breakdown of the new stuff. These news bites range from marketing info to huge plot details, so let's get to it!

'GODZILLA RESURGENCE' SOUNDTRACK UP FOR PRE-ORDER

The soundtrack for the new films has shown up on the Japanese Amazon and is showing the same release date as the film (July, 29th). The coolest thing about the release is the new image of a snarling Shin-Goji that looks amazing! This picture really stands out and kind of proves my point that this Godzilla design will look good from some angles, but not so much from others. My co-host Coleman pointed out that it looks like he may be a bit more regenerated in this image, but I think that may be just hopeful thinking.

'GODZILLA RESURGENCE' PLOT DETAIL AND NEW IMAGES

The biggest news of the last few weeks has been relayed by Sci-Fi Japan. This article not only revealed some great new hi-res photos of the film, but also gave an interesting (but crucial) plot detail that was not known until now. 'Godzilla Resurgence' is not connected to the original 1954 'Gojira' and will be the first appearance of Godzilla in the film's universe. This is the first time that a Japanese-made Godzilla film has tried to separate itself from the original, and makes this movie a reboot of the franchise instead of a sequel. I personally don't like that we don't have a baseline for how this Godzilla will act, but I do see how this may free Toho to make some pretty radical changes to the formula we know Godzilla to adhere to. I mean, the design itself is a decently large departure from what we have seen from Toho in the past.
 

CROSS MARKETING EVERYWHERE

The last few pieces of "news" really just show how hardcore Toho is marketing the new film in the hopes to make it a smash hit over the summer. First we have a little commercial for a cross-promotion with the company PARCO. In the ad, Shin-Goji seems to be going up against the companies giant Koala mascot. There are actually a couple of quick new shots for the film which makes the 30 second ad worth a watch.

Lastly, we have a interesting little event going on at Umihotaru which is an artificial island that is apparently a huge tourist spot.  The full breakdown was done by our friends over at the Gormaru Island facebook page, but it looks like there is going to a 1/60th scale Shin-Goji image put up and some activities like a Godzilla photo session and a talk show interview with Shinji Higuchi. I doubt we will get much more information from the event but at least we got the super silly image out of it right?

Hopefully, we'll be getting some more substantial news in the near future! Maybe a final trailer soon or an actual US distributor will rear their head? A fan can always hope and dream.

The Many Skull Islands Of Kong - Part 1

We are on the cusp of a brand new iteration of King Kong ('Kong: Skull Island') - and that of course means a brand new look for the mythical island which he comes from as well. From what we have been shown thus far, the new Skull Island looks to be something completely different from what we have ever seen before. The islands of the films are almost characters of their own and are extremely crucial to the lore of Kong universe.  I just recently watched the 1976 'King Kong' in preparation for the next episode of our podcast, and I thought it might be fun to breakdown the differences between the three islands we have already seen and speculate about the little we have glimpsed of the new Skull Island. Keep in mind, this is not really a conversation about the creature Kong specifically - but more about the world he inhabits (including his competition in the food chain).

1933 - THE ISLAND WITH SKULL MOUNTAIN

Contrary to most people's beliefs, Skull Island was not named directly in the original film. The only reference to the island being skull related comes from the distinctive skull shaped mountain that occupies the center of the island. This is, of course, a place of prehistoric creatures that somehow survived their mass extinctions and live behind a massive wall that sections off a small piece of the island where the group of shipwrecked humans/natives are surviving. The island is said to be located off of the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia and has a very mythological feel to the design. It does not seem like a place that could have formed naturally, and that really adds to the creepiness factor once the rescue for Ann Darrow begins.

As I mentioned above, all of the fauna on the island is from a time long past. The crew of the USS Venture runs into your normal assortment of dinosaurs while on the island, and this being 1933, the dinosaurs all represent that time period's paleontological theories in beautiful stop motion. The Tyrannosaurus that Kong fights still has the third finger on his hands, and of course, is in the upright pose that all dinosaurs were thought to be in at the time.

There are some strange scientific inaccuracies (even for the time period) with the Brontosaurus that chases after the crew in the swamp. It seems that this normally docile plant eater has suddenly gotten a taste for human flesh, and would like nothing more than to chomp down on our hapless adventurers. For the most part though, all of the other creatures seem to be ripped straight out of the film 'The Lost World,' and provide worthy antagonists for the majority of the film.

The islanders are basically your generic pacific tribespeople seen in many films around this time - with painted faces and feathers stuck in the hair of the chief to boot. Just like in the other films, they seem to worship Kong and are the builders of the giant wall. Most of them are actually killed during Kong's final rampage on the island, and for the most part, they are actually kind of harmless. Sure they still kidnap Ann Darrow, but I get more of a scared feeling from these islanders. People just trying to survive who truly believe that Kong is their Protector/God.

1976 - BEACH/ISLAND OF THE SKULL

So here is a bit of a spoiler for the next podcast everyone... I hate this Skull Island. The location is the most generic island I have ever seen. In fact, I could not even find a picture from the film to use, but instead got a picture of the beach in Hawaii where they filmed the landing scene. You want the best description of this place? Hawaii with only a few residents and a single giant ape. Well, I guess there is one other creature on the island...

Yes, your eyes don't deceive you if you think that is a random giant snake. The only other living creature we see on this stupid island is a giant boa constrictor that shows up at the very end of the "adventure." As far as we can tell, this isn't an island where all of the creatures are huge or anything rational like that, just a giant ape and snake living in whatever the opposite of harmony is.

The villagers are kind of just there for the plot progression in the 76' film. In fact, I really don't perceive the fear aspect that we get from the original. Sure, they built a wall to keep out Kong, but it seems like they actually have a huge section of the island that they have carved out for themselves. Also, with the lack of crazy creatures on the other side of the wall, I feel like they have no need to worship Kong and sacrifice people to him for protection. To get my full thoughts on the film check out our next episode of the podcast that should drop sometime next week.

PART 2 - COMING SOON

In my next article, I'll talk in length about Peter Jackson's depiction of the famous island, and speculate on what the new film might be going for. Let me know which island is your favorite rendition, and what you hope they might do in the reboot.

Mondo Releasing Multiple New 'King Kong' Prints, Their History With Giant Monsters

With 'Kong: Skull Island' right around the corner, it is about time for the fan art to start surfacing. Even better when that fan is an accomplished illustrator. Jonathan Burton has designed two exclusive 'King Kong' posters for Mondo Tees, and boy are they cool. Both depict Kong from the storyline of the original movie; one on Skull Island after capturing his beloved damsel in distress, and the other during the intense battle between Kong and the airplanes in New York City. Two very different art styles, both equally stunning!

Jonathan Burton talked briefly at Mondo Con about how these prints came into creation:

"The KONG project has been a huge pleasure to work on particularly as the ideas were voted on by Mondo fans at the MondoCon 2 panel. The audience was split between these two and I’m flattered to be asked asked to produce both. The challenge for me was to make them both work as individual posters and as a pair.

The ‘Jungle’ poster is a nod to the spirit of the original 1933 posters playing on the fear of the immense monster. He is KING in his own habitat. Whereas the ‘City’ version (paying tribute to the Art Deco style of the film’s opening credits) shows us Kong on the defence dwarfed by the man-made skyscrapers fleeing from the human captors.

As Carl Denham says, “He’s always been a king in his world, but we’ll teach him fear”

Linking them together we have Ann Darrow in each, Jack Driscoll and Carl Denham are in both with very similar poses. The titles are in exactly the same place and the tag-lines help express the connected themes of a strange giant beast obsessed with the beauty of Ann Darrow ending up being controlled and destroyed by man."

Some of you might not know about Mondo Tees. Heck, I didn't until Coleman sent the news of these posters my way. The artwork they distribute is top notch, and always on the leading edge of pop culture. They have your fandom covered with everything from the Avengers to the X-Men, and what is that right there in the middle? Yep, it's city-stomping kaiju. Let's take a look back into Mondo's past and see how they represent our favorite giant monsters.

Godzilla

If you were following Godzilla 2014 before its release, you saw this image at some point. This truly stunning piece comes from Phantom City Creative

Mondo also has some interesting Godzilla art with variant options. This one by Tom Whalen has amazing style to it, and the english variant is an up-sale worth every penny.

This great piece comes from Shan Jiang. The visual style of the art is both shocking and eye catching. The approach Shan took with this print makes it one of my favorites on the site. I feel like I could find something new each time I look at it.

Pacific Rim

This one comes from Kevin Tong and features Gypsy Danger's fight with Leatherback. I think the art perfectly captures the essence of Pacific Rim.

I don't know how Ash Thorp managed to create such a powerful piece not only once, but twice with the variant cover. The contrast in colors really make the subjects pop and the action almost jumps out at you.

King Kong

You didn't think the two masterpieces you saw up top were the only 'King Kong' pieces from Mondo did you? Oh no my friends, with Kong being around since the early 30's, he has had plenty of time to build up some fan art. This striking piece from Burlesque of North America really stands out.

Laurent Durieux really shows how to capture both the spirit of the time period and the emotion of the scene.

Last but certainly not least is William Stout's rendition of one of the most iconic scenes in the original movie: Kong defeating the mighty T-Rex.

These posters just scratch the surface of what Mondo has had in the past and sadly all of these prints have been archived and are no longer available, with the exception of the first two Kong posters by Jonathan Burton which are now available for purchase on Mondo's website.

Tokyo Lives Giant Monster Apparel Now Available

Big news for the site and podcast as our Merch Store is now open for business! This is a part of the site that I've been working on for the last few months since I've gotten a lot of emails from our podcast listeners asking how they can support the show and our website. This is a way that makes the most sense to me, since you actually get something cool out of it, instead of just donating money. Check out the designs below or click on the shop link at the top of the page to get yours today and help support everyone who makes Tokyo Lives the fastest growing giant monster news and entertainment website on the internet!

Here are the first three designs ready for purchase. I'd like to design new products fairly regularly, so check back or subscribe to our RSS feed for updates in the near future. 

This one of a kind t-shirt brazenly displays the Tokyo Lives: A Giant Monsters Podcast logo across the chest. Whether you're a long time fan or a first time listener, kaiju fans will go crazy when they see you walking down the street in this comfortable, fitted mark of your allegiance.

I went to Monster Island and all I got was this stupid t-shirt... Bring home this one of a kind greeting card from the famed mystical island where giant monsters roam free. Every card comes with a unique radioactive signature, guaranteed!

They did things differently back in the 30's. Where you and I might strap on our virtual reality headsets and drive around in our flying cars, people back then were just hoping to not get stomped on or kidnapped by strangely aroused giant apes. I think this t-shirt really captures that era.

I hope you all think the designs are rad and I can't wait to show you the others I have in mind. If there are any that you'd like to see in the future, send your ideas to tokyolivescast@gmail.com and we'll see what we can do. Thank you for supporting the site and the podcast, we'll have even bigger updates to Tokyo Lives coming soon, so make sure you've subscribed to our twitter and facebook to keep up to date with all the latest giant monster news.

'Pacific Rim 2' - Can The Apocalypse Be Uncanceled?

Ah, you've gotta love 2013's 'Pacific Rim.' Guillermo del Toro created a wonderful new kaiju universe to play around in as a love letter to giant monster fans everywhere, and the film was generally well received by them around the world. Now that we officially can squint and see a sequel on the horizon, I thought it might be fun to do some speculating on the plot of Steven S. DeKnight's follow-up and also dive into some additions that I would like to see in the future film. Keep in mind that some of these speculations are based on rumors floating around when the sequel was known as 'Pacific Rim: Maelstrom,' and was still going to be directed by del Toro. Also keep in mind that this article will contain SPOILERS for 'Pacific rim.' 
 

THE PLOT: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE DUST SETTLES?

In an interview with the website Collider way back in 2014, Guillermo del Toro stated that the sequel would not be a direct follow-up and would take place several years after the end of the the first film. The rift is no longer spitting out Kaiju, and every single usable Jaeger has been destroyed. How would the world rebuild after this war of attrition finished? Would the government even restart the Jaeger program completely?  These questions definitely seem like they would at the core of the opening info dump to explain what has happened in the last few years (narrated by Charlie Hunnam again).  I think it would be really cool if the governments of the world went back to their normal petty squabbles and started creating more and more deadly Jaegers to keep each other at bay. The world would not be united (or prepared for the second onslaught of Kaiju) and we could see some pretty cool Jaeger v.s. Jaeger battles in the opening section of the film leading up to the title crawl.

Having the countries not be a united front whenever the new rift(s?) start popping out Kaiju would really help all the pilots start from square one, as well as, give some interesting opportunities for character interaction and development. Yes, you did read that right, I said that I would like multiple rifts to appear in this film. I want to see a full on invasion of Kaiju from the aliens this time around. In the last film, most of the monsters shown were just scouts, and when Gypsy Danger entered the alien world you could see millions of Kaiju waiting to be sent through the Rift. Now, I'm not saying that I want to see that many, but I think you get the general idea. The world must be forced to reunite and stand together against the insurmountable horde of Kaiju that would be able to appear.
 

THE CHARACTERS: OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Obviously, I would like to see most of the surviving members of the cast from the original 'Pacific Rim' return in some form or another, but that does not mean the main characters, Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), should be the protagonists of this film. I would love to see a new set of Jaeger pilots that look up to Raleigh and Mako as legendary heroes and who would unite behind a rebuilt Gypsy Danger in the third act. Give me a new group that all have personal motivations and interesting dynamics that make me care when some of them eventually bite the dust. The biggest failing of the first film is that you barely get any time devoted to the other Jaeger teams, and thus, in the big battle with the Kaiju Otachi and Leatherback, most viewers have a hard time caring when two of the four last remaining Jaegers are destroyed in an instant.

I definitely think that the two scientists, Geiszler (Charile Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman), should be given as much screen time as possible. The interplay between these two characters were some of the best parts of the original film and it would be great to see their friendship grow. There was a rumor for 'Pacific Rim: Maelstrom' that a half Jaeger/half Kaiju was going to appear, and I believe that these two characters would be a great team to pilot the monstrosity. We know they are drift compatible, and I can already imagine the jokes passing between the two, as they attempt to fight a Kaiju.
 

THE KAIJU: ALL THE REFERENCES!

 Most of the Kaiju in the original film use design elements from popular movie monsters of the past (Knifehead looks straight out of a Gamera film). I would hope that they keep this trend going in the sequel and even create a few Kaiju that are even closer to their heritage in design and abilities. Wouldn't it be mind-blowing if we ran into two "Category 5" Kaiju that look kind of similar to Godzilla and Gamera? Speaking of the category system from the first film, I would like to see an escalation of powerful Kaiju that eventually leads to a, previously unheard of, "Category 6" Kaiju that is basically a planet destroyer. When the aliens realize that they cannot take over the planet, they simply send a "Category 6" Kaiju to destroy it (if we cannot have it, then no one can). This could be brought into the plot naturally through Geiszler and Gottlieb drifting with the Kaiju-Jaeger hybrid to help destroy it alongside the newly rebuilt Gypsy Danger. A modern 'Destroy All Monsters,' if you will.
 

THE JAEGERS: ADAPTING TO THE NEW WORLD

Continuing my original idea that the Jaegers are now being built as deterrents instead of used to fight Kaiju, I would like to see it reflected in the design elements of the new Jaegers. Bring back Gypsy Danger, but give it some new abilities like a larger sword and/or some sort of propulsion system to make it able to move faster. Also, I feel like a four-legged artillery Jaeger could lead to some pretty intense sequences where Jaegers are defending a coastline against more and more incoming enemies. I think, just like the Kaiju, you should simply look at the history of giant robots for a lot of the design elements. Del Toro pulled design elements from things like 'Mobile Suit Gundam' and 'Evangelion' for the Jaeger designs in the first film, and those two series alone have so many details they could borrow for revamped mechs. Maybe a Metal Gear Rex like design with a huge rail gun? Just my personal wishful thinking.
 

FINAL THOUGHTS: DIRECTION AND STYLE ARE KEY

Steven S. DeKnight has not really worked on anything of this scale in his career as of yet, and it would be nice to see him make a name for himself with this movie. Obviously, he has a hard road ahead of him, since he is taking over the reigns from one of the most visionary filmmakers of our time and it will be tough to match Del Toro's unique style. I think DeKnight really should try to add his own flair to the film visually, and definitely set a different tone for the film from what's already been done. I'm not saying they should get rid of the campiness (since that is basically what sets this series apart from Legendary's Godzillaverse), but maybe tone it down a bit for the sequel and try to keep everything fresh. Interesting characters also need to step into the spotlight and we need to care about them this time around. All of them.

Overall, I think a sequel in the Pacific Rim universe has plenty to pull from, since Del Toro really created a unique and interesting world with the first film. Do not shy away from what made the original a fun time, but definitely try avoiding some issues the first film had (again, weak characters and lengthy exposition dumps).

Are you excited to see the apocalypse happen again? What do you want to see in the new film? 

Another Distributor Steps Forward To Release 'Godzilla Resurgence' Outside Of Japan

A new trailer for 'Godzilla Resurgence' just dropped, but don't get too excited. As far as I can tell, there isn't any new footage shown and a lot of what we've seen already actually got cut. The trailer is actually out to promote the Chinese release of the film, and we've just got our first news of who will be handling it. Foreign distribution news. Is this what we're supposed to get excited about nowadays with the drought of information that Toho has been greedily keeping to themselves? No, I think there is a larger story to this trailer release than just the back end of a film's business model. Check out the most recent trailer below and my thoughts on why this matters to you seeing 'Godzilla Resurgence' as soon as possible.

Here's the "new" trailer:

Right there at the beginning you can see who will be distributing the film to Chinese audiences: Intercontinental Film Distributers (H.K.) Limited. They've handled some major film distribution for the country that includes: 'Transformers 4,' 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,' 'Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,' 'Terminator: Genesis,' 'The Wind Rises,' 'World War Z,' etc. Their home video distribution arm includes 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' if that helps give you an idea of how massive a company this is and what that means for 'Godzilla Resurgence.' It looks like the film is going to get a wide theatrical release in one of the most important film markets in the world.

Is it starting to make sense why I'm treating this as major news? If Toho has sought out a distributor of this size in the second largest movie market in the world, it is now ridiculous to think that they don't have major plans for an American release. They're not going with a smallish company just to push this into another Asian country and make a quick buck, they accepted the bid of a huge distributor based in an integral region. Legendary's 2014 'Godzilla' was the number one movie when it opened in China and it did great business during it's run. The only place the film did better? Domestically, here in the United States.

I can't imagine a scenario after hearing about this where a major distributor like Sony doesn't pick up the film for an western release at some point. There's no guarantee that we'll get a day and date theater opening with Japanese audiences, but I think we'll see it in theaters and definitely in homes carried by a large company we know and trust. That's a lot more than we could say even yesterday.

Sorry New World Cinemas. 

'Godzilla Resurgence' will release in China on August 25th, 2016.

Gareth Edwards No Longer Directing 'Godzilla 2,' Who Will Take His Place?

'Godzilla 2' has lost its director according to Deadline Hollywood. Gareth Edwards claims that he is departing the American franchise he helped reboot in 2014 so that he can go back to working on smaller projects. The split with Warner Bros. is supposedly on good terms and the agreement was settled before the decision to push back the film for March 22, 2019. Max Borenstein wrote the latest version of the screenplay and WB is already searching for a director to replace Edwards.

This makes sense as the director is just finishing up 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' and the idea of rushing right into pre-production on another shared-universe tentpole film probably seemed incredibly daunting.

The big question is who will they get to replace him? Edwards had an amazing visual style when it came to shooting building-sized action, but rubbed fans the wrong way with his slow creature reveals and "less is more" approach with Godzilla himself. I'd love to see someone come in and be confident enough with the monsters to let them lead the story and action beats. Legendary and WB now have the rights to Rodan, King Ghidorah, Mothra, and several other Toho classic kaiju, so we should have a proper "versus" film with the sequel.

I really want to see some discussion from our audience on who should take over the reigns. My vote? Matt Reeves. He's shown that he can handle amazing giant monster action with 2008's 'Cloverfield,' while not letting the human characters in that film fall into generic and bland background caricatures. I also truly believe his work in 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' was stunning and that he gave real life to fictional creatures with independent personalities and instincts.

Who would you have step up to the plate?

The Kaiju Film You Probably Missed: 'Big Man Japan'

'Big Man Japan' is a comedic mockumentary film about the life of Dai Saito, a Kaiju fighter in present day Japan; well, present day Japan back when this movie was released in 2009, almost a decade ago. In the movie he has agreed to be the subject of a documentary style "day in the life" TV show in hopes of improving his standing with the population of Japan.

Saito is a middle aged salary man in Tokyo with a less than ideal home life. He and his wife are separated and facing divorce. Saito only gets to see his daughter once a month and his grandfather is in declining health and living in a nursing home. The only thing he really has going for him is his job and even that is on a downward slope. What is that job you ask? Dai Saito grows to a monstrous size to fight the various kaiju that torment Tokyo.

He isn't the first Big Man either. In fact, he is a fifth generation Big Man and before him his family was treated like heroes for defending Japan. He blames the changing times and the lack of interest the new generation has in kaiju fighting for his fall from grace. However, as the movie progresses, it becomes apparent that Saito is unpopular because he's just not good at his job. He is actually hilariously bad at it.

The movie stars, and is written and directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto, a professional comedian in Japan for over thirty years. He is most famous for being a founding member of the longest running comedy variety show in Japan called "Downtown: Gaki No Tsukai." Trust me, if you find Japanese humor... well, humorous, then "Downtown" is worth a look (particularly the KiKi series and the Batsu Games.)

'Big Man Japan,' possibly the quirkiest kaiju film ever made, is definitely not for everyone. The kaiju design isn't so much uninspired, as it is increasingly odd as the movie progresses. Matsumoto seems to take a light hearted approach to the world of kaiju by going with super simplistic designs for all of his monsters. Most of them have very humanoid features, which is definitely not what most imagine with they think of giant monsters attacking Japan. 

The interactions between the characters in the film give it an eccentric, almost Wes Anderson vibe, particularly at the end. I won't give it away because I'm not a monster, but it involves some ridiculous Ultraman knockoffs. It's weird and honestly one of the funniest moments in the movie, but sadly is lack luster and feels out of place. I actually challenge you to watch the entire movie and not once ask "What the hell am I watching?!" I've watched it several times and I asked this every time.

 'Big Man Japan' is a giant monster movie I feel like every kaiju fan worth his salt should see at least once. Even just to be able to say they've experienced it. I can't promise it will resonate with everyone the way Godzilla, Gamera, or the mighty Kong does, but I can guarantee that this movie will make an impact on you. Whether that's good or bad, in the end, is up to you.