Matt here... Last March when Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros announced they had struck a deal with Toho to produce a new
Godzilla film, former OWF writer Ray DeRousse
wrote-up an excellent piece detailing a six item wishlist of things he wanted to see in the new reboot. You can read that article in it's entiriety
here, but I'm re-posting the actual suggestive list for your pleasure today. It's worth remembering that on the day we posted this, Godzilla producer
Roy Lee emailed OWF telling us that most of the items on this list were things they were planning to use in the new film at that early stage. Now nearly a year on hopefully that is still the case now they have found a director,
Monsters helmer Gareth Edwards, who will shoot the film this year...
1. Give Godzilla A Formidable Foe
Even the Japanese Godzilla films failed to give Godzilla an adversary worthy to battle. Out of all the monsters Godzilla fought through the years, probably King Ghidorah was the best match. Unfortunately, Ghidorah is far too ridiculous for American audiences to swallow. But, what if the foe was some sort of enlarged animal, like a giant spider with young? Or, you could go the alien route and introduce a hostile alien race bent on destroying the planet. They could even have a monster of their own (much like the plot to
Godzilla Versus Monster Zero).
2. Increase The Destruction
While
Roland Emmerich definitely did a good job with the destruction in his 98 attempt, there wasnt nearly enough of it. There are two or three giant Godzilla action sequences before the film shifts to a lame Jurassic Park ripoff. This movie needs to be solely about Godzilla kicking serious ass and leaving a large, fiery wake.
3. Give Godzilla Some Personality
Throughout the Emmerich film, I kept hoping to see some flicker of intelligence or showmanship from the beast, only to see none of that. The best scene in the film is when Godzilla leaps up and snags that helicopter after tricking it; had the rest of the film contained that level of characterization, the film would have been much better off.
4. Design Godzilla To Look More Like The Japanese Version
While I had no serious problem with the design of the Emmerich Godzilla, it was still too animalistic to truly convey personality. I dont want to see a man-in-suit necessarily, nor do I want the googly eyes of some of the Japanese suits. He should be sleek, powerful, and dangerous.
5. Make The Film About Godzilla
Emmerich made a fatal error in assuming that audiences came to see a Godzilla film to watch
Matthew Broderick flirt with an ex-girlfriend.
6. Make Godzilla Invincible
He represents an unstoppable natural force, so killing him dilutes his power. If you must kill him, you definitely DO NOT kill him with missiles like Emmerich did. Godzilla died in the original film thanks to the ingenuity of one selfless man, which made the event more poignant and important. Any other time Godzilla was shown to be defeated, it was at the hands of another monster, not puny humans.