Godzilla: A Classic Blockbuster That Makes Us Wait (And Why That is a Good Thing)

This post contains minor spoilers for Godzilla and MAJOR spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

Gone are the days when we barely knew anything about a movie before we sat down in the theater to see it. This isn't really too new of a thing, but ever since the rise of the super-hero blockbuster in the early 2000's, movie trailers have been showing more and more until we have practically seen most of the film before it comes out. Take for example the marketing for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2", in the first trailer for the film, we got a first look at more of Spider-Man swinging around, some interaction between Peter and Gwen, and a little look at Jamie Fox's Electro, and that was fine! Nothing in the first trailer was too much, instead it was fairly standard footage that you would expect to see in a Spider-Man trailer. It was everything that followed the first trailer that was too much. After about three more trailers and over ten clips, the marketing had shown us too many of the funniest one-liners, most of the best actions scenes, and extended peeks at the two other villains including Green Goblin, which practically took away any suspense there would have been about him turning to the dark side if it hadn't been spoiled in the trailers. By comparison, remember "Spider-Man 3", when we didn't even see what Venom looked like until we actually saw the movie (as bad as it was...)? And heck, we practically saw Gwen's death in the trailers! 

It has become quite rare to see an action scene in a movie that we haven't at least seen a part of in the trailers. We can't actually be surprised by something we haven't seen yet, and that applies to about 95% of modern blockbusters. A film that is part of that rarer 5%...Gareth Edwards' "Godzilla," a film that not only gave very little away in the marketing, but even makes you wait awhile in the actual film to see the action and destruction you have come to see. 

See this is another problem with the majority of action films today, they immediately throw action at us without any explanation, and without any time to develop a story or develop characters. The newest Godzilla film is the exact opposite of this. In fact, you have to wait till almost halfway through the film to even see the monster himself! And while a lot of people are complaining about this, I loved that we had to wait so long to see him. In the first hour of the film, the director is making a point. He is saying that, "Yes, this movie is about a giant monster that causes destruction, but its also about the people that witness this destruction as well!" Almost any other director would have just thrown in Godzilla wreaking havoc from the first five minutes, and continued the carnage for the whole two hours. Edwards instead chooses to develop his human characters and tell a larger and story. One of my favorite scenes didn't even have Godzilla, just a very compelling and emotional scene with terrific acting by Walter White. 

But he is also teasing the appearance of Godzilla. He throws in little sounds and movements in the water. And this creates such terrific suspense and anticipation, that when we finally see him, and he lets out his terrifying roar, it is such a satisfyingly epic moment! My theater even erupted in applause cause it is such a classic moment! 

(Spoilers) And the same goes for the action sequences. I has NO IDEA that there were even other monsters in this film, and that Godzilla is supposed to be the " hero" that fights them! And that is a testament to how well the marketing kept the best parts of the film under-wraps. How often do you never even get to see the villains of a movie in the trailers? Pretty much never...but you don't see them in the "Godzilla" trailers. Instead people like me went in thinking that Godzilla was the "bad guy," only to find out that I would be rooting for him to save the human race in a death-match that was not teased at all in the trailers, making it all the more exciting.

Many people are not going to be happy with "Godzilla" because for an action/destruction film, only forty minutes tops of the two hour film contain action and destruction. And many will also not like how we have to wait so long to see him in the first place. But I applaud this movie for doing what so many modern blockbusters are so afraid to do--make people wait for what they want, keep us in the dark to the climactic battles and action set pieces that make these films so exciting. I was so excited watching "Godzilla" because I really had no idea what was going to happen and when. In "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," I knew that Harry was going to turn into the Green Goblin, I knew when and where Spider-Man was going to fight all the villains, I knew Gwen was going to leave Peter for Oxford University, and I knew that she was going to die. There were no surprises about "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" which is probably why I was a little disappointed by it. I love movie trailers and abundant action scenes as much as the next Hollywood junkie. But we should want more films to be like patience-demanding "Godzilla," so that the concepts of suspense and anticipation can be thrown back into the modern summer blockbuster.