The Big Picture
- Godzilla's lack of screen time in Godzilla films is a valid criticism considering his iconic status and the expectations set by other title characters.
- The limited screen time for Godzilla in past films can be attributed to technical and budgetary constraints, such as the use of rubber suits and early CGI technology.
- In the present day, with advanced CGI capabilities and the audience's desire to see more of Godzilla, there is no reason why Godzilla shouldn't be featured prominently in every project.
Who doesn't love Godzilla? Ever since the film icon ravaged Tokyo in his first movie, Godzilla has been a beloved part of the pop-culture landscape, and with the positive reception to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters AND Godzilla Minus One, his fame has arguably never been higher. But one question remains: why is there so little Godzilla in Godzilla projects? It is, by and large, the single greatest criticism of the Godzilla franchise. A simple Google search of "not enough Godzilla" returns scads of results with the same complaint. If we wanted to see people doing stuff on screen, then we'd go to a people doing stuff movie (which could be a fascinating genre of its own... ponder). The only people we want to see in a Godzilla project are the ones who get squished under the mighty beast's feet. Heck, you wouldn't even need English subtitles at that point, with "Aiiieee, Godzilla!" a pretty universally understood cry from the doomed. To wax Seinfeldian, "what's the deal with no Godzilla in a Godzilla film?" We need more.
Godzilla Minus One
PG-13Sci-FiActionAdventureDramaPost war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.
- Release Date
- December 1, 2023
- Director
- Takashi Yamazaki
- Cast
- Ryûnosuke Kamiki , Minami Hamabe , Yûki Yamada , Sakura Andō
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Writers
- Ishirô Honda , Takeo Murata , Takashi Yamazaki
Godzilla's Lack of Screen Time Is Genuine
Godzilla's lack of screen time may be a common criticism, but is it a fair one? Are we making a mountain out of a molehill or, more appropriately, a kaiju out of a lizard? Let's start with expectations. Generally speaking, if a movie character's name is in the title, then that character is in the movie for the majority of the run time. This would be your Lara Crofts, Indiana Jones, Batmans, and so on. Now imagine you're heading to the movie theater to catch Robert Pattinson in The Batman. It's reasonable to assume that Batman is in the film a lot. Remember, this isn't a Batman, this is the Batman, so not only is it a reasonable assumption, as the title alone suggests it's a slam dunk. How irritated would you be if BatPatt was only in the film for 5 minutes? Now let's look at how much time Godzilla has been on-screen per film.
1:33'Godzilla Minus One' Review: The Iconic Monster Smashes His Way to New Heights
You’ve never seen the legendary kaiju quite like this.Godzilla is the longest-running movie franchise with 37 movies in total. Only a limited number of those 37 films feature Godzilla for over 20 minutes, with Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II at the top with nearly 27 minutes of the big guy. At the other end, a significant portion of the franchise's films have Godzilla on screen for under 10 minutes, with 5 minutes 43 seconds of Godzilla in Invasion of the Astro Monster. For those jumping on the technicality that Godzilla's name isn't in the title, well, fine. Then the first title with Big G in the film's name is second from the bottom and, oddly enough, it's Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, at just under 8 minutes. That's not much, with Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II's franchise-high Godzilla screen time accounting for only 25% of the film's run time.
Why Is There So Little Godzilla in Godzilla Movies?
Now to be fair, it should be noted that there would be rational reasons for Godzilla's minimal appearances in his own films. For decades, Godzilla was played by guys in rubber suits, laying waste to miniature Tokyos in the Japanese genre known as "tokusatsu" or "special filming." Although the suits got progressively better, it's hard to sustain any sort of belief from the audience when it becomes painfully obvious there's a guy inside just trying not to trip over a mini Mt. Fuji. Thus, less screen time meant less likelihood of the practice taking away from the film. 2004's Godzilla Final Wars was the last time an actor was used in a suit to play the large lizard, which also made it the last time that excuse could be used.
From 2004 on, Godzilla has been rendered using CGI, yet the technology then had really only begun to be seamlessly added into films (the horror of CGI before then is still the stuff of nightmares). So again, having Godzilla on screen for an extended period of time would only draw attention to dodgy CGI, again taking the viewer out of the film. Costs, too, would have been enough to warrant having Godzilla in the film as little as the filmmaker could get away with and still call it a "Godzilla film" (and as we've established, that bar is already pretty low). They could have spent the money on better CGI in those early days, but Godzilla wasn't making The Lord of the Rings money to get The Lord of the Rings effects, so Godzilla filmmakers get a pass for a few years on that point. Then there's the Jaws argument, that less is more when it comes to showing your monster on screen. That actually doesn't apply to Godzilla. First, that was a happy accident for Spielberg with that film, not a conscious decision from the get-go. Secondly, you can hide a shark in a big ocean. You can't hide Godzilla, even if you use a big, big pair of those Groucho Marx glasses with the nose and mustache.
Godzilla Movies Should Feature More Godzilla
But that was then, this is now. In the days when anyone with an iPhone can add Godzilla into any movie they want for a lark, there are no good reasons for not having end-to-end Godzilla in every project. CGI has progressed to a point where not only does Godzilla look real, but now it isn't as prohibitive to have him featured for the lion's share of any given film's run time. And let's face it – the human stories that do take up the bulk of a Godzilla movie's screen time are not nearly as interesting as looking at the kaiju himself. Godzilla is the original anti-hero of film – sometimes destructive force of nature, sometimes the savior of mankind. This alone makes his story infinitely better compared to the human characters that go on and on about conspiracies, or how to stop him, or blah, blah, blah. So let Godzilla be in Godzilla projects for a Godzilla amount of time for once. He's earned it.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is streaming on AppleTV+ in the U.S.
