Awesome / Godzilla (2014)

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

YOU HAVE PROVOKED THE WRATH OF A GOD!

Trailers

• The trailer for the 2014 Legendary Pictures remake showing up completely unannounced at SDCC 2012 during a panel for upcoming Warner Bros. properties, followed by a very positive audience reaction.
• The whole first teaser trailer, showing a unit of soldiers executing a HALO jump into a burning San Francisco while catching a glimpse of Godzilla amidst the smoke and ruins, to the last shot of Big G letting out his iconic roar.
  • You know you're badass if you make that jump and know what's coming.
  • On the level of Visual Effects of Awesome, the wide shot of the soldiers falling through the air, trailing red smoke, amid clouds lightning, is impressive.
• A fan made trailer includes a quote from Oppenheimer, which is used to a surprisingly good effect-it makes the trailer seem more eerie, and feels much better than the SDCC and official teaser trailers.
• The fact that the hype this movie is generating was able to get three older Godzilla movies (Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, and Godzilla vs. Gigan) rescued from their Keep Circulating the Tapes status is simultaneously awesome and heartwarming at the same time.
• The official first trailer, released Feb 25th, contains many awesome moments, including the fact that Godzilla awoke in 1954 and the Pacific Nuclear "Tests" were actually attempts to kill him. Yes, they nuked him multiple times, to no avail.
• This new Godzilla has been revealed to be officially the biggest Godzilla in his 60 year history, standing over 100 meters high and far more heavily built than any other incarnation.
  • Toho's new 2016 Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla, is confirmed to be LARGER.
• Bryan Cranston's performance as Joe Brody in the Awaken the Truth audio bit and the official trailer is nothing short of convincingly fantastic, almost on par with his performance as Walter White.
  • His performance overall. Sure, he may not have as much of screen time as the other characters but other than Godzilla himself, he manages to steal the entire film with his heart wrenching portrayal. Hell, one of the main criticisms people have are Cranston not being the main character.
• From the Asia trailer:
  Ford Brody: Can you kill it?
  Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: I believe something can...
  Ford Brody: A monster?
  Dr. Vivienne Graham: No... a god.
• Three words: "Let them fight."
• From the numerous reaction videos, the recent Asia trailer is basically 90 seconds of just pure win!

Film

• This movie shows how pointless nuking Godzilla is. He was the target of Castle Bravo, a 15 megaton Hydrogen Bomb and the second most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. What did it do to him? NOTHING, except providing him with LOTS of radiation to eat afterwards.
• Given how iconic Godzilla's Atomic Breath is, naturally it is given proper gravitas in its first use. It seems like Femuto is about to kill Ford, only for a light to shine from beside the Muto. The light trails up, as though the streetlights are coming back on, though the color's a bit off... The light travels upwards as though traveling a mountain with jagged edges. The jagged edges begin to glow — it turns out to be Godzilla, who's back on his feet. Then his mouth glows, he takes a deep breath, and breathes a blast of blue thermonuclear fire right into Femuto's face. Anti-hero or not, Light Is Good indeed.
  • One great moment is the very brief pause between the energy building up and the actual firing, when Godzilla stares at the Muto and almost seems to smirk, as if to say, "Yeah, this is about to happen." Alternatively, Godzilla finally hitting Femuto with the Atomic Breath, after the latter keeps making loud sounds, can be taken as Big G telling her to just, "Shut, UP!"
  • It qualifies as an In-Universe Crowning Moment of Awesome as well. When Godzilla first fires his Atomic Breath, the soldiers who are carrying away the nuke actually all turn around and gawk for a few moments at the sight of a giant dinosaur blasting radioactive energy out of his mouth. It's as if a fire-breathing dragon has walked out of the pages of a fantasy novel.
    Soldier #1: The hell was that!
    Soldier #2: Holy shit! Did you see that?!
  • It's a nice touch that never happened with all the Japanese suit Godzillas due to technical limitations: Godzilla visibly breathes in; you can even hear his chest expanding as he inhales, scales and muscles stretching outwards before he unloads on Femuto. Before, he just opened his mouth and did the awesome. For once, Godzilla really does breathe thermonuclear firepower.
    • There were known to be instances where people in attendance for the film seeing it for the first time broke out into cheers and applause when Godzilla opened fire, as the lack of the classic weapon was an often-cited complaint regarding the 1998 film. The fact that the scene is awesome in and of itself probably helped coax that reaction out of these audience members, but the reaction merits mention simply because how often does an audience react like that for a few seconds of footage in a movie? You have to imagine that, right before it happened, many people seeing it for the first time were all like, "Is he...? Could he?! HE IS!"
• Godzilla killing Femuto with a Mortal Kombat-ish finisher by forcefeeding his Atomic Breath straight down her throat, which kills her in seconds. But the Big G doesn't stop until his breath burns Femuto's head off. Cue the applause.
  • Best of all, once Femuto's head comes off, the orchestra gives a triumphant fanfare, and Godzilla's victory roar might as well be translated to, "HAIL TO THE KING, BABY!" Godzilla wins. FATALITY.
• The tsunami scene: The song that plays when Serizawa sees Godzilla's dorsal spines protruding from the ocean and heading straight towards him, and when the soldiers shoot at Godzilla as he walks by—it's actually an update of Godzilla's extremely goofy theme song from Godzilla Vs. Hedorah and Godzilla Vs. Megalon. Of all songs, THAT was what they chose... and it was freaking awesome. Listen to the songs and see for yourself. Go ahead, be amazed.
• The big reveal in the airport scene: Godzilla enters, wreathed in a background of flames, we have a sweeping pan up his body, he glares down at the Muto, then lets loose with the most famous roar in cinema.
  • Running with that; every moment he unleashes the full on roar is an audio spectacle that should send shivers through your spine.
  • Hell, going even further... Godzilla's presence itself is an awe-inspiring thing to behold. It's done so masterfully that, whenever he appears on screen, everyone just falls silent and watches the King of the Monsters dominate the whole moment despite the panic and intensity that ensues when the Mutos are tearing up everything in sight. The whole gist of him appearing alone speaks volumes about the Big G without him so much as lifting a finger and starting a fight, almost like an act of God appearing before the masses and leaving everyone simply in awe. The roar only further capitalizes on this spectacle.
  • When Hokmuto first attacks the Hawaiian airport, everyone inside the airport starts running and panicking. When Godzilla appears a moment later, the panic is over; everyone is standing in silent shock and awe.
    • We have to illustrate this moment better. The populace of Hawaii, tourist and native alike, are getting their first taste of monster terror. This thing— this wicked, colossal insect— has arrived, and is tearing up the place. It reaches the airport, and people are screaming in terror, realizing this thing is not only likely to kill them, it's completely devastating their chances of escape. Hokmuto bats aside a helicopter like a child's toy, smashing it to pieces and setting a plane's fuel tank on fire. The plane's burning chassis careens into another, and then another, and the scene is alive with the roar of the exploding fuel and the peoples' screams... when all of a sudden— THUMP. The crowd of the humans quiet down... then Hokmuto turns to see the new challenger, and spreads its wings to make itself look bigger. Then we pan up the arrival's physical form... "SKREEEEEOOOOOOOONK!!!!" IT'S GODZILLA. THE KING HAS ARRIVED.
    • How about this: after Godzilla roars, he seems to have a smile (thank his Glasgow Grin for that) on his face, as if he's telling the audience, "Your king has arrived..."
• In San Francisco, Godzilla vs. Hokmuto ends with a very sudden tail swipe that impales Hokmuto into a building.
  • The look Godzilla gives the flying kaiju (as if he's thinking "What a dick!") right before doing the deed ("Shut UP!" or "SILENCE!" or "Oh no, ya don't!")
    • There's really a number of ways to read Big G's expression and another way of looking at it is "I've had enough of you." Seriously, he ended that fight so fast and suddenly, and it's clear Godzilla was just fed up with the male's antics.
• The bus driver on the Golden Gate Bridge driving like hell to get Sam and the kids out of there when Godzilla appears. He manages to escape the chaos and get the kids out safely.
• Ford destroying the Muto nest before retreating after the other soldiers, and facing down Femuto's wrath. Beyond preventing more Mutos from being born, the destruction managed to catch the attention of the adult Mutos and allow Godzilla to recover. Ford pretty much saved Godzilla. And judging by their shared glance, Godzilla likely knows who to thank for that.
  • While Ford sails himself and the bomb away from the city, Mama Bear Femuto tracks him down. Cue Ford pulling his handgun on Femuto as she prepares to kill him.
• Godzilla grabbing the male MUTO by the shoulder with his teeth and swinging him away like a toy.
• You have to give credit to the Mutos, they truly were a credible threat to Godzilla. They are up there with some of the big Kaiju now in the Godzilla mythos.
  • The soldiers who opened fire on Femuto had to be fully aware that they were throwing their lives away, but that didn't deter them in the slightest. They keep firing even as they're being taken down a dozen at a time, and don't even try to run. Ultimately, their actions save the entire city from a nuclear holocaust, although none of them live to see it.
• The final battle in general. It almost feels like an update of the classic tokusatsu battles we loved growing up.
• In a way, the movie's portrayal of Godzilla's strength and level of vulnerability. Yes, he can be stalled and knocked about here and there, but most importantly, they made sure that military attacks do not work on it. Nuking it didn't work, and standard weaponry only gets it pissed. This Godzilla keeps his God status and is only truly matched by the Muto pair; and even then, when given the opportunity to take them one-on-one, he practically curbstomps them.
• The final minute of the film will make you cry Tears of Joy, with Godzilla getting up, walking to the ocean, letting out one final roar, then swimming off to live out the rest of his life. Just awesome doesn't even begin to describe it.
  • Godzilla; King of the Monsters - Savior of our City?
  • Even better is when you pay attention to the music: as Godzilla walks to the shore, the soundtrack plays a major-key reworking of the four-note leitmotif known as "Godzilla's Fury" (Duuuun, dun dun DUUUUUUUN...), changing what was originally a song of dread at the prospect of a Godzilla rampage into a triumphant celebration of the Big G's victory.
    • For comparison: Godzilla's Fury and the reworked theme. The similarity starts at around the 2.37-2.40 mark.
    • Add in that you can see and hear the people in the city CHEERING when Godzilla wakes up and makes his way out of the city, and it not only cements this as a moment of awesome in addition to solidifying his hero status, it also doubles as a Heartwarming Moment, as humanity has firmly stood up collectively and said "We know who he is. He's Godzilla. And he's on our side."
• Godzilla could have evaded the collapsing skyscraper. But he doesn't, and that may be why people in a BART station—Elle included—survive instead of being buried under rubble.
• The male Muto breaks off from Godzilla so Godzilla goes to fight the female. The two are big and rely on strength so they charge. The female even climbs a building for extra inertia and jumps at Godzilla only to be caught by the throat with one hand and easily pushed back. It gets even better when Godzilla keeps pushing the female back, she uses her strongest arms to brace against two buildings on either side of her only for Godzilla to be barely abated and she is shoved on her back at last.
• The ending of the movie. After being viewed as a monster throughout the rest of the film, the sight of the people in the stadium cheering Godzilla and the media themselves even praising him as a hero was a sight to behold. It felt like a superhero movie in a sense that, in the end, the hero of the movie finally manages to earn the respect of the civilians.
• Ken Watanabe's delivery of the following: "We call him... [dramatic turn] ...Gojira". Even more awesome considering that the original line was "Godzilla", but Watanabe convinced Edwards and the producers to let him deliver it with the Japanese name.
  I did not feel it was right, because Serizawa is Japanese, and I am Japanese. It would be weird if a Japanese person said ‘Godzilla,’ since the Japanese named him Gojira and call him ‘Gojira.’
• Maybe not as "in your face explosions and asskicking" awesome as some other examples, but the sight of Godzilla's spines pointing above the ocean, swaying as he swims, flanked by Naval escort, is pretty awesome for everyone involved. Godzilla's utterly unafraid of the very obvious company, the ships are keeping pace with and staying incredibly close to a giant dinosaur, and the general impression one gets is that of the military escorting a VIP. One could imagine some crewmembers going on deck to take selfies a few yards away from the King of the Monsters; otherwise nobody would believe they had the balls to get that close.
• The way Godzilla comes into the scene where the Femuto was nesting, just appearing out of the fog with borderling near-silence before delivering his massive roar was spine-tingling and amazing all in one go.