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Godzilla: A Case For Optimism

The year is 1998, cinema-goers flock to the multiplex, popcorn and fizzy pop in hand. There is an air of anticipation as they take their seats. They’ve been waiting for this moment – a moment that’s been half a century in the making. Fast forward two hours later, and the same crowd shuffles out, scowls etched across their faces. The neutrals had a pleasant enough time, sure, but the real fans – fans invested heavily in the mythos of the character – were left feeling bitter and disappointed. They’d gone in looking for Hollywood’s version of Godzilla and came out wondering when they were going to see it.

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Speaking of scars, some of the more observant viewers will notice keloid scarring traced across Godzilla’s scales, evident in the few shots we have actually seen – even this was a conscious decision it seems. The attribute could be a throwback to the original creature design, who also wore the wounds of past conflicts. This was a move on Toho’s part to pay tribute and homage to the survivors of the nuclear blasts –  innocent people left badly deformed as a result of atomic warfare. It seems the more you look into the Godzilla character, the more and more similarities you see with the awesome  power the nuclear bomb. Rest assured, this was not a coincidence on Legendary Pictures’ part.

And what better way it seemed to show off his almighty ability than to pit Godzilla in a vast array of city-leveling grudge matches against a host of foes of similar size and stature. He was the focal point of  Toho’s original ‘Big Five’ – a collection of monsters that regularly make an appearance in their productions, and together, they have terrorized Tokyo’s finest to the point that you’d expect these poor people to pack up and move somewhere else.

However, it remains to be said that, alongside creatures such as Mothra, King Ghidorah and Rodan, Godzilla has been an ever-present figure within Japanese cinema – as a hero and a villain – something which the trailers for the latest film seem to encapsulate. As a sole antagonist, he is at his most destructive and detrimental to humankind, but placing him in the heat of battle with similarly devastating creatures … he is as strong an ally as any to have.

What we already know is that Godzilla will be taking on a new foe, an adversary we’ve yet to see on the big-screen. The monster – or monsters it would seem – are referred to as ‘M.U.T.O’ (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) and take on two forms; terrestrial and airborne. From what little details we’ve been given about the creatures, they have been said to resemble two mainstays in kaiju canon, as well as borrowing somewhat from the monster designs in Alien and Starship Troopers. With a prominent triangular jaw, the M.U.T.O’s head and facial structure is similar to that of Gyaos; the recurring enemy of Gamera. On the other hand, the land-dwelling M.U.T.Os have drawn comparison to Orga, a relatively recent creation in the Godzilla Universe, first appearing in the 1999 film, Godzilla 2000: Millennium.