I love Godzilla but I’ve long since come to grips with the notion that I don’t love him enough to want more of him. Godzilla’s only really fun as a nostalgic piece of the past, a series of movies in which guys in rubber suits run around destroying models. If Godzilla vs. Megalon shows up on my television, I’m sure to sit down and watch. But Hollywood’s attempts to bring the Tokyo stomping lizard back always involve massive amounts of CGI and that just never seems right.
So I’m skeptical but interested in what Legendary Pictures is up to with their new take on Godzilla. My fear has been that they’ll try to turn it into Cloverfield, but at least now we can confirm that they won’t be playing the Cloverfield game of hide the monster.
Legendary has released a first look at their redesign of the iconic, city smashing lizard. Here he is, the new Godzilla:
He looks evil. Really evil. I’m not sure how I feel about that. One of the things that made classic Godzilla fun was that he could be a hero as often as a villain. Godzilla saved Tokyo as many times as Godzilla destroyed it. And even when Godzilla was shredding the city, he never looked scary exactly. This Godzilla looks good, but he also looks like something Satan spat out of hell. I’d feel better if he looked a little friendlier.
By way of reminder, here’s what classic, friendly Godzilla. He’ll stomp your city with a smile.
