richy_palmer

When this movie started I was starting to see why it was getting rave reviews. We had a story set at an interesting time in Japan and plenty of Godzilla roaming around creating havoc.

But then the actors started to speak. They are horrible and it was a huge distraction throughout the film. Unfortunately overreactive cartoon acting is the norm over here in Japan and it flooded out onto this movie too.

A movie that if treated more seriously could've been great.

(This may not be as much of a problem for people who watch in overdub and/or don't live Japan.) The other thing that crippled the movie is that it started off interesting showing a side of Japan we don't see so often in cinema yet ended up a typical, predictable story without much surprise.

Great to see Godzilla up and running and doing his thing in some fantastic scenes, unfortunately he was let down by his supporting cast.

Having read the book and seen the original series I was interested to see a newly updated Shogun series. The ratings were high and it was being compared to Game of Thrones so I became excited. However my hopes were dashed pretty early as soon as Blackthorne appeared and opened his mouth. Some problems were: -Setting. The series is filmed in Vancouver and doesn't look like Japan (I live here). Other parts use too much CG. And it's way too dark and misty. Again, this should be Japan, not Canada.

-Plot. The series was compared to GoT but all the good things from GoT are missing. Very little action, suspense and nudity. A plot that doesn't keep the viewers interested and deviates from the book. It was actually pretty boring with little payoff in the end.

-Acting. Wow, Blackthorne. Who is this whining guy who can't speak properly? Definitely not the captain and important figure in the book. He ruined most scenes when he opened his mouth.

Also some of the acting by the young Japanese men was terrible (unfortunately how they're taught to act over here). They were a big distraction.

It wasn't all bad as some actors such as Sanada put in a good shift and showed their class. It was also interesting seeing it from the point of view of the Japanese and some of the set designs and costumes were very nice.

It is watchable and maybe good for something different but in the end it was ultimately a let down and just spent too much time on things that ultimately made the pacing too slow and uninteresting.