The Knife That Takes Its Time: A Godzilla, SHIELD, and Bats/Supes Title Review

At the climax of "The Dark Knight Rises," Talia Al Ghul preaches to Batman about the effectiveness of the slow knife. "The knife that takes its time," she says. "The knife that waits for years, then slips between the bones. That's the knife that cuts deepest." Wise words for a psychopath. For in this monologue rests a philosophy that I believe all fans of genre fiction can abide by. It's a philosophy we as audience members used to embrace, but has been sadly forgotten in this Internet Age. A philosophy that reared its magnificent head when "Godzilla" launched last week, which played out for the freshman season of "Agents of SHIELD", and which Warner Brothers is using, aptly enough, with its next superhero film.

Let me explain. I had the extreme fortune of seeing the new "Godzilla" twice last week. Here's my concentrated review. The Big G himself is fantastic, from his massive frame, earth-shattering roar, and iconic nuclear breath. The final half hour is pure, unadulterated geek joy, as Godzilla faces down with two titanic creatures in a kaiju battle that puts Pacific Rim to shame. This fight alone makes the new "Godzilla" an extremely entertaining flick, harkening back to Godzilla's glory days while wiping away the memory of that awful 1998 film.

With that said, the human story was a little lacking. The beginning was fantastic, as Brian Cranston's character chews the scenery and makes the most out of his tortured conspiracy theorist. Sadly, he dies by the end of the first act, leaving his son, Kick-Ass aka Quicksilver aka Aaron Taylor Johnston, to fill the void. Johnston's story of trying to reunite with his family is simple yet touching, but compared to Cranston, his story just doesn't measure up. Ken Watanabe's monster expert is great, but with Johnston taking up so much of the focus, he's doesn't register enough. I only comment so much on the human story because it takes up a good chunk of the run-time. And here is where I reach my point.

As great as the kaiju battles were, many people complained that Godzilla wasn't in the film enough. Too much focus on bland human characters dragged down what should have been a balls-to-the-wall creature feature. At least, that's what some reviewers say. But did no one catch how Cranston and Johnston's character names were "Brody", as a reference to the family from "Jaws"? Did no one get the intentions? Director Gareth Edwards wanted to evoke that Spielbergian sense of awe, the techniques that made "Jaws", "Jurassic Park", and "Close Encounters" so successful. Not to mention other landmark films like "Alien" and, wouldn't you know it, the original 1954 "Godzilla."

Yes, the somewhat bland human story is a legitimate concern. But it was simple and powerful enough to anchor an already massive film, and give the monster fights a sense of scale. These aren't men in rubber suits, but full on CGI monstrosities that dwarf buildings. When Godzilla first appears, he creates a tsunami just from the swell of rising out of the ocean. Not only do you need these human characters as an anchor, but they also allow for the mounting tension to reach critical by the time the monsters do show up.

Just like the examples I've listed, this film draws power not from putting the monsters front and center, but by teasing them slowly before the big reveal. In other words, using Talia's "slow knife" approach. The build-up is fantastic, as is the payoff, so at the end of the day, this new Godzilla is worthy of our adoration and attention. It's no wonder it's getting a sequel (I expect Mothra and King Ghidorah at some point).

And yet despite the film's noble intentions and brilliant film-making, there are people de-crying it for not having enough action. I'm sorry, I thought we wanted genre films with more intelligence than just mindless fighting. We do have a new "Transformers" coming out for that sort of thing. So why is it that people complained we didn't get enough Godzilla, when the film treated him with the respect he deserves?

As I mentioned before, it all has to do with the Internet Age. We live in a world where information is spoon fed to us. We know everything about a movie before it even comes out. I'll actually be getting to that in a moment, but the point is that people nowadays are too spoiled when it comes to genre fiction. They want more, and they want it now.

When "Agents of SHIELD" first came out last Fall, people immediately decried it for not tying more closely to the Avengers franchise, and seemingly not building towards anything. And I'm not gonna lie, I was among those people. I watched the show, sure, but there was a good long while before it developed any sense of purpose. But then it did, and how. The minute everything tied into "The Winter Soldier", the show got ten times better. I already reviewed the majority of the first season, but as an add-on, the last four episodes were astounding.

More insight into Coulson's love-life, confirmation of Maria Hill's work with Stark (and a Man-Thing shout out!), Ward's backstory, and a hilarious, heartfelt, and action-packed season finale eliminated any lingering doubts I had about this show's potential. I saw the potential all the way back in the pilot, but it took a while to see that come to fruition. The point is, I was rewarded for my patience.

My theories on the reason behind Coulson's return were right, the Clairvoyant/Centipede/Deathlok arc was wrapped up, and now they have a clear direction for the future. Coulson's going to rebuild SHIELD from the ground up, Skye's parents are super humans, and Coulson himself may be connected to a larger, cosmic conspiracy. Not to mention there are still super villains left over from the breakout, and guys like Graviton and Blizzard to deal with.

All in all, a great way to end a season and an awesome way to set up season 2. It seems Kree/Inhuman mythology will be addressed, and given "Guardians of the Galaxy" is coming, it wouldn't surprise me. At any rate, that ending was good enough to get me seriously ranting about this show. A show people had no faith in initially. All because of the slow knife, the knife that takes its time.

New television shows almost always start out rocky, as they need time to nail their tone and direction. It took "SHIELD" half a season, but they finally nailed what they wanted to be. And without the build-up in the uneven first half, the show wouldn't be nearly as effective. Just like "Godzilla", all the seemingly useless build up led to an epic payoff. And now we're not only getting a second season, but an "Agent Carter" miniseries bridging the fall and spring halves! Thanks to the great build-up from "Agents of SHIELD", the MCU can thrive on television now. All because fans realized they'd be rewarded for their patience.

Which brings me to my final point. As I mentioned earlier, fans today want to know everything about a film before its release. With most superhero films, studios have been happy to oblige. We knew the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises were building towards Sinister Six and Apocalypse endgames before the new films even came out.

Thanks to set photos and insider info, we know "Avengers: Age of Ultron" will have Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Vision added to the roster. Not only that, we know Tony will bankroll the team out of Avengers Tower after SHIELD's collapse, and Tony will rebuild the Iron Legion, including the Hulkbuster suit. We know so much, we feel entitled to it. And if we don't know, then we speculate, and riot, and demand more info.

Cue the recent Star Wars and Batman/Superman reveals. After months of speculation, we finally know the principal cast of Episode VII. But aside from a video of J.J. Abrams filming in Abu Dabi with an adorable (and practical!) alien, we know nothing of the story, or even the subtitle. Contrast that with the new DC film, now officially subtitled "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice." What do you think THAT implies?

Not only is Batman basically the challenger and antagonist of Superman here, but it's also building towards Justice League. That's probably why Wonder Woman and Cyborg are here. But did we really need the official title and logo to know what's already been speculated for months? It's just a title, and yet fans are trying to pick it apart for clues, desperate to know more. It doesn't help that the first official picture of Ben Affleck's Batman, complete with Batmobile, was unveiled last week as well.

Now from this photo, we clearly see a still militarized yet sleeker Batmobile, almost a cross of Nolan and Burton. For the Batsuit itself, it has a very Jim Lee meets Frank Miller vibe, by which I mean Dark Knight Returns. Well, we already knew the film was drawing from that since the Comic-Con reveal. If anything, the photo put aside people's doubts that Ben Affleck would look awesome in the suit.

But with this and the title reveal, fans want more. They demand Wonder Woman's suit. They demand seeing Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. They demand Supes and Bats back to back. Does no one realize these announcements are being spaced out? The film doesn't release for another two years. There's plenty of time for more big reveals. Star Wars has something similar, since it doesn't hit until next winter, and is being led by one of the most secretive directors of all time.

Just like Godzilla and SHIELD, hell, just like the previous Batman film, the marketing for "Bats v. Supes" is happening slowly, creating an intense build up for maximum payoff. Yes, many of these huge blockbuster films have a lot of hype built into them that may not always result in payoff for fans, but it does box-office wise for studios (unless you're the under-performing "Amazing Spider-Man 2", unfortunately). I can speculate all I want about these new developments. They are incredibly tantalizing, I have to admit. But ultimately, they are just pieces of a giant puzzle. I'd rather learn about a film gradually, through snippets of info and footage, than learn more than half the plot months in advance (which is probably what doomed Spidey 2's box office).

I understand fans are incredibly excited (or cautiously optimistic) about most of these films, since I myself am one of them. But we as fans need to learn that being patient yields greater rewards. By delaying our gratification for nerd news, we can be that much more surprised going in, and when a big piece of info is revealed months in advance, we can geek out to it appropriately, knowing it may be all we get for months. So fellow fans, in the future, please remember the importance of the slow knife. Savor the new Batsuit, the new "Guardians of the Galaxy" trailer, or Godzilla's precious moments in his latest film. They are the knife that cuts deepest, and a reward for your patience.