Godzilla – Opening night screening event

Up from the depths, 30 storeys high…. breathing fire all over the sky… Ballymore. GODZILLA

Godzilla

Thursday May 15th is the opening day of Godzilla and before the screening sells out completely we dived in and got the best 24 Odeon Premier seats in the house for a Film Club special opening night screening at the Swiss Cottage IMAX. Read on for more on the film and how you can join us.

West Hampstead Life‘s film correspondent Mark says, “Godzilla is a huge icon of Japanese cinema and hopes for this latest incarnation are sky high. With an excellent cast including Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston and with red hot Welsh director Gareth Edwards at the helm – this should be the blockbuster of the year.”

The plot synopsis is basic enough: “The world’s most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence”.

I’m sure everyone’s familiar with the general Godzilla concept, either from the 1980s cartoon series or the original Japanese films from the 1950s. Godzilla – originally devised as a metaphor for nuclear war – has fluctuated between being the outright enemy, the hero and sometimes the lesser of two evils.

It’s relatively unusual for a mainstream action film to have such an ambiguous character at its heart and it will be interesting to see whether Edwards is able to stick to his aim of capturing the essence of the original Japanese Godzilla while satisfying a contemporary blockbuster audience.

As you’ll see in the trailer, this 2014 reboot leans on the backstory, which is encouraging, and Legendary Pictures has a good track record with the Christian Bale Batman films of understanding the light and dark that makes all the best fictional characters interesting.

This will be the fourth of our #whampIMAX premiere nights after Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall and Man of Steel.

We all meet for a drink in the Odeon’s upstairs bar first and we’ll be talking to the cinema about arranging snacks etc. as well, which they’ve provided before. Then there’s plenty of time after the film to head back to the bar to dissect, criticise or heap unconditional praise on what we’ve just seen. Or talk about the weather.

To get your hands on tickets for the May 15th 7pm screening, simply mail with your name, mobile number and whether you’d like 1 or 2 tickets. The tickets are £20 each and I’ll contact you regarding payment. This is strictly first-come-first-served.