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nTitle: Godzilla (2014)
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nDirector: Gareth Edwards
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nCast: Aaron Taylor Johnson, Bryan Cranston, JuliettenBinoche, Ken Watanabe
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nThere’s a bit of resurgence in giant monster moviesnas of late, a renaissance if you will. It all started with Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (2013), which was a huge winner in my book, it showed that Kaiju movies could be cool andnbombastic and just plain awesome. My big worry after seeing Pacific Rim was hownGareth Edward’s Godzilla could top it. As far as I’m concerned, Pacific Rim setnthe bar pretty in the land of giant monster movies, so Godzilla would have tonbe a pretty freaking cool monster movie in order to beat Pacific Rim. So…didnit? But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Getting back to Godzilla, just whonthe hell is this Gareth Edwards guy? Well, a while back Edwards directed anstraight to dvd monster movie called Monsters (2010); a cool little alienninvasion flick that showed that Mr. Edwards knew his way around a monsternmovie, he ‘got’ them, he understood them; to top things off, Monsters showednthat Edwards could do a lot on a small budget. So, Hollywood decided to give Edwardsnhis big break to show what he’s made of, the result is the Hollywood’s secondnattempt at getting Godzilla right. Did it work? Was it a good Godzilla movie?
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nIn Godzilla a mining operation discovers a giantnegg, which just so happens to be a Kaiju egg. The creatures inside are thesenmoth like (actually more like roach like) creatures who fly around the citynsucking up anything that’s radioactive, including nuclear power plants! This ofncourse spells certain doom for many nuclear plants around the world.nFortunately, Godzilla has also awakened and has emerged from the ocean! WillnGodzilla protect or destroy the world from these giant radioactive cockroaches?
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nFirst things first, the filmmakers behind this moviengot Godzilla absolutely freaking perfect! Unlike Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla (1998),nwhich tried it’s very hardest to get away from the cheesier elements from thenJapanese Godzilla films, Gareth Edward’s Godzilla actually embraced Godzillanexactly how he is depicted in the Japanese films, but with an added element ofnreality to it. This isn’t just a guy in a suit; nope, this is a gigantic,nwalking, stomping, atomic breathing King of All Monsters! So thanks go out tonGareth Edwards for giving us the Godzilla we always wanted, a Godzilla that I’mnsure even the Japanese people can feel proud of and enjoy. On this film younwill see everything you want to see in a Godzilla film, you will see Godzillanemerge from the ocean and go back into it, you will see him brawling with otherngiant monsters and he most certainly fires his atomic breath! So feel assured,nif you’re a Godzilla fan, you will be pleased.
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nAside from the awesomeness of Godzilla itself, thenfilm has an amazing asset going for it, which I felt they could have exploitedna bit more and that is actor Bryan Cranston, a solid actor if there ever wasnany. While he is in the movie, the movie flows perfectly well; the performancesnwhere believable and intense; unfortunately when he disappears half way throughnthe film as does Juliette Binoche, things loose believability. You have twongreat actors and then you have them do a vanishing act to leave us with AaronnTaylor Johnson for the rest of the film? Not that I have anything against AaronnTaylor Johnson, but damn, Bryan Cranston could eat him for breakfast when itncomes to acting! Why this cheap ass exchange? I would have found a way to keepnBryan Cranston on for the entire film!
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nThe only real problem with this new Godzilla is thenhuman side which felt clichéd and unconvincing. A good actor can make or breakna film, and in this sense, this new Godzilla satisfied me only half way. Hadnthey found a way to keep Bryan Cranston throughout the whole film, this movienwould have gotten a perfect score from this reviewer, alas, we get clichéd charactersnand forced situations instead. For example, there’s this whole sequence innwhich Aaron Taylor Johnson has to save a little kid and you get the feelingnthat they did this simply to turn him into a hero; this sequence, whilenexciting, felt soooo forced and fake. Worse yet is that the kid disappears in anfew seconds after he is saved, without a word or a thanks. It’s like you servednyour purpose in the plot kid, now scram! What the–? Characters weren’t wellndeveloped because one, you take away the good actors and leave us with the lessnexperienced ones, and two, you have characters doing things simply to fulfill ancharacter type or a purpose in the plot. It’s like, you’re hero, you’re thenwife, you’re the soldier, you’re the scientist and you will do exactly what isnexpected of your archetype and that’s it. Ugh. My advice is next time, work onnbetter human characters and the film should be better. Not that it’s an awfulnfilm acting wise, but characters felt like archetypes, not real people. Inshould add that this is a problem that many Japanese Godzilla films suffer fromnas well, a weak human side.
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nBut aside from that, this movie rocked the house.nTrust me when I say that whenever Godzilla is on, he is most certainly ON!nGodzilla commands that screen whenever it appears! So much so that when he disappearsnyou are left wanting more; which reminds me that what this movie needed more ofnwas Godzilla! There’s this thing that Edward’s does in the film, he shows usnGodzilla, teases us with this cool beast and then bam, the camera turns away!nAnd you’re left wanting more Godzilla! Which is cool in my book, he kind ofnwets your appetite and the tortures ya by taking away what you want the most. Inguess this technique was done on purpose, to keep us wanting more, to make usnwant a sequel; which by the way has just been approved! You will see Godzillanstomp the world again! You see, this Godzilla film made close to 100 million innone weekend alone! It’s a raging success! It is poised to make even more moneynthan Pacific Rim did, but that’s to be expected because Godzilla is a brandnname, and Pacific Rim was an original product. Still, if you ask me, if I hadnto compare this new Godzilla to Pacific Rim, I say Pacific Rim is still thensuperior of the two. It’s just more bombastic, bigger, more epic. But Godzillanis a damn fine Kaiju film, not a disappointment in the least and a cinematicnexperience not to be missed; go see Godzilla roar! It’s an experience!
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nRating: 4 out of 5
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