Godzilla (2014)

 

As promised, here is my review of this year's Godzilla movie. I was really looking forward to this movie, it was easily my most hyped movie of the year. The marketing was great, really selling that this was finally the perfect American Godzilla movie, the one that the 1998 movie wasn't. That movie is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. I know it's terrible, I know that as a Godzilla fan I should hate it, but the movie is fun in a stupid way, even though the movie did virtually nothing right. Luckily, this movie was a big improvement.

Let me say that Godzilla is easily the best part of this movie, which is more than I can say for the 1998 movie. Everytime he showed up in that movie, a part of you cringes, simply because it's such a poor representation of the character. Here, it's different. This IS Godzilla, executed perfectly. He steals the show everytime he's onscreen, and it was so great to see the radioactive breath. When his back fins start to glow blue, it's a great moment, you know what's coming. I loved this Godzilla, full credit to director Gareth Edwards for getting him right. I disagree with the people who say Godzilla didn't get enough screen time. Sure he doesn't show up until later in the movie, but that's the way it should be. I'm glad they went for a slow build, just like the old Japanese Godzilla movies did. The best Godzilla movies were the ones that focused on the human characters, while the weaker ones focus on Godzilla as the protagonist. It's better to wait to see him. Besides, the wait to see him isn't astronomically long like in Peter Jackson's King Kong (Which I liked, for the record), he does show up in due time. And man, was his first appearance great. The buildup is fantastic, starting from the long shot of the beach. You know what's coming. Then they keep building up until the soldiers fire those rockets, revealing his neck. Then he turns and roars, the classic Godzilla roar. It was such a thrill to see. I guess it's true that the MUTOs were more of the centre of the movie than Godzilla was, and that's a problem. Even so, I thought Godzilla got a nice amount of time in the movie.

I also loved Bryan Cranston, though that's a given. He's probably the best actor alive, and he didn't disappoint. It would have been easy to imagine him phoning this in, being a Godzilla movie and all. But that misses the point: Cranston isn't capable of phoning in a performance, he's simply too incredible an actor. I loved his character arc, I loved his quest. That whole opening was actually pretty great and emotional. Much of that comes from Cranston (And the fact I was so hyped to be watching a new Godzilla movie didn't hurt), but also the writing. It's all very emotional, more than you would expect from a monster movie. 

Now for the problems. Yes, there is way too much of the MUTOs. I didn't mind them as monsters, but we say way too much of them. The whole point of the movie is to destroy them, and Godzilla just kind of acts as a wild card in his own movie. Also, the image of the MUTOs eating nuclear missiles was.... odd. Really, that's what they want? To eat missiles? Cranston was easily the best character. He was the only one with a real character arc, the only one who actually has a goal he's building towards. I also hated how soon he leaves the movie. Part of that is the advertising's fault. It basically promised Cranston vs Godzilla, and that couldn't be farther from the true. The fights with Godzilla and MUTOs were fun, but hard to see. Why must all American giant monster movies be shot at night and/or in the rain? I want to see Godzilla fight a monster on a bright and sunny day, not when the fights are hard to see. Godzilla 1998, Pacific Rim and this movie are all guilty of this. Also, the fights are too brief. Here's an example. We see Godzilla show up to fight the MUTO, and he charges at the other monster. We then cut to people watching a TV showing the fight for maybe two seconds before going back to our main human characters. Seriously! I don't want to see Aaron Taylor-Johnson and friends, I want to see the fight! I know I just said it's better to focus on the human characters, but not in a situation like that. I expect Edwards to know what the audience would want to see in that situation. That's another problem, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He's not a bad actor, but he sucked in this movie. He was about as emotive as a block of wood, and he spent what little effort he gave unsuccessfully trying to hide his British accent. He absolutely sucked, which is a shame. Elizabeth Olsen was.... wait, Elizabeth Olsen was in this movie? Huh. I had no issues with Ken Watanabe, he was fine as the exposition guy. I always liked him and it was great to see him here.

I know it sounds like I'm trashing this movie and yeah, it has plenty of problems. But I had a good feeling leaving the theatre, I did enjoy it. There was plenty of good here. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but at least it was a Godzilla movie. If nothing else, I'm glad they finally got him right. I'm glad they're making a sequel. I can't wait to see this version of Godzilla again, and hopefully they'll iron out all of the bugs in the next one.