Godzilla
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, David Strathairn, Julliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins
Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Monsters wreck havoc across the globe and threaten everyone in their destructive path.

Review:

Tim: I've been a fan of watching Godzilla movies, even when I haven't been a fan of the movies themselves. That's a nice way of saying a lot of Godzilla movies suck. Even the bad ones are fun, as we get to sit back and watch giant monsters cause death and destruction. While going through the franchise (I've seen the first 12 movies), there is always the hope that the franchise would figure it out, fix its mistakes, and become great. While the latest reboot doesn't quite get there, it's still among the better Godzilla movies of all time.

I really liked the attempt at doing a realistic, gritty Godzilla movie. One of the ways the earlier films went wrong was making Godzilla too cartoonish, turning him into a hero, which makes no logical sense. This film managed to pull off a pretty outstanding feat- it made Godzilla a "good" character in a realistic, logical way. The idea of an Alpha predator hunting creatures that threw nature out of balance might not be completely fact-based, but it gave the film a more grounded approach, which I really appreciated. It felt more true-to-life than the vast majority of the films in this franchise. Godzilla movies really ask the audience to suspend a great deal of disbelief, so it was much appreciated that this film at least tried to tie the events of the film to nature.

The special effects were probably the best in any Godzilla film. An adequate budget really went a long way to bringing these enormous characters to life. It was great to see massive monsters battling, whether that's in Honolulu or San Francisco. The scale of the monsters is almost beyond imagination and I loved how they were presented on screen. I know some Japanese critics made fun of the American Godzilla being too fat, but I thought he looked fine on screen. The MUTOs were kind of terrifying. the creature design for this film was excellent.

As it usually the case with Godzilla movies, the human characters take a back seat to the monster action on screen. While the characters here are slightly more developed than the majority of films in this franchise, they're still not quite great. The trailers were very misleading, making it seem like Bryan Cranston had a larger role than he actually did. His presence was a welcome one, but outside of the opening scene, he has far too little to do. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the lead actor, and he does an okay job of carrying the movie. He didn't quite connect with the audience on any emotional level, but we did want him to reunite with his family. Elizabeth Olsen was wasted in a lackluster role where she had nothing of substance to do. I liked seeing Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins, but again, they were underutilized. The same could be said for the great David Strathairn. This movie assembled a very impressive cast and then didn't give them nearly enough to do.

I liked that this film delivered several memorable moments. The skydiving scene with the red smoke and the destruction around San Francisco was certainly a highlight. The scene on the railroad bridge was good as well. There's several incredible moments in the various Godzilla-MUTO battles that I'll remember for a long time.

While this movie has its flaws, director Gareth Edwards treats the film seriously, and delivers perhaps the best Godzilla movie since Gojira. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I look forward the franchise renaissance, as I'm sure we will be getting more movies soon. This movie isn't perfect, but it's a fun summer blockbuster.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Godzilla (1998), Gojira, Kick-Ass