I love Godzilla. Simple as that. And for years I’ve always entertained the idea of a Godzilla movie that was both serious and dark. As much as I enjoyed the cheesy dialogue and large-scale battles in rubber suits of the originals, I thought that, especially with what CGI could do these days, a new Godzilla would be perfect. Then, to my delight, rumors of this movie began to surface on the internet. When the first trailer was released, I could feel my body melt with excitement. So yes, I will have to admit, that when I went to see the movie, I was excited for nostalgic purposes and had a small list of things that I wanted to see in this movie.
Going into the theater, I had little to no idea of what to expect. The trailers have done a fantastic job of giving off suspense without giving away any crucial information. I’ll also have to admit that some of the lackluster parts of the trailers, in my opinion, were a lot more dramatic and interesting within the movie itself. When it finished, and the house lights went up, my friends all gathered to rave about the movie. When asked what I thought of this iteration, I said, “I loved it! …Buuuut…”
Ok, so plot. Not that I want to give much of it away, since a large part of the fun of this movie is in the secrecy of it all. Basically, a father (played by Brian Cranston of Breaking Bad fame) loses his wife in some sort of calamity in a nuclear power plant in Japan. Fifteen years later, he is convinced that whatever caused the fall of the power plant is happening again. He calls on his son, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson of “Kick-Ass” fame, to help him prove that he is right. I’m going to stop there, for if I say anymore, I will end up spoiling some of the larger events of the film.
As far as acting goes, everyone does pretty well, I guess. Any time Cranston is on screen, though, I am immediately invested in what is going on. He is involved in some pretty emotional scenes, and he does wonders. Its amazing to watch him break down when losing his wife, to see the torment in his eyes. However, he isn’t really in the movie as much as the trailers may have depicted, making his role seem pointless other than to say that they have the Breaking Bad star in their monster movie. Johnson does an alright job as the lead, but his character seems emotionless though a majority of it. One can argue that he is caught up in the intensity in the moment, and I would agree with you, but that still doesn’t mean he has to deliver a slightly underwhelming performance. Still, though, he wasn’t awful, and he portrayed the character well. I could talk more of the actors, but its these two that stand out the most. The supporting cast does well with their rolls, but nothing special or surprising. Ken Watanabe plays a scientist who researches the disruptions caused by these monsters, and every time he is on screen, he always has the same, shocked expression on his face, like he just learned that his daughter died, but throughout the movie. It becomes a little too dramatic for my taste. Elizabeth Olson plays Johnson’s wife, but she isn’t really focused on except in a few scenes here and there to remind you that she is still in the story. She shines in some emotional scenes, but overall she delivers sort of a bland performance. There was one line in particular that I thought she could have delivered much better, but I’m nitpicking now.
Lets move on to the star: Godzilla himself. If there is anything you should take away from this movie, its Godzilla. He looks incredible in the film, and every time he is on screen, I am floored by how he moves and acts and handles himself. The creators captured his enormous and intimidating structure wonderfully, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Unfortunately, like Cranston, Godzilla really isn’t in the film as much either. Half the time, he is swimming through the ocean while the military follow him. You really only see him in his full glory a small handful of times in this movie. I understand that the creators don’t want to mainly focus on him as to not run down his welcome, but he seems more like a side character then the main focus. Which brings me to another point. This movie focuses a lot on the humans. Which, in itself, is fine. Its interesting to see people in the middle of this turmoil. Yet, when I go to see a Godzilla movie, I expect to see, well, Godzilla, kicking monster ass and wrecking cities. Yes, there is some of that in here, but not enough to keep one satisfied for long. There are many times where they lead up to a large fight scene between Godzilla and another monster (we will get to the other monsters in a bit), but then are suddenly hinted at and wiped away with little mention of it. Its frustrating and underwhelming. When Godzilla is finally revealed (after being teased A TON) they cut to him for a few seconds, then cut away to a completely different scene, skipping his fight completely. Its choppy, and disappointing. Other would argue that this is to show more of the human side, and I agree, but again, this is a Godzilla movie. Not Cloverfield. Maybe I’m being a little too blinded by nostalgia to appreciate it, but its just how I view it.
Now yes, Godzilla does in fact fight other monsters in this film. I don’t want to talk about them much, for their reveal is amazing. For right now, I will just say that their designs are actually really impressive. They are large and intimidating, and are able to look modern while still looking like a suitable monster to fight Godzilla. I could see some inspiration from Cloverfield (I apologize for going back to it again, its just the only other monster movie other than Pacific Rim that I can go back to) but that is not a complaint. If anything, its an improvement.
Now, I have talked on how the fights were teased and then glazed over, and while this is still true, there really is only one major fight scene at the end. This is what the entire movie has been leading up to,and when it arrives, there is a lot to expect. Does is deliver? For the most part, yes. Godzilla is seen at him prime, struggling with the monsters, but also showing he has the strength to fight them off. Some of his actions are so well executed that it really got my adrenaline pumping. This was what I wanted to see from a modern day Godzilla movie. Monster fights in brilliant CGI. Now, one could say that Pacific Rim delivered this already, and in a larger quantity, and yes, they did. But Godzilla’s atmosphere was dark and serious, lowering the volume in some parts to focus more on the monsters than relying on music to carry the scene. Yes, the soundtrack was very good, and well timed at some places, but it was the moments with near silence that was suddenly broken by Godzilla’s roar that really stood out. Now, although the climax was large and a joy to watch, it wasn’t perfect. It kept cutting back to the humans, who were developing their own plot, which was interesting, yes, but I was way more interesting in the battles than I was how the humans were doing. It ended up sort of killing the mood in some spots. Again, not that the human’s plot wasn’t interesting. But when you compare it to the one scene that the movie has been building up to since the very beginning, it becomes annoying very quickly. But when the monsters are on screen, it is truly amazing to watch as they throw themselves around the city and demolish everything in their path. Again, I really don’t want to give too much away, but if you were considering watching this movie but wasn’t sure, then watch it solely for the ending, for that is where the movie shines the brightest.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. On top of everything else, there were some consistency issues that I really had to question, but the monsters as well as the cinematography and overall atmosphere carried the movie into something memorable. If you havn’t yet, go see this movie, even if you aren’t familiar with the original Godzilla movies. Actually, you might enjoy it more. Since I grew up with Godzilla, I went into the theater with a preconceived notion of what I wanted and what I didn’t want. However, my friends, who knew little to nothing about Godzilla and just wanted to see the movie for the action, liked the movie for some of the reasons that I complained about. So, it may just be my nostalgic view of the franchise that’s keeping me from seeing the true beauty of this movie, but I still really loved this film (way more than Pacific Rim, thank you very much) and I will likely see it again.
