Sean Dibble
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD
The king of monsters is back, but is he stronger than ever?
With the debacle that was Godzilla's 1998 attempt at a modern movie we can only
hope this one is strong to save our beloved monster. With that being said let's
get into the review, and I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum but there
will be a few so SPOILER ALERT.
The movie opens to Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) and his wife
heading to work at the Janjira nuclear power plant, debating to shut down the power
due to some unexplainable readings. With the plants reluctant to close down
with Joe's recommendation the plant suffers destruction and Joe's wife dies in
the process causing him to go nuts with figuring out what those readings mean.
Cutting to 15 years later Joes’ son Lt. Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is on
his way home from what we can assume is a tour of duty. He receives a call
informing him that his father has been arrested. Returning to Japan to retrieve
his dad from jail he is told by his father that the readings that destroyed the
plant are back. What ensues is pure madness with a gigantic monster that emits
EMP waves emerges from the destroyed plant and is set to eat radiation. This
monster is not alone as it has a partner and the two wreak havoc over the
western hemisphere concluding a fight with the creature known by Monarch as
Godzilla.
The story is strong for the most part with Godzilla and the
other two monsters feeding off of the earth’s natural radiation and manmade
radiation sources. The tension building scenes are well thought out and you
wonder what will happen to the monsters will they fight or is Godzilla going
after them to join the destruction. But the strongest point in the film is the
build up early on you assume that the tremors they are reading are Godzilla
himself, but you would be oh so wrong and I enjoyed that aspect. What I didn’t
like is the fact that you need to wait almost half the movie just to get a glimpse
of the titular character. Another issue I had with the plot is the sheer
stupidity of the US military force. I understand that you don’t know that this
monster emits EMP waves, but with that said after the first wave you should
stop sending in planes or coming up with terrible diversion tactics. And
another sad thing about the military is they think that their bullets will do
anything against these monsters that are BIGGER THAN BUILDINGS...yeah news
flash your bullets these guys are not even feeling, it’s just a mere flea bite
to them. One thing I did enjoy is that Godzilla is the hero not the enemy like
is 1998 counterpart is. He also looks a hell of a lot meaner than his older
versions he looks the part of a monster that could do some serious damage
.
The cast of this film was a tad weak with the only person I
knew was Bryan Cranston, and he doesn't even make it to the end of the film.
With that said it was very Cranston heavy in the beginning, but with a bunch of
actors I have no idea who or what they have been in they did a good job. They
won't blow you out of the water with their skills but they make a valiant
effort and pull off what they are trying to do.
With all that said Godzilla didn't amaze me, maybe I went in
with high expectations that this film just couldn't live up to. It did however
take that poor taste that was Godzilla (1998) out of my mouth and gave me hope
that the King of the Monsters will be back in full force. A possible sequel
could be made with the many monsters that he still could face and maybe even
MechaGodzilla makes an appearance in a future film? I have high hopes that this
film could revitalize Godzilla and
maybe create a new generation of Godzilla fans.
Good:
- Sensible plot
- The look of the monsters
- Decent cast
Bad:
- US military's sheer stupidity
- The wait to see Godzilla is a bit long
- Barely any action, and when there was action, it cut away most of the time
Scully Rating: 6.5 out of 10
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