Godzilla

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

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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