Review of Godzilla (2014) by Jesse C — 12 Jul 2016

So criticisms...They could have shown a little more of the destruction scenes. Bryan Cranston dies kinda early, this is a legitimate criticism as the trailers lead people to believe he was the protagonist.

Now that that is outta the way, the pros. The story may be simple, but it's solid. And I gotta hand it to them, after six decades of camp, it was great to see Godzilla returned to his roots (A dark and serious disaster film, disguised as a monster movie). There isn't really much in the way of character development, however, the characters in the film are more or less their so we can watch people go through the disaster, and provide exposition (Godzilla and the other monsters can't talk, it's needed), and for the most part the actors do a good job with what they are given. For this type of film, Godzilla does display alot of restraint, and use of suspense. While frustrating for some, for me, it makes every second of giant monster action, all the more worthwhile (Less is more, is still a very real thing).

Speaking of which, the monsters themselves. Despite their, unoriginal design, the new monsters MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) do at-least look better then most American 'Kaiju' (Looking at you Zilla and Clover). Godzilla on the otherhand, looks better then ever, they changed the design to make him look more like an actual animal (A more reptilian hide, gills on his neck, thicker legs and feet to support his large size) but still recognizable as Godzilla. Also the motivations for the creatures, the MUTO's are simply trying to reproduce. While Godzilla, who is described as "Nature's power to restore balance" is natural enemies with them. Godzilla is typically portrayed as a "Punisher of mankind" (Though has been a hero), but this film portrayed him as a territorial animal defending his turf. Not out to attack mankind...but not out to save us either. All in all, while not AS good as I was hoping, the movies hella better then it could have been, and is a solid film. As far as Godzilla movies go, or movies in general, and definitely one of my favorites of 2014.