Review of Godzilla (2014) by Henry P — 16 Oct 2015

Nature: A primal force man was never meant to tamper with, unlike Gareth Edwards' Godzilla. It starts out with opening credits (Fun fact: Walter White is written somewhere, but it's really fast, so there's something to look for when you're finished with the primary viewing), which is nothing special, until other text on the screen is whited-out and redacted like a SHIELD document.

After those quick shots which come into play later, we go to Japan in 1999. Sandra Brody (Juliette Binoche) and her son Ford (CJ Adams as a kid, later Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an adult for the rest of the movie) have a birthday surprise planned for her husband/his father Joe (Wal.

.. I mean Hal... I mean Bryan Cranston), until Ford discovers he got up early, and after Ford goes off to school and Sandra and Joe go to their jobs at the local nuclear power plant. What seems like a day with an odd occurrence soon turns into a madhouse, as Sandra takes a team to investigate the source of tremors that have a pattern, and does not return.

Fast-forward fifteen years, and Ford is a grown man in the Navy, and comes home to his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and their child Sam (Carson Bolde). What starts as a happy (and after Sam goes to bed, romantic) homecoming turns into a frustrating one when Ford gets a call that his father has been arrested for entering a quarantine zone, otherwise known as the community Ford, Joe, and Sandra lived in prior to the meltdown.

When Joe is released into Ford's custody, this sends the story to the whole "gov't-conspiracy-weird-stuff" story. Now the characters here are relatable, but they just aren't that developed, because they jump right into the body of the plot after 15 minutes, so don't feel bad if you don't connect with these characters.

It moves rather fast at first, but then drags on throughout, teasing us with the imagery of our actual monsters: Mutoh, and of course, the title monster: Godzilla, who is never shown for a prolonged period of time, so prepare to be frustrated by that.

It works because it is a more gritty, realistic story, but no matter how compelling the human story is, monsters need more spotlight in a monster movie. Let the suspense build, but there's a sweet spot for a reveal timing.

Jurassic Park and World hit it, but this one hits just outside the bullseye. Adding to the "suspense," Godzilla's scenes aren't lit very well, except when it works to the advantage of the story.

Alexandre Desplat does a fine, but unmemorable, job with the soundtrack, building a kind of suspense, but maybe it drags on too long. Godzilla is not very humorous, but is still watchable for the mildly compelling human story and the monster-fights we wanted in the first place.

There is like, one swear word, so bring the kids! Gareth Edwards did a fine job with the monster-fights and the compelling human story, but he disrupted the primal force of balance when he focused on the humans, and showed snippets of the monster fights we all came to see.