Yay! Giant monsters! Destruction and mayhem galore! Watch as skyscraper-tall behemoths engage in superpowers fisticuffs for the supremacy of the world!
Sorry, getting ahead of myself.
Anyway… Godzilla was rebooted in 2014 after an abysmal attempt in 1998 (we only talk about that film in hushed voices behind work counters), and i was excited! I’ve been watching Godzilla movies since I was about seven, so naturally, my curiosity was piqued.
Godzilla is less a film about the titular beast and more about humanity’s attempt to survive the battle between the monsters. Following Ford Brody, a soldier in the U.S. Military, and his father, scientist Joe Brody, we see the humans struggle against the antagonistic MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) with the aid (or hinderance?) of everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood radioactive monster!
While I’ve never been a huge fan of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an actor, he pulls out a decent performance as our skeptical hero with his supposedly crazy father (played respectfully by Bryan Cranston) showing us a grieving scientist trying to come to terms with his past. For how simple the movie is put together, the scenes are shot well, filling us with a bit of anxiety as we watch Godzilla emerge from the sea through the window of a train car, and the aerial scenes of the monsters give a great impression of just how gigantic these creatures really are. Special effects are rampant, but that’s only to be expected from a monster/disaster film, and it definitely shows how much work went into the designs.
My few points off are mainly for the fact that we don’t see as much of the monsters as most people expected. Godzilla’s screen time didn’t make up much of the film, so director Gareth Edwards took the approach he’s known for (less is more) and filled a Hollywood blockbuster with it, and while I enjoyed the way it was used, the child in me still wanted to see more of his childhood friend taking down the bad monster in spectacular glory! Some of the acting could be a bit wonky in certain scenes, but nothing that stands out as downright-detracting.
Giant monsters! Again I say! Giant monsters! It’s not the greatest anti-war, anti-nuclear monster movie, but for a Hollywood reboot, it’s very true to the spirit of what makes Godzilla fun!
