Godzilla

Scenario 1: If you are going to see this film because you really enjoy classic Godzilla movies and you hope the music and campy theme of those films are represented in this one, you absolutely should go see it. Godzilla here looks much more like the beloved behemoth than it did in the '98 movie, the music hearkens to the classic Japanese overtures of the old Gojira film era, and the camera work has the comically silly nature of Sam Rami's Spiderman series.

Scenario 2: If you are really excited to see a deep, human film with camera angles and writing that really tell a story that is thematically transcendent such as "District 9" and the Korean film "The Host," this is not your film. The script is filled with overtly simplistic rhetoric and one dimensional characters (intentionally,) the scenes somehow manage to have very little tension (even for me, the pilot episodes for most sitcoms seem more tense than Gozilla,) and as stated above, the camera-work is intentionally hammy. It should also be noted that to add a human element, the director overuses children to the point that it ends up feeling very obvious, as though he did it to be intentionally campy.

Scenario 3: If you are one of those people who really just want a fun popcorn flick such as Pacific Rim, with some solidly choreographed action like in the over-the-top bulletfest Battle:LA, I would say proceed with caution. The fight scenes are less intense and more majestic, like any classic monster movie, and as such the human aspect of the combat is relatively insignificant, less so than any other monster movie I've ever seen. There are no little monsters for anyone to shoot at, if that's your thing.

Scenario 4: If you are interested in this film because you love the talented work of Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, and/or Aaron Taylor- Johnson (three of my favorite actors) and are excited to see what they bring to the table, you should probably sit this one out. Bryan Cranston's role in this film garners far less screen time than advertised, Ken Watanabe spends literally every second walking through the scenes with the pained expression of someone who just walked in on their parents, and all three of the actors give off the vibe that they are very much aware of how cheesy their lines are. Everyone else's performance was similarly forgettable.

Honestly, I'm a stickler for deep, human storytelling, but I've also had a softspot for the classic, silly fun of many Godzilla movies, including my favorite, Godzilla vs. Destroyah. All told, depending on which camp you fall under, this will be an entirely different movie for you. As Godzilla movies go, I'd give it a B. As darker, more serious monster movies go, I'd give it a D+.

OK, let me start off by saying that the new Godzilla is definitely an entertaining movie and well worth the price of an admission ticket. That is – so long as you go into it with popcorn-level expectations. Now, it has to be said that the bar, since the most recent attempt by Roland Emmerich in 1998 (which was hilarious at best) wasn't set particularly high, to say it nicely. So in all honesty, with today's budget and special effects, it never had a big chance of being that bad. But I have to admit, judging from the trailer – I thought it would be better.

It starts off pretty good. There is proper story build-up and character lay-out. Where we are – what's happening... It's all there. In fact, the story revolving around the main characters is pretty dramatic from the get-go. Death in the family, trauma leading to obsession over finding the truth surrounding the circumstances. Bryan Cranston is impressive as the family father and science guy. He just knows something is up concerning some big beastie and he won't let up until he figures it out. That is – if he gets the chance. Something happens around one third into the movie that is a pivotal turning point in the story. I knew this immediately when it happened and in the end I realised that I had been correct.

From this point on, it's out with the story and in with the action. An almost mind-numbing, pummelling assault of non-stop action. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying it's a lot less interesting than it could have been.

Here's the deal: instead of just one Big Monster, they bring in three. One Godzilla, and two huge insect-like creatures that are only designated as MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Object). Seriously, they couldn't come up with a proper name? And instead of Godzilla being the big threat to mankind, the MUTO are. In fact, Godzilla turns out to be the good guy because he's the only one that can defeat these insect creeps. This story line is factor one in the reason that this movie isn't what it could have been. Factor two is the plot point that these creatures all feed on nuclear energy instead of "manburgers". Consequentially, the only real threat they pose is the massive destruction they cause in big cities (and obviously, the human lives that become casualties by default). It's because of this that there is never any real sense of threat or danger. They don't hunt us, they don't care about us. All they want is nuclear energy and a place to breed. What's worse is, these MUTO take screen time and attention away from the monster who's supposed to be the main antagonist and namesake of the movie! It might as well have been called "Big Creepy Insects" instead of "Godzilla"...

In the end, what we're left with is billions of dollars worth of collateral damage and a big-ass monster who's really kind of a nice guy. Weird.

Still, it's certainly not bad. Aaron Taylor- Johnson does his best at looking very serious and all grown up since his Kick-Ass days, although I am certain that this is definitely one of his less compelling roles. The problem is that from the 1/3 turning point that I mentioned, his character becomes very formulaic and cliché. Our hero even shares an intimate moment of eye contact with Godzilla in the end... Aww.

Ken Watanabe spends every moment of his screen time looking shocked and awed... and pretty much nothing else. Juliette Binoche is shamefully underused. I would have loved to have seen more of her. The biggest asset is definitely Bryan Cranston. He's the only one who managed to make his character 3-dimensional and a real human being. He, too, would have definitely deserved a bigger role. In fact, the film probably would have been much better for it.

Visually, everything is very awesome and impressive. The special effects (visual and sound) are top-notch. Every time Godzilla opened his mouth to let out a massive roar, I thought my eardrums were going to pop. It's bone-chilling and very cool. The design of the MUTO is a real treat, they look like giant praying mantises, totally intimidating. The films' SFX really make it worthwhile.

All in all, the story is quite weak and riddled with clichés, though I must say one thing: thank God for the complete lack of obligatory footprints. I was seriously dreading the moment these giant "claw prints in the mud" would appear on screen, but thankfully it never happened. The overall feel and setting of this film is quite dark and threatening, and adding such a cliché would have been really dumb and unnecessary.

I had really hoped that this was going to be the definitive Godzilla movie. Alas, it is not. But I still enjoyed it for what it was and I definitely recommend seeing it for the special effects alone. In any case, 'Gojira' looks awesome.

I rate it 7.5/10.

I'm no great fan of summer blockbusters and for sure am resistant to the idea of paying over the odds to sit in a crowded room and be disappointed. This usually sees me picking up with such films when they are cheaper to get on rental and just watch in my own home. With Godzilla I will admit I was tempted to join for the spectacle because in addition to this the film had the appeal of quite a starry cast list in addition to being from Gareth Edwards, the man who famously made Monsters in his bedroom and on the fly. This suggested that perhaps there would be more to it than just effects and big money shots. That said, I had heard negative things and I did approach it with low expectations because after all, it is just a Godzilla movie.

The film does try to create a human story to ground the audience and it casts wisely with Cranston, Binoche, Watanabe, Hawkins and others – all people who have a good presence in front of the camera. I was not to know that so many of the names that drew me to the project would be removed from the film pretty early on – a device that has impact for sure, but doesn't seem particularly brave since one suspects that the reason people like Cranston got onboard was that they were promised a lot for only relatively small parts. This leaves us with Taylor- Johnson and his quest to get home; a quest that never really interested me but at the same time is constantly pushed into the middle of the action no matter what or where it is. This saw my interest in the human side waning as the film progressed, leaving just the action.

On this front the film pushes things as hard as it can. The makers clearly know their action genre because this is a film that understands that soldiers running with guns and speaking in tough military dialogue while music pumps in the background, can grab an audience – so it does it, lots. Considering I didn't care two hoots for them, I was surprised by how much time I spent watching soldiers sweeping areas with guns pointed – it did start to bore after a while. The monsters and their destruction is nicely hinted at first, but eventually the film plays all its cards and we have lots of action and knocking down of buildings. Unfortunately much of it plays out in darkness – something which helps the atmosphere but limits how much can be seen. Technically it looks good and the money is all up on the screen (in the darkness) but it is probably the noise that makes the most impact and even on a lesser system the roars and thuds of the monsters are engagingly meaty.

Unfortunately this is really all that the film does, and it is quite uninvolving and unsatisfying. There is a lot of very good noise and big spectacle, but we have to experience through the human characters who we increasingly do not care about, and when the action really ramps up, it is detached from any sort of reality and I found myself appreciating the technical work rather than getting lost in what could have been dramatic and thrilling. As a blockbuster it probably has enough noise about it to be a distracting two hours if you have a good enough home entertainment value.

Oh, the trailers looked so good. I had hope, and, for the most part, my only criterion was that it be better than Pacific Rim, Hollywood's attempt at the kaiju genre last year. I liked that one, but was disappointed (with Guillermo del Toro, I expected something with a little more meat). Godzilla does not clear that hurdle. It has the same major problem that all these kinds of films do: the human element is lacking. Severely here. And what a fantastic cast to waste! Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe! Every single one of them utterly wasted. Hopefully they all got a big check. We have all these people, but instead we're saddled with charisma black hole Aaron Taylor-Johnson (of Kick-Ass fame), who isn't even adequate. Thankfully, the big monster fights deliver, for the most part. There could maybe be more monster action, but when it's there, it's a lot of fun. I also thank the filmmakers for restraining themselves and keeping the film at only two hours (it runs a tad over that if you stay through the credits).

Godzilla (2014)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The "plot" really doesn't matter, now does it? Let's just say there's an accident at a nuclear reactor, which no one pays too much attention to until MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) wakes up and heads to the West Coast of America but also on the way is Godzilla.

It's clear that Godzilla movies are always going to be made and some are going to be better than others. I think the nicest thing I can say about this version is that it's slightly better than the remakes from 1984 and 1998 version. However, there are still a lot of problems with this version including the fact that it has to be one of the most boring action films in recent years. I really can't count how many times I kept looking at my clock to see how much longer this thing was going to go on. There's a family drama thrown in to try and balance everything out but this too is incredibly boring and goes nowhere.

I guess the worst thing about this film is also the best thing. The special effects are quite frankly excellent and once you doze off to the actual story, it's easy to just admire the work. For the most part the CGI effects really look good and especially the monsters as they come across very realistic and all of it blends in well with the real stuff. The various explosions also look very realistic but with this budget you'd expect that. Now, even though the special effects are great and the highlight of the picture, they're also a major problem. I really, really hated the look of the villain MUTO because it's supposed to be a prehistoric monster but instead it comes off more like a robot. For the life of me I couldn't help but think we were watching some sort of robots do battle and this here was just extremely disappointing. Even Godzilla comes across more like a robot than a prehistoric dinosaur. A real shame that as great as these monsters looked they couldn't have been more realistic.

There's a lot of family drama thrown in but all of it is just as boring as the action. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the lead and isn't given much to do, acting wise, and after a while it just becomes laughable that he happens to be at various parts of the globe just as "important" things happen. Even the usually wonderful Elizabeth Olsen can't bring any life into the picture. Juliette Binoche has a good cameo but even Ken Watanabe is wasted in his part. The bad story is a real shame on two levels. One, it takes up way too much of the running time and it's simply boring. Two, had they not gone for this boring melodrama then perhaps we would have gotten more of the monsters.

But, then again, that might not have been a good thing since the monsters are filmed through dark skies, fog and various bits of smoke. It's hard to ever get a great look at them. GODZILLA certainly has a group of fans out there but for me it was a complete dud.