Godzilla

When this came out, people were upset that it did not have enough creatures in it. I agreed back then but now after the sequels I realize that Gareth Edwards was trying to focus on the story and not just a CGI fest. I really enjoyed Bryan Cranston's character and wish I could have more of that too. While I left wanting more, sometimes that is better than having too much.

Finally sat down to watch this movie today. After all the hype it had had it's fair share of great moments but in the end felt something was missing. I'll agree with many that Godzilla wasn't shown as much as he should have and maybe that was what missing or maybe it wasn't. Needless to say even though Godzilla doesn't make many appearances in this movie it still is a rather good movie with a an interesting story line. The best way to go into this movie is to not buy into Hollywood's hype because if you go into it like that you will be disappointed greatly. Overall I was satisfied with Godzilla. Great story, special effects, and even the acting was pretty solid. Worth the 2 hours for sure. Sit back, grab some popcorn and beverage and enjoy!

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.

During the 1950s, creatures are awaken from the deepest depths. Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) believes that ancient creatures exist that lives in radiation. As the radiation faded from the earth's surface, these creatures retreated to the lower depths. In 1999, miners uncover a vast cavern with a giant skeleton in the Philippines. They also find one of the spores broken open. In Japan at the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant, manager Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) loses his wife in a freak incident. Fifteen years later, Joe is still investigating the incident with the city around the plant quarantined. He is arrested once again for trying to breach the quarantine. His son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has to leave behind his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) in San Francisco to go pick him up from jail in Japan. Joe convinces Ford who is now a US Navy ordnance disposal officer to join him to go to the plant. They discover that there is no radiation leak. Instead the spore from the Philippines named MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) has settled in the plant sucking up all the radiation.

This is always going to be a great monster movie. The CGI is terrific and Godzilla has a great time smashing things up. That part seems like a no-brainer. I still give director Gareth Edwards credit for doing a great job. He doesn't disappoint. The problem is once again the human story. The beginning is just too long before it gets to a monster. The Joe Brody story doesn't have the bite. In another movie, his story would be a fun mystery. The problem is that the audience knows it's a monster even if it's not Godzilla. So there is no tension from the mystery since it's not really a mystery. The other problem is that Ford just happens to be at the right place in all of those situations. It's a situation that a lesser movie would rely on. I hoped for better. The final problem I have is that the movie cuts away from the monster action time and time again. It's funny the first time but it gets annoying quickly. Despite all the problems, there is still a fun monster movie and lots of stuff get smashed.

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).