“The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around.”
GOJIRA! THE KING OF MONSTERS! Yup he’s back, and bigger (physically larger and more popular) than ever!
The film’s plot centers around the Brody family, with Aaron Taylor Johnson playing Ford, Bryan Cranston playing Joe and Elizabeth Olsen portraying Elle, as the eponymous star of the film rises from the ocean.
Right off the bat i loved this movie. Sure it had flaws, and many of them, but this is a Godzilla movie, what do you expect? It hankered back to 70’s/80’s Steven Spielberg movies in a way as the director, Gareth Edwards, creates a vast amount of build up to the reveal of the character everyone wants to see, much like Jaws. And yes i say character. Godzilla has obvious emotions in this reinterpretation – you see his struggle, his sadness, etc. Since this is a non-spoiler review, i will steer clear of talking about Godzilla’s motivations, as it would reveal too much.
The film mainly focuses on the human characters, who are largely uninteresting, although entertaining. I enjoyed each performance in the film, even though most were pretty wooden. All apart from Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe, who gave heavy and visceral performances, adding gravitas to the cast. Cranston was criminally underused, but for good reason – the sections of the film not featuring him don’t need to, and he would have fell forced if he had been put in more. As i said, Aaron Taylor Johnston doesn’t exactly show acting chops, but he is a passable hero who fits the job. Elizabeth Olsen is better, but still nothing special. She spends the majority of the film gasping and acting alarmed, which does provide her with a more taxing role than Johnston has. Juliette Binoche and Sally Hawkins are both good, but again nothing special. I actually thought that they looked so similar that i was constantly mixing up their characters. But the real star, of course, is Godzilla, and when he is introduced after a gigantic amount of build up and visual teasing, his presence is spellbinding.
The end fight between Godzilla and the M.U.T.O’S, the other kaiju in the film, is spectacular, both visually and cinematically. The CGI here is outstanding, and the direction of the final fight cannot be faulted. There is also a moment of pure joy involving Godzilla’s mouth and the colour blue which had the audience in pure joy. I won’t say any more. See it and believe the complete awesomeness of the scene.
The script is slightly stilted, but fun. It combines fantastic, adrenaline pumping speeches with some corny B-movie dialogue, which ironically feels out of place here in this gritty re-imagining. The cinematography is beautiful, and i expected nothing less since Gareth Edwards was directing. That man’s visual flare is outstanding, as shown in his previous escapade, Monsters.
Overall, i would have to say that this is almost the perfect summer popcorn movie. It has action, drama, suspense, twists, turns, romance, the lot. It is highly enjoyable, but is let down by somewhat stale human characters. Furthermore, it contains multiple forgettable scenes in the first half.
8/10
Harvey Gardner 