Review: Godzilla

The Arrogance of man is thinking nature is in it's control.........

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So the king of monsters is back in Gareth Edwards re-boot of the famous franchise. But how did this beastly blockbuster hold on the spectrum of it's predecessors?

In 1954 the worlds forces join to form Project Monarch. There aim? To destroy a monster that has surfaced in the ocean by using a hydrogen bomb. In 1999, Project Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) investigate a colossal skeleton in a collapsed Philippines mine. What's un-earthed results in the destruction of a nuclear power plant in Japan. The plants supervisor Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) wife is killed in the catastrophe, leaving his son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) without a mother.
15 years later and Ford is now an officer in the United States Marines explosive disposal ordnance, with a wife (Elizabeth Olsen) and son living in San Francisco. When Fords father is arrested in Japan, and he has to bail him out, he goes on a trip with his father to where they once lived which is now a quarantined zone. The two are then arrested and taken to a facility containing a spore that was the cause of the catastrophe 15 years ago. The spore hatches and the monster begins leaving a trail of destruction across the pacific, heading towards San Francisco. With the military in disarray there only saviour is the monster they tried to kill 60 years before, Godzilla. With his family in danger Ford must make his way back to America amongst the chaos. 

When I heard Gareth Edwards was picked to direct the new Godzilla I was excited but at the same time nervous. Here was a guy who had one feature under his belt - Monsters (2011) - which was pretty good considering it was shot for an estimated $800,000. Also Edwards actually did all the visual effects for that film himself on his own computer, and if you ever saw the effects in that movie you would agree that is highly impressive. So for those reasons I was delighted for him being picked up by Warner Bros. to bring back such an iconic icon in cinema. But they were the same reasons why I was also nervous for the project. You have a director that has only done one small feature, and is relatively unknown to the general public, taking on his first massive scale production that people all over the globe will flock to see and it's only his second feature film. Thankfully Gareth Edwards has held his own and delivered.

The story is nothing new with the theme of mankind trying to control what they do not understand with the script being nothing special. In fact the only two "human" characters that I actually had any interest in was Bryan Cranston's conspiracy obsessed Joe Brody and Ken Watanabe's philosophically cryptic scientist/Godzilla expert Ishiro Serizawa. But neither of these two get the screen time they deserve.

I'm a fan of Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kickass, Nowhere Boy) but I felt he didn't have much in the way of great dialogue to riff off, resulting in his character just becoming 'a guy who's trying to get home to his family' rather than an investable character. Also you only see Elizabeth Olsen's character for no more that 10 minutes across the film which makes you almost forget about her character in large parts of the story. I'm not saying Godzilla has a bad story but it's leaves you wanting just a bit more character development. The concept of Godzilla being an alpha predator from the dinosaur ages and the fact that Godzilla and the monsters themselves feed off of radiation, rendering mankind's greatest weapon the nuclear bomb useless, is a clever concept. And the science behind it is way more believable than the mutated iguana crap from the god-awful 1998 Godzilla.  

The film it's self is actually really well shot (the sky diving scene) and the pacing keeps you engaged throughout. But the crowning glory of this film is it's visual effects. The design of the monsters are great and Godzilla has that throw-back look of the original Japanese Godzilla but with a more threatening and scarier feel. The sheer scale of Godzilla compared to the human environment truly leaves you in awe. However what they miss the mark on is the conflict between Godzilla and the other monsters. Instead of getting two titans battling it out you get brief glimpses from a more human perspective. You do finally get to see them properly battle it out, but by that point you know the film is coming to a close and it feels like it's left a little too late. I will say one thing though, ATOMIC BREATH! That moment in the film kind of made up for the lack of Godzilla action.

Now don't get me wrong theres plenty of action in this film to keep you satisfied, it's just the ratio of that action that involves Godzilla isn't as much as it should be.

I think most people would like to compare this incarnation of Godzilla to Pacific Rim but you got to remember that the original Godzilla from 1954 was a metaphorical representation of the decimation of Hiroshima in WWII. And if you think about it you could see this new Godzilla as a representation of our modern society consuming the planets resources, our hunger for power and the repercussions that will follow. 

I do suggest you watch this film because I think you'll have fun in doing so. But by the time the credits roll will leave you feeling like you had just eaten a really good meal but the plate was only half full.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

By Matthew Trick