Godzilla (2014) is the latest film
featuring the King of Monsters (or the One-Kaiju-To-Rule-Them-All if you will)
and kicks off the Legendary Studios MonsterVerse. The film was directed by
Gareth Edwards (who went on to direct Rogue
One: A Star Wars Story) and tells the story of a paranoid scientist and his
son who end up discovering the presence of monsters on Earth. The film stars
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, and David
Strathairn.
I
must confess I was shocked how much I enjoyed this film. I had missed its
theatrical run and had heard about the mixed reception to the film before
finally seeing it. I grew up loving the old Godzilla movies (and being
perplexed by, though not hating, the first American attempt at Godzilla in 1998)
so I admit I was prone to like a story that delivered on the promise of a more
traditionally styled Kaiju film. Edwards’ Godzilla
most certainly fits that bill.
What
the film does most effectively is deliver a sense of epic-ness. Through stunning
cinematography, great design, and the construction of a brilliant climax, this
film manages to absolutely win audiences over, especially in the final act. I
think all the filmmaking tricks and shots used and designed by Edwards and
cinematographer Seamus McGarvey ground the film in such a way as to make it
believable. Yet, at the same time, the film leans unapologetically into its own
ridiculousness in a way that makes it endlessly fun to watch.
I
really cannot emphasize heavily enough the effectiveness of this films climax.
It was more than I could ever have hoped for in a modern Godzilla film and I
was absolutely blown away. It carefully built up and ratcheted up the tension until
moments of sweet release that tosses the audience into a no-nonsense conclusion.
As audiences I find we’ve become so immune to third act climaxes and cool off
periods in one particular way. Godzilla
subverts those subconscious expectations by almost entirely removing the
obligatory cool down period and driving your interest all the way until the
closing credits.
The
last positive I want to note is how the performances played off the gritty and
real world that this story is set in to make this really feel genuine and like
it could happen but at the same time knows it is patently ridiculous. This is a
really hard balance to find but I think Godzilla
perfected the art. You get Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Elizabeth
Olsen dealing with lots of human problems and feeling like people and at the
same time you get the amazingly cheesy and dramatic introduction of Godzilla by
the great Ken Watanabe. It’s truly unbelievable that they found this line and
rode it so cleverly to the films ultimate success.
Godzilla is not a perfect movie by
any means. It certainly delivered the fundamentals better than I had ever
dreamed but it really dips in quality in some of the in-between periods. Though
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the other normal human characters bring a realness to
the film they’re also not very interesting and, further, ATJ in particular did
not bring a lot to the table here. The moments between the cool setup and epic
monster fighting action definitely do drag.
Another
big thing is that this film does not show the big Kaiju on campus nearly
enough. When Godzilla is on screen he slays and it was wonderful. The problem
with this film is that we spend very little time with any of the monsters and
we spend lots of time with the M.U.T.O.s which were cool, but not Godzilla
cool. I enjoyed the central conceit that the film established with Godzilla
being natures intervening force, but I think the film could have used a second
act sequence with the King to establish Godzilla a little more and to pick up
the pacing of that portion of the film.
Overall,
Godzilla is a film with some real
problems but one I also absolutely adore. It accomplished what it needed to
accomplish and brought a realized Godzilla to the screen once again. Edwards
made a statement that these monster movies can work today and started up one of
the most exciting cinematic universes we have today. It is definitely worth a
watch!
Ryan’s
Score: 8/10
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