Man's arrogance has lead them to believe that they are in charge of the planet. They are wrong. As nature fights back against the sins of mankind, the king of all monsters emerges. The film's title says Godzilla but he is not the main focus. The main focus of the film is on U.S. Navy officer Ford Brody, who is trying to reunite with his family while trying to stay alive. This ambitious reboot of the giant science fiction monster is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
This movie will divide audience members who come across it. Most will argue that Godzilla isn't in the film enough, and while that is a fair argument, I believe less is more. It is true that the giant lizard is not in the film as much as you would like him to be, but that takes nothing away from the presence he had while he was on-screen. Besides, how much of the screen time did the shark actually take up in Jaws? Putting the focus of the film on Godzilla alone would have just made for mindless destruction like the terrible 1998 version. Instead by placing the focus on the human characters we see Godzilla almost as a natural disaster. That film's mistake was exposing Godzilla too much, a mistake the director here didn't make. After all, no mystique big mistake. Gareth Edwards made a wise choice by keeping Godzilla's mystique. If Edwards can make you, the audience, care for the characters, you will be more engaged in the story. We see the film through the eyes of the human characters, making Godzilla feel larger than life. Striving for realism with a flare of campiness, Gareth Edwards did a good job directing the monster flick. Together with the help of screenplay writers Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham he was able to create an experience in the cinema. They took the character of Godzilla and made him into an anti-hero, a sympathetic anti-hero at that. The three crafted a film that has a genuine big movie feel to it.
Godzilla: villain or anti-hero?
Aaron Taylor- Johnson was the lead of the film. His character was abandoned by his family when he was a child and is unwilling to do the same to the one that he has as an adult. Johnson is a good actor and he is good in the film but some of the creative choices made for his character were questionable, as his character is written with unbelievable luck. Bryan Cranston, fresh off of Breaking Bad has a minor role in the film. He gives a performance that echoes a type of stubborn desperation that we haven't seen from the actor recently. Ken Wantanabe plays Dr. Ichiro Serizawa who is one of the too few nods to the Japanese original. Elizabeth Olsen plays Ford Brody's wife, Ellen Brody. She is a solid edition to the cast but like the titular character, isn't in the film much.
Bryan Cranston (left) Aaron Taylor Johnson (left)
On a technical level, the film is great. This movie has some breathtaking cinematography in it. The special effects are incredible as you see so much detail in the monster and the cities. Composer Alexandre Desplat wrote a score which breathes life into the allure of monster movies. His music builds up tension and helps scale the creature. The movie is 123 minutes long and it could have been cut down to below the two hour mark.
Godzilla is almost the anti-Pacific Rim, a 2013 summer blockbuster revolving around giant creatures attacking the Earth and humans building giant robots to fight them.While that movie had a tremendous amount of action, the human characters were all flat and forgettable. The weight of the film lies on the shoulders of the humans in this blockbuster. They used just the right amount of action here, teasing you with glimpses of battles before delivering at the end of the film. Despite this, it does ultimately leave you wanting more from it. This movie will split audiences, but over time I believe people will appreciate this version of Godzilla, even if they don't right now.
4.4/5
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