It’s been 10 years since we saw Godzilla. But now,the King of Monsters is back, larger than ever, and this time in the hands of Hollywood. Putting aside the 1998 movie that’s pretty much nonexistent now, did this movie bring justice to Godzilla? Find out in the review.
Let’s compare this movie with the 1998 movie. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I told you, the 1998 movie doesn’t exist anymore. Suck on that Roland Emmerich!
Okay, let’s talk about the movie. This movie is pretty much my most anticipated movie of the year, simply because Godzilla is a tokusatsu, and everytime tokusatsu has the opportunity to shine in Hollywood I get very excited. If this movie is successful then tokusatsu will start to rise in Hollywood. So, does this movie succeeded? YES. Is it good? Totally. Is it so good that it’s phenomenal? Well, not really. I’ll get on to that.
First I wanna talk about the movie being a reboot. Thank God it’s not a remake. And honestly, it doesn’t feel like a reboot at all. It actually feels like that kind of reboot where it feels more like a sequel. Yeah this movie automatically belongs to the list of Godzilla moives. It doesn’t need to prove that it’s worthy because it already is.
Also, I really appreciated with the way they handled Godzilla. We know that this time Godzilla was either a villain, hero or anti-hero. In reboot movies Godzilla is usually depicted as villain or anti-villain. But no, this is the very first time where they portray Godzilla as an anti hero in his reboot movie. Heck, I’ll even go as far to say that he is actually a hero in this movie! He doesn’t even attack the humans in this movie, even when the soldiers are shooting at him! He doesn’t really care if they exist or not. He was just there to kill the bad monster and even stopped the monster from killing a human, TWICE. Although theoretically this is because he just wanted to stop the monster from wreaking havoc, and not because he cared about the humans or anything. It feels like Godzilla is a diva and that the humans are just his audiences.
Speaking of the bad monster, this movie introduced a new monster instead of using other famous monsters such as Rodan or King Ghidorah. While I think using them would be more awesome and nostalgic, the new monsters, named MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), are really good to the point that they belong in the kaiju lineup. The best thing about the MUTOs is that since they already has tons of flying monsters, having MUTO to be a generic one would look like a ripoff. But here, they gave them the EMP-like ability. This makes them very unique since everytime they used it the humans are at a disadvantage, but what’s important is that they make the monster unique and that’s all that matters.
I’m gonna go ahead and talk about the cons first before I move on to the pros. First, for a movie starring Godzilla, he’s only been around for about 15-20 minutes or so, and when you’re watching a 2-hour movie, it does feel like he has the least screen time out of all the characters in the movie. Heck, even the MUTO has way more screen time than him! BUT, this is the first film, and first films doesn’t really show that much of the titular character. Take Batman for example, the Batman, not Bruce Wayne, doesn’t show up in about an hour to the movie. So with that, I believe if they’re given the opportunity to do a sequel, they will show more Godzilla.
Next, since Godzilla has a limited screen time, this movie focused on the humans. The human portion does seem cliche, but for a movie that’s concentrated on humans rather than the monsters or aliens or robots, they did a good job with it. I’m looking at you Michael Bay. While we pay to see Godzilla and not about humans, I actually appreciated that they focused on the humans. Like I said, this is the first movie of hopefully a new Godzilla franchise, and it shows how the humans are dealing with the fact that they’re living in a world where monsters fight each other.
Also, perhaps the biggest flaw in this movie is that the movie teased us wayyyy too much with the fight scenes. Here’s what it is basically: They build up a monster attack, and then Godzilla arrives, and then they begin to fight. Just when you thought that there would be monsters bashing each other, they cut straight ahead to the aftermath of the battle. I know that they are saving the best for the last, but they’re doing it wrong.
Let’s talk about the performances. It is one of the main criticism of the movie. Most of the actors here displayed emotion, but it’s just not strong enough. Take Aaron Taylor-Johnson for example. This guy is on demand right now, but I do find that his performance is OKAY. Although these days, even okay seems terrible. I don’t know why. But out of all the actors, the best one has got to be Bryan Cranston. He gives a very strong, and emotional performance, and in the first hour you’re thinking that he’s actually the main protagonist, only to be disappointed. Why? I don’t wanna spoil anything but needless to say, Cranston’s character never saw or heard anything about Godzilla.
Alright let’s go to the pros now. I’ll save the best for last, since that’s what they did with the movie. First is that I really appreciated that they didn’t show those cliche environmental message theme that has been used over and over in Godzilla movies to the point that it’s cheesy. They DID use it, but in a very clever, non-cheesy way. I mean remember back in Pacific Rim, a movie about robots fighting monsters and then all of a sudden came up with a message about environment? That is just cheesy.
Second, the camera work. Godzilla and MUTO are CGIs, and the CGIs looked realistic, but the best thing is that the camera angle showed them to be SO DAMN MASSIVE. Seriously, everytime they showed Godzilla, he looks massive and it really gives you goosebumps!
Speaking of Godzilla, yes, this is the biggest pros of all: Godzilla himself. I watched this movie with my friends, and half of them aren’t even familiar with Godzilla, just casual viewers. But when Godzilla arrives, they get really, REALLY excited. Seriously, the moment where we first saw Godzilla, we only saw his foot. But when they showed his face, it really is AWESOME!!! Also, Godzilla, looked even more realistic than ever here, thanks to the CGI and motion captures of incorporating bear and dog faces to make Godzilla’s expressions look realistic. And it did. And when he starts to use his atomic breath. God, it’s like having Metallica performing right in front of your house. It’s THAT AWESOME.
To summarize it up, Godzilla is a really awesome movie, just that the flaws are so big that it gets reduced to just a great movie. But this is the first in hopefully many Godzilla movies in the future, so I’ll give it a chance. Besides, this pretty much brings back Godzilla to fame, and even more famous now due to Hollywood. Should Godzilla 2 will be made, which is most likely, I think they will focus more on Godzilla. Speaking of that, who would you like to fight Godzilla in the next movie? Gigan? King Ghidorah? Or another original monster? Or even establishing a multiple movie franchise like the Avengers? Whoa, it would be cool to see a Rodan movie, or even a King Kong and Gamera reboot, and have a monster version of the Avengers featuring Godzilla, King Kong and Gamera!
Overall, Godzilla (2014) is So Great That You Have to Watch it Again and Again and Again!
SengalBoy 