Godzilla stands at the pinnacle of the monster movie genre. It's very nature is primal and built upon the fact that people want to see destruction. We want to witness carnage and giggle manically while people and buildings are torn to shreds and men in white coats begin to descend on you. Last year we had the fantastic Pacific Rim. Godzilla 2k14 has some real competition for craziest monster movie, unless you count the undeniably disgusting Sharknado and its inbred cousins. Or the majority of Syfy shows...So yeah, Godzilla needed to earn a place in my heart. With trailers cleverly mixed to conceal the story completely, the aura of mystery and a giant roar is way to difficult to ignore. If you were wise enough to ignore the spoiler filled trailer, you are in for a surprise if you've never experienced much of Godzilla.
Upon seeing the movie, I really enjoyed it. Although, I cannot agree with comments about it being the new 'Jaws'. The story was extremely generic. I understand that it wants to retain the past style that made monster movies what they are, but I can't sit through watching a man trying to get to his family while he faces off with the threat. Featuring Bryan Cranston in the trailers over and over and killing him in off in the first half was just a weak move. Yes, not expected at all but portraying him as the sole heart of the movie with Aaron Taylor-Johnson tagging along for the ride, only to become the main for the majority almost feels like Cranston is nothing but a seat filler and used simply because he's become popular recently. Then we have the fact that Godzilla faces off with the "MOTO's" (Kaiju) but they skimp out on it at several opportunities trying to make it funny rather than exciting while trying to hold onto until they get to the big finale which lacks the Pacific Rim ferocity and opts for a repetitive sequence of movements that simply just aren't working. Don't get me wrong, the movie was fun and is entertainment that really numbs the minds to the outside world, yet I can't help thinking that money and production bodies seems to have their claws dug deep into the crotch region of Gareth Edwards (Director).
Visually the movie was astonishing. The pure scale of Kaijus' must have made the task of generating them huge. Buildings toppling with explosions everywhere and general chaos all captured well with the occasional flaw that made it looks like it was filmed in a Universal theme park. Obviously, there was a lot of effort that went into the iconic roar of Godzilla. For the rest of the sound, it was alright. Nothing that really grabbed the attention. Composed by Alexandre Desplat (Harry Potter – Deathly Hallows), the overall outcome resembled white noise generated from some headphones at the other end of the room. I can’t remember much of what was actually used and its a real shame.
Only just finding out the Elizabeth Olsen is actually in this movie as one of the mains, I have to admit that she is far superior to her relatives. Yet the actual extent of her acting cannot convince me of anything with real conviction. Now the real reason that this movie is going to succeed - Bryan Cranston. So for the few moments he is on screen, he was fairly good but with his potential, he wasn't given a chance to truly demonstrate what has made him so popular. Finally the lead - Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Kickass was a very weird, yet great movie, but the acting needed for it is very different and Johnson cannot display an army bomb disposal hardman.
I won't drag on but the movie did lack some real key moments that should have been done to really impact the overall excitement of the movie. Its a real shame that the action was repetitive and the action was subpar in relation to prior Legendary project, Pacific Rim. For the fun factor, the choice is simple. Its fun, mindless entertainment and worth 7/10 for a total score.
