Godzilla (2014) Review

Well this summer is off to a rough start, huh?  First we had The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is fading fast at the box office due to toxic word of mouth.  Now we have Godzilla which went from being one of the summer’s most anticipated films to being one of the most polarizing.  A lot of people are simply happy it isn’t the 1998 version, which admittedly I’ve never seen, but going in having seen only one Godzilla movie (the 1954 original) I have to say this one left a lot to be desired.

The reboot of the iconic movie monster series brings the franchise into the modern era, though this film owes a lot to the series’ origin.  The original, which came out 60 years ago, was a serious reaction to the atomic bomb dropping in Japan at the end of WWII.  They even had Takashi Shimura, a mainstay of Akira Kurosawa’s films, star as the lead.  While the Cold War is over, incidents like the one in Fukushima in 2011 show that our fears about nuclear power are alive and well.  From the beginning it’s clear that was a key influence on the new one as nuclear tests and power plants help bring about the title monster, along with some as far as I know new ones to do battle in several metropolitan areas.

The script is a mess.  Though it has two people credited (one for story, one for screenplay), it has the feel of a script that went through a few doctors to polish it up.  It’s not really clear who the main character is until around a half hour in, when they finally get around to his nonsensical “save the cat” moment.  His arc at the beginning shifts dramatically when the main motivation for his character gets tossed out, after that he’s a mostly forgettable hero archetype (for a better version of what they were going for, look no further than Chris Evans’ Captain America).  Certain characters, like Ken Wantanabe’s & Sally Hawkins’ characters, just pop up here and there as if the writers forgot they were in the movie and needed to put them back in occasionally.

The only time the movie came to life was when Godzilla was on it, especially doing his signature roar.  When the camera pans up, it’s hard not to think “Oh man, here we go!”  But it never pays off satisfactorily.  Unlike the 98 version, this version’s appearance is true to the Toho version, but brought to life with some stellar effects.  Sadly, Godzilla isn’t in a whole lot of the movie (we don’t see him until about the hour point).  I knew that coming in, but I didn’t know just how little Godzilla we were getting.  As the film wore on it really felt like the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead of monster movies, which would be OK if the characters were worth investing in.  The shark isn’t in much of Jaws, but this Godzilla has no Brody, Quint or Hooper.  As much as I don’t want to be the guy who complains about not seeing a lot of action, it’s called Godzilla, and we go see Godzilla movies to see monsters fight.

Perhaps this is a result of timing: it’ll be hard to see destruction like the kind featured here and not think of 9/11, and although it is not as overt as the nuclear themes, the idea of global warming devastating civilian areas (we see several areas flooded as the monsters create massive tidal waves) is extremely potent idea the film taps into, although it never quite gets there.  Maybe, like the original film, it will be different in tone to future installments, which will be more about who Godzilla is fighting and what other monsters are there.  Whatever the case is, I just want to see more of him next time.

Grade: C-

Observations: (SPOILER ALERT)

-When you have a character who has a contentious relationship with his father and set it up to be a huge part in the story, don’t kill off the father a half hour in, especially when he’s played by Bryan Cranston.

-That Cranston has such a small role really reinforces my usual behavior of avoiding trailers.  It’s hard not to think he would playing a pivotal role in the entire film based on it and the part he’s in.  Not to mention the rather unceremonious way they dispatch him.

-Not to mention Juliette Binoche is in the movie for what couldn’t have been more than five minutes.

-I kinda wish Godzilla had been a villain in this one as he was in the original: that would’ve been truer to the mission statement the film set out with.  But then again, it’d put the kibosh on sequels.  Although the way he killed the MUTO by opening his jaw and breathing that electric fire or whatever was the kind of awesome moment this film needed more of.

-The film in general looked very good.  In particular the scene where the soldiers parachute in to the city with the streams of red smoke lead to the best imagery.  The score in this scene was also very effective.

-So does Aaron Johnson’s character Ford just get in with the troops because they take him at his word?  I’m sure they could do some background check off camera, but this still felt very weird.

-I see Godzilla has followed Pacific Rim’s example of shooting many of the creature fights at night and/or in the rain.  Godzilla’s effects were better and there were a few more scenes during the day, but c’mon, I want to see some more action like in Pacific Rim.

-Random detail that bothered me: BS on there being a news report on in a casino.  Casinos are designed so you have no idea what time of day it is, much less what’s going on in the outside world.

-I couldn’t quite see it, but there was a Mothra Easter egg when they’re in the abandoned city (it’s a sticker on a fish tank).

-This issue I had with Ford’s “save the cat” moment was while he was concerned about helping the kid, he didn’t seem as concerned about the other people in the train car who plunged to their deaths as he did about this kid, not to mention there really wasn’t any satisfying payoff to this bit.

-Better luck next summer Aaron Johnson and Elizabeth Olson.