With over 25 movies in the franchise, ‘Godzilla’ is arguably the longest lasting franchise in cinema history, dwarfing even James Bond. And through the decades, thanks to the far out Japanese, we’ve seen the beast in a variety of Avatars, from a villainous destroyer, to an Earth Saver, and everything in between (including the occasional victory dance)
It’s safe to say that Gareth Edward’s ‘Godzilla’ was easily the most anticipated movie of this summer as far as I was concerned, and I could not wait for it to get here. The question is, does it deliver on what it promises?
It’s not a simple answer, I’m afraid, because this movie is a classic example of expectations skewing your experience.
If you want to remain in the dark as far as major story elements are concerned, I suggest you skip the next paragraph, there will be some SPOILERS
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While the 1954 original (‘Gojira’) and the 1998 Hollywood remake have the radioactive lizard razing our cities, a lot of the other movies in the franchise have adopted a different approach, and this film lines in with those. Godzilla appears as a restorer of balance when the Earth Surface is attacked by MUTOs(Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms). Edward’s film stays true to the franchise using these creatures as organisms that feed on radioactivity, and uses that as a rather interesting plot device to set up the film’s second half. When these creatures do attack, Godzilla comes a hunting.
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Given that the movie has one of the more evolved plots in the franchise (it is a Godzilla movie after all) the focus here is squarely on the events leading to the attack, and not much attention is really given to develop the characters. And judging by the tone of the movie, and the amount of time the monsters are actually on screen that is a bit of a problem.
I’m not sure what to make of the human characters in the film. They all come across as extremely one dimensional, and I didn’t find myself rooting for any of them. I cared more for Shia Le Bouf and Megan Fox in Transformers, and that’s saying a lot! Bryan Cranston is absolutely wasted here. He’s brilliant when he’s on screen, but is hardly given any real screen time. Aaron Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olson just seem to try to get by the situation they find themselves in.
On the other hand, what do you really expect from people who are in a situation they have no control over? While films like King Kong and Transformers put the human protagonists front and center, on some level I felt that Godzilla harked back to the political undertones of the 1954 original, with humans having no real understanding or control over the consequences of their nuclear actions, and when the day comes to face those repercussions, we are hopelessly unprepared.
But no one goes in to a summer blockbuster about giant monsters looking for metaphorical commentary, and it all comes down to the big guy and how badass he really is! Edward’s always maintained in his interviews that he wanted to incrementally build the anticipation around revealing Godzilla, and borrow from movies like ‘Jaws’ and ‘Jurassic Park’, and here’s the problem with that: It’s all good to use the ‘less is more’ approach, but those films built up the anticipation so masterfully, that you were at the edge of your seat for the first two thirds of it. To a large extent, ‘Godzilla’ is successful with building the suspense for the first hour, but for most of the second half, I found myself just waiting for the beast to appear and kick some ass. When he finally does, it’s glorious, but you can’t help but feel so much more could have been accomplished given the premise. My only real question is why would you keep him off screen for most of the second hour, AFTER getting him onscreen one hour into the movie?!
Consider, in contrast, movies like ‘Alien’ or ‘Predator’ where the titular villain only really appear for the last 15 minutes or so. The rest of the film is just build up. At no point during these films can I say that a scene was set up for the villain, but the director cut away at the last second, as a gimmick to increase the suspense element. The same cannot be said here.
There are a lot of inconsistencies in the movie. If the military has been trying to kill Godzilla since 1954, why would he surface now? And why would he want to save us? The same thing extends to the military. There really seems to be no real motivation for some of their actions here. One minute their sailing with Godzilla, the other, their opening fire on him.
At the same time, there are instance that will take your breath away, the build up and introduction of the first MUTO(I’ll admit I thought it was Mothra, which REALLY blew me away) is amazing, and the first attack in Hawaii, along with Godzilla’s first appearance are visuals to behold! The airdrop featured in the trailers has a bunch of money shots, and then some! I even let out a little scream during the final truly epic battle when he releases his secret weapon. You can’t help but root for the big guy, and occasionally even cheer him on.
As someone who’s seen some of the Japanese kaiju movies I got where they were going with this, and was glad to get on board and go for the ride. I had a blast! But for a movie with a serious tone, there were a lot of plot holes, and that does not bode well for a franchise that’s looking to shed its decades old reputation for being campy and/ or corny.
Should you watch ‘Godzilla’? Absolutely!
Will it blow your sock off? Maybe.
Is it the greatest monster movie ever? No. But it’s head and shoulders above the 1998 version.