The world’s most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.
I loved the opening credits, the way they animated the text in that censored style. Additionally if you watch this movie in 3D, the little particle effects on the title screen was subtle but very cool. You might not realize it was fake for a couple of seconds, but then you’ll see that it’s coming from the screen. Bryan Cranston is awesome as usual, I just believe he was a little under utilized. As you can expect, Godzilla looks utterly fantastic and will be the embodiment of nerd/fan boy dreams come to life. CG has come such a long way and everything really does look really good. I don’t think I can remember a sketchy CG portion of the movie. The 3rd act was the highlight (as it should be). Godzilla fans will rejoice as they watch their favorite Kaiju tear it up on screen.. it’s marvelous.
I really wanted to like this movie, I truly I did. But aside from the amazing Godzilla, the movie on it’s own is pretty terrible. The human story I could care less about, and the acting is sub par. By far the most ridiculous part of the movie is Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Ichiro Serizawa. All he does through the movie is look like the token Japanese guy, if that even makes sense. If you just read that and said.. “wtf is he talking about??” well that’s exactly how it feels to watch him. He just ominously stares, or confusingly stares, or stares in fear, but says very little. Even when someone is directly speaking to him, he just stares and offers up some kind of gesture and a single word answer. It’s so annoying to watch. And don’t even get me started on Cranston.. Yes he was wonderful as I said above, but they under utilize a talent like that and it’s travesty, especially in the progression of the story.
Speaking of progression of the story. This is a painful movie to watch, the human aspects of the story really hamper it down, and honestly they could have cut out about half of it and maybe would have made the movie more entertaining. Dare I say that people could actually learn something from Michael Bay?? Yea I said it. The first Transformers movie had it’s ridiculous Bay’isms and immature scenes that you come to expect. But the thing is that movie is admittedly entertaining, and they ushered in the epic 40+ minute 3rd acts that you’ve seen which are just purely action. Not that every single movie needs to follow that formula, but Godzilla follows no formula and just drags. I know they were saving their big money shot/shots, but it was just too much.
You’d expect that kind of slow reveal for the first act, but as that same style and pace leaks into the second and even in the third act a bit.. it becomes cumbersome. If I were to accurately describe the experience.. it’s like your mom telling you to eat your vegetables, and then you can have your ice cream. However there are 6 courses of vegetables that you have to plug your nose to eat, and only a sample spoon size of ice cream for your desert. All that being said.. that ice cream is friggin delicious.
I mean this is Godzilla… The fact that they even tried to put any depth into this movie is laughable and shouldn’t have been there at all, because it came off as terrible. I’m sure with some tweaks they could have pulled it off, but that is a negative here. Just go in for the mindless damage that Godzilla is known for and enjoy.. what little you see of him that is.
THE VERDICT
If you are a Godzilla fan, then definitely go see it. In my particular screening, the crowd went bananas at every visual of the towering kaiju. You do have to pay the price of a very boring movie to see the money shots though. So if that is your cup of tea then by all means go for it. As for me, I have no desire to ever see this movie again, but I’m glad I did, otherwise my curiosity would have drove me insane.
Thanks for tuning in to this Godzilla Review and remember.. Stay Dorky!
Godzilla opens wide May 16th 2014 in North American Theaters!
40%Story - 40%
30%Acting - 30%
50%Action - 50%
60%Geek Factor - 60%
80%CGI - 80%