Godzilla (2014) Reviews

• Great build-up, but...

  gogoschka-12014-05-15

  Remember 'Jaws'? Remember the way you only got to see little glimpses of the shark or just the remains of his victims for nearly half the movie? Instead, you got to meet half the town first and all the main characters while fear and paranoia slowly spread across the whole community, and when the great white guy finally did make his entrance - boy, what an impact he had. Now, that was 40 years ago - but would it be possible to make that kind of movie today? To show restraint despite a budget of 160+ million dollars and all the latest state of the art CGI-effects the blockbuster factory has to offer? As it turns out, it's not quite possible; at least not as far as this latest version of 'Godzilla' is concerned - but that's probably not for lack of trying on director Gareth Edwards' part. The young director ('Monsters') has stated many times that 'Jaws' was a huge inspiration for him on this movie, and it is hardly a coincidence that the (human) hero in 'Godzilla' shares the same name with the hero in Spielberg's masterpiece (they're both called Brody). Edwards made it very clear that he wanted to take an "old school" approach - and as far as the beautiful, haunting build-up of the first half of the movie is concerned, he actually succeeds. The atmosphere of mystery and dread is tangible; the human element is there, the acting and the dialogues are solid, and the production design is breathtaking (especially the apocalyptic images of an evacuated city in Japan which was left to decay for 15 years, overgrown with plants and with packs of wild dogs running in the streets). The "muto" design - when we do get a first glimpse at a creature - is otherworldly and frightening (as good monsters should be), but as the movie progresses into the second half and the creature-action increases, the quality of the pacing, the dialogues and the acting inexplicably decreases. The movie sadly starts to feel flat, and although there is one great creature scene after another, and although those scenes get more and more intense as the storyline steers towards the inevitable showdown, it's hard to stay invested in the human side of the story. After the first act (when there was actually still some real acting required from the actors), there are virtually no interesting moments anymore when the human protagonists interact, let alone lingering scenes where the characters get to talk long enough to one another to even try to build such a thing as chemistry. So when the finale does arrive (which looks absolutely beautiful, by the way), you admire its epic scale, but since there is nobody to care about, it's hard to feel thrilled.Sure, you kind of root for Godzilla, but since you only just met the guy, you don't feel too much attached. Ultimately - despite a great build-up and a fantastic looking finale - 'Godzilla' is a valid effort but only rarely a thrilling one. Unlike in 'Jaws', there are no interesting human characters here who could help create the kind of tension-heavy atmosphere or sense of impending doom the way Chief Brody, Hooper and Quint could 40 years ago. Trying to show restraint alone is not enough to create a sense of wonder the way seventies cinema did - you also need the kind of character-driven scenes where someone says: "We're gonna need a bigger boat!" Favorite films: IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/ Lesser-Known Masterpieces: imdb.com/list/ls070242495/ Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: imdb.com/list/ls054808375/ Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

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• Are you kidding me?

  babyvett-3-8902682014-05-17

  So, I should start by saying, I went to this move not expecting a lot. My husband wanted to see it, however, so off we go.. Dear Lord, I think I'm going to find the sappiest chic flick available (even if its torturous for me to sit through) just to get payback for him making me sit through 2 hours of this crap. At least the popcorn was good!! I liked Godzilla himself.. But, I think out of the entire 123 minutes, you see him only 20 minutes, maybe? And most of that is just watching his spiky back in the water as he swims. The rest of this movie is watching the main actor, who, in my opinion, has about as much acting depth as Kristen Stewart, look like a total tool. The shining grace, I thought, was that this movie had Ken Watanabe in it. I like Watanabe but even he looked like he was suffering from a bad case of the Taco Bell revenge and couldn't find a bathroom for the entire movie. I spent the majority of this movie picking out dumb stuff that just amounts to bad writing. Example: Okay, the two bad monsters (which, in my opinion resemble a cross between those white strider things that the muppets ride in "The Dark Crystal" with a bit of "Aliens" thrown in to make them somewhat scary?) have the ability of creating EMPs, killing all electronics and causing aircraft to fall out of the sky.. We learn this early on in the movie, probably in the first 30 minutes. Think the military learns their lesson?? Nope, lets continuously throw about 600 billion dollars worth of F-35s and Battleships in the mix just so we can have it continuously plummet into the water. Another example: They know these muppet hybrids like to eat Radioactive materials and I guess can smell it. And hey, there's one making its way from Vegas to San Fransisco. So lets strap a huge bomb on a train and slowly move it from Vegas to San Fransisco along the same exact path that the critter is going. What kinda harm could that cause? Its not like the thing would smell it on the train and come after it, right? And why is it, the military storms into a radioactive storage facility but has no clue that an entire half of mountain has just been blasted out by muppet hybrid #2 (who's much bigger than #1) and this 30 story tall critter is somehow making its way towards Vegas completely undetected? And while we're on the subject of the bomb, what the heck is up with the "breeding" of the two muppet hybrids anyway?? You got a male, you got a female (complete with some glowy bulging egg sac thing that they give us a really good closeup of.. They meet up to reproduce.. which involves the male giving the female the long, phallic shaped, radioactive bomb which she then rubs between her legs all over this glowy egg sac.. WtF?? How the heck did these things breed before mankind started making huge phallic shaped missiles anyway? Oh..Did I mention the acting was bad?? I don't recall liking ANY of the characters, with exception to the dad (played by Bryan Cranston) and he dies within the first 20 minutes of the movie. There are characters that seem to have no purpose whatsoever besides trying to find a way to fill a 2 hour movie with irrelevant fluff. Lil Asian boy on the elevated train in Hawaii? Didn't see any point to him.. The main characters wife and little boy?? Added nothing to the story to be honest. (And what military wife who knows her husband is in danger isn't waiting by the phone for news? Nope, phones ringing and she's doing whatever.. Or tells her co-worker she's unavailable?) The acting had no depth to it, everyone came off very flat and honestly, unlikable. There's no emotion whatsoever. Hey, a couple of muppet hybrids are destroying our city, oh well. A huge Godzilla is barreling towards our aircraft carrier? Don't panic.. lets stand at the guardrail and watch it peacefully because any emotion such as fear would be too much to ask. Pretty sad when the most exciting thing about this movie is a bird hitting the bus window.. Although, to be honest, the CGI on the actual fight between Godzilla and the muppet hybrids was nice, the whole 5 minutes it lasted. Then, Godzilla jumps in the water and the credits roll. Best part of the whole movie.. Compared to the other 121 minutes of this movie, the credits are the best 2 minutes overall.

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• Godly Presence of the Legendary Atomic Monster of Japan

  hilaryswank20112019-05-03

  Godzilla (2014) is a mediocre film that the filmmakers did not give the persuasive plot for why Godzilla appears and helps people from the Mantis-like MUTO which is quite familiar design among US sci-fi films. There is only one line of Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe)'s explanation for the cause that 'It's natural order.' It explained everything in the fictional reality world. More over it is a pro USFJ film that the multinational nuclear plant corporate stationed worker Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston)'s son, USFJ soldier, protagonist Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) successfully revenges MUTO which kills his parent in Japan by detonating its nest. And other sub characters including Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) are one of observers of the battle between Godzilla and MUTO. Beside the major plot flaw, the film's major success is that the filmmakers correctly avoid the lack of godly appearance / presence of the legendary atomic monster. If it is just a giant dinosaurs like Jurassic Park (1993), it is quite meaningless. Godzilla is supposed be the Shintou the Japanese religion's god thus it should have the unimaginable power. The Western concept of Titan is harmonious with the Shintou concept of the Gods. The US filmmakers approach to the Godzilla in Godzilla (2014) and and other two Hollywood films are appropriate in terms of the Japanese culture. Moreover it is an issue of Defamiliarization of previous giant dinosaur films they have to overcome. So called Defamiliarization or ostranenie is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way in order to enhance perception of the familiar. The creature design concept of Titan-like Godzilla is not only obvious in the sequel but also the previous film Godzilla (2014) already materialised the creative concept. This is the most complemental achievement of this Hollywood franchise. "Primitive man saw these creatures, and you want to give them a presence that would make him drop to his knees and bow to this god...It can't just look like big dinosaurs. Jurassic Park has that covered. These have to be distinct. They have to be their own thing. They're Titans." - Dir.Michael Dougherty

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• I hate modern film-goers

  lukemh12014-08-29

  If Jaws was released today, everyone would complain how it took too long for the shark to turn up. WHAT HAPPENED TO ATTENTION SPANS?! When I saw it in the cinema people couldn't even get through the opening credits without being on their phones. These are the same type of people who complain about how the human characters are dull (Yet the 1998 Godzilla characters were too ridiculous) but tell you off for saying the same thing about Pacific Rim, saying "But I just want to see action" The people who complain about there being too little action also complain about how Transformers has too much action. The people who complain about Cranston not being in it enough complain about movies using popular actors just to get people to watch it. The people who complain about it being dark and realistic complain about the Marvel movies being too light and unrealistic. The people who complain about this movie are whiny, hypocritical and missed one of the most beautifully choreographed movies, with the most impressive visuals even when the monsters weren't on screen, a great soundtrack that inspired terror and a cast that although lacking in the third act, made up for a great introduction and middle (Cranston and Watanabe) and some of the most epic-scaled action I have seen in the last 10 years. Cloverfield was a shaky mess that wasted the monster and Pacific Rim had sporadic fights that gave no real sense of scale. I can't wait for the many sequels that will most likely have a lot more Godzilla now they are confident (given the box office)to use more CGI and money. He will be fighting some of the most iconic villains from the Godzilla universe, and hopefully all the idiots who watched and hated this movie won't watch it and me all the people who cheered through the first one will get to watch it in peace.

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• Utterly contemptible

  taner-ali2014-05-15

  This film has no plot. I wouldn't have an issue with this if instead they had filled most of the two hours with scenes of Godzilla destroying things and killing people. However, the monster himself receives a pathetic amount of screen time, only appearing halfway through the film after the plot has already focused its attention on two giant bugs. They are unimaginatively designed, have no basis in Japanese mythology like the titular monster, and their only purpose seems to be to diminish the impressiveness of Godzilla. The character development in this film is non-existent. Every character, from the wise but ignored token Japanese bloke, to the soldier's wife whose sole purpose is to wait at home to comfort him, is a dull Hollywood cliché. Unlike the viewers, the film believes its characters are fascinating enough to merit the laughably corny near-death and family- reunion scenes towards the end. Instead, the audience is left laughing in bemusement at the overly sincere expressions on the protagonist's face as he threatens a giant monster with a handgun. Whenever Godzilla and the insects finally begin to fight, before anything happens there's an instant cut to yet another tedious shot of US soldiers shouting about nothing in particular. The film's sole purpose is to showcase the might of America's armed forces and ability to survive under a crisis; and it doesn't even do that well, given that the navy can't even tell when Godzilla is swimming directly under their ships. Of course, setting the story in Godzilla's homeland of Japan would not interest American viewers, so the monster decides to swim across the Pacific Ocean in order to wreak havoc. No doubt Godzilla will receive acclaim from morons due to its high-tech but utterly unimaginative animation techniques. However, this film's cutting-edge CGI does not justify its lack of plot, excitement and meaningful characters.

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