GODZILLA
May 16, 2014
In 1998, an American version of Godzilla was released in theaters, made a ton of money but was scorned by critics and destroyed by the fans.
In 2014, a second attempt at an American version of Godzilla was released in theaters.
But did it fare better?
In a world where monsters are real, two giant parasite creatures awaken from their slumber, wreak havoc on the world in an attempt to mate with each other and reproduce. With the military helpless to stop them, an ancient creature rises from the depths of the ocean to put a stop to them and restore balance to nature. That creature is none other than the legendary alpha predator, GODZILLA!
My anticipation for this movie began as far back as 2010 when this picture was shown at San Diego Comic Con. Since then I was excited, but still a little worried. This was gonna be the second American produced Godzilla movie since 1998 and we all know how that turned out. Then when I heard that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures were producing it, that peaked my interest. I had loved the Batman movies they had made. Then the director was announced, an unknown independent film director named Gareth Edwards. It turns out Mr. Edwards is in fact a fan of the Big G and that was a good thing.
When Roland Emmerich was given the job to direct the 1998 film, he admitted that he was not a fan and that he would only take the job if he could change the monster more to his liking. This is something you don't do! Why else do you think Peter Jackson's King Kong or Sam Raimi's Spider-Man were hits and 2009's Dragonball Evolution wasn't?
The film was stated to be released in 2012, however various delays pushed it back to 2014. There was even a short concept teaser shown at Comic Con, and that was pretty much the only place anyone would EVER see it! When people tried to upload it to YouTube, it was immediately taken off. But we did finally get an official trailer near the end of 2013, followed by another full trailer in February 2014. After those trailers, any doubts and concerns I had for this film immediately vanished in the blink of an eye. It promised to be dark and stay true to the tone of the original movie, portraying Godzilla as an unstoppable force of nature.
With the marketing campaign in full force, including a very hilarious Snickers commercial, my excitement for the movie shot through the roof. When the time came, I went to see the movie opening night with my dad.
THIS is how Godzilla should be presented.
From the beginning, Gareth Edwards has said the idea was: What if something like this really happened? What would that be like? It does show the human perspective of the chaos the creatures cause. As well as showing the after effects, much like the original does. This really feels more like a disaster movie with giant monsters thrown into it.
Godzilla's personality is that of neither a hero or a villain. He's a force of nature that fights off threats to the planet. He doesn't do it for the sake of humanity, we are little more than insects to him. The design is much closer to the original, but looks much more like a real animal than past incarnations.
Godzilla is brought to life through motion capture CGI by an actor named TJ Storm. The results are incredible and having Godzilla portrayed like this is the best way to go to honor the traditional suit acting technique. Godzilla is always at his best when his movements are guided by a human performance.
The 2 creatures Godzilla fights called MUTO's are fantastic creations. Their designs, the way they move, the sounds they make, everything about them is simply inspired. They in no way look like the Cloverfield monster, I am so sick of hearing that comparison!
Remember in my Pacific Rim review when I talked about the stigma of human characters? Well, it's also present here.
A lot of people like to rag on Aaron Taylor-Johnson saying he was bland, but I don't see it that way. I see him acting as a soldier caught up in a situation he can't quite comprehend, as well as trying to keep his cool. On TOP of being a husband and a father trying to do whatever it takes to ensure his family's safety. My best friend's brother was in the military and whenever I see Ford, I can't help but think about him. While he may not be the best character in the movie, I still appreciate the performance he gave.
A lot of people thought Bryan Cranston was great, myself included. Although he dies in the first act, his performance leaves a huge impact.
Ken Watanabe makes a great Serizawa, he really echos the presence of Dr. Yamane from the original.
Another good character is Admiral Stenz (David Strathairn), mostly because of the expectation subversion he brings. In the scene where it is decided to use a nuclear weapon against the monsters (an obviously bad idea against these creatures who feed on radiation), you'd expect him to be the biggest asshole regarding his decision and berate the naysayers every chance he gets. But nope, he does actually sympathizes with Serizawa a bit but makes it clear that he has a responsibility to protect civilians all in a calm and understanding matter.
I need to talk about the music in this movie. Alexandre Desplat delivers a fantastic score that gives a very epic and primal feel to the movie. His main theme for Godzilla become just as iconic to me as Ifukube's has been for years. One piece of music called "Last Shot" is one of my personal favorites. Give it a listen and tell me you don't get the overwhelming urge to get a task done to prevent the world from exploding.
But now lets get into by far the biggest complaint about this movie, the fact that Godzilla doesn't have a lot of screen time.
It could be a legitimate complaint. I mean, what all does Godzilla do in this movie? He comes out of the ocean, looks imposing, lets out a huge roar and returns to the ocean. Comes ashore to a major city, does some minor damage and disappears for a bit before the big action scene with great moments of mass destruction before going back to the ocean.
Clearly the original films were superior. Look at what Godzilla does in the original film: He comes out of the ocean, looks imposing, lets out a huge roar and returns to the ocean. Comes ashore to a major city, does some minor damage and disappears for a bit before the big action scene with great moments of mass destru-HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!?!
To the uninitiated, this may seem bad. But to long time Godzilla fans like myself, I think we'd be used to it by now.
Sure, I would have liked to have seen more of him, but for the moments when he was on screen, I could barley contain my enjoyment. Every time Godzilla let out a huge roar and especially when he was fighting the MUTO's, I and everyone in the theater cheered at those moments! During one moment when I saw this movie in IMAX, Godzilla's long roar before he faces off against the female MUTO, made my neck, arm and leg hair stand up.
I do have one little nitpick with the film though, and I'm going to discuss that in length.
Ford Brody is a EOD (Explosive ordnance disposal) Navy man, but we really don't get to see him do any bomb disposal. He tries to stop a nuclear weapon from exploding but fails to get it opened up, forcing him to leave it on the boat and drift as far away from the city as possible before it explodes. Now, don't misunderstand me. I like the way the events in the film play out, I just felt it could have been handled with a bit more poingency.
Here's how I would have done it:
The events of the films play out as they do up to after the scene where both Ford and Godzilla collapse. As Ford is drifting out on the boat with the bomb seconds a way from exploding, he appears to accept his fate. But then he recalls the last words of his father: "Go home to your family. Keep them safe." This gives him the boost he needs to pick up the harpoon from the scene where he pushed the boat away from the dock, uses it as leverage to force the hatch of the bomb open and disarm it with seconds to spare. Then he gets rescued and reunited with his family.
Agree or disagree? Let me know.
Anyway, let's wrap this up.
This may not have been the Godzilla film we all wanted it to be, but it was undeniably the movie we needed. It put the King of the Monsters back into the mainstream spotlight, right where he was meant to be. The film successfully gave longtime fans the validation they deserved and turned plenty of theatergoers into new fans. I loved it every time I saw it in theaters (4 if your curious) and even when taking off my nostalgia goggles, I still enjoy it as a film and it made me ever more anxious about where the series was gonna go next.
What else is there to say except: LET THEM FIGHT!
Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and thank you for joining me here in my Lair.
So long...
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