Review Godzilla film review by Peter Zanetti

Godzilla Movie

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Highs, Lows, Amazing Achievements and Missed Opportunities. I was all set to accept a character driven story that did not emphasize the monsters as much. This started out great as Bryan Cranston was fantasic...then he dies, WAY too early in the film, and we're left following Aaron Taylor Johnston who, thankfully, didn't talk much. His facial acting left a lot to be desired, but it was probably better than him speaking as his performance was completely devoid of emotion. I mean, it was flat. As flat as it gets. His supporting wife actress was the perfect match as she was likewise a total blank slate of emotion. And although this was more writing than her performance.....WHAT THE HELL was with the scene where she puts her 5 year old son on a bus out of the city while freaking monsters are inbound???? That was the most absurd piece of writing I've ever seen...no mother in the world would do such a thing, even if there was a vague chance that he might be "safer" outside the city. She would cling to that child as motherly instinct demands....dare I say the female MUTO was almost a better mother in this movie. The MUTOs took center stage, while Godzilla herself nearly took a back seat. I say nearly because they really pulled it off in the end, but I feel they cheated the fans a bit by simply cutting out so much of Godzillas involvement. Cutting away from an epic first battle between Godzilla and the Male MUTO, in favor of a kid on a couch watching the battle on TV, was a huge letdown no matter how you swing it. Character wise, most of the supporting actors were great, and Ken Wantanabe was a key figure...without him, something would have been sorely missing. I just wish they gave him more lines, and a greater sense of expertise, instead of shot after shot of him staring at something with his mouth open. It was almost funny by the end. Much like Pacific Rim, they took the cheap route on CGI and insisted on doing the large scale battle scenes in the dark. This is very difficult to follow visually, which is the whole idea. You can't critique what you can't see. It's easy to make monsters and destruction look real when there is no light shining on it. Speaking of destruction, it reminded me a lot of old movies where they couldn't create believable scenes of monsters carrying out the destruction, so they only show you the aftermath. Most of the damage done to Vegas, and San Fran, are portrayed after the fact. Rarely do you see one of the monsters actually break something. Sounds petty, but it added to what seemed like an obsessive lack of interest in giving the monsters themselves screen time. Monster screen time was sorely missing, and for a movie named Godzilla, she had the least amount of screen time of any player, including both MUTO. That was genuinely disappointing... ...but...when she was on camera, she was glorious. So good that it basically drives my entire review in a positive direction. I want to watch her scenes over and over, and cannot wait to see it again to experience the majesty she possessed. Other points of note: the military response and involvement seemed extremely amateur, and lacking believability. Sure, the MUTOs EMP effect gave them a good excuse to force the military to be more distant and hands off, but it seems a bit naive to think that the US military (and the rest of world) had so little to throw at them. Perhaps they didn't want to get into it, but if such a situation really occurred, there is lot more in the bag of tricks then a few tanks, F-22s, and 3 nuclear ICBMs. I was also not expecting there to be NO explanation for where the MUTO came from. I was certain going in to the film that they would turn out to be man-made creations that we harbored, until we lost control of them. While that was somewhat true, it was never alluded to that we created the MUTO intentionally and wished to keep it as an asset. I feel that would have made a lot more sense, rather than humans being the completely innocent victims, that Godzilla rises to save. It made more sense to me that Godzilla would rise to undo what we had done, and perhaps, not totally let us off the hook for it. Instead she comes to our rescue, avoids hurting people at all costs, and then leaves peacefully. I enjoyed this...very much, but I think it was a tad less believable than what I had anticipated. Im still a bit a loss for why they (Gareth and crew) led us to believe that movie was done in the style of "what would happen if Godzilla really emerged out of nowhere"....it was absolutely nothing of the sort. This was a sTory that had its own plot and its own direction....that Godzilla joined in on. At no point, ever, in the film were the reactions of people to Godzilla truly capture. Now that I've vented every single complaint and observation I've made, let me repeat that on the whole it was incredibly well done, and Godzilla herself was so impressive it made it all worth it.