Godzilla Movie

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It's Not A Disappointment, But It's Still Isn't Perfect

Loud and Angry, Godzilla awes...sometimes

by M**** B******* (a.k.a redtiger243)

Along with so many others out there, I have been anxiously waiting for the return of the King of the Monsters, and I have high expectations for this new film thanks to the incredible hype generated by countless trailers, TV spots and hilarious commercials. However the end product left me hungry for more. Don't get me wrong, in the end, this film delivers, and portrayed the Terror of Tokyo with grandeur and charisma fitting for the character. However, an anorexic script and equally cardboard thin characters dragged the film down from a perfect score, despite fantastic directing from newbie Gareth Edwards.

THE PLOT

The film starts off very promisingly, for the first thirty minutes or so. Its always exciting to see Bryan Cranston on screen (speaking fluent Japanese!). Introducing Joe Brody, nuclear physicist, his wife, played by Juliette Binoche, and their son, Ford, and then fast forward to 2014, and then Joe and a grown up Ford (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) breaks into a Quarantine-zone, and then...It goes on and on, teasing us, making us jump in our seats, for the big reveal. It's just too long. Too much exposition speeches, to much 'Oh my gosh, we should have listened' crap. All that time, for the second half an hour or so, I was glued to the screen, not because I was engaged, but that I was hoping Godzilla would appear. But no, I had to wait until my eyes were sore from looking through the 3D-Glasses (my eyes get tired, do yours?). Even when Godzilla makes his big entrance, its underwhelming, his tail smashes through a building, we see his torso rise, etc. Well, underwhelming until we hear his roar for the very first time (and its LOUD!). Then the scene cuts there, shifting to a News Report (WHAT!), where we barely see Godzilla in a TV screen. We don't get to see him again until another hald an hour or so (and by this time my eyeballs were fried), and only then does it get interesting, with loud, boisterous and spectacular sequences where the Big Guy dukes it out with other monsters and the military, And then, boom, the film ends. From 123 minutes, Godzilla appeared a total of about four scenes (two of them of him swimming) It really made me cry, wanting both for more, and for the sheer awesomeness of that four (or two, I guess) scenes. Overall, quoting Bilbo Baggins, the plot felt 'thin, like butter spread over too much bread.' Though it starts like a character driven drama, it ends anticlimatically, and took WAY too much time hyping up.

CHARACTERS

Two words. Bryan. Cranston. Let's face it, fellas, he was half the reason half of you wanted to see this movie. And I have to say, he probably was the only character I cared about. Good performance, but sadly cut (really abruptly) too short to have any real weight in the story. The rest are really poorly written, or at least, very underused. Very little screen time for most of them, focusing instead on a stone-faced Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I really wished that both Joe Brody and perhaps Ken Watanabe's character Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, was given more screen-time (Joe for emotional weight, Ishiro for intelectual  expositions, two aspects this film clearly lacks). In short, this film is, unfortunately, spent too much hype with silly acting, completely forgetting their characters' credibility. To put it bluntly, this is simply a waste of talent, showing respectable acting giants like Ken Watanabe and Juliette Binoche simply as wide-eyed, gaping collateral damage.

CREATURE AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

Perhaps the only saving grace for this film, the special effects department really have outdone themselves. This film shows a grittier, more realistic monster on monster action compared to the neon-lit, hardrock styled Pacific Rim. The kaijus here are fantastically well made and characterized, even more so than the actual human actors. This is really Godzilla as himself, turning the Kaiju King into a real, virtual actor, with a range of emotions never seen in a Godzilla movie before. Its like Godzilla has matured, as an actor, ready for his debut as a method actor (Godzilla as Macbeth, anyone?). Though only seen a couple of times, Godzilla makes his presence known, a giant with a giant personality (for a giant radioactive lizard, that is). Perhaps because the effects are so very well made, we are left frustrated for more action, more Godzilla, more fight scenes. We want more. Sadly, on that note, this film doesn't deliver as well as expected.

SOUND AND SOUNDTRACK

That roar. What a roar. Like the VFX departement, the sound designer also made a fine revamp of Big G's iconic roar. Its boisterous, its big, its intimidating, and most of all, its LOUD. Beautifully made, both familiar to our ears, and yet feeling fresh and new. And this goes to the oher monster roars, loud bellows, and deep, gutteral roars made the mosters not only look huge, but also sound huge (and did I mention LOUD?)

The soundtrack was also very well done. Alexandre Desplat sounded different this time. Gone are the intimate scores from The King's Speech, or the magical, melodious tunes from Harry Potter. What Mr. Desplat has done here sounded more like the kaiju-eiga (that's monster movies to you) music of the sixties, with lots of brass, a ridiculously powerful string section, and Japanese drums and flutes, further tying this film to its Japanese roots. Again, the soundtrack is, according to Desplat's own words, 'non-stop fortissimo' (and that means very LOUD to you). 

Overall, this debut big budget film by Brit director Gareth Edwards excels, and sometimes even inspires, but sadly falls victim to the 'Summer Blockbuster' syndrome, characterised by thin plots and characters, accomanied by spectacular visuals, despite a visibly strong effort from the director to steer away from it. A fantastic entry to the Godzilla franchise, but one which leaves many hanging.