Review Godzilla film review by Hammer34

Godzilla Movie

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I’ve seen it twice, taken the time to let it simmer in my brain past first impressions and snap judgments, so now I’m ready to articulate my thoughts on the Gareth Edwards reboot of Godzilla.  Not that anyone’s been holding their breath for my take, but here goes.

Some level-setting comments to start: 1) overall I thoroughly enjoyed the film and thought it was very well done.  2) Some of my earliest childhood memories are of watching Godzilla movies on Saturday afternoon UHF-station creature features---so I’m a lifelong fan.  For more serious G-fans: I have a strong appreciation for the Heisei Era films, I’m a big fan of some of the Millennium Era films but, having grown up with them, I’m partial to the original, Showa Era run of films, and I believe they are mostly----not wholly---but mostly, the superior films of the entire series.  Oh, and that 1998 Roland Emmerich film of the same name: do I think it’s entirely unwatchable?  No.  Though it is pretty weak by almost any measure and, as a Godzilla movie, well, I just don’t even consider it a Godzilla movie.

So those are my biases, fully disclosed.  In no particular order, here are my thoughts and observations on Edwards’ Godzilla:

1. 3-Damn Good – personally I’m not a big 3D person.  I’ll see new films in 3D if it’s important to whomever I’m going with, but it’s never been a big deal for me.  However, I thought the 3D effects in Godzilla were used incredibly well.  Rather than focusing on flinging boulders, warheads or atomic breath in our faces, I loved the way 3D was used to make landscapes, strange vistas (like the cavern with the Godzilla skeleton), cityscapes, and just the overall view and perspective of so many scenes truly gigantic and sweeping.
2. Killing Me Slowly – while it seemed to be a negative for some, I enjoyed the slow-burn of the film’s first hour.  It mimicked the sort of mounting “mysterious events” motif that was so key to a lot of the early Toho Kaiju and Sci-fi epics.  In fact there were a number of clever, little homage references and echoes of those classics in the early part of this film that I really enjoyed.
3. Where’s The G? – I agree with many that you do come away from this film feeling like Godzilla’s actual screen time was somewhat limited.  While being a little stingy with the Big G’s scenes definitely amplified their impact, in the next film hopefully Edwards strikes a little better balance between using scarcity for effect and giving us what we want.
4. People Who Need People – the cast was mostly excellent.  Taylor-Johnson was probably the least impressive of the ensemble for me.  He wasn’t bad, I just didn’t find him all that compelling a leading man.  While she wasn’t given much to do besides looking equal parts awestruck and terrified, I thought Elizabeth Olsen made the most of her parts, and her quite beautiful face and big, expressive eyes are made-to-order for those damsel-in-distress moments so endemic to giant monster films.  Her fear, anguish over her family’s separation, and ultimate relief, all resonated keenly with me.  Hopefully she returns with more to do in the sequel.  Ken Watanabe’s Serizawa struck me as an almost inverse reflection of the Steve Martin/Raymond Burr role in King of The Monsters.  Like Martin, Serizawa was the fish out of water---the token Japanese person among Westerners, and while he had some great lines and provided some valuable context and exposition, his character---like Burr’s---was more that of intermittent narrator and “informed observer” than key player or driver of critical action.  Likewise, I hope Watanabe has an expanded and more actionable role in the next installment.
5. She Blinded Me With Science – with any film like this it’s about suspension of disbelief, and I found the “science” and “invented history” of the story mostly convincing.  The only two questions that intruded on my experience of the story were: 1) Godzilla was labeled the “alpha predator,” compelled by eons of instinct to hunt down the MUTOs.  Why then did he not have the slightest interest in making meals of them?  He just annihilated them and walked away.  Not that I needed to see him eating them mind you, but he didn’t appear to have any appetite for them whatsoever.  What other motivation would there be for a predatory animal to stalk and kill another animal?  2) The EMP-inducing “stomp” of the MUTOs.  Given their origin in a highly radioactive period of Earth’s distant past, the biological characteristic seems plausible.  What  seems completely implausible is the MUTOs having any awareness of it as a means of combating present day machines and technology---things completely outside their experience and beyond their comprehension.  Unless we were supposed to believe that the “stomps” were purely coincidental?  They certainly seemed to be portrayed as intentional.
6. MUTOs oh MUTOs! – the MUTOs were certainly an effective cinematic adversary, though I have to say I was hoping for an original creature a little more influenced by Godzilla’s classic Toho foes vs. more popular American films, a la the Alien franchise, Starship Troopers and, more recently and blatantly, Cloverfield and Pacific Rim.  I wonder: was the design of the MUTOs an accommodation of sorts?  Making a faithful adaption of a niche---however iconic---character like Godzilla was certainly something of a calculated risk for the studio.  Did producers perhaps want to feature some prominent element that would be more familiar to a mainstream audience, hence the MUTOs having a design so reminiscent of well-known American film creatures?  After seeing the MUTO design in this film, I was actually quite surprised to hear that no less than Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah will make their big budget US film debuts in the sequel.  Would I be wrong to speculate that the box office success of Godzilla has afforded Edwards even greater leeway to draw on the classic source material to populate the next film?  Here’s hoping I’m right.
7. Looks Are Everything – and finally we come to the big guy himself and---I fully acknowledge---my most nitpicky, fanboy-ish and personally biased critiques.  All things considered, Godzilla looked great in the film, a fantastic CGI rendering.  Was his depiction as faithful as I was hoping for?  It was a galactic improvement over the 1998 debacle.  If only that film hadn’t set the bar so low.  However trivial they may seem, my beefs: 1) I would like to have seen spines that were a little more faithful to the larger, jagged, bone-hued originals.  Though the fact that they retained their pre-atomic-breath-firing illumination effect was nothing short of awesome---as was the atomic breath itself.  2) Why was he given such inexplicably stubby, elephant-like feet?  Especially given his much greater size here compared to his previous incarnations, wouldn’t that demand bigger, sprawling paws, both to support him and to provide more city-stomping power (see his feet in 1962’s clash with Kong and 2001’s GMK for what to me are much better depictions)?  3) Similarly, his head is a little small IMO---and overall I felt his “updated” design still has a bit too much of that generic, Jurassic Park-ish, lizard-like head-to-neck construction and stooped stance (vs. the more anthropomorphic profile of the original).  I’d love to see a more prominent, articulated head and face---meaning, something more like the head from my favorite suits :) (2001 GMK design, mid-1990’s Heisei films design, and the 1964 Godzilla vs. Mothra design).  4) Lastly, I thought the roar in the film was just an overly loud trumpet blast with only the faintest resemblance to the truly alien and chilling original.  Why couldn’t they have just given the actual original recordings a modern sound technology makeover and pumped up the volume? 

My nitpicks aside, this film was a great adaption of an iconic character.  With the success of this first film, my hope is Edwards has earned the latitude to make some artistic tweaks toward an even more faithful depiction of the Big G (and friends).  Regardless, I can’t wait for the sequel!