Godzilla (2014) Spoiler-Free Review

Release Date: May 16, 2014 US
Studio: Legendary Pictures
Distributed By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: 160 million

Director: Gareth Edwards
Story: David Callaham
Screenplay: Max Borenstein
Score: Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography: Seamus McGarvey

Starring:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Elizabeth Olsen
Ken Watanabe
with Bryan Cranston

Running Time: 123 minutes






   Godzilla! That's right, folks, Godzilla is finally back on the big screen and the King of Monsters is this time being brought to theatres by the loyal hands of Legendary and Warner Bros. pictures. After all, we, Americans, owed redemption to the Japanese folk, the creators of Godzilla, after the abomination that was Roland Emmerich's American version of Godzilla: the simply titled "Godzilla", because neither the Japanese or American fanbase were pleased with Emmerich's adaptation of our favorite monster. But not to worry, because I believe this latest interpretation of Gojira will wash away that disgusting taste in our mouths left by the previous American attempt at Godzilla, and I believe the Japanese will even give us a nice little pat on the back for our hard work at finally giving "The King" the movie he deserves.

   The story centers around a supposed "earthquake" that destroyed a nuclear plant and ruined the life and job of Bryan Cranston's character, Joe. He believes that the government is lying to him about an earthquake destroying his workplace and that there's something much bigger going on that they aren't revealing to the public, something that will apparently "Send Us Back To The Stone Age". Years later, Joe is still obssessed with finding out the truth that he begins to annoy and worry his only son, Ford. Being worried about his father having some sort of "mental condition", Ford decides to help his father find the "evidence" he needs so he can show him that there is nothing to prove and he is merely being paranoid. To Ford's surprise, it turns out that the nuclear plant where his father worked at was actually destroyed by some sort of gigantic creature, so gigantic in fact, that the military might not be able to contain it and might have to rely on desperate measures to save humanity.
  
   For the most part, "Godzilla" delivers on what it advertises, epic destruction, but you will have to sit through A LOT of unecessary character development to really get to the fun stuff. The movie tries to play it slow and "tease you" every now and again with glimpses of Godzilla rising from the ocean or whatever, but these teases are done so many times throughout the movie that it really begins to feel monotonous, and even anti-climactic, really. Most of the time, the movie will abpruptly cut away from Godzilla about do his "thing" and quickly jump to Ford emoting about how dramatic and emotional this whole "monster" situation is for him and his family . The movie seems to focus too much on the effect rather than the actual cause, and in the end makes for a poorly paced, supposed "monster" movie. I wouldn't have much of a problem with this if the characters were actually three-dimensional or interesting, as much as I like Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an actor, his performance in this movie comes off as a bit wooden, and that really shouldn't be the case because he is, essentially, the "star" of this movie. It might sound like I'm trashing this flick, but like i said in the beginning: "The Japanese will even give us a nice little pat on the back for our hard work at finally giving "The King" the movie he deserves", and there is truly a lot of positive things in this movie that i believe overshadow the negatives: My God, the special effects in this movie are just absolutely incredible, I wouldn't be surprised if this movie gets nominated or wins for best SFX at the Oscars. Bryan Cranston's performance, as expected, is phenomenal here and i believe he is truly the emotional center of the whole movie. When Godzilla finally gets to throw down, I swear to you, you will not be dissaponted and is alone worth the price of admission.

   Despite its flaws, I believe this latest American adaption of the Japanese monster, Godzilla, is truly worth checking out, especially if you want to get the bad taste of the 1998 version out of your mouth.
   I'm going to give Godzilla a 7.7/10

Now who's ready for X-Men: Days of Future Past?