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Godzilla (2014)POSTED BY JASON FETTERS, May 18, 2014 Share
As I sat in my seat preparing to see Godzilla in 3D at IMAX, I had no idea what to expect. I kept reminding myself to lower my expectations. Mainly because I have been a Godzilla fan ever seen I can remember and sometime back to when I was still a single digit age.
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My favorites are Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971,) Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974,) and Destroy All Monsters (1968.)
I was with a local anime meetup group, the Kakkoii-Otaku Clan, and the big question was will this Godzilla be better than the horrible Godzilla from ’98? The guy sitting next to me remembered it fondly because he was 7 when he saw it and he liked it at that time and as for me I stuck it out to the bitter end. Generally, no matter how bad a movie is, I will be there until the end credits roll, even if I hate it and would never have any desire at all to see it again.
Soon the movie began and I was instructed to put on my 3D glasses.
It starts out with a nuclear bomb exploding at Bikini Atoll. Then something strange is found in the Philippines by scientists Vivienne Graham, (Sally Hawkins,) and one of my favorite current Japanese actors, Ken Watanabe who plays the cerebral, Ishiro Serizawa. You might remember Watanabe from The Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Letters from Iwo Jima.
Next up is the introduction of Joe Brody and family in Janjira, somewhere near Tokyo, Japan. Watching Joe speak Japanese over the phone and seeing his son get on the bus for his morning commute to school, brought back fond memories of when I lived in Japan for 3-years as a college student and later on as an English Teacher.
Godzilla does a fantastic job of creating likeable human characters. You really want to see the Brody family overcome, survive, and succeed.
One question kept nagging me throughout the movie, when would I finally see Godzilla? Director Gareth Edwards was really making the audience wait for it. Sure, you get to see kaiju but you don’t see the big guy until his usual dramatic entrance.
When Godzilla finally arrives and walks on dry ground the iconic roar is heard. Not the same one that I remember from the classic flicks but overall a good solid roar.
As I said, Godzilla does a great job with the human characters and this becomes the movie’s problem for me later on. Eventually in ever Godzilla movie there comes a time when he has to fight. You would see a brief clip of Godzilla fighting and then a quick cut to the reaction of the human characters. This went on for an annoyingly long time. The monster battles just weren’t as intense or as lengthy as in del Toro’s Pacific Rim. Now granted that Pacific Rim doesn’t have the elaborate plot that Godzilla does but it does have fighting monsters and it shows monsters damaging cities and trashing the military and all those things we have come to love and expect from kaiju movies.
In fact, Godzilla is a very pro-military movie, and while this isn’t a bad thing, I would have loved to see more scenes with Godzilla destroying modern tanks, jets, and ships. There are a few moments but not enough. You get a little of that and I wanted more.
If only the fights were extended and the filmmakers went back to the classic movies back when Godzilla would be punished during a fight, spill some blood, and come back at the last moment for the mega win.
Overall, Godzilla is a good Summer movie but it really isn’t spectacular. It had so much potential to go in better directions and that would have made it good.
I felt like I was waiting and waiting for Godzilla to do something and then when he does it it just wasn’t as exciting or fulfilling as I would have loved to see.
However, my favorite moment is when Godzilla’s tail finally lights up and his atomic blast follows. There needed to be much more of that.
Godzilla is worth your time and money to watch once. Even better is that a few of the classic movies are now on sale on Blu-ray and it is time to pick up King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and all your favorites.
Recommended.
3.5 of 5 Stars
"The Castle of Dr. Fetterstein" is ©2014 by Jason Fetters. All contents of Crazed Fanboy are ©2014 by Nolan B. Canova and Terence Nuzum.
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