Godzilla

     Now that our attention has been grabbed by King Kong decking Godzilla straight in the face, I figured this would be a good time to review the film that started off this whole MonsterVerse that Legendary and Warner Bros. have going on, 2014’s Godzilla. Now, this was a complicated film that divided the fanbase for several reasons that I will get into, but let us please start with something obvious, Godzilla looks freaking incredible. A+ to the team that designed him and brought him to life because they truly did a 180 from the absolute abomination that was the last American Godzilla attempt. That was some weird lizard that ate fish, but what we see in this film, this is Godzilla. This was a true kaiju.

            Okay, my first big issue with the film is a bit of a spoiler, so warning, but it also kind of is not because it happens within the first act of the film. Ready? Here we go. What was the point of bringing in Bryan Cranston if you were only going to have him be in about forty minutes of the film? That does not make sense. It was as if they were trying to capitalize off of his Breaking Bad success, but instead of making him a focal point of the film, they made him into clickbait. To make matters worse, his character does not even get a proper death. There is zero emotion behind it, and it does not even occur on camera. That is right, his character literally dies, and you do not even see it happen. It is one of the worst uses of a great actor I have seen in a long time. Another issue that a lot of people seemed to have is one that I actually did not have. If anything, I thought it was a brilliant strategy. If you came into this film expecting to see Godzilla just wrecking things for two full hours, this is not the film for you. Godzilla is actually in this very little, and honestly, I think that was a great move. This issue will definitely come back in a future review when I tackle more of these MonsterVerse films. Sometimes, less is more. This film is very character driven, and it is directed well with some of the best cinematography I have seen in film. The halo jump scene in the third act might just be in my top ten favorite sequences of all time. The beauty in the destruction of the shot, the score, the intensity, it is flawless.

            Like I said, Godzilla not showing up for most of this movie did not bother me at all because it helped build up so much anticipation for all of the times that he did show up. Every time that he was in a scene, it was absolutely fantastic. It was just beautiful chaos. Also, the roar was absolutely nailed in this. Godzilla’s roar is by far the coolest thing about this whole film. The rival monster was pretty generic and weak, but I honestly expected that considering the focal point of this film was on the titular kaiju. Make no mistake, for as many flaws as this film has, and some of them really are not flaws, this is still the best Godzilla film ever made. The effects cannot be overstated because they make this film look and feel incredible, and the fact that there are actual characters to root for was a great touch that is not typically given in a monster film of this magnitude. I know that some people wanted a film of Godzilla just wrecking things, but there is always time for that. This had everything you could ask for, and I think as more time goes on, it will be more appreciated for what it accomplished. Official Rating: 3.5 Stars.