Being the natural choice for director (following his impressive success with the low budget movie Monsters), it should come as no surprise to learn Welshman Gareth Edwards has taken the most well known, the most sacred, and the most beloved giant monster of all time, and given us a monster of a movie with Godzilla.
An enjoyable romp into the cinematic monster camp, the latest Godzilla movie isn’t a follow-up to Roland Emmerich’s 1998 disaster film (a wrongly slandered film, which was actually a bit of good fun itself), but a brand new take on the giant-lizard-trashes-city tale we know and love, and one which is actually far more reminiscent in tone, plot, and execution of the classic Japanese movies from which it emanates, than originally expected.
Following a young US Navy-man named Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kick-Ass), Godzilla begins with a couple of unexplained ‘natural’ phenomenon, and a Japanese nuclear reactor meltdown, which gets promptly covered-up and allowed to lay dormant for 15 years; before Brody and his father (Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad), a former engineer at the melted-down reactor, stumble onto the cover-up just in time to see a giant monster come out of hibernation, and make a bee-line for the continental US.
What follows, as you’d well expect, is a bunch of scientists (led chiefly by Batman Begins’ Ken Watanabe; who’s organisation have known about the beasts’ existence since the 1950s) and military men (led chiefly by The Bourne Ultimatum’s David Strathairn), then attempting to work out what the beasts’ up to, how best to find a giant monster, and most importantly, from an insurance perspective at the very least, how to kill one (or even three, should the need arise).
The problem is, practically; no, make that literally; everything the military, the scientists, and even our hero Brody (who’s rather inconsequential himself, save for one well timed, though preposterously oversized, explosion) does is irrelevant, and as there’s little to no character development in the entire film, it’s difficult to care for anyone here, even when the bodies start piling up, and the skyscrapers start falling (something which itself doesn’t really matter, because being a 12A – US PG13 – we don’t actually see any death or pain, or even hear any real numbers to hammer the destruction home); it feels as if the whole series of events is only affecting one family (the Brody’s, who had the Granddad involved in the meltdown, the father chasing the destruction, and the mother and young son residing in the city being laid to waste by Godzilla’s swishing tail and massive feet), and honestly, no-one would be too bothered if any one of the Brody clan perished.
Effects-wise, Godzilla is stunning, and first real monster appearance aside (where most audiences members unfamiliar with what’s about to happen will be asking themselves “what the hell is this?”), there’s nothing to fault in that department; Godzilla himself looks stunning, and is very reminiscent of the Japanese classics where he first appeared (but effectively updated for a modern audience), and whenever the skyscrapers do fall, the bridges get trashed, or warships get sloshed about like a dead spiders in a bathtub, the CGI is simply awesome. Similarly the set dressing is excellent, and when the army guys are walking through the wasteland that used to be San Francisco, it’s impossible to tell where the set ends and CGI begins. And while it’d be very easy to get bored, go tacky, or let a few CGI effects slip, in the Pacific Rim like scenes of this new Godzilla, everything holds up really well, and begins to be delivered with enough pomposity to make it thoroughly enjoyable.
Much of that success is down to Gareth Edwards, who’s delivers a somewhat disjointed film; beginning with an “uh-oh things are going wrong but we don’t know what’s coming” vibe, before perfectly delivering the early monster scenes, where several minor glimpses heighten the terror, and deliver one or two jumpy moments, whilst ramping up both the tension and eagerness to see the behemoth that’s about to destroy the world, and finally delivering a final act which is much lighter in tone than the rest of the film, and turns into a much more smile-inducing, Pacific Rim like, battle sequence that’s rather ludicrous in its, almost, flag-waving pomposity, but actually quite fun if you roll with the punches, and like the idea of revisiting a classic “Godzilla Vs….” movie from the days of yester-yore.
Edwards’ direction is fantastic, the lighting is superb throughout, and while the plot doesn’t exactly call for any high-calibre acting everyone involved is more than acceptable; Cranston, as expected, is the best human in the movie, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is far removed from his Kick-Ass role, and little more than a wandering beefcake (but acceptable as such), and although Elizabeth Olsen (Oldboy) doesn’t do much aside from worry about her hubby and watch the destruction on TV she’s also acceptable, as is Ken Watanabe (even if he’s stereotyped into being the Asian guy who says “Gojira”), and the darker tone of this new Godzilla is a welcome approach, though unfortunately it does mean this giant monster fight isn’t as much of a blatant popcorn movie as it should be; it’s neither dark enough to be full on terrifying disaster film (and completely loses the satirical aspects of the originals), nor ridiculous enough, as over-the-top, and a clear piece of escapist popcorn fun to make it as enjoyable as Pacific Rim (last year’s giant monster Vs giant robot movie – which was essentially Godzilla Vs Transformers and, frankly, brilliant).
So, in the end, it’s stereotypical, it’s lacking in character development, and it’s also a touch disjointed. But who cares? It’s a film about a giant lizard swimming about, trashing cities, and getting into the mother-of-all scraps. Direction is solid, casting was spot-on, and not only were the creature designs pretty cool, and a welcome homage to the first iterations of the beast, but the effects are brilliant throughout, and the 2014 Godzilla movie delivers on every expected note; it’ll make you jump, it’ll make you smile, and it’s a film that both looks, and sounds, great on the big screen; proving once again that he is Godzilla, King of Monsters.
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
Godzilla was viewed in The Regent Cinema, Newtown.
