GODZILLA
**1/2
DIRECTED BY Gareth Edwards
STARS Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston
As the Warner Bros. logo loomed large on the screen — and in 3-D, to boot — to herald the start of Godzilla, my watch read, “19:35” (yes, I’m a stickler for military time). When the preview audience finally got a full look at the title behemoth for the first time, it was exactly 20:35. A full hour of running time, and no Godzilla to show for it aside from a few extreme close-ups of various body parts?
Fine by me. As a big fan of exposition in my moviegoing diet, I appreciated the fact that director Gareth Edwards and writers Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham were patiently laying the groundwork for the triumphant return of Godzilla, who first hit theaters 60 years ago and has become a global phenomenon in the ensuing decades. Godzilla (birth name: Gojira) was such a popular commodity that even the Yanks elected to take a crack at the big guy: The result was 1998’s risible Godzilla vs. Ferris Bueller, with the oversized monster no match for Matthew Broderick’s shtick. Clearly, Edwards and his team had their work cut out for them if they wanted to make a Hollywood version that would erase the smell of its ill-advised predecessor.
For the first hour, they mostly succeed. Principal characters are introduced, among them Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), a nuclear power plant engineer who turns into an activist once he becomes convinced that there was a cover-up involving an accident at the facility; his son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a military grunt certain that his dad’s a raving lunatic; and scientists Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins), who know more than most yet are still in the dark when it comes to figuring out what threat humanity faces. That answer comes with the inadvertent release of the buglike Muto, which helpfully stands for Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism. This gargantuan creature destroys everything and everyone in its path, and it’s clear that Earth needs a superhero more powerful — and definitely taller — than Spider-Man or Captain America to vanquish it.
That’s where The Big G comes in, and after an hour in which he’s been noticeably MIA, we’re more than ready for the remaining 65 minutes to offer wall-to-wall Godzilla. Only it doesn’t work out that way. With continued emphasis on the humans (particularly Taylor-Johnson’s Ford, the least interesting of the homo sapien protagonists) and much of the discussion (and action) centering around the Muto and its even larger mate, Godzilla ends up becoming a supporting player in what’s ostensibly his own movie. It’s shocking to note how little screen time he receives, and when he finally enters into a battle royale with the Mutos, it almost feels like the picture has been handed over to an extra.
At least the CGI is flawless. The effects employed to bring Godzilla and his nemeses to life are superb, although I must confess a bit of disappointment in the design of Godzilla in his latest incarnation. Stockier than normal, one gets the feeling he’s spent the past few years guzzling Kirin Ichiban or Sapporo Draft while lounging on the ocean floor — how else to explain that sizable beer belly?
This article appears in May 14-20, 2014.
This is the best Godzilla movie, in my opinion. I just can’t get into the old ones, I guess that’s because I’ve never really been a big Godzilla fan. 7.5/10 for me.
If you ever watched the original Godzilla movies you would know Godzilla didn’t have a ton of screen time, heck in the original he only appeared for 16 minutes total. They would usually focus on the people and the situation that was being wrought by the other monsters before Godzilla would finally show up to save the day. So all the issues you have with it for the most part are a part of the series as a whole, not solely this movie. I just came back from watching it and I loved every minute of it.
So are modern movie critics ALL unwilling to watch the original Gojira film of 1954? (Not the american version which cuts away the whole story). New Godzilla follows this structure and in that old film, he barely is in the movie as well. For about ~15 minutes. The new Godzilla is there for half of the film, just not in full scale.
Timo: As evidenced by one of the links above, I’ve seen — and in fact actually own — the 1954 Gojira (in which, unlike the new version, the focus is always on Godzilla even when he’s not on screen), but thanks for writing.
they had a man in a suit, ever think that’s the reason they didn’t have more of him in the original….kinda like Jaws, the shark looked so bad they decided to use him as sparingly as possible. with today’s graphics they wouldn’t have that trouble. my 10 yr old looked bored for most of the movie, and wasn’t impressed at all….and i don’t blame him.
I’m happy that this new Godzilla film got made. My only beef with the 2014 film is that Godzilla is GOOD guy. I think the best Godzilla films were the films where he is the villain. Godzilla (1954), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) are all classics and are probably his best films. They all have one thing in common. GODZILLA=VILLAIN. I don’t want Godzilla being a friend to man and saving humanity. I want him to destroy. That’s what started the demise of franchise in the films of the late 60’s and early 70’s. All of a sudden Godzilla was a hero because they were targeting his character to little kids. Don’t get me wrong, this film is good but i could have been fucking great. Many unfamiliar with the kaiju genre will love this movie for all its destruction but old fans like me are looking into these films little more deeply and are harder to satisfy. I’ve been watching Godzilla films for over 40 years and I sat in the theater waiting for him to go berserk like in the first film. Having the Mutos in this film took away the focus from Godzilla. Even though the battle scenes between the monsters were great. The CGI work is incredible too. They should have waited for the sequel before they brought in other monsters. A better story would have been Godzilla against the world.
comparing to the old movies, this movie deserves better than 21/2stars