For the most part the new Godzilla flick by Monsters director Gareth Edwards is a win. Godzilla is done to perfection. The film takes a more realistic approach to the creature and recreates him just as he was originally.
The prologue/main titles details back to the beginning of the original movie, released in 1954. The nuclear tests in the pacific were meant to kill the beast known as Godzilla. It did not, however, and that is a good thing as 50 years later MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) start to come forth. They cause havoc upon the humans until Godzilla comes forth to defeat them. It does end as a kind of monster brawl and it is fun to watch. The way it is all built up is also very interesting. The visual effects in this film are also quiet amazing. Godzilla is terrific looking and the M.U.T.Os are crafted to perfection.
While the movie has some great monster mashing, and some brilliant disaster effects, the humans do tend to get left by the wayside. The main characters in the film focus mainly on the Ford family (consisting of Aaron Taylor Johnson, Bryan Cranston, and Elizabeth Olsen) and the scientists/military (consisting of Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and David Strathairn). The cast is great but Gareth seems to have an inability to create compelling characters. The film has a great prologue sequence as we see what happens to the Ford family early on. Its after a certain character's death (a shocking one at that) where the human characters get dull and listless. I mean it is as the writer had no clue what to do with the human charters. Every one of them gets underdeveloped and left hanging. And no offence to Taylor but he's no where near as top notch as Bryan Cranston or Elizabeth Olsen are in the acting category. He plays his part with too much brooding. As for the scientists, they say nothing that makes them intelligent. They just keep rambling about how Godzilla must be the one to defeat the MUTOs, and not the U.S military. Now, there is a reason for this as the creatures feed off of the military's nuclear supply. I just wish there was a better explanation as to why Godzilla should be allowed to do as he pleases. Ken goes on saying the lines we heard him say from the trailer but they have no weight in the movie, they carry no meaning besides catching the moment he gives these lines of biblical dialogue.
Thus Godzilla of 2014 won't really terrify as you are at times cheering the big green giant on, it is a much more realized version of the monster than 1999's Godzilla was. The creature is better created here and is truer to the character. He is only surrounded by a so-so movie production.
Godzilla is as entertaining as one would compare to Independence Day. The human characters are not the draw here, but Godzilla is and they got him right. It just would have been nice to have some compelling human characters to cheer along the sidelines with as well.
Rating - B
