Godzilla (2014)

Released:  May 16^th, 2014

Rated:  PG-13

Studio:  Warner Bros.

Starring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston

Directed by:  Gareth Edwards            

Written by:  Max Borenstein

Personal Bias Alert:  anticipation was high, was very tired when I went to see it

7.3 of 10

            For the record, if Godzilla or something like him ever really attacked a city, I would want to be there to see it.  Preferably I’d also live, but I understand the risks.  It would be worth it.  It would be unique, a singular experience in all of human history.  I can imagine myself standing there, watching him use a building as a crutch, and being terrified and awe-inspired and probably paralyzed.  That aspect of my personality is probably what made me so excited to see “Godzilla” even though I had never been very interested in the other Godzilla films.  It’s a spectacle, and I’d much rather see massive creatures battling it out than massive machines.

            You would think the titular character would be the main focus of the film, but instead the story revolves around a Navy officer named Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).  Ford’s mother (Juliette Binoche) died when he was a child in a nuclear plant accident, which Ford’s father, Joe (Bryan Cranston), is convinced was anything but an accident.  When Joe trespasses on the quarantined fallout area in order to continue his investigation, Ford must travel to Japan to retrieve him.  While in Japan, a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) awakens and triggers a battle between two love-struck MUTOs and Godzilla himself.  Ford finds himself balancing his Naval responsibilities and his desire to get home to protect his wife and child, all while avoiding getting squashed by the gigantic monsters.

            There’s many more human characters in this film, including scientists played by Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins and a US military admiral played by David Strathairn.  The result is a long and convoluted first and second acts which tease the finale battle to come.  They try to fill the time with character development and explanations of where Godzilla and the MUTOs come from, but none of it is ever very interesting.  The explanations about Godzilla and the MUTOs never adds up, and the character development is shoddy.  Elizabeth Olsen as Joe’s wife and Sally Hawkins are woefully underused, and Strathairn and Taylor-Johnson do little else but grumble about plot exposition.  Cranston and Binoche get some good scenes at the beginning of the film, but without Binoche, Cranston falls into a slightly over-the-top angry lunatic mode.

            While the focus on characters bogs down most of the film, it is a well-used device when it comes to the cinematography.  Many shots of the creatures are from a human’s perspective, resulting in quick glances of these massive creatures as they pass by.   It gets across scale and awe remarkably well and saves the full view of the creatures until the big finale. 

            Another saving grace of the film is its strong sense of humor.  Themes of man’s arrogance is played up, and we often look pretty silly as the creatures tear through our cities.  In my favorite example, we see Ford’s wife busily cleaning up the kitchen and telling her child to get ready for bed in the background, while in the foreground the boy stares at a news program showing astounding footage of one of the MUTOs wreaking a city.  That one made several people laugh out loud in the theater I was in.

            When the final act eventually arrives, we get the big Godzilla vs. MUTOs fight everyone was waiting for, and many inadvertently smashed buildings to boot.  The previous acts set up Godzilla as the one to root for, and even though that never made any sense, having something to root for does make it more satisfying.  When Godzilla finally stomps out of the ocean, in all his CGI grandeur, I couldn’t help but get excited.  He really is rendered beautifully, and I think we might as well call the Oscar race for visual effects right now.  No one’s going to beat that.

            Despite the problems I had with the film and the physical exhaustion I felt after a long week, I was constantly entertained.  The anticipation is like a cinematic shot of caffeine; there’s no way you won’t get excited.

            I’m tacking on an extra paragraph here, because I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the strange cultural appropriation going on here. Godzilla is a Japanese invention, a metaphor for the devastating effects nuclear bombs have had on Japan’s history.  That we as Americans (the ones who dropped the bombs on Japan) have embraced this creature, and now made our own film, is peculiar to me.  I can’t put my finger on precisely why, and I’m as guilty of liking this creature and everything it stands for as anyone.  But seeing Ken Watanabe, one of the most successful Japanese actors to transition into American films, inform the otherwise American/European characters that Godzilla is king of the monsters seems strange.  You see, king of the monsters was the tagline given to Godzilla in the Americanized version of the original 1954 film.  So a Japanese actor staring in an American movie based on a Japanese property that was created as a response to the actions that America took against Japan in 1945 is informing the largely American actors of a title America gave to the Japanese creature.  Do you see the appropriation rabbit hole this film is?

      Other Notes (Ridiculous Monster-Movie Version):

Ø  Does the main character have death repellant, because he should have died

Ø  Godzilla waits to use his blue fire power until he’s almost lost.  You know, because he likes to fight fair

Ø  Nobody notices the massive hole in the side of the mountain

Ø  Nobody notices that Godzilla’s still breathing?

Ø  Nobody notices a MUTO carrying a submarine walking out of the ocean and into the forests of Hawaii!?

Other Notes (Normal Version):

Ø  Why doesn’t Godzilla eat nuclear stuff too?  Why is he just hiding in the ocean instead of causing a bunch of harm?

Ø  Did you recognize that one army officer that had a few lines?  I did:  hello Richard T. Jones

Ø  This film has a weird fascination with children:  the girl that sees the water receding before the monster shows up in Hawaii, the boy in the train station, young Ford seeing the nuclear plant being destroyed.  The list goes on.

Ø  Mmm…nukes