Movie Review: Godzilla
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
Ever since he first rose out of the ocean on movie screens sixty years ago, Godzilla has achieved a level of pop culture ubiquity shared by few other fictional characters. Much like Count Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, Sherlock Holmes, and King Kong, you can say Godzilla’s name to virtually anyone in the world and they will know who you’re talking about, even if they’ve never seen a single Godzilla movie. But the franchise has been dormant since the 50th anniversary film Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Now we have a new take on the King of Monsters – brought to us by Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, and British filmmaker Gareth Edwards, who directed the acclaimed sci-fi indie Monsters (2010) – and it’s awesome. Godzilla is a true epic, a welcome return to movies for the character, and a perfect way to celebrate the big guy’s diamond jubilee.
In 1954, a huge prehistoric creature known as Godzilla is awakened by American nuclear tests in the Pacific. In 1999, an excavation in the Philippines is halted due to high levels of radiation in the mines. Scientists Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) arrive to investigate and find the remains of a massive creature. In Janjira, Japan, nuclear physicist Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) and his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) investigate strange seismic readings at the nuclear power plant. An accident occurs which destroys the plant and takes Sandra’s life. Fifteen years later, Joe, who has become obsessed with finding the real cause of the accident, is arrested in Japan for trying to break into the quarantine zone around the former Janjira plant. In San Francisco, Joe’s now-grown son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a US Navy ordnance disposal technician, is enjoying a quiet night at home with his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and young son Sam (Carson Bolde) when Ford gets a call from Japan to get his father out of police custody and bring him back to the US. Back in Japan, Joe asks Ford to help him break into the quarantine zone and Ford reluctantly agrees. Inside the quarantine area, the two are captured and taken to a huge facility housing what looks like a giant glowing cocoon. Soon, a winged creature called a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) breaks free of the cocoon and escapes the facility. As the military tries to track the MUTO, the beast calls out to another of its kind in North America. Hearing their calls and seeing them as a threat, Godzilla sets out to find and destroy the MUTOs.
Fans of the Godzilla franchise know that, other than the original 1954 film, the human characters tend to be the weak link in the films. But while the talented cast here gives solid performances across the board, most of the characters are still pretty forgettable. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a skilled actor, but his character of Lieutenant Ford Brody is unfortunately a little bland. He’s the soldier trying to fulfill his mission and get back to his family, which we’ve already seen countless times across all forms of media. Similarly, Elizabeth Olsen as Elle Brody has good chemistry with Taylor-Johnson, but she is given very little to do. The two standouts of the cast are Ken Watanabe and Bryan Cranston. Watanabe’s Dr. Ishiro Serizawa is awesome and gets some of the best lines in the film, and frankly I think he could have been a better choice for a main character to focus on. Cranston’s Joe Brody is definitely the best human character in the film, and it’s a damn shame that he only has a relatively small role. Juliette Binoche as Sandra Brody is really only in the film for one scene, but that scene is one of the best in the film. Unfortunately, Sally Hawkins’ Dr. Vivienne Graham is probably the most superfluous human character, because she’s really only here to share exposition duties with Serizawa. And the always-reliable David Strathairn gets some solid moments as Admiral William Stenz, the requisite high-ranking military officer.
Of course, the real reason to see a Godzilla film is the monsters, and I’m happy to say they’re great. Gareth Edwards and crew did a great job of redesigning Godzilla, creating something that is both similar enough to the classic look to be immediately recognizable, but also clearly distinct from anything we’ve seen in the Japanese films. Godzilla is very much an actual character, and his personality comes across through the excellent facial animation of the digital monster. And when he does finally use his atomic breath, it looks totally awesome. There’s only one thing I don’t like about this design of Godzilla. As ridiculous as it sounds, I think his feet are too small. The two MUTOs are great original creations, and strike the balance of being challenging opponents for Godzilla without making him seem weak. Their design evokes the creatures from films like Aliens (1986), Starship Troopers (1997), and Cloverfield (2008), but is still its own distinct thing. And even the MUTOs have moments that make them more than just mindless rampaging beasts. But while I loved the monsters, I also wish we got to see more of them. I wanted more extended looks at the monsters, and less of the quick shots we get for much of the film.
Besides the monsters, the strongest elements of Godzilla arethe visuals and action. Every cent of the film’s $160 million production budget is up on screen, because the cinematography and production design are fantastic. I appreciated that the film used locations that haven’t been featured in previous Godzilla films, such as Hawaii, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. And the scenes of destroyed cityscapes are the best we’ve seen since the original 1954 Godzilla. The action scenes, both the humans fighting the monsters and the monsters fighting each other, are very impressive. The HALO jump into San Francisco, which has become the iconic image of the film, is even more impressive in the final film. While it takes a long time to get to the final fight between Godzilla and the MUTOs in San Francisco, it does not disappoint in the slightest. And while I won’t give away the specifics, the film’s final battle also gives us an instant contender for one of the coolest monster kills in the entire Godzilla franchise.
Story wise, the film is similar to the original Godzilla in some ways, in that it takes a slow burn approach. Godzilla himself is teased during the opening credits, and then doesn’t show up properly until quite a ways into the film. While some might be annoyed by this approach, I think it works well, and builds anticipation for when Godzilla and the MUTOs finally face off. And even when the monsters aren’t around, the film keeps things moving at a good clip and the pace doesn’t drag. However, there are a handful of story points that don’t hold up on closer examination. For example, it’s a bit of an eye-roller that the military wants to use a nuke against the MUTOs when they know the monsters feed on radiation. And while there’s a lot of good set-up for various elements of the human storyline early on, some of those end up falling flat.
All that being said, Godzilla is still a very good film. If you’re already a G-fan, enjoy it as a celebration of the series you love. If you’ve never seen a Godzilla movie, this is a great place to start. Personally, I’m a lifelong Godzilla fan, and it’s great to see the Big G come to Hollywood with the epic scope and majesty he deserves.
Timothy Monforton
