Review: Godzilla(2014)

Review: Godzilla(2014)
*Mild Spoilers Alert
  Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.

Official 'Godzilla(2014)' Poster.

      The successful reincarnation of one of the most known monsters in movie history, 'Godzilla' is one of the most entertaining disaster movies of the year, and for me one of the best disaster movies ever.

"Aaron-Taylor Johnson".

"Bryan Cranston".

      Chief engineer at the Janjira Nuclear Plant in Japan, 'Joe Brody'(Bryan Cranston) is convinced that the meltdown and destruction of the plant that killed thousands of innocent people, including his wife 'Sandra Brody'(Juliette Binoche), wasn't caused by a normal earthquake but by a series of mysterious seismic activity pattern. Fifteen Years later, his son 'Ford Brody'(Aaron-Taylor Johnson), a Navy EOD technician, must leave his wife 'Elle'(Elizabeth Olsen) and his son 'Brody'(Carsone Bolde), to travel to Japan after his father 'Joe' gets arrested trying to trespass a quarantine zone. There to actually stop his father's erratic behavior to prove and reveal what the government is hiding, he actually realizes that his father has been right all along, and that the world is going to witness one of the biggest disasters ever to happen because the world choose to ignore his father's warnings. 'Ford' must now try to navigate his way back to San Francisco to save his family all while destruction and chaos is happening. Other major characters include scientist Dr. 'Ishiro Serizawa'(Ken Watanabe), his co-worker scientist Dr. 'Vivienne Graham'(Sally Hawkins), Rear Admiral 'Wiliam Stenz'(David Strathairn), Sergeant 'Tre Morales'(Victor Rasuk), Captain 'Russel Hampton'(Richard T. Jones) and young 'Ford Brody'(CJ Adams).

"Elizabeth Olsen".

'Godzilla'.

      Since the not-so-good 1998 'Godzilla' movie, people all around the world were anticipating this new attempt at a reboot to recapture the same feeling the original movie brought back in 1954(though the situation back in the day with the atomic bomb helped solidify the thematic importance of the movie). And being fearful of the announcement of a reboot was normal, due to many fearing a déjà-vu, and scared that Hollywood might once again give us another 'Godzilla' flop movie. Fortunately this didn't occur and people, including me, do consider that today's version is definitely one of the best disaster movies ever made in my opinion. The origin story of 'Godzilla', the monster was a metaphor to the arrogance of humankind, and what is appreciated here was the bringing of similar themes that the original movie brought about the power of nature and the selfishness of humans in a more modernized manner. Furthermore, the sharing of the monster was done from the perspective of the people living this chaos, which I found to be a very clever and interesting way to do things. Adding to these points, the sheer scale of the movie and sort of excitement that came with it is rarely felt these days, where most movies nowadays are mainly reboots and sequels rather than a movie that can standalone as a big budget entertaining movie.

"Ken Watanabe" and
 "Sally Hawkins".

"David Strathairn".

      Known for his critically acclaimed independent movie 'Monsters', director "Gareth Edwards" for certain felt that this movie was his dream project. The restraint "Gareth" to unveil the titular monster was very surprising to many, but actually this restraint actually helped build the anticipation within the movie. "Gareth" was respectful to the essence of the monster, while still making it his own and bringing the story to the modern world that we live in. As mentioned before, the shots of the monster from the perspective of the humans was brilliant, and the clever usage of the shots to incorporate both stories made the movie that much more epic and grand. The visual effects of the movie were exceptional (in terms of richness and realism), but the realization of 'Godzilla' was extremely awesome and truly brought the monster's larger than life persona. "David Callaham"('The Expendables') and "Max Borenstein"'s screenplay made sure that the story wasn't only about CGI monsters fighting but also about a selected group of people and their journey to survive. Though a little more depth into the humans could have further improved the emotional connection the movie made with some of the humans. Composer "Alexandre Desplat"('Zero Dark Thirty') manages to bring the grandness of the moment, while highlighting the intimate moments within his score.

"Bryan Cranston" and
"Aaron-Taylor Johnson".

"Juliette Binoche".

      The time frame of the movie was perfect, and as a fan I wouldn't have minded if it was extended for a few more moments helping certain points to have some breathing space. The tension was successfully built from the beginning, where many subplots related to the bigger story may feel a bit confusing and unrelated but with time the relation will sink in. As I mentioned before, what surprised me about the movie was the epicness of the movie as a whole; moreover, the humans’ plots were very much complementary to that of the monsters. Never do you feel that the trajectory of the story felt forced, even though certain moments were very much on that thin line. Another interesting element from the movie was the point of view that "Gareth" wished to portray. Rather than making the movie solely centered around the monsters, as audiences we witnessed the action taking place from the perspective of the humans who were in the middle of the disaster, which I found interesting and one of the positive aspects. From finding the huge skeleton, to the MUTO hatching, tsunami scene, bridge scene and the penultimate battle in San Francisco, the movie slowly opened the story for the audiences and unveiled the 'King of Monsters'. Apart from these mentioned scenes, the full unveiling of Godzilla, as well as the soldiers parachuting and the final scene of the movie, these were my favorite scenes of the movie (though I actually thought all scenes were spectacular and important for the story).

'Godzilla'.

San Fransisco.

      Though the cast included an array of established and upcoming leading stars, the star of the movie obviously is 'Godzilla'. The monster in this movie had different physical characteristics than the previous incarnation, which gave him richness and felt like a monster that could actually exist in real-life. Presenting him as the creature that would restore balance to nature rather than an ally to the humans from the beginning of the movie was the right decision. And this central point was successfully maintained throughout the movie, while still allowing audiences to cheer for him and consider him a hero. Without any thread of doubt 'Godzilla' was the star of the movie. The remaining monsters were also one of the highlights of the movie, and the decision to depict MUTOs and 'Godzilla' as creatures who will act as the creatures they are meant to be was the right decision. Now moving on to the cast, "Bryan Cranston" gave a brilliant emotional and empathetic performance. He was able to create a logical bridge between sci-fi and human drama that was occurring in the movie, but was surprised with his actual screen time seeing the promotion was centered on him.

"Aaron-Taylor Johnson"
 and "Elizabeth Olsen".

"Ken Watanabe" and
"Sally Hawkins".

      "Aaron-Taylor Johnson" was basically the leading-man of the movie, where his character served as the route of the story. His likeable and toned-down performance was a service to the movie since no one was expecting his character to outshine the main star of the movie, 'Godzilla'. "Elizabeth Olsen"'s character was very much sidelined, when many expected more importance and impact from her character. Still she delivered a strong performance. The chemistry between "Aaron" and "Elizabeth"'s characters was convincing, even if little time was given to establish it (It will be interesting to see how the two actors, who play wife and husband in this movie, will play brother and sister in 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron' in 2015). "Ken Watanabe" and "Sally Hawkin"'s characters were reduced as exposition characters, to inform audience of what is happening. While more involvement from their characters part was expected and once again the two stars were very much under-used looking at their capabilities, still their performances were commendable. "Juliette Binoche" was an odd choice yet her chemistry with "Cranston" was felt. "Carsone Bolde" blended well as the son of 'Ford' and 'Elle', "David Strathairn" was believable as the admiral and voice of the US Government in the movie.

      'Godzilla' was always expected to be the dark horse of 2014 Summer Movie Season, and seeing the positive reaction the movie will be remembered for years to come. All Hail the 'King of the Monsters', 'Godzilla'!

Official 'Godzilla(2014)' Poster.

-'Godzilla (2014)' Info:

-Based on: 'Godzilla' by Toho.

-Starring: Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olson, Brayn Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Carsone Bolde, Victor Rasuk, Richard T. Jones, CJ Adams and Juliette Binoche.

-Studio(s): Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.

-Directed by: Gareth Edwards.

-Story by: David Callaham.

-Screenplay by: Max Borenstein.

-Music by: Alexandre Desplat.

-Running Time: 123 minutes.

-Budget: $ 160,000,000.

-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 200,676,609.

                   -Foreign: $ 324,300,000.

-Ratings: -IMdb: 7.6/10.

               -Rotten Tomatoes: 72%.

               -Metacritic: 62%.

               -PERSONAL RATING: 8.8/10.

-'Godzilla (2014)' Trailer: