GODZILLA: 2014 Review!!!!

The wait is finally over! Godzilla, King of the Monsters, has returned to reclaim his throne! I’ve been so excited for this movie, and I was really hoping it would be worth the wait, and it was.

Where do I even begin? Well, I guess I should inform you that this is the spoiler free review. I’ll try not to give away anything in this review that’s not obvious at this point.

From the very first shot of this film, I was engrossed. It doesn’t take forever to set up the plot, it just dives right in. Within the first 15 minutes, everything is ready to roll. The characters are all introduced, the main threat is on the move, and it isn’t too long before it reveals Godzilla in all his Kingly Glory… kind of. One thing this movie likes to do is tease. It builds up a cool action/destruction sequence, but then cuts to some time later, and it shows snippets on a news report. The first time it happened, my initial reaction was “W-wha? No! Don’t do that!” But it soon becomes obvious that it’s supposed to be this way. It’s supposed to make you want- no, BEG for more, and at the end, Gareth Edwards decides to let you have it…. and it pays off. It was SO worth it!

Don’t get the wrong impression, it doesn’t do the tease thing 20 times over, like Gareth Edwards’ previous film: Monsters. I counted only about 3. It also doesn’t do it to a ridiculous degree. The movie executes it’s suspense and build up perfectly. And unlike most previous Godzilla films, the humans don’t make it drag on and feel boring. The humans keep you engaged throughout the movie. They carry a majority of it, and they do a pretty good job.

Of course, Brian Cranston delivers an excellent performance for the short time he’s on screen. I think he was hyped up more than Godzilla himself. I think the only reason he’s in the movie is so he can be put in the trailer to get the masses to see it. Perfect plan, in my opinion. It’s a better trick than some hot girl who can’t act- cough*Megan fox*cough.

Aaron Taylor Johnson is the main character of the story, more or less. It focuses on him the most, but the others also have a good amount of focus on them. Aaron does alright. My friend made the perfect simile for him, “He’s like bread. Pretty good, but nothing special.” He wasn’t super boring or anything, but he was bland-ish. I liked him, but more Cranston could have been nice.

Elizabeth Olsen does a good job, Ken Watanabe does great, all the other actors give a spot on performance. I liked Ken Watanabe the most. He is the man who knows what’s going on. He’s the Godzilla groupie, but he’s not over the top nerdy. He’s down to earth, and is the most likeable character out of all of them.

Now this is what it all comes down to, people… Godzilla himself. First, let me get this one fact out of the way: Godzilla doesn’t have a whole lot of screen time. That may come as a disappointment to some, but he has more screen time here than he did in some of his old movies, such as Terror of Mechagodzilla, or Destroy All Monsters. It’s not like Cloverfield, or anything like that, where it never shows the monster, this movie has a fair share of full body shots of Godzilla and the enemies. But I’m still wishing for a little bit more. Moving on, the design of Godzilla is great, and works very well. It looks like he’s a dinosaur with the body structure similar to a grizzly bear. Some people are calling him fat, which is accurate, but did they really expect something 400 feet tall and weighing who knows how many tons to be skinny? They made Godzilla skinny in America’s last attempt. You know what we got?

This. Now shut up.

Overall, his design is great. His eyes were surprisingly expressive for an animal. It made him feel a lot more like the classic Godzilla. On top of that, he actually LOOKS like Godzilla! He actually looks like an updated version that captures the essence of the classic. I see this design and say “That’s Godzilla.” I don’t say “That’s a good American Godzilla,” because this version is worthy of the name. They nailed it. Gareth Edwards nailed it.

Speaking of Gareth Edwards, he has vastly improved since his first movie, Monsters. Check my review for that one. Anyway, Gareth does a similar thing in Godzilla that he did in Monsters, that being the suspense… only THIS time, it works! It doesn’t drag on to the point of ever being boring, no scene felt pointless, the characters were entertaining enough to keep the viewer at attention, and the build up to the main event is done extremely well. Gareth did it right.

Not only did he do the suspense and all the other things well, but the movie just looks amazing! The kaiju look and feel huge! It feels like there are gigantic beasts trudging around, causing destruction. But he doesn’t portray them as monsters out to kill all of mankind, he portrays them as animals, forces of nature that cannot be controlled. They don’t mean to cause destruction at all, they’re just doing what they do naturally. Godzilla is the alpha predator, and his enemies are the prey. Or, as Ken Watanabe put it, Godzilla is nature’s way to restore balance. The other kaiju, known as MUTO, are the disruption, so Godzilla sets them straight. The humans don’t deliberately wake him up so he can kill the MUTO, he just does it naturally. If I went into any more detail, it would be spoiler territory, so I’ll save it for the spoiler review.

Real quick, as spoiler free as possible, I want to touch on the MUTO. These aren’t based off of the classic kaiju from Toho, they’re new. Those things are freaky. They are two of the most threatening enemies Godzilla has ever fought. These rank up there with Mechagodzilla, King Ghidorah, and Megaguirus. All the hell they give Godzilla instantly brought Megaguirus to mind. Their designs are pretty cool, too. Definitely a unique kaiju.

Before I wrap this up, I’ll go over just a few more things. The soundtrack is awesome. It sounds like a classic theme that would be in an old Godzilla movie, or any old monster flick. Classic, but updated, which perfectly compliments Godzilla himself. The CG is also fantastic, which only adds to the fantasticness of the final battle. Holy crap, that final fight is the best! The kaiju here fight more realistically than the old movies. They look like savage animals fighting for dominance rather than the men in suits boxing each other, defying the laws of physics, and playing volleyball with a rock. It’s a lot more epic than that. The big finale is the payoff I was hoping this movie would deliver, and it did! And the last scene is beautiful. Simply beautiful. I also liked how on the last news report, the bulletin labeled him “King of the Monsters.” That was perfect.

This isn’t a typical Godzilla movie. It's not stupid, cheesy, outlandish, or cheap. The suspense and how serious it takes itself is what separates it from the others. While there may not be a big focus on Godzilla, it is still very fun, very gripping, and totally worth the wait. All the little things like Aaron Taylor Johnson’s okay acting and okay character, as well as lack of Godzilla and Cranston, are not enough to weigh this movie down enough in order to say it’s disappointing. This was my #1 most anticipated movie of the year, and although it might not be perfect, it is satisfying to a large extent. For what it is, I love it. I highly recommend you see it, even if you’re not a Godzilla fan. Go see it. After the initial reaction of “Why wasn’t Godzilla in the movie more?”, I guarantee you that you’ll think about it for a bit, and say “That was pretty good!” I know I’m going again this weekend. Maybe tomorrow, maybe Sunday, whenever. I am glad to call this not an American Godzilla movie, but a great Godzilla movie.

FINAL RATING: 48 / 50

STORY: 5 / 5

ACTING: 4 / 5

CHARACTERS: 4 / 5

CG: 5 / 5

ACTION/SUSPENSE: 5 / 5

SOUNDTRACK: 5 / 5

TONE: 5 / 5

ENJOYABILITY: 5 / 5

REWATCH VALUE: 5 / 5

OWNING VALUE: 5 / 5

Ever so slightly flawed, but still great. I would love to see a sequel, but I don’t want to be one of the fans whining for one, only to have Warner Brothers and Legendary rush one out. Rushing a movie is never good, so I would advise us all to be patient. a 3 or 4 year wait is good enough. Please leave a comment on what you thought of this review and what you think of this movie. (I’m pretty sure I fixed the comment problem)