Godzilla (2014) Review

A solid Monster-Mash!!!

Going into watching Godzilla not at all watching any of the trailers and not anticipating it to live up to the expectation,Godzilla does a lot to address the faults within this genre type such as elongated scenes and insignificant scenes. Godzilla manages to balance a lot of the key factors such as the many minutes we see both the monsters and people and not stray off on a tangent but there are some subtle faults that maybe could of been addressed.

The narrative and this whole idea of Nuclear anxiety(relating back to the original film in 1954)which is an occurring theme that drives the majority of the film is built up at the very start of the film rather well as it does create this great expectation that we do get. The archived footage helps us see this as it blends in with glimpses of this reptile creature which obviously symbolises that something catastrophic will happen.What I personally liked about this film knowing that I didn't watch any of the trailers to spoil my self and how I really don't know much in depth about other Godzilla stories was the sequence near the start where we see scientists Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham (Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins) exploring a cave in the Philippines of not just a skeleton, but two egg pods which honestly surprised me in a good way.Even though this idea of having Godzilla and the M.U.T.O (Massive unidentified terrestrial organism) may have been a risky move by Director Gareth Edwards and how it could of been a huge mess of just pure fighting an unbalance in terms of the number of times they appear on screen (which mainly is probably one of the main reasons why some people detest this film), he at least has made this bold but successful move of adding more monsters and quite frankly, Edwards has done a good job of balancing out the colossal fighting sequences with the human perspectives and how they are handling and struggling with these behemoths. Although Godzilla does make his full appearance known around the one hour mark which again has had many people being critical of the pacing and momentum of the film, the first time we see the all powerful figure and hear this god-like roar it certainly delivers shivers down the spine. Personally I find the pacing of the film reasonable; the first hour leading up to the immense scenes feel natural and doesn't really drag at all. While it can argued that the human perspective of the story near towards the end doesn't engage you to sympathise with the characters that we get to know throughout, the opening sequences make up for that with the character of Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston).

Out of all the acting performances, no one can really go against how good Bryan Cranston is in terms of what sought of character he has to adapt. The character of Joe Brody (a nuclear physicist at Janjira nuclear plant) who is quickly accustomed living a life filled with grief,tragedy,anger and sadness is a character that does seem to be difficult to manage to which Cranston does very well when we see him diverge himself in a life full of conspiracy and agonising mystery trying to find out what really happened at the plant. Although his performance can be seen as insignificant and could of perhaps been situated around another person, Aaron Taylor-Johnson who plays Lieutenant Ford Brody (son of Joe Brody)and is profoundly the main person we follow does a stable job of well.. showing us the human perspective of the struggle against the beasts and that's all there is to his character really. The only positive that I got from his performance was his on-screen chemistry with Elizabeth Olsen's character Elle Brody and how they bounced off each other really well as a married couple. It is a bit of a shame however for Olsen who doesn't really get a stagnant and more of a engaging role to really connect with her character. There are glimpses of her where she is nursing people around the hospital where I feel they could of perhaps focused more on her story as well and what it was like for her when Godzilla and the Male/female M.U.T.O were bashing at each other rather than seeing Ford Brody's perspective for the majority of the time. As for Ken Watanabe.. he is certainly the character with the stereotypical lines. Although his role is supposed to be vital to the narrative, the lines and the way he delivers them will be the only thing remembered about his character.. trust me. One last thing to inform all of you for those who want to watch this film.... DON'T WATCH IT IN 3-D. Iv'e always said that 3-D is a cheap gimmick which is supposed to 'ENTICE' the film-goer and Godzilla in 3-D is a good example of WHY YOU SHOULDN'T WATCH IT IN 3-D!!! it seriously adds nothing and at times the foreground of the images that appear aren't really focused properly which is annoying so PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

Having said this however, Godzilla is in my book a good piece for the monster/disaster genre. Again the bold but successful inclusion of different monsters including obviously Godzilla genuinely surprised me and adds another dimension to this genre of films. The time you see Bran Cranston on screen is really pleasing to see but doesn't really get appreciated due to how the other human perspectives play out throughout the film. It's hard to say whether Godzilla will be one of the best films to be released this year in 2014 due to other major films yet to be released. However if it doesn't get to be one of the top rated films of this year (which i'm sure it will be),overall it's stable entry for the action genre as well making a SOLID MONSTER-MASH!! 

I give Godzilla 7/10

Alex Rabbitte