The Hercules of Monsters: Less than a God, More than a Lizard

Rating: 6/10 (18 May 2014)

7.5 out of 10
IMDb should really invest in programming half-stars into their site (just saying guys, it isn't a bad idea) because I feel 7 is squeaking by with a passing score and an 8 is too generous. Now at the time of exiting the theater, I tend to give movies a higher score (riding on that popcorn high, what can I say). But now that the smoke has cleared, I can peer into the film and see things I normally would not have noticed at the time of viewing.
Let's begin by saying that this movie is a VAST improvement over the hot mess that was Roland Emmerich's attempt to choke the life out of the king of monsters by making him a her and her an overly glorified iguana laying ALIEN eggs. What should have been a match made in heaven (the guy makes apocalypse porn, what could've gone wrong?) ended in a complete and total disaster, and not the good kind (if there is such a thing)! Instead of GODZILLA, you got Roland Emmerich's Day Off.
This movie is GODZILLA, and a very fun one at that. I laughed at a commercial for this film when one of the critic's quotes was "original". Uh huh. Someone must of missed 60 years of cinema history...
The BAD
Bryan Cranston's too soon and anticlimactic death
I felt a bit cheated on this one. Here you hire one of the most talented modern dramatic actors who gives stunning performance after stunning performance. He takes ownership of each scene he is in, because you know what? He lives there, on the silver screen, and at long last Cranston moves from television to film and takes a part in a movie that could've easily redefined, SERIOUSLY redefined human drama in a disreputable movie genre. But nope, we get an unfulfilled story arc that would have been SO much more interesting than my number two...
Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character and performance
So boring. That's it.
That's all that can really be said of this dismal, cardboard cutout of a character that is so over done, so uninspired, so clichéd that when Cranston's character just gets zipped up and the camera pans up and focuses on Johnson, the movie is literally telling you: remember when you were excited that Walter White and not Ferris Bueller was going to star in this film? Yeah well, you'll have to make do with this guy. At that point, I slowly uttered the word: $h!+.
The GOOD
Alexandre Desplat's Score
I love Desplat and his often overlooked scores (especially for Wes Anderson films, the man needs a shiny golden idol to worship). Brassy, boisterous, and bound for greatness, this music sets the tone for the film pitch perfect (pardon the pun). It also captures a feeling of not only dinosaurs roaming the Earth, but other creatures that defy classification. Catchy.
THE SOUND
Yes. Yes. Yes. Hell yes. A thousand times yes. THIS is how a science-fiction monster movie should sound. When I went to the seven o'clock premiere in IMAX, little could've prepared my body and ears for what was about to occur. Upon Godzilla's first ascension from the sea to the coast of Hawaii and uttered his roar, the theater cheered, clapped, and screamed, "HELL YEAH!" at the screen. Chills.
The Direction and Fan Service
Yes sir, Gareth Edwards has proved whether it be the setting sun in Japan, the falling of soldiers through the sky, a quarantine zone in Tokyo, or the battling of titans through this sophomore effort that his mind can give birth to some fantastic and often jaw dropping and gorgeous visuals. More importantly, this man respects the source material. Note: that the first time we mention Godzilla is through a character callback of an original Godzilla character: Dr. Serizawa. Ken Watanabe's portrayal of the brilliant and mysterious Dr. Ichiro Serizawa is small, understated, corny, but great. They first discover the creature in 1954 (the original release date of the first film) and he utters the word *dramatic pause* Gojira. Awesome.
The M.U.T.O.'s
Very intriguing monster designs. A hybrid of insect and gorilla, these two create some of the more interesting scenes such as the sweet husband giving his big lady a kiss and a nuke and the mother crying out in agony after discovering that her children were set ablaze. I was strangely conflicted after that last one: on the one hand they're the last of their species trying to survive and continue their legacy and on the other we would all die. Powerful.
The Build
A lot of the time, movies jump the gun and blow their payload too soon. With Godzilla, you're teased and teased until the final climatic battle when you, at last, finally see the radioactive lizard in all of his glory. While this immensely frustrated a lot of viewers, we live in a time of instant gratification where we need things, and we need them NOW. Well I'm here to tell those people: You don't understand how Godzilla movies work, and yet you're going to one anyway. Good things take time, great things take even longer. It's the way of all things, ESPECIALLY spectacle and storytelling. While Jaws did it best, this movie is no push over in that regard.
This movie has flaws, big ones at that. Still, like the monsters it depicts, scars can make things more interesting. It shows times of weakness and humility. Godzilla is far from a God, but avid fans say otherwise. Regardless, he shall continue his reign as King of the Monsters.