A Great Monster Movie

Rating: 6/10 (19 May 2014)

To get straight to the point, the weak link of this movie is the script. The plot is mediocre, the characters one dimensional and it offers some heavy Hollywood clichés. The frightened wife who has nothing to do but worrying about her husband, kids in poorly constructed dangerous situations who get rescued (3 times in total), the dog who escapes from a tsunami, the army guy holding his bible praying before the battle and of course the happy ending where the protagonist and his wife falling into each others arms. So far so bad right?But aside from these scenes you get a really awesome movie and that is due to the great directing by Gareth Edwards. There is great cinematography, imagery, suspense, action, cgi and on top of that a really well done soundtrack which supports the mood of the movie perfectly. Even though the protagonists are not quite complex the actors make the best out of it and deliver some really convincing and touching scenes (Bryan Cranston!). And while Aaron Johnson is bland in comparison to Cranston he is likable and never annoys. He serves as the person through which eyes the audience encounters the monstrous events and because of the first 20 minutes of family build up we can also empathize with him. Summarized the human element in this movie varies from decent to sometimes great, but it never gets goofy or unreliable and that is completely sufficient for a monster movie. Cause when it comes to the main attraction, this movie really shines. The Buildup scenes for Godzilla are just absolutely well made and the fact of not seeing him that much, enriches this movie a lot. The increasing tension regarding Godzillas appearance culminates in an battle of unrivaled epicness. This scene alone is great by itself but gets even more exciting thanks to the well constructed buildup. Talking about goosebumps moments, well there are a lot of them. For example the first outburst of the muto, the bridge scene, the halo-jump or godzillas approach to Hawaii or San Francisco. All these scenes are so intense and atmospheric because of the superb shots which are done in interesting and authentic ways and don't give away to much, leaving room for imagination but simultaneously create a perfect sense for the scale of these creatures. In conclusion this movie has flaws but compensate these with great direction and its unique approach portraying giant creatures, which makes it in my opinion a great movie standing out from the usual Einheitsbrei (german word for mishmash).