In all honesty, the 1998 film was better.

Rating: 6/10 (28 August 2014)

The 1998 film had a better director, writer, and special effects technician. I am taking about Ronald Emmerich, Dean Devlin and Patrick Tatopolous. This team has worked on hits like Universal Soldier, Stargate and Independence Day. This film had seasoned actors Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno who could carry any film by themselves.
The 2014 film is directed by Gareth Edwards who is not seasoned enough to handle such a big project. The writer Dave Callaham writes a dull story and thus the screenplay written by Max Borenstein is ineffective. Bryan Cranston(of Breaking Bad TV series fame) is the only good actor in the film. But he has a short role in the film.
The film does not continue from the 1997 film, but is a standalone film.
The plot hinges around Project Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham investigate a colossal skeleton in a collapsed mine in the Philippines. They find two egg-shaped pods; one dormant, one broken open. The hatched creature burrows under Janjira Nuclear Power Plant and causes a seismic effect as it feeds on the reactor's radiation. Joe Brody(Bryan Cranston), the plant's supervisor, sends his wife Sandra and a team of technicians into the reactor. While the team is inside, the reactor is breached, releasing radioactive steam. Sandra and her team are unable to escape and the plant collapses into ruin.
Fifteen years later, Joe's son Ford is a US Navy explosive ordinance disposal officer, living in San Francisco with his wife Elle and son Sam. After Joe is detained for trespassing in the Janjira quarantine zone, Ford returns to Japan. Convinced of a cover-up of the cause of the disaster, Joe convinces Ford to help him retrieve vital data at their old home.
Watch film to find out what happens next.
The core of this film hinges on the C.G.I.(Computer Generated Imagery) special effects and no attention is given to the unbelievably ridiculous plot, which you have to see to believe. If the trio of Emmerich, Devlin and Tatopoulos had begin given this project, then the result would have been much better.
Verdict: Just watch once and forget about it. This film will be forgotten in years to come among the many trash films produced by the United States film industry.
You may like: Gozilla 1954, Godzilla King Of The Monsters! 1956, Godzilla 1985.