Great build-up, less great tear-down

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2014)

In a time where remakes and reboots cause increasing rolling of eyes from moviegoers, I think that lots of people weren't sorry to hear that Godzilla would get a make-over. The last incarnation from 16 years ago didn't please too many people, although I have to admit that I had a good time with the pulpy B-movie-type creature-feature that Roland Emmerich delivered. Sure, the script was substandard and most of the actors were out-performed by the beast, but there was plenty of action and random destruction to have a good time.
This reboot, however, takes its subject matter much more seriously, which is good, because Godzilla is a beloved character with a long history, an iconic presence, and an entire mythology that is just waiting to be explored, something the 1998 version infamously didn't. Godzilla isn't a mutated lizard here, but a mythical primordial creature that has been here since the beginning. The opening scenes, where Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins make a startling discovery, which has devastating consequences for Brian Cranston and his family, are great and suspenseful. They set the tone for the first half of the movie, which has a pleasant what-the-hell-is- going-on-here mood. The big budget is used for some spectacular vistas of deserted cities, mass scenes and random destruction, but it does not distract from the plot. Brian Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson take the viewer on a journey to make sense of all their discoveries, and I must say that there are some surprises along the way that the trailers had carefully hidden. Godzilla gets a few enemies in the form of vicious mega-parasites, which makes him the hero for a change, and builds up a lot of anticipation for their confrontation.
It is in the second half where, sadly, those expectations are not all met. Brian Cranston's character meets his unfortunate and unexpected demise, so that Taylor-Johnson gets promoted to the lead. However, he can't match Cranston's rugged charisma and authority, and the dramatic story arc that gave the first half such an impulse gets a bit muddled in the conventional weaknesses inherent to the genre, such as predictability (the monsters just 'happen' to converge where Taylor-Johnson's loved ones are) and excessive disregard for logic ("Let's give the parasites an EMP!" "Does that make any sense at all?" "No, but it looks cool and makes are heroes vulnerable!"). Elizabeth Olsen is definitely the more talented sibling of the Olsen family, but she is underused in a typical damsel-in-distress role.
Still, I'll gladly look past such weaknesses in an otherwise decent script, but we watch creature features for all the rampaging, mayhem and mass destruction as well. That's where the movie is a bit lacking: Godzilla enters quite late; we see him very sparingly, pushing away some ships and taking some fire; the parasites squash a few people and tear down one or two buildings, but most of the carnage occurs off-screen or through a monitor. There is lots of collateral damage, but too often we only see the aftermath or just a trail of destruction; when Godzilla and the parasites are about to face-off, the camera quickly cuts away. I understand that they were probably saving it for the finale, which was satisfactory, but the climax felt a bit rushed and underwhelming in light of all the waiting. I did not expect to ever say this, but with a little more focus on action than on story, I would have been more thrilled and on the edge of my seat. I had several things to say against Pacific Rim, but that movie DID show a whole range of death matches between large creatures beating the hell out of each other, that made up for all the silliness and plot holes in the script. On the plus side, the special effects look great and very realistic, and the disaster scenes that we get to see are convincing.
So, to sum up, I think that this is the story treatment that Godzilla deserves, but not necessarily the movie. He seems to be playing a supporting role in his own movie, and although this may have been done as to not take away the mystery, I hope that he can claim his rightful leading role in the inescapable sequel.