A Chix Chat On Film Review: Monster for the ages

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2014)

Godzilla has been around longer than I have, so I've had the opportunity to see his many incarnations over the years starting with the 1956 King of The Monsters starring Raymond Burr, which I saw many years after it premiered but found it extremely memorable. The trailer for this monster reboot immediately wet my curiosity. The story was obviously going to be done with finesse there seemed to be an air of mystery, and was being told as if it were a serious drama. I've realized that when fictional tales are told with a dramatic flair making the tone more realistic the more serious I take them. Case and point, there was a campiness to the last Godzilla that added to my distaste for it, not to mention his lizard-like appearance, then came this latest offering and I am filled with the same excitement for Godzilla as I remember having as a child. There were some questionable actions and scenes by some of the characters such as Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) having encounter after encounter with skyscraper sized monsters and narrowly escaping with his life just too many times to be believable. The monsters however were absolutely believable, and I have made no secret of the fact that I have a great appreciation for first rate the special effects and in this case they were very worthwhile to watch. I also appreciated the scientific explanation for Godzilla's existence and feeding habits as detailed by Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins). I have to say that I am now looking forward to expansion of the series, with an updated Mothra, Rodan, MechaGodzilla any other combatant for Godzilla and anywhere else the film makers want to take us in the monsterverse. On another note, yes I look for 'Us' in every film, so it was nice to have Captain Russell Hampton (Richard T. Jones) on the job in command and defending the world from the carnage.