Now With 100% Less Matthew Broderick

Rating: 7/10 (18 May 2014)

A nuclear meltdown 15 years ago bears striking resemblance to some current issues with the area now. What secrets are the government hiding away in the quarantined zone? When a freak of nature breaks lose from the cocoon it was encased in, another comes in to restore balance to the nature of things, while we try to get in his way....he is Godzilla.
There's a lot going on in Godzilla, so I'll give it credit for trying to bring something to the table that the original Americanized version did not. The size and scope of this entry is bigger and better. Gareth Edwards, the guy behind the independent special effects heavy flick Monsters, has been given a monster size of a budget to direct this decades old creature and possible restart a franchise. His delivery of Godzilla is a mess, but it beautiful mess.
The film is gorgeous to look at. Seeing the destruction of the world while these massive beasts tango is a marvellous achievement. Edwards teases the audience a lot here. Just when we are about to see the showdown, he cuts away and we only get glimpses of it on the television. A neat way to build up our anticipation for the destruction that is sure to ensue in the climax. He does this one too many times though and the teases become irritating. Show us what we want: Destruction, Mayhem, GODZILLA.
The special effects are astounding, that's a given. Edwards fully develops these creatures in a life like environment and the destruction they cause feels real. The size and scope of these creatures are leaps and bounds over what Emmerich gave us in the late 90's. The fighting between the monsters is a little rough, Del Toro has more of a craft to it with Pacific Rim. Here it feels more like a brawl, rightfully so.
Godzilla does the cardinal sin of false advertising. I can't really fault the film for this, but I do feel that it was a mistake creatively to kill off certain characters early in the film. There is no emotional catalyst for our lead hero here. It feels forced to try and make those connections it desperately wants the viewer to see and brings the film to sometimes boring sections. The human characters fill out their clichéd roles fine enough. Cranston is dynamite as the guy who is right about ominous things, but nobody believes him. Johnson is our lead, a good guy with father issues, trying to make it back home to his family and be the dad he never had. David Strathairn does his Jason Bourn military shtick and finally we have two actors who do absolutely nothing in the film. First is Ken Watanabe with very few lines, but serious looks here and there. He's our "let's explain everything" guy. The other is Elizabeth Olsen, who has done excellent work, as the wife of our lead. Her job is....I'm still confused here because she isn't even the damsel in distress. She is screen filler. Then last, but not least we have Godzilla, who is barely in the film.
Cardboard characters are to be expected in a monster flick....but aren't monsters expected to be in monster flicks? The guy's name is on the poster and Godzilla has the least amount of screen time here. The other creatures are cool looking as well and I really got into the "history" of when they first showed up and stuff, I just wish they explored that a tad bit more. The film is insanely serious. No real moments of brevity.
I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel, in the hopes that they take this in some kind of direction and not chug out Godzilla VS whatever creature the fans want now....I have my hopes.