Do not expect Pacific Rim...

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2014)

Let me begin by saying that this film handled Godzilla with respect to the old films very well. Fans of Godzilla will be very happy. They handled the tone and development of the film fairly well. And of course Godzilla acted and looked as we all expected.
However, I think Pacific Rim has raised the bar in terms of what American audiences expect from a Kaiju film (or at least what I want). I want epic monster battles seasoned with interesting stories of people dealing with these apocalyptic scenarios. Pacific Rim gave us both of those. Godzilla came close...but didn't.
The monster battles were chopped up into tiny bits and strewn along the plot. The human stories were bland at best. The characters were one dimensional and the monsters we didn't care about had more screen time then the star of the film.
Pacific Rim has Hannibal Chow, and the two quirky doctors. Godzilla had a cliché family with a jar head who's only interesting detail was that he worked on bombs. The father played by Brian Cranston was the most interesting character and he's not in most of the film.
Knowing that this film was directed by the same guy who gave us 'Monsters' makes sense to me now. He applied the same formula for Monsters to Godzilla. And this resulted in a kind of tension building, hide and go seek with history's greatest monster. Which would have worked if only...if only they gave us MORE GODZILLA! The movie had too little Godzilla and too much boring actors and stupid other monsters. Now maybe I am tainted by Pacific Rim. But I really think this movie should have taken a few more notes from that film.
But people love Godzilla and don't want to talk bad about it in case they kill any hopes for a sequel. But announcements were made recently for a sequel..so thats good. However I fear the director and studio will only see the money (which I think most sales will be made because it's Godzilla and not on the inherent merits of the film itself) and not consider its flaws. I fear the sequel will repeat itself.
For the sequel...Please give us MORE Godzilla...or at the very least...more interesting human characters....Thank you.