CGI trumps plot and script

Rating: 4/10 (13 June 2014)

I get this is blockbuster, designed to put bums on seats to watch a spectacle. And boy is it spectacular. The problem is that the characters are basically one dimensional and the script is a thin series of clichés designed to fit between the epic CGI set pieces. Where the '98 Godzilla trumps this one, you actually care about the fate of the characters, their motivations are clear and make sense, which renders the final battle more interesting. This Godzilla has all the elements, the giant creatures, the embattled humans, the "son of dead scientist" fighting for his life and the lives of countless others. Him randomly meeting a lost child in the subway, an incredibly clumsy device, the child's parents surviving the attack of the mutos, without apparently messing up their clothes or hair... and then we have the deal breaker (at least for me), this IED expert whose job is to defuse bombs gets on an aircraft and becomes an instant expert in the HALO jump? Pardon me? The biggest problem is that the bits of humanity that happen in the gaps between CGI are not long enough for us to get much of a handle on the characters, and the general level of unfocused-ness about the plot makes it very hard to care about their ultimate fate. The actors do their best, but ultimately, when I got up to leave at the end, I didn't feel invested in the outcome. Big, noisy, but curiously detached and despite the huge set pieces not actually that thrilling. Disappointed.