Finally, "Godzilla" done right.

Rating: 7/10 (25 May 2014)

It takes special talent to make a satisfying monster movie, and that's what director Gareth Edwards and a talented cast bring to the table in this all-new, very skillful take on Godzilla.
Edwards and Co. take an entirely new approach to the standard Godzilla story: the above-ground atomic weapon tests of the 1950s weren't tests at all, but an attempt to kill Godzilla, whose species had roamed the earth during the time of the dinosaurs, when natural radiation was much stronger than it is now. The tests succeeded only in driving the King of All Monsters back into the ocean.
But Godzilla is not the only one. There are the dangerous MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) who feed on radiation, and who are awakened, ready to breed. And they're hungry.
The acting makes a great difference. If the cast doesn't care, then the audience won't. (That's not always a bad thing. DeForest Kelley trying not to laugh during "Night of the Lepus" is one of that movie's best bits.) But Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Juliette Binoche, and David Straithairn, among others, wisely take the approach that what's happening isn't a merry romp through the towers of San Francisco. These events are deadly serious business, and the cast treats the material as though it were Shakespeare. We care about these characters.
Cranston, in particular, gives the film his all. I can truly say that this is the first monster film in which there is a genuinely human and tragic scene, one which could happen in real life and work in a more serious movie. Joe's anguish, agony and loss all come through in closeup, and that moves the audience. The scene does a great deal to erase the silliness of all this film's predecessors, and, more importantly, gives the audience an emotional investment in Joe and his family.
I read one review in which the reviewer called the cast "overqualified." That may be, but it is certainly worth it in this case.
The story really gets going 15 years later, when Joe's soldier son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, of the "Kick-Ass" films) is summoned to Japan, because Dad's been arrested. It seems as though Joe has become a crank conspiracy theorist, who knows the authorities are covering something up, that the reason for the disaster had to be something other than the official reason. Little do they know.
Once the MUTOs arrive, just hold onto your seats and enjoy the ride. Edwards' adroit use of special effects, his skillful teasing before we see the full Godzilla, and the action scenes move along so well and so swiftly, that the most important problem of monster movies – certain logic holes, for instance – zoom by before anyone can notice them.
At last, Godzilla has become something more than a sumo wrestler in a rubber suit kicking over obvious cardboard models. In the right hands, the King of All Monsters can be entertaining for the right reasons. I can only hope the studio doesn't start chintzing for the next one. It'll be worth spending the money.