Godzilla: The Good, the bad and the Scaly

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2014)

Now admittedly my only taste of Godzilla was the 1998 version that co-starred Simba and plenty of fish.'98 Godzilla both terrified and enthralled me during my almost-twenty-years on this planet. So, it was nostalgia, not fangirlism, that led me to see this film.
The plot revolves around the fact that there are these two alien type winged creatures, dubbed MUTO, one a he and one a she (you see where this is going), who feed off radiation and will destroy whatever's in their way to chow down on their carcinogenic dinner. Mr and Ms MUTO are being hunted down by none other than ... GODJIRA! A giant dinosauresque type creature whose purpose in the movie, according to the Asian professor, is to restore order by kicking the butts of the two MUTOs.
The movie in a whole, is pretty damn good. Just don't go in expecting a fantastic human story, because there is none. The acting is grand, you feel the emotion and you want the human characters that you embark on the journey with to turn out OK. There's three problems with the human co-stars; one is that they serve no purpose only to run and flee (and would you blame them?!), two, you know what's going to happen to them, and three, they have as much dimension as a playing card. Is the acting bad? Not nesicarily. But the characters themselves could've been so much better, in my opinion.
What about our scaly hero? He's AWESOME. He keeps with the original design, his roar is chilling, and he kicks some serious ass. Not only that, but he has character! There's this little moment after he kills the first MUTO where he puts his forearm on his leg and leans forward, as if to say "thank God, one job done!" Not only that, but Godzilla is kind of a hero by association; he doesn't set out to kill humans, only to destroy the MUTOs, which he does, and then he just leaves to go home. Anyone he crushed was simply due to his size and clumsiness. The only thing with Godzilla is that he could've been shown more. I like the suspense that was building up to whenever he appeared, and, despite what I'd heard about him supposinlgy being barely in the film, he appeared a good bit - but not nearly enough! It was a clever cinematic technique, leaving me wanting more, but Jesus, I paid to see GODZILLA, not that thing that looks like something out of a Meatloaf music album... Jesus, talk about a bat outta hell! Speaking of the MUTOs, I liked them too! Not as much as Reptar over there, but they were alright. I felt feelings when they nuzzled each other, and when Momma MUTO mourns over her BBQ'd babies - damn, I felt sorry for her! BUT, yes, there's a but - there was simply too much MUTO and not enough Godzilla! Whenever they turned up I was like, oh, well at least they're bad ass, but where's GODJIRA?! I want what I paid for, damn it! I guess I did get what I paid for: I paid for Godzilla to destroy things and cause mayhem. I was really happy that he was hailed the hero, and was pleased with the ending. Aaron Johnson and Bryan Cranston were compelling enough to be likable, and Godzilla was awesome. The only real let downs for me were the humans and their story, and not enough Godzilla.
I do have a feeling that it won't be the last we'll see of him, though .... ;)