Over rated

Rating: 5/10 (15 May 2014)

This was perhaps the film I was looking forward most this summer. The trailers were fantastic, the cast is very talented, a promising Director. Everything was in place so I should have loved it right? Sadly not. Let me explain why (Heavy Spoilers) 1: Bryan CranstonBy far the best thing about the film acting wise, his early scenes are emotional and wonderfully performed which the rest of the movies acting performances cant live up towhy? .because he's killed off in first half hour leaving us with problem number 2. 2: Aaron Taylor Johnson : Now don't get me wrong, I like this actor, I enjoyed him in both "Kick Ass "movies and even Oliver Stones "Savages" but here he is so unemotional and without facial expression that its very difficult to care for him. Now you might say he's a soldier and trained to be like that and I respect that but my point is it makes for such an un-engaging protagonist to vicariously live the movie through. He just brought no charisma to the role. He struggled to carry this movie when monsters weren't on screen. 3: Godzilla : Much has been written that the titular character only spends 26 minutes on screen but that did not bother me so much. What bothered me was the design of Godzilla. I know some will say it's faithful to the original design and I accept that but for me the original design looked silly. It's a man in a suit after all. I took my 15 year old nephew along with me to see this movie and afterward he said "Godzilla looked like a fat bear with spikes sticking out of his back". I found it hard to disagree. 4: It was just boring. For the whole middle third after the attack on Oahu to final battle in San Francisco I felt restless. I get that the director wanted to tease the audience until the final battle but I just wish he gave us something interesting to watch in between.
I probably sound like a hater here but there was scenes I enjoyed. 1: Bryan Cranston was excellent in his few scenes, highlight being his tragic scene with Juliette Binoche at reactor. 2: I enjoyed the Oahu scenes of destruction more than the final battle scenes. 3: "Let them fight". great line delivered by ken watanabe 4: Elizabeth Olsen was solid as always but underused in a thankless wife role. 5: Effects were great but avoid seeing it in 3D if you can. 6: Music score had some great eerie moments particularly when soldier skydived into city.
Overall I did leave disappointed but I respect what the director tried to achieve.