A magnificent, ambitious and often astonishing epic let down by minor clichés.

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2014)

Since the awful disappointment of the 90's remake of Godzilla, the arrival of a new and more refined version stimulated a great deal of anticipation in me! The new trailer was expertly made, I was very, very excited. After months of speculation from my family, I finally got the chance to see it. What a clichéd, delightful surprise. In all honesty, Godzilla lived up to its expectations. Making a B-movie into a more realistic film is a hard job but director Gareth Edwards delivers a satisfying disaster movie that only some audiences, including myself, will fully appreciate. It's superior, reputable and full-out epic but it's greatness also turns into it's weakness. Clichés. Almost every film in the modern world accept clichés into it's script and this is one of them. Godzilla rightfully tries to avoid the garbage clichés but fails to contain them through it's love story between Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Ford and Elizabeth Olson's Elle. Their performances are respectable, they are fine but Bryan Cranston, who is famous for brilliantly portraying Walter White in television series Breaking Bad, steals the show as Joe Brody, the father figure who is shown obsessed with how mysterious signs of Godzilla's presence have appeared. Joe tries to study the signs along with the Japanese guy in Inception, and the story unfolds. In the story, astonishing surprises unfold and sadly I cannot continue to explain the story with spoiling it! To put it in words, it is unexpected and actually quite clever. Through it's surprises, Godzilla's power is unleashed and the film turns into an action- fest, without showing all the destruction it actually can. It avoids it, but the ending has plenty of it. Having said, I admired its ending because really the film is a guilty pleasure, like Pacific Rim. It was made for people's entertainment and it is easily recognisable in Edwards' direction. The devastating lizard / dinosaur / crocodile / dragon has plenty of astonishing action. Godzilla kicking butt is definitely a guilty pleasure to watch. I would, however, liked to have seen it in IMAX 3D. It think the experience would be even more admirable. This is because the visuals in Godzilla are incredible, Godzilla is a breathtaking beast! At times, you actually root for Godzilla to wreak havoc, you'll understand when you watch the film. The suspense is also really well executed.
Pros and Cons:
+ Fantastic Godzilla action + Unexpected, cleverly executed story elements + Bryan Cranston's bombshell performance + Great visuals + Brilliant suspense - An acquired taste for some audiences - Expected clichés - Human characterisation doesn't fully pay off
In all, Godzilla is both questionable and astonishing. For the full experience, go and see it in IMAX.
Verdict = 8 out of 10.