It is not really sure what it wants to be, but several good moments save the film as a whole

Rating: 7/10 (17 May 2014)

I went into this film expecting to see a kaiju film that has the grittiness of recent superhero films like Nolan's Batman trilogy as well as realistic human drama. While the film does have bits and pieces of these elements, they do not blend well and the end result is a film with abrupt tonal shifts and without any clear focus. You can essentially divide the film into 3 parts: the first 30 minutes being packed with intense drama and well fleshed-out character backstory, the second being a filler without any clear direction, and the last focusing on cool epic monster fight. With that being said, the acting in the first part is exceptional. Bryan Cranston does a really great job portraying a scientist whose loss leads to self-destructing obsession. In fact, his acting is so realistic and intense that it sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the cast. It is a disappointing to see the best actors-Cranston, Binoch, and Hawkins- in this movie being very underused (having less than 15 minutes of the screen time). Instead, the majority of human story is left to Aaron Taylor Johnson, who is not bad per se, but is nothing compared to the older cast. While a lot of people have complained about Godzilla not having enough fights, I don't find this an issue. One thing new audience do not understand about Godzilla is that he never has that much screen time even in the original Japanese versions. He would come out near the end, carry out the epic fight, and then go back into the ocean. This is a great formula because it makes each of Godzilla's appearances meaningful. Edwards' version closely follows this tradition. As a result, the final battle with MUTO (which happens to be the only fight the film shows to the audience, while the remaining minor battles are skipped) is downright awesome. In all, I personally think that if the non-Godzilla moments are done better and more fleshed out , this would be a great godzilla film.