Just wanted more, that's all

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2016)

Reading some of the reviews, you would think this was the worst movie ever made. Exactly what expectations did people have of a Godzilla movie anyway? Contrary to some, I thought the story line was interesting enough: they give the background of the monsters, and I found the characters and acting good enough to create some tension and interest. And they don't just throw the monsters at you in the first twenty minutes - they build up to the reveal gradually and with good pace, and what you think you are going to see at first isn't what you see (nice move there, movie makers, you got me).
My only complaint is that the filmmakers didn't do enough with the setup and foundation that they laid. They do spend a little too much time watching the monsters walk and fly around. The acting is wooden sometimes because the human characters aren't given enough to do, and some of their missions are kind of moot in the end. But hey, ultimately you came to see the monster, right? And as the film progressed, I got excited that I would get to see a real knock-down, drag-out monster fight. And I did!...sort of. The fight just doesn't go on long enough, for one thing. But worse, it is literally hard to see the fight. You often see the monsters from over someone's shoulder as they are running away, or out the window of some car, but rarely just a straight on camera view of Monster UFC. And the fight scenes are dark...literally dark with smoke and clouds. OK, I get it, if monsters tore up a city while venting themselves, that's probably what it would look like, but that makes for a poor cinematic viewing experience. BUT, Godzilla ultimately delivers the goods.
So, I thought the film would be horrible, given all that I had heard about it, but I found it an enjoyable popcorn film that just visually comes up a bit wanting. (Far better than that Star Wars: Farce Awakens debacle. That was gratuitous, I know.)