Better Than the Emmerich Version.

Rating: 5/10 (9 June 2015)

Godzilla (2014): Dir: Gareth Edwards / Cast: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Juliette Binoche: The umpteenth movie about the classic reptilian monster that emerges from the seas and rampages through Tokyo and apparently San Francisco as well. It begins in 1954 where the disaster originally hit, accompanied with the Japanese version of the film. Then it juts ahead to 1999 where Bryan Cranston works at this facility and witnesses the loss of his wife. Years later his son has grown and has joined the Navy. He receives news that his father has been arrested in Tokyo. Cranston is the one effective casting and he is only in this film for the first twenty minutes or so. He informs his son of a cover-up but cannot quite pin point the issue. The rest of the cast loses the personality contest against the giant lizard. Aaron Taylor-Johnson was much more interesting in Kick-Ass. One could only wish he donned the costume and dashed out to fight the monsters. Elizabeth Olsen plays his nurse wife and her performances collapses faster than the buildings. Ken Watanabe is a decent actor subdued by cardboard writing. Juliette Binoche is seen briefly as Cranston's wife whose departure brings the one emotional front to the film. While the structure is just a series of disasters but the climax where Godzilla clashes with two winged creatures is strong stuff. While a better film than the pathetic 1998 version it is still subdued with idiot children separated from their parents and actors separated from decent material that remain more stable than the cities featured here. Score: 5 Â½ / 10