I love this monster!!!

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2014)

Let's be fair. It's not the best Science Fiction movie of the year. That honor still belongs to "Captain America", but it surpasses the mess of "Spiderman (2014)". It's truly a valiant effort to revive the glory of that amazing beast. We don't really understand its origin. There's very little mythology but much to admire and enjoy, and the creature has literally tons of personality to boast.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. Why is it that recent special effect films are so dark and hard to see. It defeats the purpose of having to pay extra for those stupid 3D glasses. If you want to charge a premium, make the best possible film, and change the setting from rainy, cloudy and dark to something that can really give us the best possible experience. Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg can do it. Why is it so difficult for the rest of the directors? Second, get yourself a story editor and check what you have before you put it on film. It's going to be expensive, and it'd better make a little sense when we see the final product. It is a horrible experience to sit through long and boring movies that gives us nothing to savor. "Godzilla" has its share of those moments when nothing really happens, and there's so many shots of military equipment we can handle. We went to see the film to see the monsters fight each other and demolish cities. We don't want lovey-dovey stuff, and we chose not to be scientists, so take the overload of technical jargon out of the way. Hope the sequel shows that.
If you are going to hire great actors, give them something to do. Four great performers here stand around, uttering borderline nonsense or just staring at each other in the most painful ways because they are supposed to be feeling frustrated (according to the storyline), and they are probably very upset because it must be hell to be doing this in front of green screens or a very thin script. Binoche's role could have been played by a no-name actress, and what in the world is Watanabe doing here, other than lending some panache to the film? Cranston could be sleepwalking here, and I would hate to say that Taylor-Johnson could win an Oscar for "Kickass" in comparison to his role here.
Now the good stuff. "Godzilla" himself is a superb creation. Finally a monster that looks scary, and that we can cheer for since he's our savior. He actually moves realistically and makes a hell of a fighting/grunting/battle cry. I love to see him do that, and this is as much fun as watching some combination of Zumo and Wrestling, with a side of debris and atomic waste. I was so into the fight that I forgot the lizard himself could spit atomic fire. That was so cool.
The "villains" (bad monsters) are also something worth seeing. It would have been more fun if we could see more of them. We have to strain our eyes through all that smoke, rain, shadows, and a myriad of obstacles blocking the way. Why? We paid to see the animals, not millions of dollars on those other wasteful effects. I might want to see something else in the sequel, and I mean really SEE them. However, these two kick that horrid Electro character from the spidey movie.
The sound was terrific. We were surrounded by the right combination of explosion, noise, screeching howls, booming electro magnetic waves and the works. The visual effects were a bit more disappointing, but I am glad that the film makers went for Honolulu and San Francisco. New York is an awesome place to trash, but we had enough of it, and L.A. could probably look better after it's destroyed.
Anyway, go and root for "Godzilla". The audience clapped and cheered. Maybe there will be a director's cut and we'll have less talking and waiting and more of the good old lizard. A winner!!!