A Godzilla movie that puts brains before brawn.

Rating: 9/10 (26 May 2014)

As a longtime Godzilla fan since five, I've been following the new American reboot of Godzilla ever since it was announced in 2009. I will say that some aspects of this film let me down a little, but overall, I was very satisfied with the film and highly praise director Gareth Edwards for his take on the King of the Monsters. This movie completely surpasses "Godzilla" 1998 in almost every way (which, for all purposes, shouldn't even be called "Godzilla" anymore) and is also quite comparable to the original 1954 Godzilla film that started the franchise, as it faithfully retells Godzilla's origins in modern times while still exercising similar themes felt in the classic films. I thought that the monster scenes were fantastic, and the visual effects that created them were equally beautiful. The characters were a little bland and plain, but were overall okay. This movie isn't your typical action flick where every other scene is boom-flashy-explosions. It makes you think a little more and challenges today's audiences to put down the Transformers DVDs and return to the standards that made monster movies classics. I compare the teasing of the monster action to Jaws and John Carpenter's The Thing, where, you don't get to see the title character all too much, but the presence of them is felt throughout, and when they do appear on screen, it's a sight to behold. I recommend this film for all monster fans, but for the common audience, you should be well aware of what this movie represents and the cultural icon of Godzilla before you decide to go see it, it may impact whether you like it or not.