Pretty cool the first time, gets worse as you watch it more. Also, too much teasing.

Rating: Null/10 (24 January 2015)

Holy crap. Godzilla, it's finally here! Since the beginning of 2013 I had been waiting, one of the films that I've anticipated the most, and when I finally watched it, I was blown away, it was incredible. I got something a bit different than what I expected (as in the focus of it) but I still loved it. And then when the excitement died down, I realized that the movie isn't a perfect ten like I thought.
The acting in Godzilla is really good, but more as a whole, because there is only 1 person who gave an absolutely spectacular performance, and that person is the always amazing, Bryan Cranston. That man is one of the best actors in the business. The scene at the beginning in the nuclear plant, where he has to make a very hard decision, that was the most heartfelt moment I've seen this year. I really wish he had more screen time, he was pretty much the only character I actually cared about. His wife, Juliette Binoche is really good as well, like Bryan, she doesn't appear much on the screen, but she's great when she's on it. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is decent in the movie, he plays that generic badass lucky-as-hell military guy. He doesn't emote much, but he plays his part well. Elizabeth Olsen, his wife, is talented for sure, but she doesn't have that much to do. The rest of the supporting cast is good as well, they just play the generic monster movie characters. What I really liked here is that there's not a false note anywhere in the acting, you could tell that every single person took it seriously.
The script for this movie is good, they made an interesting and compelling story, they even managed to make it coherent to the 1954 original, I thought that was really cool. Also, this movie may be called "Godzilla" but it's not really about him, it's more about the human drama, the people dealing with the fact that there are monsters who are destroying everything. I had a love-hate relationship with all the teasing in this movie, all the suspense was cool, so was Godzilla's fearsome off-screen presence, but I was still really frustrated when they didn't show some of the fights. The first time it was okay, but twice? Seriously? It's just like, why the hell do you think people came to see this movie? Anyway, the film is very realistic, it all looks devastating, and you have to give the director credit for it. Godzilla doesn't grab a boat and uses it as a baseball bat, but what he does instead is WAY cooler. Speaking of the big guy, the movie holds him back for quite a bit, for the first hour it mainly just teases him, but when he first appears, that shot that travels from his legs all the way to his head, and then he lets out that awesome roar! Man, I was clapping and cheering so much, seriously, I just couldn't contain myself. I think they should have teased him less, we only see him fight in the final act, and he has 2 other confrontations which they don't show (total BS), it probably won't please people who prefers fast story-telling , but it pays off in the third act, when the monster fight begins, it is really, really awesome.
The director, Gareth Edwards, deserves a lot of praise for this movie, which I hope he gets (he will from me at least). Everything looks beautiful, and not just the visual effects, every shot is done really well, it really shows the devastating consequences a monster attack would have, you feel the desolation Godzilla and the MUTOs leave in their wake with every image. He made it very eerie and suspenseful, and that worked really well for the movie's tone. And don't get me started on the CGI and visual effects, they are amazing, the sound is also really great, the monster roars just seemed to shake the theater. All technical aspects of this movie are incredible. The soundtrack is amazing! Alexandre Desplat and the editing crew deserve an Oscar for the opening credits alone! Hearing that track again made me feel the excitement all over again. I loved what they did with Godzilla the character, they made him very intimidating, vicious, badass and kind of scary.
I had few complaints with this movie, but they were kind of big, the first one is that the movie could have had a bit less teasing, they could have showed us more of the second act. The second complaint is that Bryan Cranston was the only interesting character, he was the only one who really emoted, the rest of the cast is great too, but they could have been a bit more emotional.
This movie is pretty cool, I simply loved it (the first time of course). With repeated viewings though, it loses its spark, much like The Avengers, an awesome movie that was amazing the first time you saw it, then less when you watch it more. If you liked Pacific Rim, and you're looking for something similar, then you might be disappointed, it's a lot more realistic, the monster fight is glorious, even more so than Pacific Rim, but it has a lot less awesome battles, it focuses more on the human drama, kind of like The Walking Dead, it has zombies, but it doesn't focus on them, it shows humans having to survive in a world with zombies. The story is very interesting, the script is good, the acting is very good, no false notes anywhere, the visual effects are spectacular. If you want a human drama which has freaking Godzilla in it, then watch this movie, just remember, don't expect Godzilla to fight a lot, which is likely to disappoint you. Still, Godzilla is overall a good movie.