Monsters on the loose

Rating: 4/10 (7 March 2015)

Gosh was it as far back as 1998 when an over-hyped Godzilla arrived and underwhelmed everyone in its wake. Sixteen years later and another attempt has been made to relaunch this monster franchise.
Early scenes start promisingly enough with Juliette Binoche and Bryan Cranston in a bad wig. But Binoche's role is just a few minutes and Cranston while passionate also has limited screen time. Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins are wasted with almost non characters.
Worse, Godzilla is in effect a cameo character in his own movie. It literally is a walk on part. If there is some monster mayhem action it takes place in the dark. Never mind 3D glasses we should had got night vision goggles.
The plot is about a pair of parasitic giant insects called Muto's who are causing havoc. At the same time Godzilla is also on the rampage and it seems he is set on encountering the insects. On a human level Cranston's son is trying to make his way back to his wife and kid in San Francisco, after finding out the truth about what happened to his family home in Japan 15 years earlier.
The film starts off interestingly enough but gets lost in bland, clichéd characters and plotting. The script never rises above average. Even some of the action scenes such as the destruction of Las Vegas and San Francisco look undercooked. Yet the film does enough to keep you entertained so its not that mediocre.