Godzilla, great, awful or something else?

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2014)

Review is a bit late because I never got a chance to see it on the big screen but I want to give my opinion anyway.
First of let me start by saying that Godzilla is not a bad movie but, its not a great one either, depends on how you look at it. The movie blows out of the water any other Hollywood Godzilla movie and that is great but it has some problems:
Lead character is pretty stale and boring.
Bryan Cranston delivers a great emotional performance but has very little screen time. Compared to him everyone else was cliché and average.
From trailers I expected a much darker movie and more tension but it failed to deliver in my opinion. This is mainly due to Bryan Cranston being in all promos/teasers but then dies in anticlimactic way 30 minutes into the film. Without him movie lost tension and emotional depth.
The good stuff: I liked this "Cloverfieldish" approach to the movie. Where you are teased trough the movie expecting the big battle, and focusing on the human part of the movie. But if you are going to do that you need strong leads. Both character and actor. CGI was great, and the mood of the movie was grandiose. With some breathtaking scenes. Too bad there was not much tension, that would change the movie a lot.
Godzilla was great. In his prime and full power with roar he looked like a real alpha predator. BUT the final battle was kind of underwhelming. Yes the CGI looked great but battle animations of the monsters were kind of "meh". Maybe its just me but it could have been better.
First time Godzilla showed up in full scale and was like: "I am the alpha predator here" I got goosebumps and I don't remember the last time I got goosebumps in a monster movie.
Overall Godzilla movie is a good monster movie. It had memorable moments which is important for the first movie. Some breathtaking scenes with grandiose scenery. It is dragged down by false marketing, stale lead human characters and stupid military plans. It failed to deliver darkness, mystery and tension.