Half Effective Disaster Film, Half Monsters-fighting Nerds' Movie

Rating: 6/10 (20 May 2014)

Monster movies have been around since the dawn of Hollywood, but it's only now that they're gradually transforming into superhero movies as well because—as you all know—we're facing a drought of those. In this case, Godzilla starts off as a terrific tense disaster film that actually forced my mouth open at one point. The film cleverly keeps the first hour mysterious, refraining from showing too much of the monster or its background. Nerdy Godzilla fanboys might be complaining, but it's a very wise decision that definitely maximizes the impact of its first appearance. In fact, the movie started resembling 2005's King Kong and the Jurassic Park series with its initial reluctance to delve straight into the monster's destruction.
Instead, we're introduced to the narrative's main characters and how they all tie into the big picture. Now, some might be underwhelmed by the "dullness" of these characters as some critics noted, but a 2-hour film that's predominantly focusing on a daunting creature can only do so much. It can stretch out to be 3 hours and both develop its characters and primary monster like King Kong (2005) did, but you all would still be whining. In my opinion, most of the actors do a good job with the material they're provided to work with—Bryan Cranston, as usual, showing his A-game and starting to separate himself from his famous role as Heisenberg. The film's concentration on its characters in the first half also allows for effective scenes that lead to the deaths of fairly significant individuals. As a result, the audiences are thus able to feel the danger of the whole situation with the establishment of greater suspense for the later acts on whether or not a certain character might die in a particular sequence.
The tone, in large part, retains grittiness and a dark, hopeless aura sets in, which thankfully means moviegoers won't have to deal with forced humor throughout as we all know the mandate for summer blockbusters usually demands. With that being said, yes, this movie is an exceptional Godzilla film that intelligently builds the behemoth up for his first (chilling) appearance and from that moment on, all havoc is unleashed. Destruction befalls on every major city and millions of citizens perish underneath the rubble—everything that also makes for a fine disaster film at its foundation. Like I earlier mentioned, there are some highly tense, blood-curdling segments indeed, and in addition, a group of innocent kids are occasionally seen in the middle of it, thereby further fueling viewers' apprehension.
On the other hand, no, Godzilla isn't perfect because it still suffers from its fair share of flaws as a film. First of all, Aaron Taylor Johnson, definitely the lead of the film, somehow persistently maintains his composure and remains reserved like a standard tough guy even when colossal monsters near to such a close distance that they can very well devour him in the split of a second. Seriously, I'd be screaming my lungs out, but of course, only the females in the movie are shrieking. For some reason, the kids in most films stereotypically gasp at some "cool" real-life action rather than crying for mommy and daddy. What?! I don't think that's how real adolescents behave. A lot of the kids in this film simply stare at all the horrific chaos with a demeanor of amazement, wowing at the sight of explosions in close proximity. It's a very superficial display of reality, as is usual with Hollywood blockbusters, in the midst of a story that's otherwise attempting to portray terror through reasonable realism.
And then, I really have to ask: is Godzilla just King Kong 2.0? Herein, we're supposed to feel sympathy for the Brobdingnagian force because he's yet another superhero who breathes florescent fire and extricates humans from other scary monsters. Along the vein of popular superheroes like Batman and Spider-Man, he immediately comes to the rescue whenever there's any hint of a notable character in jeopardy. With or without the gargantuan monster's aid, some characters are still conveniently spared from immense danger even though everyone else around them is essentially doomed.
See, what occurs in the movie that first posed as a despairing disaster film of monumental proportions is a noticeable tonal shift in its last act. It's decently realistic and gloomy at first only to suddenly reshape into a Pacific Rim 2.0, offering us a few grandiose Kaiju battles. Given the fact that I haven't seen the original Godzilla pictures, I entered the theater hoping that this would turn out to be a "humans versus Godzilla" movie, but that would ultimately mean unstoppable obliteration. The filmmakers basically took the easy route out and ensured the security of a happy ending. After all has been said and done, I believe a recommendation for this film would be fair as its first hour and a half is nicely constructed and depicted for it's as good of a Godzilla film as we could ever possibly get. Keep in mind, though, that its two hours, overall, do seem unusually lengthy for some odd reason.