Brilliant at some moments and obnoxious at others

Rating: 6/10 (16 May 2014)

This is one of my most honest reviews because this movie is something I've been waiting for since I was 3.
Godzilla is a movie that has brilliance at one moment and the mediocrity the next. This unevenness made me more mad than I have ever been in a theater. However, the movie is still really well made.
What Godzilla does is it shows the perspective of a "Godzilla event" from the eyes of the humans. Everything is to a much more personal degree and the movie will realistically only show as much of the battle as the main cast can see... this is also one of the movie's greatest weaknesses.
What this movie will do is it will intentionally "tease" the audience. Rule 1: Never tease the audience unless you have a really good reason. This movie will build-up the stage for a battle for 20 FREAKING MINUTES AND THEN NOT SHOW YOU THE BATTLE! I'm not even joking, there is an action sequence that got both Godzilla and Muto on an island and right as they are roaring... the movie cuts to some humans watching TV. That was a kick in the groin. The movie thinks it is funny to tease the audience but the whole reason we are seeing this movie is for monster vs. monster action. To TAKE AWAY the reason we are watching the movie (just for a joke) makes the movie significantly damaged.
What makes matters worse is that this is done more than once throughout the movie, and the material that it is cut to is significantly less interesting than the fight. I will say that the beginning half of the movie had some great acting and some really good build-up. It is no lie that this movie has ingenious moments of tension. The rising of Muto was one of the coolest things I have seen in awhile. Actually, the design of Muto is just great all around. The problem is that the second half of the movie is lacking that certain "interesting" character that the first half had. If the movie had focused around a different character then it would've been a much better film. Unfortunately, the character we get has very little to say or convey.
Thankfully, the movie does know how to do a monster battle right... and when it comes... it is epic. The final battle is hugely satisfying and maybe the director intentionally left out monster battles just to make it all the more satisfying. Regardless, it is great. Some complain that Godzilla looked too fat in this movie, but I thought he looked fine. They were looking for a realistic Hesei era Godzilla (which had huge legs) but his atomic breath is styled off of the Showa Era Godzilla. I can imagine some people getting mad and not realizing what Godzilla's breath looked like during the Showa series, but it is very similar to the original fire.
All in all, Godzilla is better than the 1998 movie in many ways. The movie could've achieved greatness if it had played its cards a little better and if it would've known which character was the most interesting. Go see it if you want to see an awesome finale.