Godzilla (2014)

***Godzilla*** is a 2014 American giant monster film produced by Legendary Pictures, and the second American-made Godzilla film, as well as the first entry in the MonsterVerse. The film was released to American theaters on May 16, 2014, and to Japanese theaters on July 25, 2014.

The second Hollywood-produced *Godzilla* film, *Godzilla* attempts to be a more faithful adaptation of the franchise than TriStar's previous attempt. A mine collapse in the Philippines in 1999 leads to the uncovering of two prehistoric spores within a colossal skeleton, one of which hatches into a MUTO that attacks and feeds on the reactor at the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant. The scientific organization Monarch quarantines the plant and surrounding city, but in 2014 the MUTO emerges from its stasis and destroys the facility surrounding it. Now, Monarch pursues the MUTO with the U.S. military while the MUTO's natural enemy, the giant prehistoric Titan known as Godzilla, emerges to stop it before it can reunite with its female counterpart and reproduce.

## Description

*Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when Godzilla, King of the Monsters, arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.*

## Plot

In 1954, the United States military, in cooperation with the organization Monarch, prepares and detonates a hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll, disguised as a test called *Castle Bravo*. Their target is a massive Titan known as Godzilla.

In 1999, Monarch representative Dr. Ishiro Serizawa is called the site of a mining collapse in the Philippines with his assistant, Dr. Vivienne Graham. With a small team, he finds a colossal fossilized skeleton and two spores in a large underground cave. One of the spores has already hatched, the creature had escaped into the sea; the other is still unhatched and is taken to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, United States, and placed in the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada.

Days later, near Tokyo, Japan, the nuclear power plant at Janjira starts to experience seismic activity. Nuclear physicist and plant supervisor Joseph Brody and his wife, Sandra Brody, make their way to the power plant. Sandra assembles a team to perform a damage check, under Joe's supervision. The power plant is soon breached by an explosion and radiation leak, killing Sandra and her team. Joe and Sandra's son, Ford, watches from his classroom as the cooling towers collapse. The Japanese government evacuates and quarantines Janjira, attributing the disaster to an earthquake.

15 years after the incident, Ford is now an explosive disposal officer for the United States Navy, living in San Francisco, California with his wife Elle, a nurse, and son Sam. After returning from a tour of duty, he learns that Joe was arrested for trespassing in Janjira after picking up a frequency identical to one he detected just before the nuclear plant's destruction. After Ford travels to Japan and bails him out, Joe convinces him to come with him to another trip to Janjira, for Sandra's sake. They soon discover the city is not radioactive and, after recovering Joe's data in their old house, they notice activity near the nuclear power plant. Just then, security agents arrest them.

The power plant now houses a large laboratory for studying a strange chrysalis, the creature that emerged in the Philippines. Serizawa and Graham are among the scientists there and review Joe's data with fascination as he demands answers. As the monster begins to hatch, Serizawa regretfully gives the order to kill him with electric shocks. Unfazed, the monster emerges from his chrysalis, unleashing an electromagnetic pulse, and wreaks havoc on the site, leaving Joe critically injured. After the monster flies away, the military takes Serizawa to the *USS Saratoga*. He requests that Joe and Ford accompany him, wanting to know their insights into the situation, but Joe dies of his injuries before they can speak.

On the *Saratoga*, Serizawa and Graham reveal to Ford that they work for Monarch, a multinational organization dedicated to studying giant monsters and concealing their existence from the public. Monarch was formed in 1954 after the USS *Nautilus* inadvertently awakening an ancient alpha predator called Godzilla. His kind lived on the Earth's surface millions of years ago, when it was more radioactive, and eventually moved underwater and underground to feed on radiation from the Earth's core. Monarch attempted to kill him with nuclear strikes, which were covered up as mere tests. The monster from Janjira is a MUTO (**M**assive **U**nidentified **T**errestrial **O**rganism), a parasite who also feeds on radiation and radioactive materials. Ford informs Serizawa that Joe mentioned tracking a form of echolocation within Janjira, leading the team to believe the MUTO was communicating with something.

The *Saratoga* brings Ford to Honolulu, Hawaii, to catch a flight to San Francisco. After a Russian nuclear submarine goes missing, a U.S. Navy Special Forces team finds it in a forest outside Honolulu, where the MUTO is feeding on its weaponry. Fighter jets surround him and prepare to engage, but he sends out another EMP, causing them to drop from the sky. Meanwhile, Ford is boarding a tram at the Honolulu International Airport. Curious by his toy soldier, which he recovered from his house at Janjira, a young boy named Akio follows him inside, being separated from his parents as the doors close. Ford assures them that he will return their son. Shortly thereafter, the MUTO's pulse brings the train comes to a standstill. Godzilla, sensing the MUTO's presence, makes landfall in Honolulu, generating a tsunami. As the power returns, the MUTO attacks Ford's train, but Godzilla soon gains his attention. After a brief fight, the MUTO flies off with Godzilla in pursuit, heading east. Elle and Sam watch their battle on the news. The next day, Akio reunites with his parents and Ford heads to the mainland with the military.

Serizawa and Graham realize that the MUTO's signal was meant for the supposedly dormant spore in Nevada, not Godzilla. U.S. forces storm Yucca Mountain, only to find that the second, larger MUTO has already emerged. She tears through Las Vegas, Nevada, unfazed by helicopter attacks. They conclude that the larger MUTO is female, whereas the winged one is a male. Their paths show them converging in San Francisco, where they will mate and build a nest. Admiral William Stenz approves a plan to lure all three monsters out to sea with an ultra-powerful nuclear warhead and detonate it to kill them. Serizawa disapproves, believing the monsters will be unharmed; only Godzilla can stop the MUTOs.

After citing his EOD training, Ford is assigned to the train transporting several nuclear missiles to San Francisco. Their path brings them perilously close to the female MUTO, who attacks them after routing nearby military forces. Ford survives, along with one of the missiles, and a helicopter recovers them both the next morning. At the same time, citizens in San Francisco are being evacuated on school buses. Elle leaves Sam with a friend while she stays behind at the hospital. As his bus crosses the Golden Gate Bridge, Godzilla surfaces. The Navy opens fire in an attempt to prevent him from entering the city, and Army units on the bridge join them, angering Godzilla. He barrels through the bridge, Sam's bus barely escaping in time. Just as soldiers on a nearby boat set the detonation timer on the surviving nuclear missiles, the male MUTO grabs it, presenting it to the female as a gift. Elle reaches a shelter as he resumes his battle with Godzilla.

Ford joins a HALO drop team to deactivate the missile before it can destroy San Francisco. As they make their preparations, Serizawa remarks to Stenz that they have no choice now but to let the monsters fight. After the HALO team lands and makes their way towards the missile, the female MUTO joins her mate against Godzilla and begins to turn the tide. The soldiers take that opportunity to seize the missile, only to find the timer has been sealed shut. They plan to bring it out to sea, but Ford stays behind to destroy the nest with gasoline. The resulting explosion distracts the female MUTO, who closes in on Ford. Recovering, Godzilla returns the favor, blasting her with his atomic breath. Before Godzilla can finish her off, the male MUTO attacks him again. This time, he kills the parasite by tail-whipping him into the 44 Montgomery building. The building collapses, pinning Godzilla underneath a pile of rubble and dust. Ford briefly makes eye contact with him as he tries to rejoin his comrades.

The female MUTO reaches them first, but not before they load the missile onto a boat. As she dispatches the rest of the soldiers, a limping Ford casts off. She gives chase, shutting the boat down with her EMP. Ford draws his Beretta 92FS pistol and prepares to die, but Godzilla intervenes again. Pulling her jaw open, he fires his atomic breath into her mouth, decapitating her. Exhausted, he throws her head in the water and collapses. Ford drives the boat out to sea and is rescued by a helicopter before the warhead detonates at a safe distance from the city.

The next day, Ford reunites with Sam and Elle. Serizawa and Graham watch in awe as Godzilla awakens. The Brody family watches him leave on a Jumbotron, with a news station anointing him "King of the Monsters, Savior of Our City?" Godzilla lets out a final roar before plunging into the sea.

## Cast

* Aaron Taylor-Johnson   as   Lieutenant Ford Brody, U.S. Navy EOD technician
* Ken Watanabe   as   Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, Monarch biologist
* Elizabeth Olsen   as   Elle Brody, ER nurse
* Sally Hawkins   as   Dr. Vivienne Graham, Monarch paleontologist
* David Strathairn   as   Admiral William Stenz, commander of the USS *Saratoga*
* Bryan Cranston   as   Joseph Brody, nuclear physicist
* Juliette Binoche   as   Sandra Brody, nuclear plant technician
* Carson Bolde   as   Sam Brody, Ford's son
* CJ Adams   as   Young Ford Brody
* Anthony Konechny   as   PO2 Thatch
* Victor Rasuk   as   Sergeant Tre Morales
* Patrick Sabongui   as   Master Sergeant Marcus Waltz
* Brian Markinson   as   Whalen, Monarch scientist
* Richard T. Jones   as   Captain Russell Hampton
* Al Sapienza   as   Huddleston, chief security officer at MUTO research facility
* Kevin O'Grady   as   Firefighter
* Ed Rosek   as   Firefighter
* Ed Belanger   as   Firefighter
* Steve Wesley   as   Firefighter
* Matt Ortega   as   Firefighter
* Steven Wiig   as   Couple
* Jared Keeso   as   Jump Master Griffin
* Aaron Pearl   as   Doctor Carsin
* Yuki Morita   as   Akio's mother
* James Kot   as   Navy surgeon
* Taylor Nichols   as   Military analyst

### Japanese dub

* Fuminori Komatsu   as   Lieutenant Ford Brody
* Yuzu Aoki   as   Young Ford Brody
* Ken Watanabe   as   Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
* Yasuyoshi Hara   as   Joseph Brody
* Haru   as   Elle Brody
* Yuki Sakurai   as   Sam Brody
* Rieko Takahashi   as   Dr. Vivienne Graham
* Kaori Yamagata   as   Sandra Brody
* Katsuhiko Sasaki   as   Admiral William Stenz
* Kenji Nomura   as   Captain Russell Hampton
* Toru Sakurai   as   Sergeant Tre Morales
* Yasuhiko Nemoto   as   Master Sergeant Marcus Waltz
* Shuhei Sakaguchi   as   Jump Master Griffin
* Michiko Kaiden   as   Officer Martinez
* Masamichi Kitada   as   Takashi
* Naomi Kusumi   as   Stan Walsh
* Haruo Yamagishi   as   Hayato
* Tetsuo Kanao   as   Whalen
* Takeshi Maruyama   as   Jainway
* Shiro Sano   as   Military analyst