Godzilla
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche
Directed By: Gareth Edwards
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[Rating: 3.5/5]
I know what most of you are all thinking; “Why do we need another one of these Godzilla movies? I hated that Matthew Broderick one!” To which the correct response would be, “Get out. Get out of the car right now.” The Godzilla of 1998 was not a real Godzilla movie, sure it had a giant reptilian thing crashing through a city that they called Godzilla but that’s basically where the similarities ended. Basically, it was simply a cash-grab of a movie designed to ride on the coat-tails of Jurassic Park’s success (hence Godzilla inexplicably giving birth to fully formed Velociraptors). Now, on the year of the original 1954 Godzilla’s 60th anniversary we are getting a new Westernised Godzilla movie. Brought to us by relatively fresh director Gareth Edwards who impressed the studio enough with his last monster movie foray, Monsters (2010), to give him this coveted yet daunting job. Will Edwards be able to take Godzilla back to his roots as the ‘King of All Monsters’ and the gigantic, reptilian saviour of humanity or will we just be left with another offensive disappointment?
Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) is an Engineer at a nuclear power plant in Japan, working alongside his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) to prevent any potential catastrophes with the system. A job which often keeps him much too busy to spend time with their son Ford. One day catastrophe cannot be averted and unexplained tremors send the plant into lock-down resulting in the emotionally devastating loss of Sandra. Fifteen years later Joe is driven mad by trying to find out what exactly turned the power plant into rubble, recruiting a very reluctant Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) into his search for truth. When a gigantic, winged monster hatches from where the plant once was Joe and Ford are swept into a series of cataclysmic events that could mean the end of mankind as we know it. Ford races against time to get back to his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and son Sam (Carson Bolde) before the mass destruction reaches them. Luckily for everyone, a gigantic reptilian beast from the depths has decided to awaken to set the balance of nature back on course; Godzilla.
It is very safe to say that this is not the 1998 Godzilla movie. The story follows the Brody family through the paces of this monster infestation and through the aftermath of the mass destruction. It is not empty or hollow; it actually is trying to say something about our reliance on nuclear technology and the inevitable events like Fukushima that happen when dealing with this technology. Even better, though, Godzilla is treated with respect. The giant, spikey, somewhat chubby King of Monsters isn’t a brainless rampaging beast; he’s a force of nature and a guardian of the earth. He is actually trying to stop the mindless rampaging monsters that threaten humanity rather than being one himself. Never fear, though, Godzilla does smash things. Boy, does he smash things. Unfortunately, instead of being the icing on an already delicious cake, he ends up being by bounds the best part of the film.
The films dedication to the Brody family would be admirable if they just managed to get it right. This film should have, by all rights, been a lot better than it was. All of the pieces were there for a truly emotionally engaging ride with a bit of butt-kicking monster action on the side. Instead, we’re left with bland characters and missed opportunities. Elizabeth Olsen’s Elle is left with literally nothing to do; she is even a Nurse, a profession that would allow you to follow her as she tries to help people through the disaster while simultaneously trying to care for her Son. Instead, we’re simply left with a few scenes of her running for shelter and crying over her husband not being back yet. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Ford Brody has his moments, but the film makers seemed to decide that ‘military man’ meant ‘must be void of personality and humour’, so while his scenes are often quite exhilarating and engaging, you never quite care that much about the man in the middle of it. In the end, you just wish you were given the opportunity to be as emotionally engaged with the rest of the characters as you are with Godzilla himself.
While it sometimes misses the mark on the human sides of things, Godzilla is still an engaging, entertaining and exhilarating experience that may just have you whooping from your cinema seats as a gigantic Godzilla foot crushes the throat of a six-legged insectoid monstrosity. There should be enough here to please almost everyone and leave you frothing at the mouth for more Godzilla bad-assery.
