Godzilla (2014)

The legendary beast Godzilla has appeared in thirty movies during his six decades of cinematic existence. Some have been good, some bad. But few have been quite as infamous, at least among Americans, as Roland Emmerich's attempt to bring Godzilla to the United States in 1998. The movie was a complete disaster, panned by critics and moviegoers alike. Rumor has it that the movie was so embarrassing that Toho Company vowed to never again let Hollywood sink their hooks into Godzilla.

But sixteen years have passed since then, and a full decade since the big guy's most recent appearance in Toho's Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004. And now, as fans celebrate Godzilla's sixtieth anniversary, Hollywood has gotten a second chance to not only revive him, but reintroduce him to American audiences. This time, there's no Matthew Broderick, no Puff Daddy sampling Led Zeppelin on the soundtrack, no velociraptor-like baby Godzillas rampaging through Madison Square Garden. There's just the King of the Monsters, come to reclaim his throne with one hell of an amazing movie.

We begin in Japan circa 1999, at a nuclear power plant near the town of Janjira. Bizarre seismic activity originating in the Philippines has worried Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), the plant's American supervisor. While his superiors dismiss his fears that it's just aftershocks from a recent minor earthquake, Joe's research leads him to believe that it's not that simple. He warns that the plant should be shut down until these tremors pass in the event that something dangerous occurs, but he's brushed off and told there's nothing to worry about. But when you're told you don't have to worry about anything, that's when you have to worry about everything. The plant is struck by what a massive earthquake that ruptures the reactor core, killing Joe's wife in the process. The accident is attributed to earthquakes, and Janjira is quarantined as a result.

Fifteen years pass, and Joe's son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is returning home to his family from a fourteen-month tour of duty with the U.S. Navy. But no sooner has Ford started settling in with his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and son Sam (Carson Bolde) than he has to leave again, this time called away by the news that Joe has been arrested for trespassing in the quarantined area. In the fifteen years since the Janjira incident, Joe has become a crackpot conspiracy theorist, convinced that there's more to the story than a simple earthquake. He's been studying every scrap of information and following every clue he could find in regards to what happened, his search for the truth having left he and Ford estranged from one another.

Ford fears for his father's sanity, but agrees to help him sneak back into Janjria and retrieve some vital data from a set of computer disks left behind in their old house. Things get off to a bizarre start when Joe notices that there are no traces of radiation in the area, but when they're busted by a team of security guards shortly after retrieving the disks, things almost immediately get weirder. Joe and Ford are escorted to the nuclear plant, learning in the process that the whole earthquake thing was indeed a cover-up. The quarantine was not to keep people away from radiation, but to allow a multinational team of scientists to study the true cause of the Janjira accident: a massive chrysalis that has formed in the middle of the facility and has effectively consumed all of the toxic radiation in the area.

It is not long after the Brodys arrive that the chrysalis hatches, unleashing a gigantic, ferocious monster that lays waste to everything surrounding it. It escapes to the ocean and heads for the United States, where its mate has awakened from its slumber in the Nevada desert. As the military scrambles to find a way to kill what they've nicknamed the "Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms," the mating call of these beasts has roused another creature from its long dormancy deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. The legendary beast known as Godzilla is once again on the prowl, on a warpath that will intersect with that of the MUTOs in San Francisco.

If you're a fan of Godzilla, then allow me to bring you some good news: This movie is nothing short of awesome. It perfectly combines the awe and spectacle that the best big-budget summer blockbusters have to offer with the fear and dread of the original movie from 1954. Godzilla is an utterly amazing experience from start to finish, one that makes going to the movies totally worth it. I know this sounds hyperbolic, like I'm trying to get this review quoted in one of the commercials or on the DVD cover. But Godzilla is the kind of movie that's sure to please fans of action, science fiction, and disaster flicks, and especially those who love Godzilla and giant monsters in general.

This new take on Godzilla was brought to the screen by Gareth Edwards, who is no stranger to monster movies. His feature film debut, in fact, was the critically acclaimed (and appropriately titled) film festival favorite Monsters in 2010. Armed with a budget that makes the one he had for Monsters look like pocket change, Edwards makes the absolute best of it. He puts forth a fabulous effort, building a tense atmosphere that makes the movie feel like danger is around every corner waiting to pounce.

Edwards is constantly building here, seeming as if he's trying to outdo himself with every scene. He not only ups the ante with each big action sequence, but he also maintains the suspense in the scenes between these action sequences. The characters remain in danger for practically the entire movie, the monsters threatening to take them out at every turn. It is the growing feeling of dread caused by this danger that I thought made the movie more satisfying. It brought a sense of urgency I felt was sadly lacking from other big-budget monster movies in recent years.

Edwards also makes sure that the movie's post-production conversion into 3D was a successful one. He and cinematographer Seamus McGarvey shoot the film in such a way that it still looks great whether you see it in 3D or its 2D counterpart, but having seen the 3D version, the added depth really adds to the theatrical experience. It makes the monsters feel bigger than life, almost as if they could have reached out and squashed you if you saw it on a big enough IMAX screen. There's something about it that makes the movie feel more epic as we're immersed into the world Godzilla and the MUTOs occupy. And I know 3D movies aren't for everybody, but it's worth it for Godzilla.

But while Edwards tries setting the movie apart with his direction and the 3D effects are fantastic, the screenplay has some of the same flaws as other, similar movies. Written by Max Borenstein (with some uncredited contributions from David Callaham, David S. Goyer, Drew Pearce, and Frank Darabont), the script's biggest problem is that we're stuck spending so much time with dull, underdeveloped human characters while Godzilla and the MUTOs feel secondary. A lot of monster movies will try emphasizing the human drama in an attempt to give them a little more emotional weight. But a lot of times, it's hard to really give a crap about the characters when all you really want to see are cities getting destroyed. The idea of balancing the human drama with the thrills of sci-fi chaos has might have worked in Independence Day, but that was an exception rather than a rule.

And this is particularly frustrating with Godzilla. The character of Joe Brody is really intriguing, and the idea of him following the clues of a conspiracy that's been covering up the existence of these monsters for decades is actually a pretty cool setup for a movie. But without giving away too much, the character disappears from the movie at the end of the first act and we're stuck with the typical monster movie format where we just tag along with some boring, one-dimensional characters when we could be watching giant monsters trashing Las Vegas and San Francisco. You've got a fascinating character that's worth following and is played by a talented, award-winning actor who's just come off one of the hottest shows on television, so why not keep him around for longer? Surely someone who worked on the script could have added more scenes with him, just to shake things up rather than run with the clichéd "military vs. the monsters" routine.

The lack of depth in regards to the characters also has an adverse affect on the cast's performances. Elizabeth Olsen suffers the worst from this, as she's given absolutely nothing whatsoever to do. They could have nearly edited all her scenes out of the movie and nobody would have noticed, because Olsen doesn't contribute anything of note to the movie. She's a talented actress, and not giving her at least a little something, even a lame "damsel in distress" moment, is a real waste.

Ken Watanabe suffers a similar fate, in that outside of delivering the occasional expository or pseudo-philosophical monologue, he doesn't have a lot to do either. A few scenes where his character, a scientist working with a multinational conglomerate tasked with studying the monsters and keeping their existence a secret, meets Bryan Cranston's character would have been great. But alas, that was not to be.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, meanwhile, is also stuck in a weakly written role. But to his credit, he's given some plenty to do and is trying his hardest to make a go of it. I've only seen Taylor-Johnson as the dorky title character from Kick-Ass and its sequel, so I wasn't sure what to expect of him as a tough, monster-fighting soldier. But he's decent enough in the role, even if pretty much anybody could have played his character.

But one actor stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cast, that being Bryan Cranston. It's a real shame that Cranston's character exits the movie so early, because he really should have been the main character. Cranston is so good that he steals the entire movie, leaving one pining for his return whenever anyone other than Godzilla and the MUTOs are on the screen. His performance is captivating, pulling you in and making you want to see more of him. It actually makes me wonder why I've never watched Breaking Bad, because if Cranston is this good here, I'm sure I'd be even more impressed there.

I know I've spent the last little bit pointing out everything I didn't like about Godzilla, but the truth of the matter is that the movie is one of the most fun, exciting spectacles I've seen in a long time. You're really missing out on something awesome if you choose to skip it. Godzilla is the kind of summer blockbuster that makes it fun to go to the movies this time of year. So what if the script is a little weak? You're not seeing this movie for the script. You're seeing it for monsters raising hell on large metropolitan areas, and Godzilla delivers in spades. And finally getting to see Godzilla up on the big screen in an American-made movie that's actually good? That's a great feeling. So get lost, Pacific Rim. Suck it, Cloverfield. Long live the king.

Final Rating: ****