Godzilla

The last time Hollywood tried to turn Godzilla into a big summer event movie, it was 1998, and audiences were rightfully not impressed.  Rather than repeat the mistakes of that film, director Gareth Edwards has given us a movie that pays homage to the earlier entries in the series, and offers enough genuine thrills to work.  Just don't put too much thought into the film, ignore the mostly ineffective human cast, and focus on the giant battling monsters, and you're pretty sure to have a great time.

One of the interesting aspects of the story is how it treats Godzilla almost like a natural disaster.  Humanity can prepare and issue warnings all it wants, but when the big guy comes stomping into town to battle some giant insects that are also wreaking havoc on major cities like Las Vegas or San Francisco, there's very little people can do.  The story is told almost entirely from the point of view of the tiny people running away at the feet of the giant monsters.  Therefore, Godzilla and the monsters he fights largely remain a mystery to us.  Godzilla is described by one character as an "alpha predator", who emerges whenever some kind of radioactive monster shows up to disrupt the balance of Earth.  Of course, in order to restore that balance, he has to level most of the area he's trying to save.  In one priceless shot late in the film, we see Godzilla making his way across a city to the ocean, with the media dubbing him a hero, and savior of the city.  All I could notice was the fact that Godzilla was heading right for a densely populated roadway.  We don't get to see if he just walked through all those cars making their way across, or if he was polite enough to step over them.

Another interesting aspect is that we don't actually get to see the lizard until about an hour or so of the film has passed.  The movie does a good job of building suspense, and creating a certain sense of menace in its early moments, so there's at least something to hold our interest before the giant monster battles we've paid to see start to flare up.  In the film's prologue, set 15 years ago, a nuclear power plant in Japan is under siege from mysterious tremors that are too regular and frequent to be earthquakes.  An American couple working at the plant, Joe and Sandra Brody (Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche) investigate the situation, and after a particularly tragic outcome for many working at the plant, Joe makes it his personal mission to uncover the conspiracy of what exactly happened at the plant that day.

In the present, the Brodys' now-adult son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) finds himself in a similar situation.  But this time, it goes beyond bizarre tremors.  A massive insect-like creature referred to as a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) is unleashed in Japan, and begins to make its way toward America, where another similar MUTO has risen in the deserts of Nevada.  As the military scrambles its men, a stone-faced Japanese scientist (Ken Watanbe) warns that it won't be enough, and is the first to point out that there is already a third creature that has been awakened by the presence of the MUTOs.   That would be Godzilla, of course.  The scientist's recommendation on what they should do?  Let Godzilla handle the giant bugs, and stay the hell out of his way, more or less.

Of course, the military doesn't listen.  Of course they try to battle the MUTOs on their own.  And of course, they also try to attack Godzilla when he rises from the ocean depths.  The military is never allowed to be smart in a giant monster movie.  We get a couple human-related subplots while all the giant monster action is going on, mostly involving Ford and his wife (Elizabeth Olsen) and young child.  Sadly, outside of Bryan Cranston's character and performance, I never really felt emotionally involved with any of the human characters.  None of them annoyed me, really.  The actors are simply given little to work with.  At least they are adept at reacting to the monsters battling each other, which really is the most important job they have.  Speaking of the characters, I am grateful that everybody does take the impending threat of the monsters seriously.  There is no "comic relief" character spouting one-liners to lighten the mood for the audience.  For this, I am grateful.

I actually enjoyed the serious and somber mood that Godzilla creates.  It doesn't once try to be campy or cute, and it more or less comes across as a natural disaster survival film, with giant CG monsters in the middle of it.  I understand if the idea of the approach makes you laugh, but the movie pulls it off.  The monster battles themselves are spectacular, and clear enough to see, even though the film does unfortunately choose to shoot most of its big action sequences at night, or in the middle of pouring rain.  Most of all, when we do see Godzilla in action, or even just moving, he looks and feels right.  In the 98 film, he was just a generic and very uninteresting CG creature.  Here, the filmmakers have found a way to modernize his look, while at the same time, making him look like a natural upgrade from the earlier design.  He is an impressive sight.

Some viewers and critics complain that you don't get to see enough of Godzilla in the movie, and while it may be true, I do think the movie hides him in a skillful and tactful way.  It creates a sense of awe and mystery during its build up, and when he finally is revealed, we are genuinely excited.  Show him too much, and he loses a lot of his power.  Show him too little, and we become bored or restless.  I think the movie reaches the right balance between build up and pay off.  The problem with a lot of recent creature movies is that once the monster is revealed, the filmmakers push him in our face, losing much of the wonder and mystery.  This didn't happen for me here.

Could Godzilla have been improved?  Most definitely, particularly by giving it a stronger human cast of characters.  Still, we come for the giant monster fights, and I don't see anyone being disappointed in that regard.  It may not be perfect, but it has plenty of energy, and quite a few thrills too.

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