Movie Review: Godzilla (2014)

After that sad state of affairs in 1998, Godzilla is back for another round.  This time he is bigger and badder than ever before in Gareth Edwards' (Monsters) second directing effort, Godzilla.

The story starts in 1999 with Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad) and his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche, The English Patient) working in a nuclear plant in Japan.  There is seismic activity that destroys the plant that is explained away as an earthquake.  Joe doesn't buy it because it is not random.  He sees a pattern.  Fifteen years later the "quakes" are happening again and he gets arrested for entering the quarantined zone looking for his old data to compare.  His son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kick-Ass), who is now in the navy, gets him out of jail and is convinced to go back into the quarantine zone with him.  Here they learn, from Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe, Batman Begins), of a monster referred to as MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), which was the cause of the quakes.  It is headed for the states pursued by another monster, our titular Godzilla.  Ford then joins up with the rest of the military to try to stop these monsters.  Then you get what you all came for, giant monster fight!

This movie, in a way, almost felt like two different movies smashed together.  Edwards tries to give his characters a little depth, and make you care about them.  This was done to great effect in the first act of the movie with Cranston and Binoche.  You really bought their affection for each other and got invested in his struggle to find the truth.  Then there was the second movie, which happened in the third act.  This section gave viewers what they were waiting for with an all out brawl between the monsters.  The characters were still good, but were not given as much to work with as some had in the first act.  The second act tried to bridge these two movies together, and this is where it went into kind of a lull for me.  We follow Ford's journey from Japan to the states.  The problem lies in the fact that Ford was the least interesting character for me.  Aaron Taylor Johnson just seemed a little wooden in this role.  Luckily, this act is redeemed a little with teasing glimpses of the monsters.

So, the acting is great for the most part.  Johnson is the only weak link, but he is still passable.  Cranston and Binoche (who has very little screen time) make you wish they were the protagonists through the whole film.  Watanabe and Elizabeth Olsen also did a fine job with what little they were given to do.

Some of the plot is where you have to kind of turn off your brain and just enjoy the ride, but I'm suspecting most people will have done that just knowing it was a Godzilla movie.  Godzilla himself is supposed to have been around since 1954, but he has been kept a secret.  Seriously, he's the size of a skyscraper.  That is one BIG secret.  Another thing is how stupid the military is portrayed.  They get in the way of fleeing civilians to shoot at these giant monsters with puny little bullets and missiles, doing about as much damage around them as the monsters themselves.  The real fun bit though, is their ultimate plan.  It is established over and over again throughout the movie that these monsters eat radioactive materials, so they come up with the brilliant plan to hit them with a giant nuclear bomb.

The biggest fun is the throwdown at the end.  Godzilla proves he is the baddest monster in town.  Between him and the MUTO's you get your fair share of fighting and destruction.  A lot of the fighting takes place in the evening, but the action is clear and you get a lot of great shots.  The effects are done real well.  The cinematography is also beautiful in this movie.  There is a scene (also shown in the first trailer) where the military does a HALO jump into the thick of it all, and it is quite breathtaking.

The second act lulls a little, and Godzilla himself does take quite some time before he shows up for the first time on screen.  I think these are minor quibbles in the long run.  The story with certain characters makes up for some of this, and Godzilla really does make good use of all of the screen time that he does get, beating up the MUTO's, which themselves are quite cool looking.  Overall, good popcorn summer movie with some character development in the first half that you don't normally see in this type of movie.

Rating: *******--- (7 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

Serizawa: Let them fight.

A Week of Entertainment - Issue 8

To all my ones of readers out there, yes, this is a day late.  It was a good, but exhausting weekend so I chose sleep last night.  So, now, on with the show.


RIP Hoskins - And yet another sad loss in Hollywood.  Bob Hoskins was another one of those actors that could put any movie up a notch.  His first real breakout role was in the 1980 hit The Long Good Friday.  I have not seen this one yet.  I'll have to put that on "the list".  Of course I, along with many other people, will always know him for his role as the toon hating, alcoholic detective Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.  As for a film that may have gone under the radar a little, he did Mrs. Henderson Presents back in 2005 with Dame Judi Dench that I found quite enjoyable as well.  He had recently retired after being diagnosed with Parkinson's two years ago.  He died at the age of 71 from pneumonia.


Make Mine Marvel - And what's a week of news without a little Marvel in the mix.  Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada talked a little about the upcoming Netflix series.  Those would be Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones.  Daredevil is being cast right now, and it is confirmed that each of these series will be released in their entirety for binge watching as they are subsequently finished.  Also, they are taking a more gritty approach to the "street-level noir side of the Marvel Universe" with these series.  I think this new approach will be interesting to watch unfold.  Even if they don't throw any of these characters into the movies, these new series evolving into the Defenders mini-series could be a fun event to follow through the streets of Hell's Kitchen.


Hello, What Have We Here? - In another branch of Disney, the core cast list has been officially announced for Star Wars: Episode VII.  I probably don't have to say much about this, because there is no way you live outside of a cave without having heard it already 8 million times the day it was announced.  Newcomers include John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver ("Girls"), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings trilogy), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time) and Max von Sydow (The Exorcist).  Of course the exciting news is the returning cast.  Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker.  For returning cast, we're just missing the smooth talking Lando Calrissian.  It seems he must have gotten confused when he signed on for Dancing With the Stars instead of Star Wars.  All in all, it's an interesting cast.  With Kasdan writing and J.J. behind the wheel, I'd say we can at least be cautiously optimistic at this point.





Oh No! There Goes Tokyo! - I don't know what it is about this movie, but I am excited to see it.  It is my second most anticipated movie of 2014.  Let's hope it lives up to my expectations as much as The Winter Soldier did.  The above trailer is one that was just released this week and is also an exception to the rule for a little problem I have.  Trailers are giving too much away these days.  The one above included.  Before, there were hints that there would be a second monster in Godzilla.  Now they've flat out shown it to us.  I say this is the exception because somehow this new trailer only increased my anticipation.  That is not usually the case.  Trailers used to be one of my favorite things about going to the movies.  You see a little glimpse of what you can look forward to a couple weeks or months after the movie you are about to sit through.  Now, there is no anticipation.  Most trailers give away key plot points and even the twist in some movies.  Then you walk away thinking you don't really need to see that one at all.  Please Hollywood, bring back the shorter trailers.  Make me look forward to them in theater again, instead of looking at my watch wondering when they are going to end and the movie begin. (If you need any tips, look no further than Christopher Nolan)  And please Hollywood, make Godzilla be a good movie!


Stone vs. Fallon - For bit of fun to end the night I'm including the following video.  Partly because of the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 this past weekend.  Partly because I have a major crush on Emma Stone.  And partly because, basically, it's awesome and you should watch it.  Yes, I realize that first statement will deter a lot of you, but this clip really has nothing to do with the movie other than the actress.  I will not be seeing the movie until tomorrow night and am avoiding reviews until I write my own, but man, have I seen some unfavorable mentions in the headlines.  I will reserve judgment though and hope the majority of the critics are wrong.  In the meantime, here is Emma Stone vs. Jimmy Fallon in an epic lip-sync battle.





That about does it for me.  Have a fantastic day everyone!


Until next time.....if you can't stand the heat, get out of Hell's Kitchen!


Weekend top 10 at the box office:
1 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (new release) $91.6M
2 - The Other Woman $14.4M
3 - Heaven Is For Real $8.6M
4 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier $7.8M
5 - Rio 2 $7.7M
6 - Brick Mansions $3.7M
7 - Divergent $2.2M
8 - The Quiet Ones $2M
9 - The Grand Budapest Hotel $1.8M
10 - God's Not Dead $1.8M