Godzilla. The year is 2014 and Japan still laughs at us for the abomination that was Godzilla from 1998. For proof just look to 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars a film in which the giant monster fights his most famous enemies all in one movie, included in this is America's version of the beast that they call Zilla; in the film (MILD SPOILER FOR GODZILLA FINAL WARS) Godzilla literally takes Zilla out in a matter of seconds which shows that Zilla wasn't even close to being Godzilla's equal.
In America's chance at redemption they hired a small time-ish director who's directed a few movies, nothing of serious note. They hired Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick Ass), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), and Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House) to round out the major cast members. Cranston as usual kills it, Johnson did a lot better than I had expected so kudos to him and Olsen did well too, wasn't spectacular acting but it was from poor.
Now to the real star of this movie and franchise, Godzilla. They did an excellent job at making him look huge, it sounds easy but it's not, when you first see his enemy, an eight legged winged beast called Muto, he doesn't look as big as you'd thing. When you finally see Godzilla in all his glory he towers over the Muto making it look like a housefly (exaggeration). His roar is on point, his stature is unmatched and he is the definition of monster.
The main complaint people have with this is that the movie teases you with a Godzilla-Muto throwdown for a good hour, maybe more, cutting away from the action just as it's about to go down. It makes your mouth water, you see these glimpses and you just want to see more. You finally do, some say that the final battle isn't enough of a payoff for all the painstaking teasing but for me it was about enough. For me, it was enough to be bad ass yet still realistic (as realistic as you can get with a giant monster movie) and I was reasonably satisfied. One of the kills is just the most bad ass thing I've seen in a while, probably my kill of the year so far and without spoiling it, that kill is damn near worth the price of admission.
Overall: I enjoyed Godzilla, I didn't love it, I thought Bryan Cranston deserved more screen time but that's forgiven. I'm really hoping that they do some sequels to this and we can get some more action packed entires to this series as this is paid homage to the 1954 Gojira in that you don't see the beast until toward the end. This has the tools to be a great start up movie if the sequels pan out well, even as a stand alone film it's good.
Rating: 3.5/5, not sure why but I couldn't bring myself to give it a 4, it's good to see a worthwhile American Godzilla and it's a good film, I just didn't love it.
