I have always been a fan of Godzilla films (except for the ones with baby Godzilla) and I was very excited when I heard Gareth Edwards was directing the new reimagining of GODZILLA.  This 2014 take is like a 1970s summer blockbuster in a Steven Spielberg fashion without the sentimentalism.   The movie builds along with a nice opening titles sequence which shows some of the atomic bomb tests were an attempt to kill Godzilla by a secret organization called Monarch.   Flash forward to 10 years ago in Japan when a nuclear reactor disaster claims the life of a man’s wife.  Both of them are scientists and the son becomes distant from his father (Bryan Cranston) who now sounds like a crackpot conspiracy nut who just wants to know the truth in what happened.   His son is now in the military and he is called to Japan (when he is on leave to see his wife and son in San Francisco) to bail his dad out of jail.  Soon his dad convinces the son to come with them to get some old data and they discover a giant monster (aka the MUTO) is about to come out of hibernation to mate.  The MUTO escapes after Monarch fails to kill it and it draws the attention of Godzilla.   Godzilla goes face to face to fight the Muto from Hawaii to San Francisco. 

I loved this Godzilla remake even though it isn’t a perfect movie, but people should go check out Gareth Edwards directorial debut MONSTERS after seeing this one.   The monster battles are good and the monsters aren’t shrouded in rain (like in PACIFIC RIM).  It also shows sometime mankind isn’t control of nature or big monsters for that matter (and they have to let them fight).   I enjoyed for a popcorn movie despite the lack of political allegory like the original Godzilla.   The story does a good buildup and wisely uses Godzilla without having Godzilla on the screen all of the time.   The movie did a super opening weekend and sequel will get made (to no one’s surprise).   This movie will continue to do well all the way through DVD and Blu-ray release.  Bring on the sequel.

This review is ©5-25-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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