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, Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson),
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 (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) 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
only two complaints are most of the
human characters fall flat (especially the family dynamics) and the best
character (who they should have kept around instead of leaving behind a
character you could care less about to help carry the story) is eliminated
about halfway into the movie. The story
has a good build-up and the monster action and destruction is also good to see
on screen, but I wish the story of Ford and his family was more fleshed out and
interesting (where his Dad is the most interesting of the whole bunch
combined). Ken Watanabe seems to have
not enough to do as a scientist within Monarch (and his character seems to do a
lot of staring in awe type of looks). A
sequel is on its way and I hope Gareth Edwards and the producers improve the
formula (and flesh out the human characters more and use some recognized
Godzilla foes).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
MONARCH DECLASSIFIED:
OPERATION: LUCKY DRAGON- a film on the operation
to use an
atomic bomb to destroy Godzilla in the Pacific
MONARCH: THE M.UT.O. FILE-
a video primer for people new to the
Monarch organization
THE GODZILLA REVELATION- a look at the conspiracy
behind the
M.U.T.Os and Godzilla, and the destruction they left in their wake
THE LEGENDARY GODZILLA:
GODZILLA: A FORCE OF NATURE- looks at the origins
of the
movie and how the director got involved
A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF
DESTRUCTION- how they used real locations and visual effects to create the destruction
in the new GODZILLA
INTO THE VOID: THE H.A.L.O. JUMP- a look at one
of the
highlight scenes of the movie that Gareth Edwards envisioned for the movie
ANCIENT ENEMY: THE M.U.T.O.S.- a look at the creation of the ancient
creatures in the movie
GODZILLA: REBIRTH OF AN ICON (Target Exclusives
featurette)-
a history of the iconic monster from the days of the first Toho film to the
latest reimagining of GODZILLA. This
featurette reuses some material seen in other featurettes on the disc.
Movie in Standard definition on DVD
Digital HD Ultraviolet copy of the movie
FINAL ANALYSIS:
GODZILLA is a good start for presenting a new version of the iconic
giant monster for the 21st century, but I do hope they improve the
human story for the sequel (which does fall a little flat in this first movie)
and give Godzilla more screen time. I did
enjoy some of the making-of featurettes which do come off more as promotional
material at times instead of a thorough behind-the-scenes look. My favorite
extra is the OPERATION: LUCKY
DRAGON short film.
This review is ©9-23-2014
David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments
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