Godzilla (2014) Review

"You’re hiding something out there, and it’s going to send us back to the stone age!"
Film review by Isaac Handelman

It’s been a bumpy road as of late for the King of Monsters. After being put out of commission for a decade and a half by Roland Emmerich’s infamous Americanized reimagining, many questioned whether the towering mutant lizard would ever again recapture his big-screen dominance. Luckily, those concerns can now be put to rest; Gareth Edward’s newest remake marks Godzilla’s triumphant return -- and likely signals a new beginning for the franchise.

Right out of the gate, the new Godzilla establishes its reverence for the original Japanese creation. Despite the majority of its cast being American and the final confrontation being shifted from Tokyo to San Francisco, Godzilla remains respectful to the source film. The King of Monsters is a true sight to behold; though not necessarily the largest onscreen monster ever conceived, the new Godzilla’s scale is realized to a jaw-dropping extent as he towers over bridges and stands alongside skyscrapers. Almost all of the creature’s features are faithful to those of the original Godzilla; the glory of the new reincarnation lies not in its ingenuity, but in the simple, childlike glee that comes with seeing a classic character recreated so flawlessly by a brilliant team of modern visual effects artists. The downfalls of CGI have been highlighted numerous times as of late, but Godzilla stands as a shining example of how effective the medium can be when utilized effectively.

Godzilla is not the only CGI spectacle on display in this remake. The inclusion of other kaiju in the film is not a mere gimmick; without spoiling anything, I’ll simply say that their presence, though not itself, a spoiler, does put another deviously clever twist on the film’s narrative that the marketing team has done a phenomenal job of masking -- and that will please most viewers to a great extent.

One of the greatest liabilities of any monsters movie is its ability to entertain while its giant menaces aren’t on-screen. In this regard, Godzilla fares better than many of its peers, though is still admittedly flawed in certain aspects. The film boasts a relatively high-caliber cast of established stars and up-and-comers including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, and Bryan Cranston. The star of the show is Taylor-Johnson, who plays Ford Brody, a military bomb specialist. Ford’s estranged father Joe (Bryan Cranston) is convinced that the government has been covering up the existence of some enormous creature in their custody, but Ford refuses to believe his dad’s far-fetched ramblings.

What soon becomes apparent is that Ford’s character mostly serves the purpose of giving viewers a young adult, white, male protagonist as an anchoring viewpoint. Taylor-Johnson does decently well in the role, and is certainly likable enough to root for, but he’s outclassed in terms of both strength of character and acting ability by Cranston, who delivers a knockout performance, conveying instances of sincere emotion at a moment’s notice. Cranston also delivers some of the film’s most emotionally charged, impactful lines.

Joe, who soon proves to be far and away the most interesting human character on hand, is given precious little to do over the second two thirds of the film, which functions as a bizarre, unwieldy and sufficiently disappointing choice on the part of the screenwriters, given that he's the driving force behind the film's first act. Those times when he is present are Godzilla’s finest human moments, with one in particular being especially gut-wrenching, which makes one question whether Godzilla could have benefited from having him be the main human protagonist in place of the comparably unremarkable Ford.

Speaking of being given precious little to do, the more-than-capable Watanabe finds himself mostly relegated to simply looking at impressive spectacles with an expression of awe on his face, and occasionally pointing at something or uttering ominous catchphrases, though he is admittedly good at that. Still, Godzilla does a solid job of making its audience feel for the plight of the human characters. Though its ensemble-ish cast isn’t fleshed out to a large extent, the film manages to palpably convey the desperation that the humans feel.

Godzilla also has that annoying, Hollywoodian tendency to throw random kids into the middle of precarious situations for the sole sake of a bit of extra tension; unfortunately, the tactic not only proves pointless, but utterly backfires, as it soon becomes apparent that none of the screenwriters were ballsy enough to bring any real harm to these children, deflating the sense of increased tension they were meant to evoke.

Though these flaws are present, Godzilla doesn’t remain focused on any of its mistakes for long enough to derail the experience. Even the film’s most logic-defying moments, like when a group of military operatives stealthily infiltrates a mountain compound in search of a certain kaiju only to discover that it has broken through the other side of the mountain and is in plain view of Las Vegas, are fleeting and almost serve to add to the pulpy joy that comes with watching a movie about a giant lizard smashing things.

The film’s magnanimous action sequences also help to tear attention away from its missteps, showcasing beautifully realized kaiju-clashes and a few especially crowd-pleasing moments that I’ll take care not to spoil here. Adding to the effectiveness of the film’s set-piece moments is its visual splendor, courtesy of director Edwards, who utilizes environmental elements like clapping thunder complemented by lightning, as well as color contrasts in one particularly impressive HALO jump sequence to craft a visually marvelous experience.

A solid score accompanies the gorgeous visuals which, though unnecessarily obtuse on occasion, proves to be quite unconventional at points and is usually effective at complementing the mayhem on screen. In conjunction with the score, Godzilla’s stellar sound to design is second-to-none in recent memory; the earth-shaking roar of the titular beast is wonderfully realized.

So is most of Godzilla, a remake that understands and respects but is not bound to its source material. That sort of cautious reverence is a rare but welcome treat in modern cinema, and begs the question of what Edwards and company have in store for us next. One thing is for certain: it’ll be big.