Right off the bat, let’s put your monster sized worries to rest. Legendary Pictures’ brand new Godzilla film is really, really good, and a great time at the movies. Obviously, after the last attempt at bringing Japan’s number one monster stateside imploded faster than a Madison Square Garden full of Godzilla eggs, fans had reason to be concerned. And the fact that most people (but obviously not you Geekscapists!) missed young director Gareth Edwards’ previous film Monsters meant that there wasn’t a whole lot to ride on other than a strong cast, a strong viral marketing campaign, and the hope that this wouldn’t be a repeat of 1998.
And it’s not. Godzilla 2014 is a completely different beast (both figuratively and literally) and the most fun I’ve had in a theater in a long time (and yes, I saw and enjoyed Cap 2). The 3D version, which some of my friends will no doubt skip because the film wasn’t shot in native 3D but converted to 3D and IMAX later, is the best way to experience a movie in which size isn’t necessarily everything… but definitely plays a big part in the enjoyment.
Unlike the previous Americanized Godzilla and many of the ‘Godzilla VS’ films made by Toho in Japan, the 2014 Godzilla does a great job of staying loyal to the tone and message of the 1954 original. Whereas that story took place in a Japan still recovering from the nuclear end of World War 2, this Godzilla exists in a post 9-11 world that has experienced recent catastrophes like the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and the tsunami in the Philippines. Both Edwards and screenwriter Max Borenstein (who we just published a heartening interview with) are not shy about using scenes and imagery that reflect those events and the movie resonates louder because of it. This is not a T-rex shaped Godzilla floppily running past product placement signs in New York City while chasing down Matthew Broderick. Legendary’s Godzilla feels important, a commentary on the modern military’s role in the world and how as much as mankind tries to control it, nature ultimately wins. This message resonates today just as the original must have 50 years ago.
All of this weightiness isn’t to say that Godzilla isn’t fun. It’s actually a lot of fun, and a lot of this is because of the fact that you will find yourself rooting for Godzilla. Sure, he can barely move a muscle without toppling a skyscraper over like The Man of Steel, but this is a force of nature. This is a monster that is equal to the worst that the world can throw at us. He’s not the main character of your film. He’s the misunderstood monster that your main characters are trying to survive! Even if they are working alongside him to defeat the movie’s ultimate threat (which I won’t spoil for you here… just please, avoid any and all clips and trailers until you’re sitting in the theater), they have to be careful to not be crushed underfoot. This Godzilla reminds me a lot of a family’s favorite, oversized pet. He means well, but in trying to do the right thing a valuable table ornament might get destroyed in spectacular fashion. And the movie’s giant sequences are spectacular, from a battle in downtown San Francisco to a giant set piece in Hawaii. This is a movie with big moments and Evans does a great job of framing them through the brief, fleeting viewpoints of the human characters as they witness them through a helicopter window or as Godzilla passes between two falling buildings. No major event is held on in a wide master shot and the result is the feeling that you’re right in the middle of everything. It also gives the slower, lumbering Godzilla a sense of power that was missing from the 1998 version. Sure, Godzilla is slow… but he is powerful, and he moves in deliberate, sweeping waves of destruction.
Which brings me to Godzilla’s equally memorable cast. Sure, we paid to see the big, irradiated lizard, but without the human element you’re basically watching a really gorgeous version of the video game Rampage. And a cast made up of Aaron Taylor-Johnston, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn and Bryan Cranston does a great job of making sure that every time the big fella isn’t on screen you’re not just counting down the moments to his next appearance, an argument that can be made about last summer’s Kaiju offering Pacific Rim. Every time there wasn’t a monster or giant robot on screen the audience might have been caught checking their watch. In fact, it’s the well rounded and believable characters that make this version of Godzilla a success. You know when you buy the ticket that you’re going to see some spectacular monster action. But the cast, and a script that gives them as many engagingly dramatic moments as it does periods of running for their lives, help this movie succeed. The events of Godzilla take place over a span of about twenty years and across several continents. The through line of Ken Watanabe’s scientific researcher character and the personal involvement of the Brody family give the movie a human pulse. After the horrific tragedy that befalls Bryan Cranston’s family in the early moments of the movie you want to see them make it through unscathed. And because this is monster-sized drama but set against a realistic, modern day world where real disasters exist, it’s not a given they they will make it. I implore you again to avoid as many spoilers as you can because this script does some surprising things to its characters and you want them to hit with all the weight that the filmmakers intended. Even if there’s a giant lizard stomping around, everyone works hard for it to seem like Godzilla is just one eerie government radar blink away from actually stepping out of the Pacific Ocean and happening in our real world.
In the few places where Godzilla stutters, it’s because it contradicts the heightened realism that it works so hard to convey. Most of Dr. Ichiro Serizawa’s lines read like old Japanese proverbs in the majority of his scenes. Ken Watanabe does a great job of making his character relatable but you can’t help but wonder why a respected scientist working with a team of international staff of experts (British Sally Hawkins plays his right hand staff member) still talks like Mr. Miyagi. The other aspect that threatens to take you out from time to time is what I call the “Forrest Gump effect”. Even though Godzilla’s path of destruction (not necessarily his fault!) spans from one end of the Pacific to the other and lands on a few major cities, the film’s main characters, who for the most part are trying to get away from the action, seem to end up right back in the middle of it and with just the right skill necessary to do the one job needed while hundreds of people die and get eaten or crushed around them. Of course, this is a giant monster movie so if these small annoyances keep you from having fun then you may not have bought the right ticket. The story does attempt to justify at least some of these contrivances while the others quickly get pushed aside to make way for another fantastic sequence. One involving an airport monorail is especially a lot of fun.
So as I said at the beginning, Godzilla is a really, really good movie, and a great time. The material is finally treated as seriously as the legacy of the original film deserves but never to the extent to which the fun goes out the window. You will find yourself cheering through a lot of it. And keep your eyes open for some cool easter eggs to the series’ rich canon as well as light hints that some of the events in the earlier Godzilla films might have occurred in this movie’s past history. This is not a reboot of the series or a Hollywood reimagining. This is just pure Godzilla, placed in a modern context for the new members of his fan club and faithfully executed for the rest of us who’ve been waiting patiently for his return. And it does feel great to have him back.
Godzilla scores a monstrous 4/5.