You’ll have to excuse me if there are any spelling mistakes in this review; I’m still recovering from hearing THAT bone chilling roar in IMAX. There aren’t many noises in cinema that send the willies up you (come on, we’re better than that) and make you stand to attention (seriously, stop) quite so distinctly.
The basic plot is thus; huge monsters from the prehistoric era that feed on radiation are in hibernation underground, and awaken once the human race starts mucking about with nuclear power and weaponry. After mysterious seismic shifts cause his (well, not personally his) nuclear reactor to explode and his wife to die, Joe Brody (the always excellent Bryan Cranston) makes it his quest to uncover the truth with the help of his son, Ford (yes, apparently people outside The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy are called that). They are taken to a mysterious cocoon which hatches while they are there (funny, that) into the first “MUTO” (not to be confused with “Mewtwo”, which is heard a couple of times). This awakens Godzilla to, as Ken Wanatabe says, “restore natural order”.
Yes, you can see from that it’s a much deeper and complex plot than the 1998 Godzilla, which basically consisted of “Crikey I’m Matthew Boderick and look a big lizard is attacking New York!”. Another difference here is that Godzilla is the GOOD GUY – quite what his motives are we’re never really sure, and are only ever told by the enigmatic scientist/Godzilla-whisperer Dr. Serizawa, who spends almost all his screen appearance staring shocked and dazed into the horizon like a baffled sea captain while interpreting Godzilla’s actions to the army. There’s also lots of anti-nuclear messages to wade through as well, made all the more apparent during the many military conversations about using a nuke despite the fact that radiation makes them stronger (silly military!).
First things first, the film is a very very very slow burner, which initially I liked; I liked that it took the time to establish the human characters and their relationships and the history of how these giant beasts came to be, as well as the impact they have on the humans of the world. The emotional scenes with the human characters pack some wallop thanks to the actors in question (I had a lump in my throat a couple of times), such as the tragic death of Joe Brody’s wife, which is made all the more heart-wrenching thanks to Bryan Cranston.
However, you then begin to think that, actually, it feels slow because we are only teased with tiny glimpses of the monster action (similar to director Gareth Edwards’ first feature, Monsters). Again, initially, this is fine; it’s of course understandable that the filmmakers want to build to a big crescendo, but it then begins to annoy you. There’ll be what looks like a fantastic set piece of destruction or a big old fight between MUTOs but it then pans back to the humans, which feels more and more frustrating; you almost feel yourself screaming “NO, LEAVE THE CAMERA THERE, I WANNA WATCH!” like an eight year old being dragged away by their dad from a film he didn’t realise was inappropriate. Most sinfully, there is an occasion in Honolulu when it’s evident that a big scrap/bout is about to happen, and then it just cuts to the morning afterwards. You almost feel cheated by this (well, I did anyway). Luckily, you are eventually treated to this kind of spectacle more clearly at the end as Godzilla fights the MUTOs, which are brilliant sequences (comparisons to Pacific Rim, which is considerably more fun, will be rife), but at this point a feeling of “Well, FINALLY!” comes across from the audience.
Apart from this gripe, fairly big though it is, I really enjoyed the film. It’s peppered with fine performances, from Bryan Cranston (seriously, I could sycophantically write a whole blog on how much I love that man) to Ken Wanatabe. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Ford Brody is perfectly likeable but I can’t help but think it would’ve been more interesting if we’d followed his father for a bit longer. Elizabeth Olson and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play a married couple whose chemistry you can really sense, however it would be nice had they been given a little more to work with (strangely they’re working together again next year playing twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron; going from spouses to twins must be an interesting relationship to have with another person…).
And when the spectacle is there, it’s phenomenal; the monsters are near perfectly crafted, the destruction is poignant and lathered with realism, and Godzilla doesn’t half do some devastating takedowns to the point that it’s surprising that you don’t hear “FINISH HIM” in a big booming, Mortal Kombat-esque voice. There are a couple of silly parts where logic isn’t quite the film’s friend (how on earth do you miss/lose a monster the size of a skyscraper?!), but on the whole, apart from really stupid decisions made by the military, it’s a sombre, intelligent and entertaining lens over what could seem a B-movie premise at first glance.
Richards Reckons 