Review of Godzilla (2014)
By Casey Douglass
I must admit to not
having seen any other Godzilla film besides the 1998 version
with Matthew Broderick. I quite liked it but it left me unimpressed.
Roll on to this 2014 Godzilla and I came away feeling a bit
better.
I could give a basic
outline of the early story without spoilers but my brain is rebelling
today so I will just comment on what I want, still hopefully spoiler
free. Suffice to say that the story is the usual human arrogance plus
massive forces equals mass destruction.
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| Image ©Warner Bros. Pictures |
The characters that
steal the show are Bryan Cranston’s Joe Brody and Aaron
Taylor-Johnson’s Ford Brody. The father and son duo certainly have
their issues but they are the two characters that stick well in my
mind. The rest of the cast were pretty disposable and whose only job
was to run around looking startled. Except the kids that is. My god.
I saw the 3D version of Godzilla but even those 3D glasses couldn’t
hide the 2D acting of the kids. Ford Brody’s son was the most
unemotional kid I have ever seen. He managed a smile once near the
end of the film. There was also a little girl about a third of the
way into the film that watches something amazing unfold. She was like
a mannequin, no emotion or response whatsoever, even when being
bundled along in a hysterical crowd. I thought the kids in Everybody
Loves Raymond were shit but these two can join that club now.
I was impressed with
how the film handled the reveal of Godzilla and his adversaries. I
don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that there is some
monster on monster action. The film takes awhile to build up to
seeing anything of Godzilla and even when it does appear, the first
few fights are teasingly closed off by doors shutting or other things
obstructing the view. I appreciated this and it all felt quite well
done. I think it fell down a little at the end though, where I felt
we see Godzilla too closely and can begin to read its expressions.
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| Image ©Warner Bros. Pictures |
The 3D was okay, it did
the job but was forgotten about within five minutes of the film
starting. The film delighted in shadowy silhouettes rising from dark
places so maybe 3D was always at a bit of a disadvantage in those
respects.
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| Image ©Warner Bros. Pictures |
What Godzilla
is, is a competent mega-monster movie with oodles of destruction and
escalation. It runs to around 2 hours and that felt just about right.
There are twists to the story and interesting things to see, but
don’t expect to really care what happens to the characters by the
end.
Rating: 3.5/5
Godzilla on IMDb
