I’m going to be slightly unconventional and begin this review with my final grade: C-. This re-imagining of the classic creature, Godzilla, is a mixed bag at best from my perspective. It had the opportunity to be something better than average, but just doesn’t quite hit the consistent pace and energy you’d want a film like this to have, leading up to the final battle.
That being said, I should also note that some of the corporate marketing associated with Godzilla’s release is misleading at best. They want you to believe this is a Bryan Cranston centric film, and sadly it is not! Now this is where the main spoiler of my review kicks in so cease reading this now if you don’t want a major let down.
The character of Joe Brody, played by Emmy award winning actor Bryan Cranston, exits stage right approximately 38 minutes into the film’s running time (I even timed it) While Mr. Cranston was on screen, he was carrying the film in my eyes with his obviously fantastic acting chops.
This made the first overall act of the movie extremely satisfying because you had a main character who had lost his wife, along with developing an obsession with what may have caused the nuclear power plant he worked on to implode. Hence, his arc could have potentially been written to go from beginning to end.
Instead the filmmakers and writer gave him the Marlon Brando treatment, a la Superman: The Movie, where he’s around long enough to make his concerns known, and then goes bye bye.
It’s after Cranston’s departure that the film starts to feel very generic, and somewhat dull during the middle portion of it. I won’t be too harsh on the middle act as it did have an OK action sequence set to the mise-en-scène of Hawaii, however, just as that was about to kick into full gear, the pace switches back to the human aspect that fell extremely flat without the man who once played Walter White.
Unfortunately, the likes of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays Brody’s son, Ford, and Elizabeth Olsen, who play’s Ford’s wife, could not carry this film leading up to the final act. The only leftover veteran actor left to carry the movie was Ken Watanabe (who is usually used well, and excellent in most roles), who played Dr. Ichiro Serizawa.
Sadly, he looked like he was doped up on Benedryl for the majority of the film, and he was never given much material to work with beyond checking his pocket watch every few minutes. Nonetheless, I wish movie studios, and young filmmakers of today would recognize you NEED a veteran actor or actress in big budget flicks to carry the human element of the picture.
The young, the bold, and the beautiful simply don’t cut it in cases like this, and it’s no different here. I’m not trying to discredit their acting abilities, but the second act of the story suffered because of a lack of energy on screen. Additionally, the typical, ho-hum military element that’s thrusted into disaster flicks was nothing to write home about here either.
It amounted to a lot of generic dialogue of “how are we going to tackle this threat?” “OK, let’s nuke em” generalities that almost made me want to walk out of the theater before the final act was front and center.
Which leads me to my next observation: Should this film have been called Godzilla or Muto? Because I’m pretty darn sure the Muto creatures got over double the screen time than that of our favorite big guy.
And maybe that’s what make Godzilla films work, i.e. the less is more principal, however, it still felt like the iconic creature was a little undercut with screen-time. Thankfully, the little you do see of Godzilla seems to pay off in a very big way.
In the final act, the epic battle between Godzilla, and the male and female Muto creatures was excellent in my opinion. The special effects, the lighting, and even the music at one point, where there’s a nod to a musical cue from 2001: A Space Odyssey, all felt just right for the film’s climatic sequence.
I’ll even say the director, and all involved production wise managed to convey that Godzilla has a heart as well. After he saves Ford’s life, along with some other close up shots of Godzilla’s eyes, and face, it’s easy to sense this monstrosity isn’t hell bent on hurting innocents, but rather is a protector of sorts. That’s no small feat to convey, and the filmmakers deserve credit for not making Godzilla into a one dimensional character at the end of the day.
Now, as I highlighted at the beginning of this review, this is about an average film at best. The first, and third acts are where it packs the most punch, and I’d also surmise that this is a film that packs an even bigger wallop by seeing it in the IMAX 3D format.
That certainly won’t turn it into a classic, but may provide the make-up needed to cover up for the flaws on display in the standard format. As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to tell us what you thought of Godzilla by leaving comments below
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