Godzilla Review
Gareth Edwards helms Godzilla with Spielberg-like results. Edwards focuses the narrative in on one family that it follows throughout the movie, much like Spielberg would do. Also similar to Spielberg is Edwards' persistence to keep the monsters hidden from us, teasing us but never really letting loose until well into the film. Spielberg displayed mastery of this technique with Jaws. The results here are less successful. The slow build-up can be tedious at times. The characters are going through things we only mildly care about while we know there are giant monsters roaming out there somewhere. And why did we go to see Godzilla? That's right, to see these giant monsters. I understand the need to build tension before you can release it, but there came a point around 40 or so minutes into Godzilla where I just grew tired of set up. I wanted something smashed. Luckily, something finally was.
The film advertised Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston as the main character. However, while his performance was just as great as we've come to expect from him, he's only in the movie for a disappointingly short amount of time. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character is in the spotlight of the movie. He does an okay job, which surprised me as I've never found him that good of an actor. While his performance was fine, I never found his character, nor the story of his family all that interesting.
Once the monsters show up, this film gets awesome. Edwards is proficient at staging action sequences to be exciting, and all of the scenes are well-shot. The camerawork was excellent throughout the movie, but the big destruction sequences showcased a certain skill of Edwards' to portray the size and scale of the kaiju. Modern technology is also a big help in making the beasts, and the mayhem they induce, magnificent to watch.
The second half and some change of Godzilla was everything the first act wasn't. Once the monsters are marching around, the film starts to generate suspense. At any moment, you feel like Godzilla or one of the MUTO is going to smash through a building or swoop down into a city. A loud, echoed cry here, a lingering shot there. There are some legitimately terrifying moments as well. The tension that should have been building before is at this point in full force.
The film also does a great job of contrasting the size of humans to the size of these kaiju. There is a sense of existential dread and impending doom; there's really no way the human race will be able to defeat these giant monsters on their own. They need a savior. The film uses this fact to generate a surprising amount of genuine emotional effect.
While Godzilla certainly is a giant, action-packed summer blockbuster, it makes the point of being something else as well, something more. It puts you in the perspective of being a tiny human gazing up at the massive Godzilla in awe, horrified. Even if we feel like we're in control of ourselves, of our planet, we're really not. At any moment we could be squashed by a power greater than ourselves. Ken Watanabe says a great line that I think sums up the film as a whole; "The arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control and not the other way around." That nails it right there.
The thing that makes this Godzilla so impressive is its ability to combine the thought-provoking ideas I just mentioned with exhilarating, truly breathtaking sequences of the kaiju. It's a summer blockbuster that isn't afraid to make you think or show its heart, and as a result, it overcomes any ploddingly paced set-up it starts out with, and fire breaths new life into this fading franchise.
Conclusion
Godzilla's slow build-up can be tedious at times, but the combination of its awe-inspiring visuals, surprisingly deep screenplay, and the sheer magnitude of the iconic beast at its center is more than enough to provide ample entertainment for hardcore fans and casual film-goers alike.
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