Knight Owl's Review of Godzilla (2014); Hiding In Plain Sight

It took 60 years, but we finally have a decent film featuring the King of Monsters.

I say that because since his introduction, Godzilla has never been in an all-around good film. Yeah, I said it. The Godzilla movies of yore and yesteryear were fun, there's no argument here. But for the most part they are enjoyed ironically, the same way we enjoy the 1966 Batman show, 1980's-era pro wrestling, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. We laugh at the big rubber suits and the out-of-sync voice dubs because we're SO clever, but no traditional Godzilla film is on anyone's Top 100 lists. And then we have the 1998 'reboot', featuring the all-star cast of Simpsons voice actors, Leon The Professional, and Ferris fucking Bueller. 

My face during this entire fucking movie. 

Honestly, I think this piece of shit was made only to appease Roland Emmerich's wanton for the destruction of famous architecture (see also: Independence Day, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, White House Down; Christ, he even blows pyramids up in StarGate). My point is that no legitimate film starring the Big Guy has yet to be made. Until now.

Godzilla '14 is pretty much everything I wanted out of the film in that it's not what everyone else wanted out of the film. Stay with me. It would have been easy to make a cheesy, monster action-heavy slobberknocker that is every other Godzilla movie but with better visuals. Most other film makers might have gone the way of Transformers or Pacific Rim; high impact, fast moving, IN YO FACE BOOAHAHAHAH~ and that would have been fine, but not great. Instead, Gareth Edwards decided to take nods from maybe the greatest monster movie of all time: Jaws. This film is a great mix of a slow burn suspenseful sci-fi film with a healthy dose of traditional monster mash and heavy-handed disaster flick. It's something I definitely got behind, but can understand how it might turn audiences off if they are expecting something less subtle.

The plot, believe it or not, is simple: a giant monster or two pop into public view and proceed to fuck shit up, and people react accordingly. Trying to spoilers vague, I'll say that Godzilla needs to defend his title as King of Monsters in the film, and thank God(zilla) for that, because how boring could this movie be if all that happened was 'big lizard tromps and stomps around (insert big city here)'. It's almost as if that movie's been made before! Sarcasm, everyone! Again, it's a long build to a big payoff, but the build is well executed and the punch line is worth the wait. Again, think of Jaws: you get decent glimpses of the main attraction throughout the first ¾'s of the film but nothing substantial, and then the climax hits and HERE COMES THE PAIN. If there's a criticism to be made regarding the overall feel of the film, it's that the monsters are inexplicably sneaky. In no way should a 100-foot tall creature be able to get the jump on any number of people, but it happens on more than one occasion in this film. It is hilarious. Which is good, because the film is lacking highly in comic relief. I mean, it fits the gravitas of the film, and after the 1998 farce I'd want to keep this film as serious as possible just to be as different from Bueller-zilla as I could. But pretty much every laugh I got out of this film was not intentional.

The major criticism I have for this film is with the characters. Not the actors per se, as they were for the most part spot on. But if you've seen any disaster movie, you've met the people this film focuses on. The hyper-intelligent but batshit insane scientist with a vendetta. The young hero, usually with a military background. Young hero's love interest. The elder, wise eccentric that has answers that make absolutely no sense whatsoever for him to have. The skeptical authority figure that's got no time for the advice of said eccentric. Any of these sound familiar? It's the Independence Day special. Within the first 15 minutes of the movie, I thought that the climax would center around Kick-Ass and Heisenberg giving Godzilla a computer virus. Thankfully that is not the case, and the characters were enjoyable, cliches that they are. Bryan Cranston is Walter White at his craziest here, which I was weary about him until the film's events made his overacting make sense. Ken Wanatabe brings a more subtle gravitas as the aforementioned eccentric with all the answers, and is an effective balance to Cranston's ALL CAPS LOCK performance. 

JESSE WE NEED TO COOK...err, no wait...what's the line?

Aaron Taylor-Kick-Ass-Johnson is very sympathetic in his role as the lead, a former military officer trying to get from point A to his family at point B, and just having the worst possible time with it. Elizabeth Olsen enjoys some exposure as the best possible Olsen sister as Kick-Ass's love interest, but doesn't do much more than that. And if you've seen David Strathairn in one thing, you've seen him in everything. He's effective as the military command in charge of the whole mess, but only because he's always effective. Nothing truly special about the actors or the people they portray in the film, but then again, if you're coming to see Godzilla for character development, then you're gonna have a bad time and you only have yourself to blame.

Is Godzilla my favourite movie of the year? No. Probably won't even come close. But it is definitely the best monster movie to come by in some time, blowing Pacific Rim out of the water in many aspects. It does warm my heart though to see this genre coming back in a big way, and with legitimate efforts. It looks just incredible, and the 'less is more' approach to the monster is definitely a different but welcome approach to what could have been an over-the-top run of the mill monster movie, overexposing the creatures and making the film seem drawn out. This film makes you want more from the get-go and won't pay out until the end. Totally worth the watch, especially on the big screen.

And for the love of God, keep an eye out for 100-foot tall monsters. They can be anywhere. Even RIGHT BEHIND YOU.

Knight Owl