Friday, November 4, 2016

Godzilla (2014)

Good job Gareth Edwards, you did the seemingly impossible.

The newest American Godzilla movie, why do people not like this one so much? I thought it was pretty damn good all things considered. Could have been much, much worse but it wasn't and that is the important thing. Right from the beginning it catches your attention with a great opening credits scene taking a stock and cliche opening and making it interesting, but we also get Bryan Cranston, being awesome like always (No I haven't seen Breaking Bad yet. Please hold your fire.). He plays a scientist working at a nuclear power plant in Japan, when suddenly the reactor becomes unstable. Cut to 15 years later, and he is on the hunt for answers as to what truly happened that day, accompanied by his son played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson who works in the military as they discover monsters laying dormant. They meet another scientist Dr. Serizawa (Same name as the scientist in the 1954 version) played by Ken Watanabe who informs them that the monsters are in fact from prehistoric times and that if they ever got loose, there is a natural force to combat them, Gojira. The monsters soon awaken and start a trek to repopulate their species which causes the Big G to be called on the scene to deal with them. The film was directed by Gareth Edwards, who makes very visual films and this is no exception. True it is set in modern day but it has such striking color and well done cinematography that it gives the film a bit more visual appeal. I can narrow it down to a single scene, the HALO jump, coupled together with the iconic and haunting music used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, make it one of the most memorable scenes in the entire movie. Now a few people didn't like this movie very much down to one problem, a lack of screen time from certain characters. Now honestly I had no problem with that, even though in this two hour film you only see a grand total of 10 minutes of Godzilla and yeah, you want to see the big guy a lot but isn't that the case with all Godzilla movies? You want to see him almost all the time on screen, I get that, but I loved the mystery around the monsters and how they were revealed throughout the film. You get glimpses of Godzilla throughout the whole movie but it's rare you see a full head to toe shot of him but it really works! It gives you a great sense of just how truly giant he is, I love the design of it very much, looks like the King Of The Monsters equivalent of me actually. The fight scenes are really good, although they tease just a bit, you see them throw down multiple times but not the whole fight until the end. That doesn't bother me a bit, I like bits and pieces before the grand finale and yes it is worth it in my opinion. I can't wait for the sequel which is due in 2019 if memory serves correct, so still awhile to go. But we have plenty more monster films in the future to tide me over until then. Thank you so much for joining me in Japan. Goodnight.

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