Godzilla is a reboot of
Ishiro Honda's horror classic Gojira directed
by Gareth Edwards, a new arrival to the Hollywood blockbuster scene
who's responsible for the independent film 'Monsters' that got him
the big break. A film
controversial for being the first film to touch on the subject of the
nuclear age that resulted in the end of the Second World War and the
many lives taken and affected by the events which occurred in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A film that was released from a country who
experienced it first-hand just less than a decade before the world
knew of this monstrous embodiment of nuclear power turned pop-culture
icon whose starred in 29 movies over the course of 60 years
(excluding the 1998 bastardised version).
The
second attempt at recreating the design of an 'American' Godzilla is
very much a vast improvement of respecting the source material from
the 'Rubber Suit' era and completely disregarding Emmerich's imposter
stripped of all of the Japanese version's trademark abilities and
overall look. Godzilla in this film is intricate from top to bottom
and various close-up shots of his mouth, scales and face is pleasing
to the eyes from a modern perspective of anthropomorphised characters
made into photo-realistic animals that could well be existent, whilst maintaining his
famous stance and towering scutes on his back. His roar is a
spectacle by itself if you're listening to it from the speaker system
in the cinema, one scene in particular shows it off with the camera
rippling to heighten it's power and persistance from every appearance
he makes throughout the film, retaining it's former glory of being
the most renowned sound effect to grace the silver-screen.
From
the huge publicity of the trailers alone, I think I can speak on
behalf of everyone surrounding themselves with the viral marketing of
this film, that film-goers want to see a monster brawl of Pacific
Rimesque proportions rather than a 'David vs Goliath' tale of
humanity conquering all. (no spoiler warning there). The two enemy
monsters, known as the M.U.T.O, are seeking to mate with each other
only for Godzilla (aka *&”*blocker) to intercept their calls
and stop they're make out session and possibly prevent an evil,
hell-spawn of giant bugs. The design is of these new monsters have a
heavy dose of originality to the point of pointlessness; they're a
concoction of irregular shapes fitted on with a Cyclops visor
(inspired by one of Toho's own creations). I honestly thought we're
better off with Toho designing a monster for Legendary or providing
the rights for their own more down-to-earth creatures from the
Godzilla franchise that fit perfectly to this new universe. Though silly
it sounds, those monsters from the sleazy, costumed films from the
60's are more level-headed than these M.U.T.Os used for a
questionable serious take of Godzilla. After an hour of babbling on
about the monsters movements and plan of action, We are introduced
with the third act of the film where we witness three behemoths that
inevitably lay waste to a city; Desplat's vastly epic score coupled with the fight scenes made me believe they were not ordinary Earthly creatures but Gods
opening up ideas of our insignificance as we sought to believe from the beginning that we will forever see ourselves governing over all species.
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Nevertheless,
the critical reception this film's received is divided and very much
every popular critique made is
true to some extent. The human story that follows Aaron Johnson's
character of soldier struggling to keep his wife and child safe
(played by Elisabeth Olsen) and the complicated relationship he has
with his dad (played by Bryan Cranston), to which I say is nothing
more than drama filler to live up to the incredibly cliché
of succeeding to defeat the threat to boost my heroism and the
protection of my loved ones. This is only a mistake from the script
writer not allowing a lead to step forward and go alongside Johnson
for the whole ride, instead we are served with small sections of
unaccustomed actors troubled with carrying the film forth and
overruling the stale acting abilities of Aaron Johnson.
One
potential who could of transported the film to whole new levels was
Cranston who stuck around for the first act and already established
himself as the best and most heartfelt out of the entire roster of
big names. The beginning showcased a tragic outcome for one
particular character, namely Bryan's wife, and so the execution of
his reaction was an applaudable tear-jerker so raw that it felt like
it transcended his emotional propulsions felt from his notable role
in Breaking Bad. Another was Ken Watanabe who played the scientist
coordinated his role to be hysterically conventional whenever he
pulled the 'truly fascinating' face after every dramatic line. We're
talking about someone with acting chops to pull off any role he's
given (Batman Begins, The Last Samurai and Letters from Iwo Jiwa to
name a few) but wasn't enough this time to support the film from the
sidelines. I felt the writing for his character was unsuccessful in
regards to not exploring the symbolic story that hits close to home
for the Japanese people upon mentioning a specific object of his that
evoked a powerful emotion only they can feel. I felt this scene, and
among others, should be truly credited for paying homage to the
original since the film, at times, strays away from the villainous
character that defines the original incarnation. Godzilla was more
respected as a hero, likewise to his early incarnations from the many
sequels and didn't really reflect on his cataclysmal origins of
remorselessness for the human characters. A reason why many felt
deceived from the trailers of the damage susposedly caused by him.
The
film was only let down from the story-telling but the finale made out
to be a satisfying gift of features of Godzilla's attacking aresenal that the fan-base will be quite familiar with.
