Movie review: Godzilla (2014)

Time for the King of Monsters to smash the big screen! The film release of ‘Godzilla’ coincides with the 60th anniversary of the film franchise. This is certainly one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Had just watched it just now, and I’m leaving the theatre with great satisfaction. 2014’s Godzilla meets my expectation and delivers.

The story is great, engaging and suspense-building, hence leaving us no time to get bored as we followed closely to the plot development. The film starts 15 years ago when Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) lost his wife in a strange incident of explosion and radiation leak of a nuclear plant they were working in. 15 years later, his son, Ford Brody, a military technician convinces his dad to let it go as his dad was still struggling to resolve the mystery behind the accident that killed his mother. And then, comes the revelation and the arrival of two MUTOs and Godzilla of course, fighting each other while humans are powerless in between.

There are some good human elements added into this movie (felt particularly sad over the death scene of Joe’s wife when Joe had to shut down the door to prevent radiation exposure) and this is what made the movie livelier. Bryan Cranston’s solid performance contributed much to this. Only focusing on the monster attacks will make the film shallow. What’s surprising (considered a twist) is that the Godzilla is the hero now, saving the city of San Francisco from two MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), but their fights lead to massive destruction of the city. Well, that is what we are looking for actually.

I liked all the scenes involving the mighty Godzilla and the two MUTOs. Eventhough most of them were cut short and interrupted with scenes back to showing Ford Brody, the main lead, but their time on screen is still epic! Totally intense and climax-reaching. Honestly, many may complain that Godzilla’s presence in the movie is not sufficient (I wish for more from the monster too) but this wouldn’t absolutely helps to bring thrills to the movie. Now, the movie is still getting very exciting despite the short fights. This one focuses more on quality than quantity. The last battle between the monsters are fantastic! The atomic breath from Godzilla is awesome and unexpected! (Sorry for the spoiler)

As mentioned earlier, Bryan Cranston delivered outstanding performance here. Elizabeth Olsen is also not bad as Ford’s wife. The only minor comment is that Aaron Taylor Johnson, the main lead of the film lacks a bit of energy and always appear wooden or flat in this movie. On the other hand, the visual effects are definitely cool! The attention to details of the monsters is great and the depiction of the widespread chaos and destruction caused by the monsters is impressive. Another thing to compliment is the chilling and intensifying score and sound effects. All that sum up for a great monster film!

If I am to compare this to 1998’s Godzilla film, I would say that the 1998 version is different and that one reveals more of the predator-looking Godzilla. However, this 2014’s film is more suspenseful and stays to the original Toho’s Godzilla story. Godzilla’s time on screen is lesser, but everytime it comes out, everything gets bold and epic! So, 2014’s Godzilla is better. Out of 10 points, I would rate ‘Godzilla’ a total of 7.8. Highly recommended especially for those who are fans of monster movies! Roar…I wonder why Godzilla like to ‘scream’ so much. But its roar is absolutely powerful, fearless and heartstopping! Great depiction of the monster. Wait…It’s not a monster! It’s a God. Godzilla rocks here!

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)