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Rating: 4.25 out of 5
Growing up, Godzilla was my absolute favorite. Let me rephrase that for a second, Godzilla is still my favorite movie monster. When I was a little kid, I used to walk around my house while doing the Godzilla roar and trying to do the atomic blast. I’m not ashamed to say I did that. My dad first showed me the old-school Godzilla films with Mothra, Rodan, and all the other characters. I fell in love with the character the more outrageous the films got. Watching Godzilla slide on his tail and drop-kick a monster was hilarious and entertaining but fun. Thinking about it, Godzilla had some hilarious moments in those films.
I want to take a moment to shit on the 1998 Godzilla film. I remember when it first came out, and I was hyped. I was around 13 years old, and I was hoping that it would be great. Honestly, I thought the movie was great because who wouldn’t want to see a giant ass lizard monster. As I grew older, I saw the error in my ways. That movie sucked ass, and it was just a giant lizard rather than Godzilla. Where was the atomic breath? Where was the roar that sent chills down your spine? Where were the tanks that did ZERO damage, and Godzilla walked it off like a gnat attacking him? Where was the other monster to fight against him? Yea, the 1998 films disappointed me, and I apologize for ever liking that film.
When a remake, reboot, or whatever you call it was announced and a new Godzilla film would be released in 2014, I was highly skeptical. When the trailers dropped, and all you heard were the roars of Godzilla, the little kid in me was intrigued. That one trailer where people descended from the sky hooked me, and I wanted to go see it. I want to say that this Godzilla film is the freakin shit! It was everything that I wanted and remembered in a Godzilla film.
The film starts in 1954 when the United States military is testing nuclear weapons. In 1999, Project Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa (Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Hawkins) investigated a colossal skeleton unearthed in a collapsed mine in the Philippines. You know shit is about to go down when you find a large monster skull. They find two egg-like things, with one of them being open. In Japan, one of the nuclear plants is experiencing unusual seismic activity. Supervisor Joe Brody (Cranston) sends his wife Sandra and a team of technicians into the reactor. While the team is inside it, the plant is breached, and Joe has to watch his wife die in front of his eyes. His son Ford watches from the school.
The film jumps fifteen years later when Ford (Taylor-Johnson) is a U.S. Navy explosive ordnance disposal officer returning home from a tour of duty to his wife, Elle (Olsen), and son Sam in San Francisco. Ford is not home for a few hours when he receives a phone call from Japan, where his dad has been detained for trespassing. Ultimate cock block right there, dad. Joe believes that the disaster that took his wife is a cover-up and wants to retrieve data that proves the seismic activity today is the same as back then. They managed to recover the data but were captured and taken to a secret facility. The pair meet Serizawa and Graham when Joe talks about the readings and the activity.
This is the moment where everyone knew they fucked up. A giant winged creature emerges from the containment unit and starts wreaking havoc. I don’t mean to spoil this, but Bryan Cranston’s character is killed at this moment. Dude wasn’t even in the film for more than 15 minutes. W.T.F!!! After the creature, or what people call MUTO, escapes, it rolls out and makes its way to Hawaii. Serizawa, Graham and Ford join a U.S. Navy task force led by Admiral William Stenz on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga to search for the creature.
At this point, this is where everything I was hoping for was unveiled. Ford tries to get back to his family in Hawaii, but things happen. First, another MUTO awakens in Las Vegas and messes up all those great casino machines. DAMN YOU!!! Both MUTOs are about to converge on San Fransico. In Hawaii, this is where my little boy dreams come true. We get our first look at Godzilla, and let me tell you, he was looking like the shit! I don’t know what he was doing, but this Godzilla was looking JACKED. Homeboy was doing shoulder shrugs and bench presses all day long. That roar sent a chill down my spine.
The film goes into overdrive, with Godzilla following the MUTOs all the way to San Francisco. Now for the story, it jumps to Ford asking to join the attack in San Francisco as he is the only bomb specialist and that his woman and son are in the city. That is whatever we are here to talk about, GODZILLA!!!!!
The fight against Godzilla and the MUTOs tickled my little kid inside me. All the things I loved about Godzilla were on screen once again. First, when Godzilla hits the Golden Gate Bridge, the dude is massive and fights against the MUTOs with extreme rage. What is incredible is the skydiving scene. I would’ve pissed my pants, but it was awesome watching them fly through the sky as coming so close to Godzilla. Now, Godzilla was getting his ass handed to him. The female MUTO was a problem, and Godzilla was even knocked out. When the humans give Godzilla an opening, the scene with his atomic breath inside the male’s MUTO mouth is AWESOME! The fight against the female MUTO is spot on, as Godzilla loves that atomic breath.
As far as the cast goes, let me put this out there now. This film had some false advertisements. You think Bryan Cranston will be in the film for the long haul. Sorry, spoiler alert!! Dude was gone within the first 20 minutes of the film. W.T.F!!! I know many people felt cheated because he was advertised a lot in this film and was hardly in it. Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest. Aaron Taylor-Johnson as U.S. Navy EOD LT Ford Brody was really good. He played the son who was tired of his pops but loved him. Ken Watanabe, as Dr. IshirÅ Serizawa, was the scientist for Project Monarch who dropped one of the best lines in the whole film. The film also has the beautiful Elizabeth Olsen. She plays Brody’s wife, who wants to make sure her son is safe but also working as a nurse. Finally, she has a short role, but the love of my life and crush, Sally Hawkins, is Dr. Vivienne Graham. She is in the film briefly, but I love her, and she plays Serizawa’s second in command.
This film washed away the awful wannabe Godzilla and rebooted the famous monster into a jacked, terrifying badass. The film launched the Monsterverse, and I’m here for it. The story is decent but the reason you are watching this film is to see Godzilla and for him to do his atomic breath. Bow down to the King of Monsters.
BONUS CLIP!!!
