Godzilla – Movie Review

Hollywood has always had a penchant for disaster films; cities turning to rubble have mostly been successful to catch the fancy of the moviegoer. The first ‘Godzilla’ released in the 1950’s and there have been so many others since then. The last one and a disaster at that hit theatres in 1998. So, my initial reaction on knowing another film is coming our way was – “Do we really need this?” Pat came the reply – “It will be fun in 3D”.

Year 1999 (Philippines): Scientists discover two egg-shaped pods containing MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism); one probably hatched and escaped. Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) is an engineer in Janjira, Japan who works with his scientist wife in a nuclear plant. A supposedly natural accident takes his wife’s life and the entire plant collapses. Fifteen years later, their son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is an explosives expert working for the US Navy in San Francisco. Married and father to a kid, Ford travels to Tokyo when he is informed that his father has been arrested for trespassing. Ford thinks his father is crazy but the latter is of the opinion that there is much more to the accident which happened fifteen years back. They investigate and learn there is a secret area in the ruins of the plant where an experiment is on. Things go bad as a winged MUTO is born which flies away after destructing the place. Wait. There are two of them – the winged ancient creature is the guy, the other one is female and they are to have babies. Feeding on radiation and destroying anything that comes their way, it is only Godzilla who can fight them and save humanity – a monster living in deep sea awoken and tried to be killed several times in the past with nuclear weapons.

Director Gareth Edwards (‘Monsters’) does a fairly good job but is let down by the tried and tested script. In an attempt to merge human drama with sci-fi, we get impatient as it takes over an hour for Godzilla to appear on screen. The MUTOs come a little earlier but it doesn’t really add up. In a movie like this, you expect more of visuals and less of drama which isn’t the case in the dragging first half. The origin of our huge dude monster is a rehash of what has been told earlier and could have been made more interesting if the focus was on it. Instead, what you have here is a father-son drama in the first thirty minutes which could easily have been cut short. However, Edwards succeeds in portraying Godzilla as a superhero (or super-creature?) who fights the MUTOs and saves the city. 3D doesn’t really make the event very special and it is surprising, probably because the drama gets you so bored that you feel it is wasted more than used well. Again, you have seen so many such movies that there are hardly any scenes here which will remain etched in your memories. Filmed well but lacking in creativity.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson runs, jumps and slogs well but that doesn’t take away the fact that he can hardly act or emote. Bryan Cranston (‘Argo’) is wasted in a small role which doesn’t even end up being important. Elizabeth Olsen as Ford’s wife is adequate. The supporting cast is okay. One doesn’t expect great performances from a sci-fi fantasy but this one’s a drama too hence, you stand to judge.

Watch it

or not: It is better than the 1998 flick… and is in 3D. Reasons enough for a watch… but just once! Don’t doze off to sleep in the first half and you will not be much disappointed.

At the Box-Office: It’s another summer blockbuster… one of those movies which can be declared a big success even before its release.

• About the Author

About Abhirup Dhar

I don't watch movies... I live them! Let me introduce myself. Abhirup Dhar was born in Kolkata and is still being brought up in India. A banker by profession, he is filmy to the core and is passionate about reviewing movies and writing. He likes to live on his own… he likes to be blunt, sarcastic, famous, infamous, confident, over-confident, moody at times… he likes to be himself. He is imperfect because perfection is boring. His love for movies dates back to his childhood days when he studied in a boarding school. A three-month Winter Vacation every year… and he made sure he watched as many movies then. Parents thought it was a phase... he knew it was Passion and he knew it back then itself. The craziness to watch movies on the Big Screen began during the last two years of school when he literally bunked to town so that he could catch up with the new Hindi Movie releases. Some thought he was plain crazy. He confirmed it was Passion... yet again. The hard fact is that not always can you walk a path you are passionate about. You have expectations to fulfill and Life to be made. But Life gives you chances and you have to grab them. So... here is he... your friendly critic who will be giving you his Verdict every week so that you can decide which release is worth your moolah and which is not! See you at the Movies! Stay connected at Facebook and Twitter!