Godzilla (2014)

Released 15th May 2014, Godzilla follows Ford Brody’s experience with giant monsters while he tries to get home to his family. While it is counterintuitive for a ‘monster’ movie, Godzilla himself does not make many appearances throughout the film; when he does appear, it is very briefly. As oppose to being heavy on action, the narrative instead opts to demonstrate the human reaction to the resurgence of Godzilla and other ‘Titans’ through military responses (as moronic as they may seem), evacuation process and general perceptions of the monsters from human perspective. In this regard, the film is constructed very well in the way that the monsters are frequently shown from ground level or windows; it plants you directly in the (little) action there is. The ‘monsters’ are also treated like mythical beings who represent nature’s defence system and the need to co-exist with it.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson provides the performance for protagonist Ford Brody; the most frustrating thing about this character is that his narrative is brilliantly interwoven with the monster events and his character has conceptual drama, however, Taylor-Johnson fails to supplant his role with enough sincerity and nuance to be engaged with. Then there is the best character of the film who is dropped within the first Act: Joe Brody. Despite Ford taking the protagonist role after the opening, the film starts with Nuclear engineer Joe Brody and his experience with the male MUTO (more on that later) sending his power plant into meltdown with subsequent personal tragedy. Bryan Cranston gives what is probably the best performance of the ‘monster’ sub-genre as he fights to find what happened that day which makes it all the more dissatisfying when he gets dropped later on. Everyone else are just okay and serve their purpose with little else; Ken Watanabe is fine as Dr Ishirō Serizawa, Elizabeth Olsen is fine as Elle Brody and child actor Carson Bolde is horrendous as Sam Brody.

The visual effects used to bring Godzilla, and the two MUTOs he fights, are fantastic… when they are visible. The film decides to shroud most of the monsters in darkness which makes their minimal appearances even less satisfying. That said, they are animated to behave like you would expect real creatures to act;the sound design also works in the favour of this realism. I would also be doing a disservice to the film if I didn’t mention the spectacular cinematography present throughout the whole experience; it is truly a spectacle and will make you remember the film. Finally, Alexandre Desplat’s soundtrack is really unique and interesting; my only fault is that one motif is used in excess. Overall, Godzilla is a flawed film but it’s best parts truly raise it onto a high pedestal which set a solid foundation for the rest of the Monsterverse to thrive off of.