Okay guys, I just got back from seeing the new Godzilla movie, having only just been released in my country today, and I wanted to give my thoughts on the film. Since it's only just out, I will try my best to avoid spoilers as much as I can.
The basic premise for this movie is that in the year 1999, a man named Joe Brody loses his wife during a collapse of the nuclear power station they both worked in at Japan. Fifteen years later, Joe convinces his son, Ford, to come with him back to the site, only for the two of them to discover that the event back in 99 was no natural disaster. This cataclysm releases an ancient creature, named a "Muto" by the humans, who rampages from Japan all the way to the United states. With human military force unable to stop it, their only hope is in another ancient creature, named Godzilla.
Firstly, I want to say how much this film excited me as I watched it. Granted, when it comes to giant monsters, that's a pretty easy thing to do, but the way in which it handles that premise is done very well. The monsters in question are never once over-exposed, and they play the "Jaws rule" in keeping them concealed in various ways, so when the time comes for them to take centre stage, they're all the more impressive. Even though this way of telling the story does lend itself to a number of typical action cliches, like having the "brave American soldier" as the central hero, I never found myself saying that this was in any way a point against the film, which is always a good sign.
The actors we have on display here all do a pretty convincing job with their roles. Ford, our main hero, is played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and I will admit right now that I am not familiar with any other movie this guy has been in. But, to his credit, he sells his part admirably, showing both a guy who is thrust into this unbelievable situation, but also shows him in the light of a professional soldier and caring family man. There are times when he may appear as the typical action hero of most modern blockbusters, but that is in no way the fault of his performance. We also have the involvement of Ken Watanabe, who plays a scientist with knowledge of these creatures and their history. Watanabe is an acter I've admired ever since his role in "The Last Samurai" many years ago. There's just something about the way he delivers his dialogue that gives such wight to it. When this guy talks, you listen, and every scene he was in had me glued to the screen.
However, when it comes to the acting, I have to give my absolute congratulations to Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody for what, to me, was the standout performance of the whole movie. His character is not in this film for as long as Johnsons's, but he still gives a very memorable performance. Most audiences will probably know this actor as the father from the comedy TV show, "Malcom in the Middle", and while that show proved he was good at more humorous roles, this move makes it clear that he is equally good, if not better, at delivering serious drama. You really feel that the pain this guy feels at having lost his wife, and his devotion to discovering the truth of what killed her. I guarantee, you will not find a more engaging performance in this movie than his.
But, let's get down to what many will be wanting to know about, the monsters. What I like most about the way these things are portrayed in this film is that you can't really call them villains. True, they cause a great deal of devastation, but they're more akin to predatory animals, acting on instinct, rather than villains acting out some nefarious plan. The Muto's in particular I found rather interesting. Their design was unique and there were times when I actually found myself rooting for them, and even sympathising with them, though to explain why would be giving away too much. Like Godzilla, they are CGI, and I know many people will say that it's been overused or that they miss the classic suits from the original Japanese Godzilla movies, but to the films' credit, the monster do look very convincing.
And then we have the king of the monsters himself, Godzilla. I will admit right now that I am not as much of a fan of this franchise as I'm sure many others are, so I have only a passing knowledge of this guy's incarnations over the years. What I will say is that, like with the Mutos you can't really say that this guy is a bad guy, or even a good guy. The humans may need him to save the day, but his portrayal makes it clear that his goal is to kill the Mutos. He couldn't care less what happens to us, and that's what I like, when they make this massive creature a force of nature rather than something you can call a friend. His design is very in-keeping with the classic image of him and when you see him on screen you just know that he's a force to be reckoned with. And I will even admit that, when he first came onto the screen and gave his trademark roar, I genuinely had goosebumps.
But that is not the only thing to say about the monsters, as this film also does well in building the potential for an entire world of these things. It's established early ion in the film that the Earth once had a huge variety of these creatures roaming about, but that they had to go into hiding for one reason or another. That right there is good potential for a sequel or entire series of Godzilla movies. There's no need for some "aha, one of them survived" plot twist like some other movies might do, as the story itself already gave ample cause for future movies to possibly be made.
What I'm sure many people will be want me to do now is compare this film to previous entries in the Godzilla franchise, most notably the original and the 90's Roland Emmerich remake. When it comes to the original ,I'm afraid to report that I never watched it, so I am unable to make a comparison. As for Emmerich's attempts, I can easily say that this is a far superior movie. While there were times when I felt that this film was getting dangerously close to things Emmerich put in his version (though again to say what would be spoiling things), I never once thought to myself that what I was seeing or hearing on screen was boring or silly. Though the biggest plus this film has over the Emmerich version is the way it handled it's monsters, as the ones in this film just enthralled me far more than his did.
I am fully aware that many of the people who go to see movies such as these will be doing so for the purposes of being excited. And granted, this is a very exciting and thrilling movie. But, the best monster movies are those who have some kind of message to them. The original film for example, though I did not see it, was nevertheless famous for being a cautionary tale of nuclear power, with Godzilla himself being the personification for the atomic bomb itself. This film, by contrast, seems to have the view that while nuclear power can be devastating, it can also do great things, as shown by the humans using nuclear weapons as a potential solution to their monster problem. Whether or not you agree with such a message is up to you to decide for yourself.
So, overall I felt that this was an incredibly entertaining movie. It's pacing was good, the acting, while not Oscar-standard exactly, was still engaging, and the titular monster did not let me down when he finally made his big-screen return. As I said before, I have little experience with the Godzilla franchise, so I am unaware of how long-time fans will react to this. But nevertheless, the new Godzilla movie was one I thoroughly enjoyed watching, and one I hope to see a few more times in future.
The basic premise for this movie is that in the year 1999, a man named Joe Brody loses his wife during a collapse of the nuclear power station they both worked in at Japan. Fifteen years later, Joe convinces his son, Ford, to come with him back to the site, only for the two of them to discover that the event back in 99 was no natural disaster. This cataclysm releases an ancient creature, named a "Muto" by the humans, who rampages from Japan all the way to the United states. With human military force unable to stop it, their only hope is in another ancient creature, named Godzilla.
Firstly, I want to say how much this film excited me as I watched it. Granted, when it comes to giant monsters, that's a pretty easy thing to do, but the way in which it handles that premise is done very well. The monsters in question are never once over-exposed, and they play the "Jaws rule" in keeping them concealed in various ways, so when the time comes for them to take centre stage, they're all the more impressive. Even though this way of telling the story does lend itself to a number of typical action cliches, like having the "brave American soldier" as the central hero, I never found myself saying that this was in any way a point against the film, which is always a good sign.
The actors we have on display here all do a pretty convincing job with their roles. Ford, our main hero, is played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and I will admit right now that I am not familiar with any other movie this guy has been in. But, to his credit, he sells his part admirably, showing both a guy who is thrust into this unbelievable situation, but also shows him in the light of a professional soldier and caring family man. There are times when he may appear as the typical action hero of most modern blockbusters, but that is in no way the fault of his performance. We also have the involvement of Ken Watanabe, who plays a scientist with knowledge of these creatures and their history. Watanabe is an acter I've admired ever since his role in "The Last Samurai" many years ago. There's just something about the way he delivers his dialogue that gives such wight to it. When this guy talks, you listen, and every scene he was in had me glued to the screen.
However, when it comes to the acting, I have to give my absolute congratulations to Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody for what, to me, was the standout performance of the whole movie. His character is not in this film for as long as Johnsons's, but he still gives a very memorable performance. Most audiences will probably know this actor as the father from the comedy TV show, "Malcom in the Middle", and while that show proved he was good at more humorous roles, this move makes it clear that he is equally good, if not better, at delivering serious drama. You really feel that the pain this guy feels at having lost his wife, and his devotion to discovering the truth of what killed her. I guarantee, you will not find a more engaging performance in this movie than his.
But, let's get down to what many will be wanting to know about, the monsters. What I like most about the way these things are portrayed in this film is that you can't really call them villains. True, they cause a great deal of devastation, but they're more akin to predatory animals, acting on instinct, rather than villains acting out some nefarious plan. The Muto's in particular I found rather interesting. Their design was unique and there were times when I actually found myself rooting for them, and even sympathising with them, though to explain why would be giving away too much. Like Godzilla, they are CGI, and I know many people will say that it's been overused or that they miss the classic suits from the original Japanese Godzilla movies, but to the films' credit, the monster do look very convincing.
And then we have the king of the monsters himself, Godzilla. I will admit right now that I am not as much of a fan of this franchise as I'm sure many others are, so I have only a passing knowledge of this guy's incarnations over the years. What I will say is that, like with the Mutos you can't really say that this guy is a bad guy, or even a good guy. The humans may need him to save the day, but his portrayal makes it clear that his goal is to kill the Mutos. He couldn't care less what happens to us, and that's what I like, when they make this massive creature a force of nature rather than something you can call a friend. His design is very in-keeping with the classic image of him and when you see him on screen you just know that he's a force to be reckoned with. And I will even admit that, when he first came onto the screen and gave his trademark roar, I genuinely had goosebumps.
But that is not the only thing to say about the monsters, as this film also does well in building the potential for an entire world of these things. It's established early ion in the film that the Earth once had a huge variety of these creatures roaming about, but that they had to go into hiding for one reason or another. That right there is good potential for a sequel or entire series of Godzilla movies. There's no need for some "aha, one of them survived" plot twist like some other movies might do, as the story itself already gave ample cause for future movies to possibly be made.
What I'm sure many people will be want me to do now is compare this film to previous entries in the Godzilla franchise, most notably the original and the 90's Roland Emmerich remake. When it comes to the original ,I'm afraid to report that I never watched it, so I am unable to make a comparison. As for Emmerich's attempts, I can easily say that this is a far superior movie. While there were times when I felt that this film was getting dangerously close to things Emmerich put in his version (though again to say what would be spoiling things), I never once thought to myself that what I was seeing or hearing on screen was boring or silly. Though the biggest plus this film has over the Emmerich version is the way it handled it's monsters, as the ones in this film just enthralled me far more than his did.
I am fully aware that many of the people who go to see movies such as these will be doing so for the purposes of being excited. And granted, this is a very exciting and thrilling movie. But, the best monster movies are those who have some kind of message to them. The original film for example, though I did not see it, was nevertheless famous for being a cautionary tale of nuclear power, with Godzilla himself being the personification for the atomic bomb itself. This film, by contrast, seems to have the view that while nuclear power can be devastating, it can also do great things, as shown by the humans using nuclear weapons as a potential solution to their monster problem. Whether or not you agree with such a message is up to you to decide for yourself.
So, overall I felt that this was an incredibly entertaining movie. It's pacing was good, the acting, while not Oscar-standard exactly, was still engaging, and the titular monster did not let me down when he finally made his big-screen return. As I said before, I have little experience with the Godzilla franchise, so I am unaware of how long-time fans will react to this. But nevertheless, the new Godzilla movie was one I thoroughly enjoyed watching, and one I hope to see a few more times in future.