A couple weeks ago I saw Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen playing brother and sister super-villians turned superheroes. In today’s movie, I saw them as husband and wife. I don’t know why, I just thought that was worth mentioning. Anyway, today’s feature film is the 2014’s Godzilla.
Yes, the very same Godzilla that came to life in the 1950’s is back! Here in America, many of us remember the sucky 1998 Roland Emmerich Godzilla. That was originally going to be the first part in a trilogy of Godzilla movies, but was so poorly received that it ended up being the first and last part of a one-movie franchise. It actually did pretty damn good at the box office too. Nowadays, no bad reviews would stop a movie trilogy from pushing forward. Only the all mighty dollar.
It’s funny though that 16 years later, this giant movie only cost $30 million more than it’s 1998 predecessor, proving to me that director Gareth Edwards, can do more with a dollar than Roland Emmerich (I wonder how much ID4 part II will cost).
Anyway, I really dug this movie. I think I’m a sucker for these giant monster movies. I don’t know a lot about them. I haven’t seen a ton of them. But with modern special effects these movies look amazing. I loved Cloverfield, and enjoyed all the mystery and creativity that went into marketing the movie. Last year I really enjoyed Pacific Rim – that had giant robots fighting giant monsters. Really what more could you ask for?
Spoilers ahead.
The movie takes place over a 15 year time period. Starting in 1999 with Bryan Cranston working at Japanese power plant that has a meltdown that kills his wife. Cranston is obsessed for 15 years to find out what really happened out there, and when he’s arrested searching the area, his son (Johnson) comes out to bail him out. Of course once they’re out there, whatever happened 15 years ago wakes up and causes havoc.
These monsters are referred to as MUTOS (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). I say monsters – plural – because the dig site that awoke the monster in Japan 15 years ago also uncovered another egg (for lack of a better term) that they dispose of in a nuclear waste facility. In Nevada.
So the monster in Japan and the Monster in America want to hook up and make babies. That’s bad for everyone. Luckily Godzilla arrives. He comes in a monster – kicks some giant monster ass – and leaves a hero.
That’s the short-short version.
Really though, the plot is kind’ve secondary. I do like that they talk about a history going back to the 50’s and I did enjoy Cranston’s performance – even though his wig was a little distracting – but the real reason for this movie was to see monsters kicking each other’s asses.
And we did get some really cool fighting. It wasn’t a ton of fighting, and Godzilla wasn’t in this movie as much as I hoped he’d be, but what we did get was really cool. And when Godzilla finally shows off a certain power, I did audibly say “YES!” so I was definitely into it.
A few things of note because I’m about 12 minute way from not getting this up in time.
- I think the director of this movie was chosen because of another movie he directed – Monsters – which I’ve heard good things about but have never seen. Someday
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson was good in this, but there were times when every time I looked at him, all I saw was Kick-Ass.
- The explanation for why Godzilla showed up was lost on me a bit. It seemed coincidental.
- The “bad guy” monsters (who were pretty bad ass) were in this movie a lot more than Godzilla was – but he got top billing…He must’ve had a good contract.
- Also, the fact that they all called him “Godzilla” seemed a little silly for me, but the entire movie is silly when you think about it.
- I love that a news report referred to him as “King of the Monsters!”
Unlike the 1998 version, it looks like plan for a sequel is going forth – I’ll be sure to see it and hopefully I’ll enjoy it as much as I did this one.
16 down. 14 to go.
