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Godzilla
USA / Japan 2014
produced by Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, Brian Rogers, Thomas Tull, Yoshimitsu Banno (executive), Alex Garcia (executive), Kenji Okuhira (executive), Patricia Whitcher (executive) for Warner Brothers, Legendary, Disruption Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Toho
directed by Gareth Edwards
starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Carson Bolde, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Juliette Binoche, CJ Adams, Richard T. Jones, Victor Rasuk, Patrick Sabongui, Jared Keeso, Luc Roderique, James Pizzinato, Catherine Lough Haggquist, Eric Keenleyside, Primo Allon, George Allen Gumapac jr, Ken Yamamura, Garry Chalk, Hiro Kanagawa, Kevan Ohtsji, Kasey Ryne Mazak, Terry Chen, Mas Morimoto, James D. Dever, Akira Takarada, Yuko Kiyama, Takeshi Kurokawa, James Yoshizawa, Jason Furukawa, Brian Markinson, Ty Olsson, Al Sapienza, Gardiner Millar
story by Dave Callaham, screenplay by Max Borenstein, music by Alexandre Desplat, special effects by Double Negative (DNEG), Centroid Motion Capture, Legacy Effects, Lindala Schminken FX, Mist VFX Studio, Pixel Playground, The Third Floor, Weta Digital, visual effects by Moving Picture Company (MPC), Scanline VFX, Bubble Creations Digital Studios
Godzilla, American Godzilla, MonsterVerse
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Ever since he lost his wife (Juliette Binoche) in a grave nuclear
reactor accident in Japan, Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) has been trying to
find out what exactly has happened as he has always had suspicion that it
was more than just the earthquake it was attributed to. So he and his
estranged Marine son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) break into the perimeter
of the disaster one day and ... find out that the area isn't at all
contaminated as alleged and that the Monarch corporation led by Dr
Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) is conducting some experiments with a giant fossil
there to ... well, who knows to what end, but eventually that fossil comes
to life and turns out to be a giant flying dinosaur-like monster. And that
monster, dubbed a MUTO, doesn't really like humans. So it lays destruction
to the whole area before flying off. So time the American army (even
though this takes place in Japan) takes over, and while Joe hasn't
survived the ordeal, his son Ford is hired - and really just by accident
he has all the exactly right qualifications. Soon, Godzilla is entering
the scene. Nobody knows why, but Dr Serizawa thinks it's nature's way of
keeping in balance. However, Admiral Stentz (David Strathairn) figures
it's a better idea to nuke the monsters, especially when a second MUTO is
reported to run rampage in Nevada. The idea is to use the atom bomb to
lure the monsters out into the sea and then blow it up, destroying them by
the mere blast. And of course, Ford, who happens to know more about atom
bombs than anyone else, is to be on the forefront of this operation. But
things don't turn out as planned whtn the MUTOs first mate in San
Francisco, then steal the bomb to feed their offspring with - after all,
they're nuclear monsters. But then Godzilla shows up and gives the two
MUTOs a sound beating before annihilating them with his radioactive
breath, and in the meantime, Ford burns the MUTOs offspring and then sees
to it that the atom bomb, the timer of which cannot be stopped, is shipped
out into the open sea to detonate with no casualties. Of course,
everything ends happily and Godzilla is celebrated as the saviour of
earth. Elizabeth Olsen plays Ford's wife, a caring nurse and loving
mother, who though hasn't much more to do than being a caring nurse and
loving daughter. After the Hollywood tried to introduce
Japanese icon Godzilla to American audiences for the first
time with Roland Emmerich's movie of the same name with less than
breathtaking success (both creatively and commercially), they tried again
in 2014 - and they did better the second time round: This Godzilla
does much more justice to the original, both concerning his looks and his
origin story (even if liberties were taken). That said, the second
American Godzilla still isn't a very good movie: Basically,
Godzilla is kept out of the picture most of the time, and when he does
appear he's more of a do-gooder than anything else. And for some reason,
most of the monster fights are kept so darkly it's hard to determine
what's actually happening. And the whole concept of monsters destroying
cities - a mainstay in the Japanese films - is really kept to a minimum
and lacks the joy of destruction. Instead it's just background to disaster
movie mainstays - and this brings us to key point: the "human"
plotline. Most of it feels very generic, lifted from dozens of similar
movies, but one of the key problems is the character of Ford Brody: This
guy has zero character arc, he is introduced as a hero in the first scene
(after all, he's a war veteran, and in Hollywood movies they're all either
heroes of psychos) and stays heroic throughout, always doing the right
thing, always having the necessary skills to save the world yet again, and
never being riddled by doubt, let alone allowed to fail. Basically, it's
just impossible to form an emotional bond to such a bland character who's
so central to the movie, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's performance just isn't
strong enough to overcome this. And on a sideline, making Godzilla the
good guy, like in the cheesier (if funnier) Japanese Godzillas
doesn't seem like too good an idea, either. In all, a bit of a missed
opportunity, really.
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