Godzilla (2014)

Directed by Gareth Edwards

Written by Max Borenstein, Dave Callaham

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olson, Ken Watanabe, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn & Bryan Cranston.

In 1999 a power plant meltdown in Japan caused the death of Ford Brody’s (Taylor-Johnson) mother, and put his father Joe (Cranston) in a permanent funk. In 2014 it appears what happened in Japan is happening again, and this time, the cause – a giant insect pupae – hatches out a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) begins terrorising mankind.

Scientists Watanabe and Hawkins, who observed the chaos from the 1999 meltdown, join the US Navy Admiral Strathairn to bring MUTO down, and reveal that 1950s testing awakened a prehistoric lizard massive dinosaur called Godzilla, and soon Godzilla has returned, and might be the only thing that can stop the MUTO.

Pretty decent action film from Edwards, who was given a massive $160m budget in his first big budget film. The graphics are quite decent, but it is a little dark at times with some of the action hard to distinguish (it was almost if the directors of Game of Thrones Season 8 episode 3 were taking notes).

The cast are all only just okay as well. Taylor-Johnson is fine as the protagonist, to be fair to him; he was only 24 when he played the role. He has done better work since then – and I think he would be a perfect next James Bond… Cranston always delivers, but has limited screen time. Strathairn is normally a great actor, but his presence is a little soft for a powerful role. Olson and Hawkins are given little to do, and feel poorly written.

The screenplay is nothing spectacular, but is strengthened by some impressive action sequences. As the story goes from setting to setting – Japan, Hawaii, San Francisco, Vegas etc – the settings work for what the story tries to do.

There is a solid score that plays throughout the film too.

This was the first big budget American Godzilla film in 16 years, and it is miles better than the 1998 film. The ‘true’ Godzilla design, as well as Godzilla being the protagonist gives it a higher score, and MUTO is a quite scary antagonist too.

By no means a brilliant movie, but I do recommend this.