In anticipation of Godzilla vs Kong, I’ve decided to rewatch all the previous Monsterverse movies. I’ve watched this when it first came out in Cinemas and I came out slightly disappointed. Now that I decided to finally rewatch it after 7 years, I wonder if my opinions will change or not? The premise is “Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe (Bryan Cranston). Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when Godzilla, King of the Monsters, arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco”. So is it actually better than I thought or is still as disappointing as I remember it?
Firstly,
I actually really like the tone of this movie. After watching all the
new Monsterverse movies and now going back, I think the serious and
grounded nature are wonderful. It shows these Titans from the
perspective of humans and makes them seem more fearsome and majestic.
The original Japanese Godzilla portrayed the titular character as a
force of nature and Gareth Evans (the director) perfectly captures this
as well.
I also really like the cinematography by Seamus McGarvey. The more tame colours really work in the movies favour by really giving it a war-like and disaster style feel to the movie. Additionally, there are some gorgeous shots in the movie and some stunning visual spectacles. The score by Alexandre Desplat is actually pretty good and at some parts such as the HALO jump is where the score really stands out. The final climax is also very thrilling to watch even though it is kind of dark though.
The
biggest complaint I had with this movie is the severe lack of Godzilla.
He is the titular character but is barely even in it. Heck, the villain
monster, the MUTOs, appear more than him. I think what is really
jarring is that when Godzilla appears they then cutaway to something
else. For example, when Godzilla arrives near the airport and about to
fight a MUTO but it then cutaways to some boring human characters who
see it on TV. It felt quite insulting that they wouldn’t show these
fights and instead just telling us the conclusion from some human
characters. I was screaming internally throughout the movie, “Let Them
Fight”.
On that note, the human characters really suck. I think all the actors do a fine job although Aaron Taylor-Johnson who plays the main lead, Ford Brody, is quite lacking in a lot of personality in most of his scenes. Not entirely his fault as the character is written to be quite boring. Elle Brody (Elizabeth Olsen) is just playing the trope of wife and mother character, Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) is a monster expert, Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) is monster expert right-hand person. This is literally their personality and nothing else which makes all the characters very uninteresting. There is one interesting character Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) who is the father of the main lead who also lost his wife due to unusual seismic activity and is trying to determine the cause of the meltdown that killed his wife. This screams main character as there is a backstory that is making us root for him. Plus he is played phenomenally by Bryan in every scene. However, they decide to kill him 30 minutes into the movie and replace him with his boring son. What a waste of a character and there was no real reason to kill him so early.
Overall, it’s an all right movie. I don’t agree with a lot of the decisions made in terms of story and characters but it nails the tone, atmosphere and visuals completely. It’s a good monster movie and also a good start to the “Monsterverse”.
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