My thoughts on Godzilla 2014 #SPOILERS!#

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First and foremost I will say I am pleased and satisfied with what I got out of this film. That’s not to say I don't have my nitpicks:










My biggest problem that I noticed right of the bat was in the opening credits, where Bryan Cranston wasn't the first, but the last credit. Cranston in fact not being the lead and dying as early as he did, felt like I was lied to by the advertisements and trailers. I was seriously waiting for them to say "just kidding" when it happened. The human plot was rock-solid up to the point where they closed Cranston’s bodybag. He is without a doubt the most powerful (human) character in this film, but all his scenes were used in the trailers. In fact, the plot the trailers laid out didn't actually turn out to be what the story actually was. It had that same feeling like Reign of Fire trailers tried to show off it’s plot to be Independence Day with dragons. This feels like it was a marketing department choice, which says to me they weren't confident with either Ken Watanabe or (truthfully) Aaron Taylor-Johnson's holding the lead role. I also feel there’s credit for this point-of-view in the edited scenes that were different in the film than they were in the trailers, particularly the one with the closing door that changed from Godzilla roaring to a fight between Godzilla and the MUTO. Which in point leads to the next issue:


The other problem I had was when they continually cut away from kaiju fights as other fans mentioned before. There were literally 3 fights you never saw the end of... That felt almost criminal. I know Monsters and Cloverfield focused on the human drama of the genre, but that's not the draw of a Godzilla film. You watch a Godzilla film to see the fights and the destruction. I'm not saying the fights you did see weren't awesome, quite the opposite. But if you're in the middle of showing Godzilla and a MUTO locked in mortal kombat, you need to show me how it got away.


One very small thing I wanted to have was a new remix of the original Akira Ifukube theme. Alexandre Desplat did a very fitting job with the soundtrack, but I consider Ifukube's theme for Godzilla to be the same as Superman's theme. Also there's the whole thing with cutting Akira Takarada's scene in the film, that I'll just wait for the deleted scenes to judge.


Something that I was only told after the movie was that Taylor-Johnson and Olsen also are playing the mutant twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in the new Marvel movies….which adds a whole other dynamic to their on-screen relationship that’s not appropriate for a family-friendly discussion to go into.


Now the good/awesome:

  1. I got the one thing I demanded for this film that I didn't get in '98: and it was blue. I almost jumped outta my seat when his tail started to glow! (Though, I just wish I hadn’t ruined the surprise in the store toy isle.)

  2. Using Dr. Serizawa by name was an awesome touch (Personal nit-pick: I still feel Ken Watanabe needed the eye-patch, and the lack of the Oxygen Destroyer plot device kinda made him just another scientist.)

  3. If you caught the "Moth-ra" easter egg, you win 10 points!

  4. The end fight alone was worth the price of admission!

  5. Godzilla design is acceptable to me. He is a little bulky around the neck for my tastes but he still at least looks like Godzilla. I would like a bit more definition in some of the body features. You lose a lot of detail around the face and chest area for all the burnt scales.

  6. The scale of alot of the shots were really imposing. Swimming under the aircraft carrier in particular comes to mind.

  7. I still can’t quite put my finger on what the MUTO remind me of, I want to say Starship Troopers or even something in World of Warcraft, I just know I’ve seen that mouth design somewhere. But the designs were solid, I’m not sure if they fit in with other Godzilla kaiju though. Personally I think they need real names. (I’d still like to know what happened to the 6-legged monster design from SDCC “Oppenheimer” teaser)



All-in-all 8/10. It doesn't replace my love for the Hensei series, but I found it worthy. I think Pacific Rim probably still passes it in terms of a completely enjoyable experience, but I will have to sit in reflection a bit more before I decide how I’d rank this against other Kaiju films as part of the series. I guess at the moment I’d hold it around the middle of the list between top 20 and 15




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Tigsie's avatar
"The human plot was rock-solid up to the point where they closed Cranston’s bodybag."

Ugh. I felt the same way. The Japanese scientist and Cranston were the most interesting characters, and they went in favor of the military plot. Erf...