MOVIE Review for GODZILLA

(WARNING: not only would this post be image and text-heavy, there will be SPOILERS, as well!) 

I told you I wasn't going to talk about kpop the next time I made a post!

(Spoilers ahead!)

Before I get into the review, let me just say this: allergy season blows, especially this one in particular. For a good month, I was hacking up a lung and filling up the trash cans in the dorm with my tissues. I thought I was just experiencing a cold that would soon pass after drinking lots of liquids and taking vitamin C, but alas, my illness stayed even after graduation.

After finally visiting a doctor, it was confirmed that I didn’t have a cold, but allergies. I had bad allergies before, but not this bad where I had to take Nasonex, Robitussin, and steroids. When my dad and I went to the pharmacy to pick up my medication, the pharmacist mentioned how my dad looked like the scientist from the most recent Godzilla movie. I was intrigued. My dad rarely gets mistaken for Hollywood actors, so that was one of the main selling points in this film for me (that and Bryan Cranston was also starring in it).

Well he's certainly just as dorky as my dad.
photo cred.: Veooz

Wow. Right off the bat, as soon as this guy (Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, or Ken Watanabe) appears on screen, I thought to myself, “IT’S DAD!!!” Then after about 5 minutes, the appeal of Dr. Serizawa looking like my dad was gone and I had to find other reasons to keep me interested in watching this film.

I had my reservations before going in to watch Godzilla because Legendary Pictures’ other monster (or kaiju) movie, Pacific Rim, just blew me away. Guillermo Del Toro’s vision of a kaiju movie was lighthearted, but still gut-wrenching and the monsters were whimsically terrifying. I wonder how Godzilla would be able to top it.

YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME, GODZILLA??
photo cred.: fantasticalandrewfox

But really though, comparing Godzilla and Pacific Rim wouldn’t make sense because they’re two completely different movies that happen to be tackling similar subject matter. Pacific Rim had moments of comedy and the scenes of destruction were satisfying because you knew that the people in it were safe in that they had to be evacuated during kaiju attacks. Godzilla had a darker tone to it since the kaiju were just starting to visibly attack the earth and the military was trying to find a way to attack them while keeping citizens safe.

In keeping with the dark tone of Godzilla, the subtle color filters of gray and sepia in the film helped lend to the overall feelings of despair and nostalgia, respectively. And that TYPOGRAPHY, oh man, the visual design nerd in me freaked out because the font used for the titles and captions was so simple, but it still fit well with the film’s motif. The music also helped set the tone of the film. Alexandre Desplat knocked it out of the park with his unconventional piano music during the kaiju fight scenes. I swear, those discordant piano notes played while Godzilla was knocking down one of the M.U.T.O.s (massive unidentified terrestrial organism) will forever haunt my nightmares.

This movie is still fairly new, so it's hard to find good screencaps of it.
I assure you the M.U.T.O.s are much smaller in comparison to Godzilla.
photo cred.: Idle Hands

Speaking of, the kaiju fight scenes were unsurprisingly the best part of the entire movie. They were more gruesome than what I was expecting, but that made it all the more exciting to watch. There are two moments in the big fight scene at the end that made the movie worth the $9 ticket I paid (hooray for still being able to use my college ID for student discounts even after graduation!). I call them the “epic pimp slap” and the “momma bird regurgitation” scenes. If you also watched the movie, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

I might’ve came to see this movie to see the guy who looks like my dad, others might’ve have come to see Bryan Cranston after having Breaking Bad withdrawals, but what drew audiences to see this contemporary reboot are the real stars of the show: the kaiju. The creature designs for the kaiju were spot on. Whereas Pacific Rim’s kaiju were colorful and inspired awe in characters like Newt, the M.U.T.O.s and Godzilla sought to only inspire fear into the hearts of onlooking civilians.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL TO THE DEATH, YOU TRON-ESQUE POOR EXCUSE FOR A VILLAIN!
photo cred.: Movieweb

BRING IT ON, YOU IGUANA-ESQUE MAN IN A SUIT!
photo cred.: Pacific Rim Wiki

You’re probably wondering why I’m choosing to call the monsters in this movie “kaiju” and not just monsters. That’s because “monster” has such a negative connotation to it. “Kaiju” literally translates to “strange creature”, and that’s really all they are. Yes, they wreak havoc on humans, but it’s not on purpose. The M.U.T.O.s’ purpose was to find each other and mate, but they’re so huge that they destroyed major cities as they were trying to find each other. Godzilla wasn’t looking to ruin the lives of humans, he merely sought to bring order to the world by defeating the M.U.T.O.s—the humans were simply just in the way. The kaiju in Godzilla aren’t inherently bad or good, they just are. This is a stark contrast to Pacific Rim where the kaiju were used maliciously to eradicate the earth of its inhabitants.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the kaiju in Godzilla display such raw emotion that even the main character, Ford (Aaron Taylor Johnson), couldn’t match up to. The parts where Godzilla shoots a defeated look at Ford before collapsing and when Ford destroys the female M.U.T.O.’s nest showcases some of the film’s best acting—and they came from computer-animated monsters.

HERE I AM, THE FEMALE M.U.T.O. HERE TO RUIN YOUR DAY AND YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING AN OSCAR.

I'M READY FOR MY CLOSEUP.

photo cred.: Godzilla-Movies

That scene, in particular, stuck with me the most after watching the film. One of the film’s major themes is the importance of family and being able to protect them. The film shows these unnecessary scenes such as Ford reuniting a lost child with his parents and Dr. Serizawa talking about his father—all to drive the point home of the importance of family. But really, the film only needed the destroyed nest scene to do just that.

You might think it’s weird that I’m only talking about the acting performances of the kaiju, but it’s because they’re the only performances in this film worth talking about. Besides them, Bryan Cranston also gave a strong performance, but he was so much like his character on Breaking Bad, it’s useless to give him a pat on the back for doing what’s expected of him.

I AM THE DANGER...not those darn kaiju.
photo cred.: Daily Mail

Once Bryan Cranston’s character, Joe, died, I actually considered getting up and walking out of the movie theater because everyone else in the cast gave such lukewarm performances, especially Aaron Taylor Johnson’s portrayal of Ford. If it weren’t for the kaiju finally showing up, I would’ve taken myself up on my consideration of walking out of the theater because his character was so one-dimensional. It also didn’t help that the movie was focused on Ford about 80% of the time. Literally any other actor could have played this role and I’d still be bored, so I guess it’s also the writing’s fault. But that part where Ford is trapped in the car as the male M.U.T.O. breaks out of the Janjira nuclear plant? I’ve never seen someone beg for their life so politely. Seriously man, you’re about to die, but you seem so calm about it!

I'm not that bad at acting, am I?
photo cred.: Fansided

So would I recommend this movie to those who haven’t watched it yet? Sure. It’s a fun summer blockbuster that you watch for the action and not the acting (though the performances from the kaiju are seriously Oscar-worthy). The plot is interesting in that it gives a refreshing new take on the relationship between radiation and the kaiju. I applaud Gareth Edwards for breathing new life into this old franchise and making an impressive Hollywood debut. However, I’d probably suggest seeing this movie in 3D since you should watch it just for the CG monsters and effects anyway, you might as well go big or go home.

photo cred.: Godzilla Wiki