Year: 2014
Genre: Summer blockbuster
Before we talk about anything to do with the film, Cara wanted me to tell people that director Gareth Edwards used to be a student at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College (where she works). Small world eh?
Anyway, on with the film...
I never watched the Japanese originals, so I'm not going to pretend I have an indepth knowledge of 1950's popular culture. I've never even seen the 98 version all the way through to be honest. Consequently, I came to this film with my only real experience of the character being the Godzilla / Godzooky cartoon we used to watch in the late 70's.
So how do you pad out the plot of a twenty minute cartoon into a two hour film? Herein lies the problem. The first half of the film is very much plot building and character development. You dont actually see anything of Godzilla until at least two thirds of the way in, which in a two hour film is a LONG time to wait to see the main attraction. This aint Jurassic Park. Don't go into it expecting to see Godzilla in the first five minutes, or you will be very dissapointed.
When he does finally arrive, Godzilla is a cgi triumph, and the battles with the muto's (massive unidentified terrestrial objects) are nothing short of epic on the big screen. The aforementioned seem very much modelled on the aliens in Independance Day, and conversely Godzilla has an almost puppy dog eyes look about him, something I didnt expect but was a nice touch nevertheless.
Being a Breaking Bad fan I was dissapointed how little screen time Brian Cranston was given in the later stages of the film. His performance and stage presence was far superior to Aaron Taylor Johnson, who to me seemed wooden and bland in comparison.
Fans of the original will relish the nuclear themed sub plot, but for majority, this will go over your head. Also, at two and a bit hours, I felt it could have been quite a lot shorter. Niggling problems though for an up and coming director that has trounced the 1998 remake hands down.
A reasonably enjoyable 3 stars
