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Film Review: Godzilla (2014)

Bandai's official 2014 Godzilla #AtomicBreath
Summary: WIN?
I watched Gozilla at Utah's Jordan Commons IMAX theater in 3D last night. Like the film itself, my thoughts on Godzilla are simple: Incredible visualFX and sound, but lacking in story. Was it a "good movie?" Whether you're an action junkie or an art snob, you'll both love it, AND hate it (for opposite reasons). Godzilla (2014) is not just a movie about monsters smashing things up.  But neither is it what art critics would call a masterpieceUnfortunately for the viewer, Godzilla (2014) is a schizophrenic film that fails to fully satisfy either camp (see Revelation 3:16).

For me, Godzilla was a 123-minute, entertaining romp (as long as I managed to keep from over-analyzing it, which I too often do). I'm a sucker for a good story.  (Biases are now on the table.)  Since this film wasn't really meant for either for the erudite or the mindless explosion-seeker, I'm having a hard time labeling it—WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE, EDWARDS?!  If I had to categorize it though, Godzilla would be intelligent monster porn. (Spoilers ahead.)

Paying Homage to Japanese Themes: FAIL
Art Critic: While known for ground-breaking special effects (no pun intended), Toho's original, 1954 Godzilla version of the film did not become a classic among critics because it was about a monster—it was actually about a bomb. And man's hubris. And respect for life and nature. All VERY Japanese themes. Produced in the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Godzilla was a metaphoric commentary on the inhumanity of man and nature's symbiotic relationship with it / reaction to it.  Godzilla was something much bigger than a superficial monster flick, created solely to make money.  But given enough viewer-interest, America can turn anything remotely artistic and intelligent into a senseless, action blockbuster.

Film Direction: WIN-ish?
Art Critic: While Gareth Edwards, the 2014 director, may have attempted to cogently tie together contrasting themes and enigmatic character motivations, he ultimately failed, leaving me puzzled on a number of plot points.  But that's okay; most people don't go see Summer films for the story. Edwards was doomed to fail (on the story front anyway) from the moment he was handed the script. The entire basis of the film was built upon conflicting themes: Man vs. nature competing with family overcoming hardship, and also the hero's journey competing with the immortal action hero. And when Edwards saw these inconsistencies, he was probably like, "Whatever. This is an action film. However, we don't have the budget to show Godzilla all the time, and frankly, we don't have the technology to really make him look believable for more than 5 minutes of actual screen time; we've got to use a lot of smoke, masking camera angles, and misdirections as is.  So let's tease the audience by slowly, and dramatically unveil information about the mysterious monster over 2 hours, culminating in a monster battle payoff for the viewer. (The audience only remembers the beginnings and endings of films anyway.) But I still want to establish myself as the next JJ Abrams/Christopher Nolan (and not 'Michael Bay') so let's try to throw in as many film school elements as possible."

Here's something I noticed while watching that was pretty distracting for me, but I went with it anyway.  Ford and Godzilla are obviously foils of one another. Edwards intentionally showed us the highs and lows of their their tandem journey, in a well-executed effort to generate an emotional connection between the Godzilla and the audience. Subject to a handful of film-school techniques, the viewer is suppose to get the feeling that Ford and Godzilla are fatalistically connected—both in purpose and emotion.  Towards the end of the film the audience is posed the question of whether we view Godzilla as the 'Savior' of San Francisco. Despite feeling pandered to, I would argue that thanks to Edwards careful direction on this point, most of agree on the affirmative.

By humanizing Godzilla through constantly contrasting emotive closeups of him with Ford at crucial points throughout the film, the viewer is suppose to sympathize (even empathize) with the alpha predator. Through this emotive transference, we no longer see Godzilla as the force of nature he is, but as a HULK-like ally that we (humans) can't really control, but we sort of think we do, so even thought we shouldn't, we still depend on him times of crisis. Contrastingly, Dr. Serizawa re-emphasized numerous times throughout the movie that humans are powerless against nature and repeatedly recommended to the admiral that the military ought to constrict its activity to quarantining areas and transporting civilians out of harms way. Godzilla is not an ally. He is not righteous. But he is man's only hope.  Contributing man-made violence to the equation only exacerbates the destruction and death toll.

If I could ask Edwards one thing, it would be, "what were your motivations for this film?" And see which way he leans. Given the opportunity, I'd ask more questions. I want to know the politics behind the film. Who were you trying to impress?  What aspect of the film did you feel was most important to communicate to the audience?  What was the main theme of the film?  Where do you see the franchise going?  Will we see more MUTO's in future films (e.g. Mothra, King Kong)?  Will the story take a modern and unexpected turn?  What specific aspects of film direction did you experiment with in this, your first multi-million dollar production?

VisualFX and Sound Design: WIN!
Monster-movie cultist: Godzilla looks and sounds stunning—ALMOST Gravity quality! It's sure to wins awards come February 2015. You know the visual and sound engineers did their jobs when they can completely fool the audience into believing the later is actually present, with the characters in the film—And I did on a number of occasions. I was a member of the Halo jump team, diving through the clouds over SF. I was spectating Ford's demise on the docks with the female MUTO—when out of no where—a blue reflection grows across Ford's face and we see Godzilla finally unleash his atomic breath, the film's payoff for me.  That clip alone was worth the price of admission. SO BEAUTIFUL! It makes me what to nerd vomit. #MonsterPorn

Fellow cultists are probably still miffed that Godzilla didn't show up until 50 minutes into the movie, but I think everyone will agree that the monster-on-monster boss battle was worth the wait.  Action-movie goers aren't typically used to waiting for their fix, but I felt like this film helped this demographic develop the the virtue of patience.  Building anticipation is sexy and exciting; I know I felt it.  (Maybe this should be called a Monster Romance? Romanster?)  

Acting: FAIL, bar BCranston (But could you expect anything more from Godzilla?)
Art Critic: Dead-eyed acting aside, my main beef with our human protagonist was that I received mixed messages from him throughout the film. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played Ford, nearly killed the film for me. Here's my beef: Godzilla's agenda was apparent from the start—kill MUTOs, motivated by survival of the fittest.  However, Ford CONSTANTLY had me wondering about his motives. Was he putting himself in harms way in order to return to his wife and son? Was he motivated by his duty as a trained military specialist?  Was he trying to avenge his parent's deaths?  The answer is likely a mix of all three, but it was never clearly communicated through the script or acting.

What kind of a name is Ford, anyway? That is some serious cultural-insensitivity for parents to name their only son after an AMERICAN car manufacturer while holding politically-crucial positions in Japanese society. They would have all been imprisoned as Communists if they had pulled something like that during the American Red Scare.

One last thing about Ford. The film would have been much more believable for me had Ford not been present during EVERY SINGLE ONE of the most-dangerous moments in the story, and somehow managed to walk away unharmed, while everyone else around him did not.  (Aside: I was secretly hoping that Godzilla would lose a tail in battle for the scientists to study before the upcoming sequels, then show evidence of his ability to regrow it in the post-credits.)

[Art critic:] Brian Cranston's character, Joe, nearly redeemed the story with his incredible acting. I loved the fact that Cranston's character had no idea what was going on.  It was like he experiencing an entirely different movie. As you'll recall, his character was convinced that the Japanese government had this long-term conspiracy going on which emitted those tremors which subsequently led to the death of his wife. He didn't care about monsters! He just wanted resolution. That added to the depth of the story for me. Killing off Cranston's character half-way through the film was brilliant.  It took the viewer by surprise, and that shock value paid off. I assume that Cranston feels the same way I do about his role in the film, based on watching this satiric interview he did to promote the film.

[Monster-movie cultist:] Cranston's compelling performance went to waste, ultimately distracting me from cool, parasite saliva scenes. (Aside: I'm afraid no production crew will ever be able to bring a Cranston character to life like the Breaking Bad crew did with Walter White/Heisenberg. And so, I'm afraid I'll never really enjoy another Cranston film again...CURSE YOU, BREAKING BAD!)

Godzilla's motives and mere presence, on the other hand, SHOULD HAVE BEEN self-evident (although they were painstakingly explained through exposition anyway). It is implied through the monsters' actions that Gozilla's sole purpose on earth is to bring balance to nature—when bad monsters appear, Godzilla is the "savior" that stabilizes the planet. (Imagine what would have happened had those MUTO eggs hatched!) But the honestly reality is we don't know ANYTHING about Godzilla or his species. It would have been more authentic storytelling to simply state what that we don't know, then let the story unfold naturally. It would have been EVEN MORE authentic had one of Dr. Ishiro Serizawa's predictions actually been wrong. 

Dr. Serizawa, played by Ken Watanabe (of Inception fame), is an incredible actor, and under-utilized in this film. Ken does have my favorite line in the movie: "Let them fight." [whispered dramatically].

Conclusion: WIN (Barely)
I give Godzilla a rating of 3.5/5 holistically. A valiant effort. Rewarding special effects. Some of the artistic decisions and conflicting themes still have me feeling jarred. I won't take the time to list them here, but feel free ask me about them in person.  Perhaps these unresolved, dichotomous themes are exactly what makes this film so wonderful for other critics. 


Reviews I've read/watched:
Interview: On Godzilla set with Gareth Edwards
Interview: On Godzilla set with Bryan Cranston
Godzilla: Poor Review by Chad Michael Van Alstin
Godzilla: Excellent Review by Roger Ebert
Godzilla: Official Site
Godzilla: Rotton Tomatoes
Godzilla: IMDB
Godzilla: ScreenJunkies Movie Fight
Godzilla: Vlog Review by Cosplay Chris

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