2014 monster movie
Rating: 12/20
Plot: Godzilla fights MUTOs in San Francisco.
I used that poster because it shows about as much of the titular monster as the movie. Now, I'm not a child. I don't need a bunch of monster fighting, special effects destruction and mayhem, and explosions to enjoy a movie. However, this is a Godzilla movie, ostensibly, and you sort of expect certain things. This reboot can't seem to decide if it wants to be a Godzilla movie, something fun and a little goofy and completely unafraid to show you something ridiculous or something entirely different, modern and way too serious and bloated with that artificial heart and soul that only Hollywood thinks we like. This makes you wait and wait, and then you finally get to see the star of the show. And he looks pretty badass and sounds even better, but after the climactic battle that takes place in the murky urban darkness, you're a little underwhelmed. I think part of the problem is that I didn't like the MUTOs, Godzilla and humanity's foe in this. I didn't like their shape, their movements, their abilities, or their stupid name. Maybe--just maybe--if they would have given me a MUTO sex scene, I could have fallen in love with the duo, but they were hardly anything you're going to remember. I was interested to see what Bryan Cranston would do in this after creating one of the most iconic television drama characters of all time, and what he does is teeter on the edge of overdoing things, almost embarrassingly. He overacts; there are times when he seems to be trying to out-growl Godzilla. The human side of this Godzilla story causes it to drag, and I really trouble caring about any of them or having any interest in what they were trying to do. Especially Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the big hero, who seemed like he accidentally stumbled out of Pacific Rim or any other generic action movie into this one. I'm pretty sure I could like a movie this long (read: too long) with the low percentage of monster fighting scenes if the subplots involving the humans were interesting at all. They weren't, and it's a main reason this didn't work. I'll say this though--they did get that Godzilla scream right, and the score for this thing was outstanding. I'll definitely see sequels to this because they can't have monsters any less interesting than the MUTOs, but I'd much rather spend my time with the old stuff. They carry about the same emotional weight while having a lot more scenes where monsters are allowed to be monsters. I really missed watching a guy in a rubber suit destroying miniatures during this.
I just finished it. You're right about the Hollywoodized content. The family crap just didn't hold water. As a matte of fact, the entire idea of a Godzilla movie is almost against the idea of caring about humanity and civilization. I mean, we WANT to see buildings leveled; we WANT to see total destruction for the sake of action and dominance. Why try to make us invest in human characters if you're just going to completely devastate them?
ReplyDeleteI will say a couple of things that they got right in this movie. One was Godzilla. He was a badass and a conquerer. He moved, fought, and behaved like a giant tyrant lizard, but with the added bonus of being monstrous. He was everything we love about the T-Rex and more. He got his moment in the sun and he got the credit he deserved both victoriously and historically.
I hated that the MUTOs only had one power, but it was actually a necessary one. So, another thing I like about this movie was the EMP power which completely shut down civilization as we know it. They knew they wanted humanity to respond in this movie, so they did the best thing which was give the MUTOs a capability to completely disable them. That's smarter than fireballs or poisonous spit.
I didn't know Cranston only had a small role in this. I thought that this was his "next big role." I think it's even smarter that his next gig was a small role because no matter how it did in the box office or how people like you would criticize, he wouldn't have that much stake in it. He certainly didn't carry the movie, but I thought he was better to watch than a no-name. Seriously, they could have gotten anyone to play the part of the crazy scientist who gets to say I told you so. Cranston was smart to go for it and be able to plug it, reap whatever benefit he could from it, and ultimately deny having much to do with it.
Ken Watanabe is actually starting to be funny in these Americanized movies. Since his English is so broken, he barely speaks. He just moves slowly and gives these furrowed brow worried looks. And then they give him the best lines for his broken English to make sound authentic and cool: "We call him...Gawzirra"....."Let dem faw-eye-t..." I mean, he's got a great gig whenever he films in Hollywood.
But I don't know, in the end, this movie was just missing Hank Azaria...14/20
I think I probably agree with everything you said there unless you're saying anything about Cranston's performance being good. I did like Godzilla though, especially that sound!
ReplyDeleteKen Watanabe is in a TERRIFIC movie called Tampopo that I keep recommending to people who are unable to find it.