Legendary Pictures' Godzilla

make the movie out to be a disappointment with a few good bits. =/

I was hoping this would be Pacific Rim level of great but apparently it's not.

dat beautiful track at the end where everyone cheering for him as he leaves was glorious. This godzilla was simply there to stop and hunt other predators his size and simply leaves the tiny inheritors of the earth be. For the first time he's a hero to me, not a force of destruction that is to be feared but a necessary agent to balance the oncoming madness in sequels. If Godzilla is the anti hero and destructive saviour of the world, I can't imagine what King Ghidorah/Kaiser Ghidorah would be in the sequel (s). It's a movie showdown I would pay to see someday

when she saw him down and sleeping, assuming he's dead and told me "great, it's like the other old godzilla film we saw when you were 10. why bothe-" then she started clapping when he rises and the entire cinema joined her as the characters and audiences relief that he's okay and lives to fight and skreeonk another day

Everything X said, more or less. They did an amazing job with this movie. Everything about the Big G himself is flawless. Did you think the design didn't work? Too fat, teeth too small, eyes shaped wrong? Shut your whore mouth and wait until you see him MOVE before you say that. Stills and brief reveals do not do him justice in the slightest. You have to see him on screen, literally larger than life, moving and fighting to appreciate this design properly. Its... honestly, its how he always looked and moved in my head.

Now, X did the point by point so I'll go a little less deep. I've mentioned before, some of my favorite bits of Godzilla films are the body language he displays. A good suit actor (with a good team to move the tail and the facial animatronics when applicable) can make him a character who emotes as well as any other when they try. They did it just right in CG. The way he holds his head just before smashing the male Muto with his tail is EXACTLY the way I remember it from King Kong vs Godzilla ages ago. The way he stands before unleashing his huge "come on if ya think yer 'ard enough!" roar? It somehow conveys this blend of revulsion, anger, and hunger to fight. You can totally see him thinking, plotting out the best way to burn this or smash that. It is glorious. Just the way he walks is a show of raw confidence. The way he looks around when naval bombardments are hitting him in the face is a look of total apathy. There's a bit on the Golden Gate Bridge where we get this lovely closeup of him lightly gripping one of those huge damn cables what hold the thing up, lightly feeling it between his fingers. Not trying to tear it in half or break it. Its a simple exploratory thing, like a human running an errant string between their fingers in a "what's this now?" sort of way before he loses interest.

They also remembered one feature of the older movies that rarely gets featured these days: Godzilla is unaware of just how fragile things around him are. He clearly expected that building he smashed when he crushed the male Muto to take the hit and keep standing. It didn't, and it took him completely by surprise. It makes him seem clumsy, in a "doesn't know his own strength" kinda way.

Now, a slight quibble with what others have said. And this applies to folks in the audience as well as X and Reg. Godzilla doesn't come off as heroic. He doesn't come off as malicious either, mind you, but not heroic. A hero has to notice that he's saving someone. He has to be fighting a menace for the sake of others. Godzilla rarely if ever seems to notice the humans exist. He kills who knows how many just wading up the beach. He scraps multiple ships just standing up. He does take a couple missiles that would have killed a bunch of kids, but I for one don't believe he did it on purpose. He just happened to stand up at that moment. The only time he takes any direct notice of a human is Ford Brody, when G is on his hands and knees from the building falling on him. Its the only time he seems to see a human, and he doesn't really seem to care much.

Now, about the Mutos themselves. I love their design. It does not come off as a Clover ripoff the way many sites seemed to think. There ARE similarities, mostly in the limb configuration, but that's about it. They're very functional designs, with the bio-luminescence they flash in time with their EMP abilities giving them a sinister look. THEY do notice humans, and intentionally kill them. They seem to understand "this one killed my eggs" or "those little shits took my food." And the scene of the two meeting and bonding, complete with head nuzzles and the male making a gift of nuclear food to his new mate is an oddly sweet moment from two otherwise deadly creatures. X hit it on the head with this one, they're freakishly dangerous and have to be prevented from breeding for the sake of mankind, but they're just wild animals doing what they do. You can't hate them for it any more than you can hate Godzilla for the destruction in his wake.

One final bit, for now, I could say so much more here if it wasn't so late for us folks what have to wake up at 3AM tomorrow: Apparently loads of folks in my theater had never seen a Godzilla film before. When G is headed to the bridge, I seemed to be the only one (judging from whispered questions and such in the dark) who said to themself "He's not gonna go under you this time guys." I heard people asking aloud "The hell is happening now?" when Ford is suddenly lit by that bright blue glow from above. And then the spines start lighting up and I swear I almost got up and did the Snoopy Dance out of sheer joy. I saw it coming and it was still every bit as awesome as if it had been a complete surprise. Maybe even more so, because I know full well thanks to those whispered questions that I got to share some folks' (including a number of kids') first Godzilla experience. And that is more than a little awesome right there.

One final side-note (for real final this time for now): Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Savior of Our City? Yes... but not on purpose

Bryan Cranston definitely gave the strongest performance of the cast while he was on screen, he along with Ken Watanabe made the human element of the film the strongest during the first third of it. Ken Watanabe does a good job with what he is given but the film seriously underutilizes his talent. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character despite being the main human character is definitely the weakest of the bunch, I can’t call his role “bad” but I can’t call it good either. His character is just sorta “there” in the film as he follows the path of the Mutos and Godzilla. He either needed to be given better pathos as a character or had his role reduced and give more screen time to Watanabe’s character (who actually has quite a bit of backstory/connection to Godzilla through his father as shown in the film's prequel comic which was written by the screenwriter for the film) and/or Godzilla and the Mutos.

Gareth Edwards does a great job at building the tension and immensity of the Mutos and Godzilla in the film. You really feel the massiveness of the monsters in the film and it engages you in the destruction and aftermath really well. The were a couple of cutaways from the monster battles in the film, the first one I thought worked well, while the second one felt frustrating and made me want the really big action to start. Regardless the final monster fight was awesome. The fight had a savage elegance to them, Godzilla and the Mutos’ battle felt like actual animals were fighting instead your traditional kaiju battle style and Edwards was able to make a kind of beauty out of it. Also we got kaiju eskimo kisses which was great. The Mutos and Godzilla were given a lot physical personality and the ending felt very similar to your traditional Toho Godzilla film ending.

Overall the the first third of the film felt kinda similar to the style of the original Gojira film (with modern aesthetics and themes) while the rest of the film felt like a respectably executed standard kaiju/tokusatsu film with American cinematic sensibilities.

that beautiful blue light first appeared

And then the money shot happened. And it was glorious.

Bryan Cranston's character exiting early is a huge letdown for me. Not only because I expected his character to team up with Serizawa, but to be honest Aaron Taylor-Johnson didn't have what it takes to carry the film. It wasn't a bad performance but it wasn't exactly great.

I also think they overdid it with the teasing, so much that the MUTOs ended up feeling more menacing than Godzilla imo. We're supposed to see Godzilla as equally destructive and threatening as the MUTOs until the finale, but Serizawa being bent on making them battle it out early in the film skewed that impression prematurely imo. There's also not enough screen time for Serizawa and it's really a waste since Taylor-Johnson was such a weak lead.

But overall it's a great film. I'm particularly impressed with the soundtrack and creature design (Fatzilla ftw). The HALO jump is so visually stunning and very heart-pounding, it's my favorite part. I can see why this is very divisive but it's worth checking out. I'll definitely get the Blu-ray when it comes out.