Godzilla Review

I was very excited in the lead up to seeing Godzilla, despite my only experience being the ‘Zilla’ of 1998. This new King of the Monsters looked extremely cool, and huge! So in preparation I went back 60 years and watched the original.

It turns out the two films share much in common; mainly a sense of awe for the creatures and human relationships that lean toward the overdramatic. Director Gareth Edwards clearly understands what made the original successful and uses that inspiration appropriately.

The biggest difference is the technology used to bring Godzilla and his enemies to life. It’s very impressive, but it’s the character that the creatures are imbued with that makes a connection. Everything from sighs and shrugs to nuzzling makes them more than just CGI monsters. A lofty comparison, but Edwards use of tension and human reactions reminded me of Jurassic Park. I found myself reacting to Godzilla and his enemies the same way I did the T.Rex. I forgot they weren’t real.

You might hear of people complaining that “there isn’t enough Godzilla”. These people are wrong. Like the Rex, his presence looms large over the film, with sparing use only emphasising the wow factor when he appears. I could barely contain my excitement and a woop of joy as the action kicked off and Godzilla handed out a beat down.

With the facial features of a dog and the build of Dragonzord, Godzilla’s scale is expertly announced as he stomps across the front of an airport. His bellow, a nice update of the original roar, is a proclamation that Earth is his town, and he won’t stand for anyone challenging him. There is a strong theme of man vs nature, with Godzilla the ultimate embodiment of the latter. An uncontrollable Titan man feels they can try to control.

Godzilla is as cool as I’d hoped, while the MUTO’s provide a strong counterpoint in design terms. So we’ve arrived at the human component. Cranston’s prophetic scientist is well performed but one-note, while Olsen and Binoche could have been given more. Watanabe is worth it just for his announcement that “We call him Godzilla”. Lots of love for the fact they don’t try to be cool and not use his name. Taylor-Johnson didn’t wow me but ultimately I wanted these people to survive, so they made me care enough. Job done on that front.

Edwards had me primed to see Godzilla do this thing and doesn’t disappoint, rightly side-lining the humans. In only his second major feature Edwards more than proves himself capable, feeding us the amount of monster mayhem we need, not what we may think we want. Two hours kept me kept me engaged but left me wanting more.

Godzilla is not a perfect film, but thin characterisations and a few plot conveniences were far from my mind when he was on screen. I left the cinema energised and enthused. A good start to Legendary’s ‘MonsterVerse’.