Media Monday: Godzilla (2014) Movie Review

(Image sourced from Google images)

I'm going to try very hard not to give any huge plot points away in this review, but just in case I fail I would just like to warn that this review may contain spoilers! 

Now we have all the disclaimer stuff out the way let's get down to it. I am a child of the 90's and therefore the image of Godzilla is one of a giant evil lizard stepping on camera men and being chased around New York by Matthew Broderick and a French guy. When I heard that they were out to make a more modern version I was extremely skeptical. Let's be honest the 90's version of Godzilla wasn't the best, but it was a feel good family movie which was moderately entertaining.

This new Godzilla pays homage to the original Japanese movies, in which the plot consisted of Godzilla coming in, destroying cities but ultimately fighting another, less interesting monster. In fact the whole premise of the new movie is exactly that, Godzilla kicking some serious giant bug creature butt.

The positives

The special effects are the best I've ever seen in a movie. The design and look of Godzilla is spot on and he actually looks kind of cute, in a big scary lizard kind of way. The action is on form and really does keep you hooked throughout the entire 123 minutes and surprisingly Aaron Taylor Johnson does serious action pretty convincingly. The fighting between the monsters is also amazing, partially to the effects but once you get into the big, final battle you can't take your eyes off of it. 

The negatives

I have to say there are a few. The first one that most of the people in our cinema screen noticed was that logic doesn't seem to exist in this films world. For example, would you really need binoculars to see a giant bug making it's way towards Las Vegas? I don't think you would, but apparently the army and the people of Vegas can't see 3 feet in front of them. The other major problem with this film? The story. We all agreed that there isn't much story you can actually get out of a monster movie and this film proved us right. It's basically a typical action, end of the world plot, man has a family, man has to leave family to save the world etc. etc. If anything the humans actually got in the way and didn't seem very necessary, if they had just let Godzilla get on with it everything would have been solved a lot faster.  One more thing is that some of the characters felt obsolete. The character of the wife played by Elizabeth Olsen didn't bring anything to the story and none of her scenes seemed to move anything along, she was basically a filler for when Godzilla was having a nap. I honestly love Elizabeth Olsen, I think she is a great actress with a promising future but in this she didn't really do anything. If they were giving away Oscars for standing around and looking terrified and worried, she would win hands down.

So is it worth a watch? 

Yes! The story may be overly predictable and silly at times but let's be honest; none of us want to watch a film like Godzilla for the human relationships and interactions. I wanted to see Godzilla beat the shiz out of other monsters and that is what I got, in spectacular visual fashion. It's an entertaining action film filled with amazing explosions and monster mashing, just don't think too much about what's actually going on. 

Have you seen Godzilla yet? What did you think, excellent and fun or lame and boring?