Today we (Mad Mike and DonnyFTW) will be talking about the most recent reboot of Godzilla from Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros.
Godzilla was awakened in 1954 and the US and Russian militaries tried destroying him, but nothing worked. We are then introduced to the Brody family in 1999, living in Japan with Joe working at a nuclear power plant with his wife Sandra. After what seemed like an earthquake, the power plant gets completely destroyed, killing Sandra. 15 years later, we begin with their son Ford, a soldier returning from over a year of duty. After a short reunion with his family, he is forced to fly to Japan to help with Joe, who was arrested near the now quarantined plant. After being released and trying to convince Ford of some wild conspiracies, they decide to go to the quarantined zone again. After they’re both arrested, they soon discover that there is a creature living there… absorbing radiation like it’s a source of food. This creature awakens and destroys the whole freaking area, including Joe.
So first off Mike what were your thoughts on the movie?
Well... when I first heard that there would be a new Godzilla movie coming out, my reaction was something like this…
And who could blame me? The ’98 turdzilla left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth, including the real Godzilla himself (who would eventually get revenge on that movie). Since then, many fans including myself have been waiting patiently for an actual good Hollywood adaptation of this monster… and we finally got it!
The movie begins with a few dramatic scenes and a slow pace, and you don’t actually see Godzilla until an hour in at least. It instead decides to take a page from the book of Jaws and focus on the characters. The build up described in the intro is pretty much the build up before you see the first Muto monster. Godzilla shows up about half an hour later when the Muto decides to attack Hawaii, and it’s only for a few seconds… and the fight they have is montaged on a TV screen. To me, this is a strong point of the movie, it does a very good job of building tension and suspense, giving you more and more of the big G every time he shows up, ultimately concluding in one of the greatest monster fights in movie history.
That leads me to talk about this movie’s climax… my god! The final 25-30 minutes of film has to be one of the greatest pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen!
I guess at this point we should warn readers about the spoilers ahead... So if you don't want to be spoiled maybe skip the following paragraph.
The fight between Godzilla and the 2 Mutos is relentless. The final blows to both Mutos are fucking sick! Big G kills off the flying Muto by using his tail as a baseball bat and flinging that motherfucker face first into a building. Then with the Crawling Muto… Fuck… I… Just… I’m fucking speechless because no words I use can describe how fucking badass that was… He spreads that bug’s mouth open with his bare hands and breathes atomic breath down his god damn throat… and then rips his head off! Just… FUCK THAT WAS SO AWESOME! EAT MY BLUE FIRE, BITCH!
Fuck... I need a few minutes to calm down from such awesomeness... You can talk about the movie now Donny.
Jesus Christ you're wordy...
Well not to play devils advocate here but I had some issues with the movie's focus. Director Gareth Edwards seemed to have a hard time deciding what direction he wanted to go with Godzilla. It's treated like a disaster movie, yet we see next to little destruction... I mean we see a lot of shots of the aftermath of destruction but next to no scenes of it happening and the odd time we do it's off the TV screen. Then there are scenes reminent of monster movies of old... Clearly for nostalgia purposes but it still clouds the focus. Add in the human element and we don't get any seamless transitions between the different focal points and it comes across as choppy.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson of Kick-Ass fame is the core of the movie as Edwards smartly follows Johnson on his journey to get back home to his family while he intertwines with locals, the military, and the monsters. Johnson wears several hats here, from scorned son to loving father and back to hardened military Lieutenant. And he does all these things great, which actually puts a damper on the other acting performances that were good to okay but paled in comparison. Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Seriwaza always has the same “oh shit” look on his face and Bryan Cranston, arguably the actor with the most pedigree, is used as more of a plot device for Johnson than a character himself. It was very wonderful to see Sally Hawkins back on screen (I have yet to watch Blue Jasmine FYI) but she never really does anything which is heartbreaking because she has the ability to humanise any story… Even one featuring a 350 foot lizard.
Ok, I've had time to calm down from all the awesomeness... Uhh... Where are we? Oh the acting? Cool...
Well, I do think Bryan Cranston does an amazing job with the very few scenes he's given. Being a huge Breaking Bad fan unlike certain other people in this review...
I've never watched it... It's on my to do list though!
Well I've grown accustomed to his style of acting, which I would describe as flawless. I thought Johnson did a fine job in the lead role, even if his Ford Brody character is a little too stoic at times. I will let his lack of emotion slide as he is playing a soldier, though... So maybe he was just written that way. Ken Watanabe did okay for me (they just had to have a Japanese guy in this movie, right?), however the scene where he's almost choking up at the end was corny as hell. Solid acting all-around though, especially for a monster movie.
With all the praises I have for the movie, I'll still admit it's flaws. I say most of them lie within the film's tone. I felt at times that the movie didn't know whether it wanted to be character driven survival flick, a monster movie, or a disaster epic. The tonal shifts of the movie are frequent and can get very wearisome. I do think that has more to do with the story and writing than it does with Gareth's direction. I think it would’ve been better if Frank Darabont wrote all of the human elements instead of just collaborating. His calling card is that of a writer who focuses on how human characters deal with a crisis in their lives (See Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, etc.). You can clearly see which parts were written by him, and which parts were not, and that can expose some inconsistencies with the characters. So yeah, the awkward tonal changes are definitely something to be worked on for the sequel (which WILL happen, who are we kidding?)
Another problem lies with the character development. While these characters are solid at face value (and pretty well acted by the way), you don’t really get to know that much about them. We know that Ford is soldier who diffuses bombs, we know that his wife Elle is a nurse, and we know that Dr. Seriwaza’s father died in Hiroshima… but that’s about it. Once again, that’s something to improve on in the sequel (It’s happening, get over it). The lack of development didn’t really bug me that much though, as these characters are well acted, especially for the material they’re given. If Terminator Salvation taught me anything, it's that a good performance can mask a poorly written character (i.e. Christian Bale as John Connor). I hope this cast returns in the next movie (You know it’s coming).
Say, Donny, what did you really love about the movie? If anything?
Apart from my aforementioned love of Johnson's acting chops and the last big fight we see at the end of the film (AKA everyone that will ever watch this movie's favourite part) the part that intrigued me the most was the opening credits... I know weird right? But it pulled me in from the get-go. I'm a big political guy so with the Argo-esque black outs of government reports being used as the credits with the fictionalized nuclear test videos and stills from the 50's of the US and Russia trying to destroy Godzilla as the background I was immediately drawn to the screen. Also Edwards makes great use of the wide-shot throughout the film whether it's a half wrecked golden gate bridge or Godzilla emerging from the depths it was always a treat to see... I know wide shots when we're talking about a huge lizard is a given... But Edwards was very effective in his utilization.
Mike did you leave anything out?
Well, since you were just talking about it, that reminds me to comment on the Edwards's camera work: It was absolutely fantastic! I loved the fact that the final throwdown between Godzilla and Mutos was free of any of that shaky-cam bullshit that Hollywood seems to be obsessed with these days. My favourite shot of all is when you see the build up of the Big G's atomic breath! I personally was waiting to see it happen during that whole fight, and it's as if Edwards knew exactly when and how to deliver the audience that iconic trait! Loved it!
What else did I love? Well, Godzilla is actually Godzilla here! I know I made a post on my own blog about how making changes to the source material can be okay, but only as long as the changes make sense. In '98, the changes didn't make sense, simple as that. There are some changes to the original design here (he's fucking huge, for example), but they fit well. His roar in this movie is fantastic, in fact I would compare it to the T-Rex roar in Jurassic Park, it's that good! Not to mention that it awe-inspiring to hear it in the theater... I think this movie will get Oscar consideration for sound. It was very well done!
But yeah, in terms of what Godzilla is all about, Edwards totally nailed it! My big hope is that Toho was impressed with it enough that they give Edwards the rights to the other monsters like King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and MechaGodzilla for the very likely sequels that will happen.
Oh, one more thing... As a Packers fan, it was so nice to see San Francisco get completely ravaged in this movie! Take that, Niners!
In conclusion, Godzilla does have some big problems. But honestly, with all of the awesomeness that’s packed into this movie, I can let the issues slide here. Godzilla is a terrific movie, it’s filled with suspense, has some great action, the visuals are breathtaking, and the climactic battle might go down as one of the greatest movie battles of all time! To put it in NSFW terms… the movie slowly masturbates for an hour and a half, building massive tension within its nads, and then it spends almost thirty minutes blowing its load all over the audience’s fucking face! Fuck yeah!
I give this movie a full 9 atomic breaths out of 10, it's not perfect, but it's still awesome!
You have the floor now, Donny, give us your final statement...
Godzilla satisfies on all levels… But that’s about it. Everything is good or okay. Nothing stands out as great except the last 15 minutes or so, and even those have some minor problems and don’t negate the previous 100 minutes or so. Godzilla seemed unsure of what angle he wanted to take, they needed to pick a tone and nail it down early and often rather than flip-flopping between a monster movie, a human anchored drama, a disaster movie and countless others. Even if the transitions were a little more seamless it wouldn’t have been as big of a problem. Hopefully they correct this in possible future sequels. All in all though I feel Godzilla succeeded on what it was trying to do, make the monster relevant again, and for that it gets a thumbs up.
I only use a 5 scale rating system and I'm opposed to half stars and this wasn't quite a 4 to me so I have to give it only 3 stars.
Well there you have it. The very first installment of Flying Monkey Reviews. Thank you for coming on this journey with us and if you want to check out more from us check the links below.
Mike's Personal Blog
Donny's Personal Blog
Donny's Posts Over At Big B Comics
We're working hard to constantly add posts to these and if you're looking for more movie reviews these are where to find them as we recently got review of Commando, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Solider, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The LEGO Movie.
Happy Watching! Flying Monkey's jacking out.
Ok, I've had time to calm down from all the awesomeness... Uhh... Where are we? Oh the acting? Cool...
Well, I do think Bryan Cranston does an amazing job with the very few scenes he's given. Being a huge Breaking Bad fan unlike certain other people in this review...
I've never watched it... It's on my to do list though!
Well I've grown accustomed to his style of acting, which I would describe as flawless. I thought Johnson did a fine job in the lead role, even if his Ford Brody character is a little too stoic at times. I will let his lack of emotion slide as he is playing a soldier, though... So maybe he was just written that way. Ken Watanabe did okay for me (they just had to have a Japanese guy in this movie, right?), however the scene where he's almost choking up at the end was corny as hell. Solid acting all-around though, especially for a monster movie.
With all the praises I have for the movie, I'll still admit it's flaws. I say most of them lie within the film's tone. I felt at times that the movie didn't know whether it wanted to be character driven survival flick, a monster movie, or a disaster epic. The tonal shifts of the movie are frequent and can get very wearisome. I do think that has more to do with the story and writing than it does with Gareth's direction. I think it would’ve been better if Frank Darabont wrote all of the human elements instead of just collaborating. His calling card is that of a writer who focuses on how human characters deal with a crisis in their lives (See Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, etc.). You can clearly see which parts were written by him, and which parts were not, and that can expose some inconsistencies with the characters. So yeah, the awkward tonal changes are definitely something to be worked on for the sequel (which WILL happen, who are we kidding?)
Another problem lies with the character development. While these characters are solid at face value (and pretty well acted by the way), you don’t really get to know that much about them. We know that Ford is soldier who diffuses bombs, we know that his wife Elle is a nurse, and we know that Dr. Seriwaza’s father died in Hiroshima… but that’s about it. Once again, that’s something to improve on in the sequel (It’s happening, get over it). The lack of development didn’t really bug me that much though, as these characters are well acted, especially for the material they’re given. If Terminator Salvation taught me anything, it's that a good performance can mask a poorly written character (i.e. Christian Bale as John Connor). I hope this cast returns in the next movie (You know it’s coming).
Say, Donny, what did you really love about the movie? If anything?
Apart from my aforementioned love of Johnson's acting chops and the last big fight we see at the end of the film (AKA everyone that will ever watch this movie's favourite part) the part that intrigued me the most was the opening credits... I know weird right? But it pulled me in from the get-go. I'm a big political guy so with the Argo-esque black outs of government reports being used as the credits with the fictionalized nuclear test videos and stills from the 50's of the US and Russia trying to destroy Godzilla as the background I was immediately drawn to the screen. Also Edwards makes great use of the wide-shot throughout the film whether it's a half wrecked golden gate bridge or Godzilla emerging from the depths it was always a treat to see... I know wide shots when we're talking about a huge lizard is a given... But Edwards was very effective in his utilization.
Mike did you leave anything out?
Well, since you were just talking about it, that reminds me to comment on the Edwards's camera work: It was absolutely fantastic! I loved the fact that the final throwdown between Godzilla and Mutos was free of any of that shaky-cam bullshit that Hollywood seems to be obsessed with these days. My favourite shot of all is when you see the build up of the Big G's atomic breath! I personally was waiting to see it happen during that whole fight, and it's as if Edwards knew exactly when and how to deliver the audience that iconic trait! Loved it!
What else did I love? Well, Godzilla is actually Godzilla here! I know I made a post on my own blog about how making changes to the source material can be okay, but only as long as the changes make sense. In '98, the changes didn't make sense, simple as that. There are some changes to the original design here (he's fucking huge, for example), but they fit well. His roar in this movie is fantastic, in fact I would compare it to the T-Rex roar in Jurassic Park, it's that good! Not to mention that it awe-inspiring to hear it in the theater... I think this movie will get Oscar consideration for sound. It was very well done!
But yeah, in terms of what Godzilla is all about, Edwards totally nailed it! My big hope is that Toho was impressed with it enough that they give Edwards the rights to the other monsters like King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and MechaGodzilla for the very likely sequels that will happen.
Oh, one more thing... As a Packers fan, it was so nice to see San Francisco get completely ravaged in this movie! Take that, Niners!
In conclusion, Godzilla does have some big problems. But honestly, with all of the awesomeness that’s packed into this movie, I can let the issues slide here. Godzilla is a terrific movie, it’s filled with suspense, has some great action, the visuals are breathtaking, and the climactic battle might go down as one of the greatest movie battles of all time! To put it in NSFW terms… the movie slowly masturbates for an hour and a half, building massive tension within its nads, and then it spends almost thirty minutes blowing its load all over the audience’s fucking face! Fuck yeah!
I give this movie a full 9 atomic breaths out of 10, it's not perfect, but it's still awesome!
You have the floor now, Donny, give us your final statement...
Godzilla satisfies on all levels… But that’s about it. Everything is good or okay. Nothing stands out as great except the last 15 minutes or so, and even those have some minor problems and don’t negate the previous 100 minutes or so. Godzilla seemed unsure of what angle he wanted to take, they needed to pick a tone and nail it down early and often rather than flip-flopping between a monster movie, a human anchored drama, a disaster movie and countless others. Even if the transitions were a little more seamless it wouldn’t have been as big of a problem. Hopefully they correct this in possible future sequels. All in all though I feel Godzilla succeeded on what it was trying to do, make the monster relevant again, and for that it gets a thumbs up.
I only use a 5 scale rating system and I'm opposed to half stars and this wasn't quite a 4 to me so I have to give it only 3 stars.
Well there you have it. The very first installment of Flying Monkey Reviews. Thank you for coming on this journey with us and if you want to check out more from us check the links below.
Mike's Personal Blog
Donny's Personal Blog
Donny's Posts Over At Big B Comics
We're working hard to constantly add posts to these and if you're looking for more movie reviews these are where to find them as we recently got review of Commando, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Solider, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The LEGO Movie.
Happy Watching! Flying Monkey's jacking out.
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