This was a film that I was slightly hyped about for quite a long time. For some reason, though, I never went to see it in cinemas. Which may or may not be a shame, as I ended up watching it instead on a tiny airplane screen.
Godzilla (2014, dir. Gareth Edwards) is, as you may know, about a giant lizard monster who has a well-established history of wrecking cities. In this new installment, Godzilla is risen from his/her slumber to combat the forces of a mysterious insectoid monster. Here are some of my thoughts on it!
- All of the posters for Godzilla are legitimately amazing and I had such trouble picking one for this post. Have a look at all of them here!
- I watched the ‘plane version’ of this that was apparently ‘edited for screen size and for content’, so I’m unsure as to whether I missed out on anything crazily violent. The film did seem pretty tame.
- Either way, I didn’t think this was that bad. It wasn’t the worst out of all the airplane films I watched (that award probably goes to 22 Jump Street), and it wasn’t boring.
- It was slightly repetitive in the way that monster movies can generally be (e.g. of course the main character will always end up near the monster or threatened by it in some way, throughout the entire film), but other than that, I can say I enjoyed watching it.
- However, it is a universal truth that there was not enough Bryan Cranston in this film. I feel like I was jibbed since the trailer featured him quite heavily.
- Elizabeth Olsen is also an extremely capable actress and was severely underused.
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson is an alright lead, but is slightly forgettable.
- I really liked the opening title sequence that was filled with government documents with parts censored out, that was really clever. The graphic design team did a great job with this film.
- I also love that the film focused on Godzilla as technically a force for good, or as a protector, unlike the ridiculous monstrosity that was 1998’s Godzilla.
- One bad thing, though, was that we didn’t really get to see enough of the big guy in action. I could watch an entire film with Godzilla just doing things by him/herself, without any humans present. Ultimately, Godzilla is the star of the show, and no petty human drama can distract from that. But still, I would have loved to see less of the humans and more of the monster(s).
- The characters are fairly one-dimensional, and as a viewer you’re pretty much constantly distracted from them. Which may be a good thing.
- The final showdown was awesome though, and was almost worth plodding through all the human content.
- All in all, not a bad film to watch on a plane!
Watch this film at Amazon!
FILM GRIMOIRE 
Agree with all the points 😛 …Yup, all of them.
Good review, Anna. Short, concise n to the point review… unlike the pointless ramblings I like to do 😀
Haha, thanks heaps matey! 😀
Love you, Anna, but I think this movie is utter trash. My biggest reason for saying this is directly related to #10 in your post. Particularly, I’m referring to “Ultimately, Godzilla is the star of the show, and no petty human drama can distract from that. But still, I would have loved to see less of the humans and more of the monster(s).” I felt like the movie spent two hours trying to do precisely that – distract from Godzilla with petty human drama. Poorly done petty human drama, at that.
Rest assured, by the way, you didn’t miss out on anything in the version you were watching because nothing actually happens.
http://dellonmovies.blogspot.com/2014/11/noooovember-godzilla.html
I loved your write-up Wendell! I completely agree with you – too much humans, not enough monster. Maybe all will be redeemed in the inevitable sequel!
This movie worked for me, though I know plenty didn’t like it. I can’t imagine watching it on an airplane screen though. That would drive me nuts, haha.
Oh yeah, watching so many films on a tiny airplane screen was pretty infuriating. I felt like I was missing out on so much cool detail!
A lot of people had a problem with this movie, but I wasn’t one of them. I liked how it took its time and didn’t try to show off Godzilla more times than it needed to. Good review.
Thanks heaps Dan! 😀
Fun review. Let me just say I loved this film. I get why many people didnt. It is more about the buildup which is one of the things I appreciated. It reminded me of thw original film and the creature features of the 1950s. That nostalgia really worked for me.
Thanks Keith! The part I thought was brilliant in this film was where we got to see that glimpse of Godzilla as the shelter doors were shutting. It was the perfect teaser for the monstrous shenanigans that followed.
My blu ray of this film is getting a lot of replay in my house of late. I think that, like with Jurassic Park, Godzilla gets better and better with repeated viewings. Really agree about Olsen (Cant wait to see her in the next Avengers film) and the final showdown, for sure. Great breakdown in this one, Anna! All great reasons to catch Godzilla 🙂 (Ultimately, I did not have too much of a problem with the human elements of the film and yeah, Cranston should have been in the film so much more!).
Thanks heaps Victor! 🙂 I would be willing to watch this again to see if my perception of it changes over time. I think I’ll never get over the minimal Cranston though!
I’m glad you enjoyed it because I thought it was terrible. Hahaha!
Haha! It was definitely a good film to pass the time on an airplane, not sure I would feel the same way if I had paid to watch it in the cinema!
Nice write up! It seemed like this movie got a lot of hate, but none of that came from me. I really enjoyed it.
Thanks heaps Brittani! 🙂 Yeah, I’m unsure if this was truly hateworthy, even though I did have some issues with it.
Cool review yo, clearly someone who has a bit of sense. I’m glad you got to check this one out before the year was out. For me Godzilla was one of my favourite films of the year, sure the human characters and story didn’t hold up as well, the monster action and Godzilla screen time was short and there was a severe lack of Bryan Cranston. All of that aside I thought that this was a much better adaptation than the 90’s one, with a strong introduction, awesome music and cinematography and kick ass monster fights with one of the most hardcore kills of any film in recent times. But that’s just me. 🙂
Haha, thanks! 😀 The final showdown was pretty amazing, I have to say.
I agree, Elizabeth Olsen was surprisingly good! I got to watch this on an enormous screen in an in-home cinema with surround sound, wearing 3D glasses to boot. Ah, the serendipitous things that sometimes happen when you travel via Airbnb!
Oh wow, that sounds like an amazing Airbnb place! Wish I had an in-home cinema at my place, that would be the best thing ever!
Even better than the cinema was the guy’s EXTENSIVE movie collection — I think he had around 1,000 DVDs!
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