memento_mori's Movie Review of Godzilla (2014)

And the monster cried: meh.
memento_mori - wrote on 05/15/14

I am actually very glad to finally have an excuse for writing a review for a film other than wanting to express my opinion of what I thought of it, because now that my eardrums are completely obliterated, writing will be my essential way of communication for the next few days.

And still, I am struggling to start this review, because there are so many places to start.
Gareth Edwards, my word, that is an efficient and bright director with an impeccable style who is most likely on a quest for directing every blockbuster from here and out. And I really wouldn't mind, so long as he gets a good screenplay (more on that later).
There are plenty of amazing point of view shots and other spectacles of cinematography in this movie, but I guess you would expect something like that from the DP of The Avengers.

Edwards' talent as a bombastic visual artist really shone in the third act especially, because that was the most concentrated in the entire movie, giving me all the explosive awe and Kaiju battles I wanted to see in two hours in around twenty minutes. And that's the fatal flaw here, once again: the story and pacing.

This is another one of those movies which gets so serious in its execution that it forgets to actually have a soul of its own. It tries and build up characters but in the end they are all just restricted to 'people who have lost other people' scenarios and everything slightly dramatic that goes along with that.
Tell me one thing Ken Watanabe did in this movie. Or Sally Hawkins. Or Elizabeth Olsen. Or David Strathairn (his speech from the trailer isn't even in the movie), and tell me one memorable line, confrontation, event or anything in particular which happened to these people, other than 'they lost people'.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson has nothing to do, and does his best with the thin script he is given, but he just comes off as unbelievably stoic, never making me believe that he was a father or in any way afraid of the ravaging monster, threatening his wife and son, his goddamn legacy. At least show that you care!

Bryan Cranston is not Heisenberg. And people need to stop referring to him as that, because he is an actor in his prime, not to be remembered for only one character and performance. He truly knocked it out of the park with this one… for the good twenty minutes he was on-screen.

The look, sound and feel of this movie are incredible, boosting that epic feeling you want to get in the cinema at many points, but the events between the epic-ness and overall tone it has is too huge and dramatic to work to its benefit, with the ending also leaving me wanting more than what I got.