The concise critics

Godzilla

Year : 2014 Director : Gareth Edwards Running Time : 123 Genre : ,
Movie review score
3.5/5

What’s it about?
A natural disaster that isn’t actually natural sparks off a chain of events which leads to a giant monster that could spell the end of the world for humanity.

What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: The new Godzilla is like a one-night stand. It’s fun and exciting while it lasts but the next morning you have questions and thoughts that are generally unsatisfying.

Great effects and the best finishing move of all time (OF ALL TIME) mask some deficiencies in characterisation and story. The main ‘hero’ follows a journey of interconnected events that is beyond the belief of even someone who’s happy to believe in giant monsters.

But for those who do it isn’t about the frailties of the script, it’s about the giant lizard. And although we don’t see enough of the big guy what we do see is simply good fun. There are some good twists (avoid spoilers beforehand if you can) and some genuine respect and love for the character and its history but just don’t think about it too much.

 

BONUS: Luckily for me the very talented Rob O’Connor was still awake when I got out of the preview screening and was kind enough to draw this for me.

godzilla-out-sqr2

4 Responses so far.

  1. Stewart Cook says:

    Stewart says: 2.5 hours of monochromatic tedium. Hollywood at it’s worst. Go watch Pacific Rim again and save yourself $20.

    1 out of 5.

  2. Director Gareth Edwards deserves a lot of credit for taking some big risks and thankfully they paid off. Mostly.

    Things I liked:
    – Even if you’ve seen every trailer THEY LIED TO YOU. As someone who hates modern trailers who give too much away I was ecstatic to see they have deliberately mislead us.
    – Amazing special effects
    – The fact they focus on the human aspect with the monster action more in the background
    – Cinematography
    – A respect and love for the creature and its proud history
    – The twists (which I refuse to speak of at the moment)

    Things I didn’t like:
    – Not enough monster. In a movie that lasts 123 minutes we don’t see enough of the big guy. But this is both a positive and a negative.
    – The heavy-handed ‘balance’ theory. Borders on ridiculous and preachy.
    – The implausible serendipitous travels of our ‘human hero’

    But you know what? You don’t watch monster movies for a perfect plot. You watch them for disaster, chaos and mayhem and this delivers that in spades. It’s great fun. AVOID SPOILERS and see it. See it now before the twists get ruined for you.

  3. Jane Grenier says:

    BEST COMIC EVER

  4. Jacob Shields says:

    Very interesting and action packed remake of the classic. After waiting 40 minutes to catch a glipmse of the titanic beast, I began to grow frustrated that the main man wasn’t here yet. My doubts were quelled the second he came into vision however, towering like the god he is.

    Monster v monster battles were epic, action packed, and everything you could hope for. Not the deepest movie experience, but I’d still recommend!

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