ViewGuide

Created May 17, 2014 09:50PM PST • Edited Jul 25, 2016 11:03PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Big thing Godzilla, been around a long time, sixty years on screen, millions more in Godzilla story years. Archetype and moviestar, it’s a 350’ T-Rex that thrives on nuclear energy, making it a metaphor for nukes in general and nuclear bombs in particular. Godzilla 2014 proffers little new, yet is still amply entertaining.

   As BrianSez observes, Godzilla and the MUTOs are so skyscraper large compared to people, that even the game and well-produced human story is rather ridiculous. Not that Gareth Edwards, Max Borenstein & Dave Callaham’s film doesn’t have several funny moments: for instance, labeling a terrarium Mothra.

   The spectacle is spectacular, going from Japan right below Mt. Fuji to Honolulu to San Francisco and the Bay Area to Vegas. Each gets visited by creatures damn near the size of the Venetian, one of which flies.

   If you’ve stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge or looked down on the Vegas Strip, the effects hit home. Reptilian behavior starts by crawling to the sea after hatching. Nice touch.

   Big time actors deliver the human story as well is it could possibly be delivered, including Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and David Strathairn. Hot and cold running gravitas flows freely.

   BrianSez is also right that this is a big screen movie, ideally in the worth-it 3D. Just don’t sit too close.
   -———————————

   Saw the 3D XD late show at the Century 20 Oakridge.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Disaster movies require a large cast of charismatic actors because most of them get knocked off quickly. That’s not a spoiler but a fact of nature, or a fact of Hollywood. Either way, it’s the same thing on screen.

   Bryan Cranston & Juliette Binoche anchor the movie as a nuclear plant engineer and his colleague wife. Their son grows up to be Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who becomes a US Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Officer. Well conceived and well played by all three, plus the lovely and talented Elizabeth Olsen.

   • Cranston quickly essays a successful family-man, a capable professional who gets plunged into unimaginable hell. Basically he gives us Breaking Bad compressed into half a blockbuster movie.
   • Binoche sounds like she’s from the Midwest and is a solid wife, mother and professional, even if she’s not exactly sympathetic to an American audience.
   • Taylor-Johnson is a real-life Kick-Ass as a Navy stud, husband and father. Elizabeth Olsen plays his plucky wife. The Olsen Twin’s lil sis deserves more roles. He remains on his moviestar way.

   Supporters

   • CJ Adams gamely plays Taylor-Johnson as a boy.
   • Carson Bolde appealingly plays Taylor-Johnson’s son.
   • Ken Watanabe underplays the Japanese scientist who first utters the word GODZILLA.
   • Sally Hawkins plays his #1 assistant, constantly agog.
   • David Strathairn stiffens the spine of the entire production as the Admiral who must shoot off a nuclear weapon in San Francisco. They’re already upset about Google Buses in the City, now this.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    Gareth Edwards’ direction well exceeds the meager creativity of the script he had to film.

    Much to like however, including touching most every base a fan might expect from a Godzilla movie.

    They do set up an unlikely hero’s exit at the end of their film, teeing up a sequel I’d gladly pay to see in 3D.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Great 4.0

    A bit fuzzy, perhaps the fault of the 3D?

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.6

    Pulls its punches on the human victims, who are mostly seen from afar.

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Savage 3.6

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Fantasy 4.3

    Merely surreal CircoReality leavens full-on fantasy Bio & PhysioReality, making the whole thing mostly ridiculous, well into fantasy overall.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Fantasy 5.0

24. Physical Fantasy 5.0