The king of all monsters returns!
His name is, Godzilla.
Godzilla is a reboot to the 1954
Japanese monster film, Godzilla. Like King Kong, Godzilla is
one of the most iconic movie monsters. The story explored an
interesting concept about man vs nature, where Godzilla is the
physical embodiment of the wrath of nature. This 2014 reboot, is
directed by the British director Garetj Edwards, who is often praised
for his exceptional debut film “Monsters” in 2010. The
early trailers sold Godzilla by showcasing some brilliant acting
from Bryan Cranston (from Breaking Bad), together footage
depicting a dark, gritty, solemn outlook to the film. All in all, it
seems Godzilla has all the setup for a good movie. The
marketing campaign and trailers certainly made a lot of promises, but
when Godzilla finally stomps his way to the silver screen, can this
movie deliver? I took a trip to the cinema last night to find out, if
Godzilla 2014 measures up to the hype.
Synopsis:
Joe Bordy lived in Japan with his wife
and son, he worked as a manager at a nuclear power plant. On a
fateful day in 1999, a major incident occurred at the power plant,
where it collapsed and melt down following what appeared to be tectonic
plate movements. His wife was killed in the incident. The disaster
site became a quarantined zone.
15 years later, Joe's son, Ford, has
became a bomb disposal expert who worked for the United States army.
He returned home to his wife and son after a mission, only to receive
a phone call informing him, that his father, Joe, has been arrested
in Japan for breaking into the quarantined zone. Ford flew to Japan
to bail his father out of the prison. The following morning, Joe
revealed to Ford, that he suspects the “tectonic plate movement”
that caused the disaster 15 years ago was in fact, caused by
something more sinister. Joe managed to convince Ford, to revisit the
quarantined zone so he can retrieve some of his research data.
Little do this father and son duo know,
that what they were about to discover in the quarantined zone, is but
the beginning of something that is truly horrifying, where the hope
of mankind will be closely knitted to the awakening of an ancient, legendary creature,
Godzilla..
What I think about this film:
Godzilla 2014 is directed by Gareth Edwards, who debuted into the world of movie-making with another
monster film in 2010, titled “Monsters”. I have watched
Monsters and was thoroughly impressed by it. Therefore, when I
heard Edward Gareth took up the chair of director for Godzilla,
I was thrilled and raised the bar of expectation for this movie. After I bought the ticket at the cinema, as I walked in to find my seat, I couldn't help but felt excitements. However, after the movie, when the end credit hit the
screen, I left the cinema with mixed feelings about this film.
Is Godzilla a bad movie? No, not
at all. In fact, I thought it was a rather enjoyable, entertaining
monster flick. Yet, there are several problems with this film, that
just didn't quite live up to the expectations generated by all the
hypes prior to the movie's release. This movie consists of 3 acts.
The first two acts focused on the human stories, leading up to the
final showdown between Godzilla and the other monsters in the final
act.
The first two acts, however, are quite
dull. The issue here is that, for a 2 hours long movie about
Godzilla, this film shows very little of Godzilla in the first 70
minutes. It seems, to build up the suspense, the director intentionally tried to tease the
audience by showing bits and pieces of Godzilla via subtle hints, while the movie tried to showcase the
characterizations in the story, by focusing on the “human story”
in the first two acts. Granted, this method of storytelling worked
well with Steven Spielberg’s 1977 classic, Jaws, but Jaws
had good actors and a story with interesting characterization. The
same cannot be said about Godzilla, in this movie, the
characterization is quite weak, and the lead actor (Aaron Taylor
Johnson) didn't really fit the role. The result is, the first two
acts of the movie felt rather unimpressive. Bryan Cranston's
performance as Joe Bordy is what saved the first two acts from being
a total bore. In other words, the suspense dragged on for too long.
However, by the time when the movie
reached its final act, this is when all the awesomeness hit the
audience in their faces. When I saw the big guy (Godzilla) finally
being revealed in his full glory, and did his iconic roar, then all
of the sudden, all flaws from the first 70 minutes of the movie are forgiven. The last 50 minutes of the movie is a true visual
spectacle. In the final act, the CGI and the cinematography are
visually stunning, together with exhilarating actions and dramas as
the story develops at a relentless pace, the movie delivers a
monstrously satisfying conclusion. I think it is going to be hard for
other movies in 2014 to top the CGI in Godzilla; the monsters
look detailed and awe-inspiring, the crumpling buildings look solemn,
and it had a great sense of realism and immersion to it all. The
sense of realism is further enhanced by the excellent cinematography
works, where the audience are immersed into the final, epic showdown
between Godzilla and his monstrous nemesis. The last 40 minutes of
this movie, is the reason why I still watch this kind of movies at
the cinema, on the big silver screen, instead of just watching it on
my 55” 3D TV at home.
Another likable thing about this
Godzilla reboot, is that it pays homage to the 1954 Godzilla
movie. This story explores the tension between human vs nature, where
Godzilla represents the wrath of nature, an unstoppable force of
nature, restoring the balance on earth when humans have over
exploited the earth beyond the point of no return. In this movie,
Godzilla is not the villain, but an anti-hero, whose cause happens to
be inline with saving the humanity from a possible extinction. This
is an interesting concept, because I wonder, perhaps metaphorically
speaking, the extreme weather patterns that we currently
experiencing, partly contributed by man-induced global warming, is
also a form of “Godzilla”? If it is, can these extreme weather
patterns (like Godzilla) somehow save us from a fate of extinction, as the nature "fights" back against our over-exploitation of planet earth?
Overall, Godzilla 2014 is a film
that promises more than it delivers. The first two acts of the film
are somewhat flat and unimpressive, but this movie is saved by its
final act, where the true stars of this movie, Godzilla and monsters
of titanic proportion, come to be locked in titanic battles, assaulting audience
with stunning visual spectacles and awe-inspiring audio effects,
leading to a very, very satisfying conclusion that will send fans of monster movies home with smiles on their faces.
*Note, this review is based on a
viewing of the 3D version of the movie (but not the IMAX version)
No comments:
Post a Comment