Direction: Gareth Edwards; Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche; Story : David Callaham; Screenplay: Max Borenstein; Cinematography: Seamus McGarvey; Editing: Bob Ducsay; Music: Alexandre Desplat; Producers: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni; Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, ; Location: Japan, USA; Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Running Time: 123 minutes
Technical assessment: 3
Moral assessment: 3
MTRCB rating: PG
Cinema rating: V14
Sometime in the 50s, a hugged spiked creature rises from the waters as
a bomb detonates. In 1999, an unknown skeleton of a huge creature and two hatched
eggs are being investigated by Serizawa (Watanabe) and Graham (Hawkins) in a
mining site in the Philippines. Then after, a series of seismic radioactivities
has been observed in Japan. Power plant supervisor Joe Brody (Cranston) asks a
team, led by his wife Sandra (Binoche), to investigate the activity, which
unfortunately turns disastrous and kills the entire team. Fifteen years after,
Joe’s son, Ford
(Taylor-Johnson), an explosive officer of the US Navy, goes to Japan to bail
his father out of prison after trespassing in his former plant which is now
part of the quarantined area. They
discover that the quarantine is actually a cover up for a creature hatching
inside a chrysalis and feeding off radiation. The chrysalis hatches and from it
emerges a MUTO. (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) which apparently
has been in communication with another creature in San Francisco. Meanwhile,
Godzilla, the gigantic creature present during the 1954 bomb explosion, travels
to the US to hunt the MUTOs. Amidst
an impending nuclear strike aimed to kill the three monsters before they create
further damage, Ford tries to destroy the MUTO’s nest to allow
Godzilla to successfully fight them.
While sci-fi disaster movies tend to bank on a human-interest story, Godzilla fails to connect its lead
characters to its viewers mainly because of the stiff performances, one-dimensional
characters and dreary script. What makes up for this is the brilliant art
direction responsible for the creature design, special effects and
monster fighting. Although director Edwards succeeds in keeping the suspense by showing only glimpses of the
monsters until the 2nd half, it lacks the tension of a
monster-disaster movie. Despite
providing the mandatory large-scale destruction, the action is basically
extended, repetitive and feels worn-out.
Godzilla tried but failed to
offer anything new after six decades of countless remakes.
Godzilla presents two main themes:
family and the consequences of abusing nature. Family relationship is a primary motivating factor to
survive and help others. Moreover, the welfare of the family becomes the ultimate
goal in the decisions and actions of a person. In times of crisis, a person can
forgo his personal motives and sacrifice for the sake of the ones he loves. On
the other hand, the repercussions of human irresponsibility and greed results
in monster-like situations that come back to bite society. More often, every
single disaster and calamity is a direct cause of hunger for wealth and power.
The movie reiterates that man will always lose against the wrath of nature. While
Godzilla in this version is presented as a savior against the MUTO, he does so
with much violence and gore with so many minutes dedicated to repeated
destruction, explosion and human casualties.
