Godzilla

Godzilla, the latest film from director Gareth Edwards is a decent popcorn flick. It's a melodrama with intermittent thrills and action, thankfully though those thrills and action sequences can almost make you forgive Gareth for focusing on the melodrama so hard...almost. It's because of that, not to mention the massive plot holes (that I won't be divulging here), that I am giving Godzilla two and a half buckets of Killer Korn.












Much like the original black and white Godzilla movie, this remake/reboot, whatever slow plays Godzilla's arrival. Instead we get to follow some very uninteresting characters who at times looks like they would rather be doing something else. The only convincing performance in this film, outside of the monsters was Bryan Cranston who plays Joe Brody. Fifteen years ago he was the head engineer at a nuclear power plant that was experiencing tremors and sends his wife, scientist Sandra Brody, played by the wonderful Juliette Binoche down into the depths of the plant. Tragedy strikes the plant, and the town the plant was powering was deemed a quarantine zone. Fast forward to the present and Joe just can't seem to let the past go and convinces his son Ford Brody, played by the weak acting Aaron Taylor-Johnson to go back to their home in the quarantine area for data and sentimental reasons.

There really is no reason to mention any other human being in this movie, because there was nothing memorable about their presence in the film. Even the wonderful Ken Watanabe brought in a performance that was underwhelming as Dr. Ichiro Serizawa, the man who, with Joe's help pieces this whole thing together. Unlike the original movie, where they focused more on the monster and how to kill it, this movie focuses on the Brody family, which in my opinion was a huge mistake. That twelve year old boy inside me didn't give a damn about the humans in this movie when you have Godzilla duking it out with two other monsters in the middle of a city. I could care less if the family ever got pieced back together, show me the monsters!!!

Godzilla is Gareth's second feature length film, yes you read that correct. This was his second film and it was a pretty impressive one at that. His mistake though was not dancing with the girl he brought to the prom. The movie is called Godzilla, not The Brody's. It's too bad Gareth didn't recognize that fact. Maybe he should have had someone else take a look at the script penned by Max Borenstein to see if it could be livened up some. The visuals when the monsters were on the screen was EPIC! They make you forget or overlook the massive plot holes in the story. And when Godzilla let's loose with his full fury, you won't be able to resist smiling. The music by Andre Desplat was okay, somewhat forgetful, unlike Akira Ifukube's score for the original Godzilla. I can still hum that score, I can't say the same about Andre's and I just saw the film. All in all Godzilla is a romping good time, you'll just wish they gave you more Godzilla. I recommend it if you are a fan and skip it if you aren't, and I'll see you at the theater.

www.markericentertainment.com