For those who haven’t seen Godzilla in a while, this is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. I originally cringed at the thought of a new Godzilla flick. The 90’s brought us a reboot so utterly terrible that the owners of the Godzilla franchise, Toho Films, worked the rebooted creature into the 2004 Godzilla: Final Wars just so the real Godzilla could kick its ass in under 20 seconds. This new one is worth the wait and up for a fight. Godzilla is a movie that brings excitement and enjoyment throughout. There are surprises I didn’t see coming and battles worthy of the Godzilla name.
No spoilers here, folks. The previews do an excellent job of sinking you into this new world of Godzilla. You know from watching that the legendary monster will eventually come ashore in America. After all, this is an American film. What you don’t know is how or why that happens. I can’t tell you that and still look at myself in the mirror, but I can tell you that this is as much a human story as it is a monster flick. This is two stories intertwining and told together. This is a film about family where we see the motives of every entity on proud display. There is no evil here. There is no right or wrong. This is as monster flicks should be: about survival of the fittest.
What I can tell you is the effects and graphics live up to the promise. There are occasional hints of the ‘man in the suit’ effect, but these are dimmed by the predatory movements and nature of the creatures involved. It is hard to believe that Godzilla is real to these people only because of the sheer scale of the creature, a feature the director of cinematography worked hard to make epic. The work is felt and even more impressively, plays into the subplots of the story.
If you’re looking for character development on the scale of Breaking Bad, you’ll be very disappointed very quickly. However, the acting does deliver and does make for a fun afternoon or evening with the family. Go see the big green monster, and if the crowd will stand for it, cheer when he starts kicking ass.
Some Thoughts:
- Its official: I am more coherent during daylight hours. From now on I must fight to write in the daylight and save evenings for Minecraft, movies, and other endeavors of a non-critical thinking nature.
- Last game of the soccer season is tomorrow. We are 2-3-1 and have a slim chance of getting to .500. Still, I believe in these kids and I believe they can knock off the undefeated #1 team and all of its superstar players. To that end I’ve structured a strategy that includes putting 3 forwards and 3 midfielders in as well as ‘marking up’ star players on the other side. In other words, I’m going to put my tenacious players on their best players and straight up shut them down.