Godzilla

My expectations for Godzilla were high. I thought if they movie was half as good as the marketing campaign, then it would be pretty great. I've been trying to stay away from reviews because I really like to go in to movies open minded, without someone else's opinion in my head. I did notice a few friends on Facebook say they didn't like it although they didn't say why. I imagine a lot of the criticism has to do with - NOT ENOUGH GODZILLA / NOT ENOUGH BRYAN CRANSTON. And those arguments are valid. However, director Gareth Edwards has directed the hell out of this movie. It is extraordinarily beautiful and visually stunning, so this movie looks so much better than it has any right to look. And if that doesn't counterbalance the negative aspects of this movie, then I don't know what does.

Godzilla opens in 1999 with Bryan Cranston's Joe working as an engineer in Japan. A seemingly nuclear explosion happens, plunging parts of Japan into Quarantine and killing hundreds. The company tries to cover it up as an accident, but fifteen years later, Joe is sure they are covering up something. He doesn't quite know how right he is. Scientists Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins know that the nuclear accident had awoken a MUTO (massive unidentified terrestrial organism, read: NOT Godzilla), and they are working furiously to keep the MUTO underground where it's lived for decades. That doesn't quite work out, however, and see the Japanese MUTO is trying to find his long lost love MUTO in the deserts outside of Las Vegas, so they can mate. MUTO's - They just wanna get laid; they are just like us.

And the first third of the film is pretty solid. Cranston is pretty much playing a variation of Walter White, except he isn't making Meth. But he has the same searing intensity, the same "I'm the smartest guy in the room and I'm exasperated by your stupidity" attitude. And it's great to watch him on the big screen. But, then the movie decides to follow his bratty Navy son (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) as he jet sets around the globe, trying to get home to his wife (Elizabeth Olsen) and son in San Francisco, which, SURPRISE!, is where the MUTO's want to mate. This is the entire middle of the movie and it suffers mostly because Taylor-Johnson, who I like as an actor, he was great in Kick-Ass, has about 5% of the charisma that Cranston has. Also, as a viewer, we honestly don't care about any of these characters. None of them are very fleshed out - Watanabe and Hawkins are merely playing scientists, and we know nothing about them. Elizabeth Olsen, who I adore!, is playing the Concerned Wife, and besides crying and looking worried, she has nothing to do. I know this is a monster movie, and we should be less concerned with the characters than the action, but if you aren't going to really, truly introduce Godzilla until Act 3, then you better have some good character development to tide us over. And this movie doesn't have that, save for Cranston.

So, yes, we don't REALLY see Godzilla until the final act. We see glimpses of him. We hear stories about him. The Atomic Bomb testings in the 50s? They were just trying to kill Godzilla. He's been sleeping in the ocean for decades but our Scientists think he can restore order in the world. They want to let him fight the MUTO's and save San Francisco. Godzilla - He just wants to go back to bed; he's just like us. (He's also very similar to my cat, in-so-much-as they both cause massive destruction and then go back to sleep like it's no big deal). When Godzilla finally shows up and does battle with the MUTO's, this movie becomes a pretty bad ass monster movie with epic action sequences. But is it too little, too late?

Not for me. Sure, the middle section is boring and almost none of the characters are developed in the least, but I can't get over how amazing this movie looks. It's stunning and beautiful to watch. Edwards has somehow managed to make an art house monster movie. There are so many shots that are just simply perfect. (To name a few for when you see this movie: The helicopter in the side view mirror of the bus, the shot of the crashed airplane, the destruction of Las Vegas from the torn out side of a hotel, Godzilla's tail sweeping through the Chinese lanterns, and ESPECIALLY, the parachuting scene where they are all holding red flares - that shot, in particular, is perfection). Other big budget directors should be taking notes, because Edwards really nailed this movie. It's easily the best directed movie of the year, so far.

So, of course, Godzilla is flawed, but it's also a lot of fun. The rest of the summer movies have a lot to live up to - they have to be as all around awesome as Captain America, and they have to look as good as Godzilla. Good luck, guys.

Grade: B