Godzilla (2014) Review

Godzilla (2014) Review: Can the King of Monsters Win Over Fans?

     Giant creatures destroying the city...an obvious summer thriller, but does the latest Godzilla film really live up to its monstrous hype? 
     When the film starts off it takes us on an interesting journey of the lore of Godzilla and ancient monstrous beasts that once called the Earth home.   After a "natural" disaster in 1999 Japan, Bryan Cranston's "Joe Brody" lives through the harrowing disaster that sets off a major series of events.  Fast forward to 2014 when that not-so-natural disaster is discovered once again by a somewhat crazy Joe Brody and his now adult son Ford Brody played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Their discovery puts them at odds with an organization attempting to research the cause of this event with Ken Watanabe's "Dr. Serizawa" as the scientific head of this group.  Chaos ensues which will lead to our title character playing a prominent role.
     After a rather slow start and set-up to this film there is a big payoff when we finally see Godzilla appear in his full glory, which sets the stage for a great final battle sequence.  The director, Gareth Edwards, does a nice job of using the "Jaws" strategy with this monster-thriller, never giving us a great view of the beast until the end of the film.  Overall this Godzilla movie does a great job of helping to refresh and revive my love for Godzilla from my childhood and definitely helps to cleanse our palates from the terrible taste left behind by the 1998 Roland Emmerich directed film staring Matthew Broderick. (BLAH!)  Ken Watanabe gives us a nice performance as the scientist Dr. Serizawa and essentially plays informant for the audience, letting us know what is going on throughout the film.  Bryan Cranston as always turns in an emotional performance as Joe Brody, however the acting of the movie seems to fall a bit short.  The second half of the film seemed to take on the essence of a Transformers film where we could care less about the "people" costars and are enthralled by the massive characters fighting on screen. 
     Looking at this film as a  summer thriller is the best lens to use here.  I give this film a 3 out of 5 stars.  If you are looking for mindless summer destruction at the box office, or perhaps to revive your love of Godzilla, then its definitely worth a visit to the theatre.