#11- "Godzilla" (2014)

What!? Godzilla 2014 is only 11th? How can this be! Yes, it is true, while I have been following the production of this latest Godzilla movie for around 5 years, I cannot say the end product fit with what I had been imagining for years now. I mean, big screen, bigger budget, biggest ambitions for a Godzilla movie in years, that sounds like a recipe for success to me, and Godzilla 2014 is. To date, it has taken in nearly 400 million worldwide, far exceeding its 150 million dollar budget and also likely cementing a possible sequel or two in the years to come. However, as excited as I was for Godzilla, I cannot say I was blown away in theaters. I left with a sort of empty feeling, like the ride was over and it wasn't as good as people said it was. I was happy I rode that ride, but I wanted to go back and ride the other ones that I liked before. So you might be thinking that this is insane, that a Godzilla fanatic like Gabe should've been crying tears of joy during the credits and returning to the ticket booth to buy another ticket. Well, I wasn't disappointed, nor was I swept off my feet, and this neutral ground might be worse than being disappointed. You see, Roland Emmerich fucked up when he made his lizard movie, and that was disappointing to me, but it spawned six new Japanese Godzilla movies (all of which better) to cover up the terribleness of that 1998 movie. This time around, I think that Godzilla 2014 deserves a sequel or two because it harkens back towards the original Godzilla far better than 1998 did, but it also might be good enough that Toho doesn't have to make more G movies. Certainly I don't want a large production like this to go to waste so we can have more suit-mation from Japan; I think every G fan ever has dreamed of seeing Godzilla at a CGI level like the one we've just been treated to. But I just can't shake the hope that this new movie, good or bad, might've spawned a new series of original Japanese movies. What I'm trying to say is I thought Godzilla would've been better, but it's also just good enough to accomplish what it set out to do, and prevent a possible new series from Japan (which is an entirely hypothetical situation based on the last American "Godzilla" production and no movie plots or production ideas have ever been confirmed factually).

Godzilla shines in it's monster battle moments, and the scale of destruction is brilliant and on a level we haven't witnessed before, although my slight on this is that Godzilla's invincible nature is toned down a notch. He actually appears to be beaten at one point in the movie, if not for the quick actions of Ford Brody. He collapses in exhaustion at the end and appears sluggish at times. He is persistent though, and that in itself is accurate I think, but we really don't get a huge sampling of this Godzilla's personality, which is my biggest problem with the new release. In all the past movies, Godzilla is more a character than a monster at times, even when he is big and bad, you know as an experienced viewer what his behavior is and how his character will diagnose and solve the problem. This Godzilla is more of an enigma to me. His motives are unclear (They say he needs to restore balance, but to what?) and his screen time is reduced, so you lose out on that characterizing aspect that the Japanese originals do so well. There is far more screen time given to the Muto monsters and how they move so unorthodoxly and the characters as they observe everything. As a film student, I understand and appreciate the "Jaws" effect in slowly revealing something to the audience, but to me it just takes away from the spectacle of being able to gawk at Godzilla's glory. The scene above where Godzilla steps into the shot is great, but the scene 5 minutes before it where we finally see Godzilla's towering spines cutting through the water towards the aircraft carrier gave me chills. Had the original Godzilla score been laced into that scene, I likely would've screamed like a little girl and cried.

This picture above I think perfectly illustrates what Godzilla was in the movie. More enigma than character, more of a force than an actual living creature, and far more good than bad (The picture has a heavenly glow to it. Godzilla never intentionally knocks over a building or attacks a navy destroyer, for example). He is portrayed as a morally perfect being almost (exclude the tsunami drowning scene), far more so than other films where even if he is good, he'll take a hack at a building or two. It just all comes down to me wanting more. I wanted to see Godzilla more, and see him in clear light rather than dark shadows. I wanted to see his facial reactions to events to better understand him as the main character of the movie. We know what the observing cast members are thinking, but we never get that "here's what Godzilla is thinking" perspective that is prevalent in the original Japanese series. I wanted to witness how destructive he could be, rather than skirt around buildings despite his increase in size. I wanted to know where he went in between the nuclear attack on him in the 1950's and the present day, and how the government covered him up. I wanted Bryan Cranston's character more, and was confused why he died so soon. Ford Brody's wife, Elle, serves no purpose to the film, she's just in the city while the monsters come. They never show her in danger ever; there's no emotional attachment to her. Godzilla's majestic atomic ray was once again reduced to a fiery blaze, and although it kept its trademark blue color, fire is not as cool or powerful as a ray beam. Godzilla can aim the beam from afar to shoot down small jets or do a ranged battle with another monster. This fiery version is only good up close. After Godzilla collapses and the nuke explodes off shore, a perfect segue to a great ending was temporarily available and I was waiting for it, but it was not taken advantage of. The nuke, far too close to the city, would've destroyed and irradiated everything, so what if Godzilla absorbed the radiation and was revived, literally saving the city and surrounding area again, minus the force of the blast knocking everything over. Maybe they decided this was too much like Godzilla vs Destroyah, but oh well, it would've been perfect, and I was turned off by this mishap in the plot. Despite all this nit-picking I've done, Godzilla ranks in at 11th because of its large budget and big screen image. It is a far better reimagining of Godzilla than before, and overall I would say it was quite worth the wait since the last Godzilla movie in 2004, Final Wars. I hope that they start a possible sequel soon to capitalize on this new era of monster movies that is beginning to rise in popularity, movies such as Pacific Rim and Cloverfield. However, there are 10 other Godzilla movies out there that truly exhibit what Godzilla is that I would rather watch than 2014, and I cannot wait to Glog about them, especially if you think Godzilla 2014 was incredible.

I wore my Godzilla slippers and favorite shirt to the theater.