Godzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Aaron, Kate, Jess, Jim, Clint, Ant, Tom, Xoe, Andrew, Tyler, Shane, Erin, Karli, Rob

The new Godzilla from Gareth Edwards is a very fun movie. It's a nice re-introduction to the character and they've stuck with using him as a defender. It means we miss out on him being truly terrifying but it also means we can band together and cheer him on as he fights MUTO.

The way the monsters are shot play out very similarly to his low budget feature debut Monsters, usually obscured, often with people in the foreground giving scale, shot from found views and seen fleetingly. At least until the final battle where things kick up a notch.

The humans are foregrounded in the story as well, namely Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing one of those guys that happens to find himself at the centre of all the action. As much as they try it's hard for it not to continually feel like a big series of coincidences. The start of the film was very promising, right up to the MUTO's introduction. Then things started to feel like going through the necessary motions to get through the plot. The character work from the beginning is gone and there's not much to get invested in after that but hoping to see more of the monsters.

The MUTO do remind me of Edward's creatures in Monsters as well, with their spores and flashy purple pink lights. If the character work in this film was as consist an as in that one it would have been a smash hit home run. As it is it's still a very enjoyable return for the character and I hope a good set up for further instalments, unlike the last Hollywood effort...