Godzilla (2014)

Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe

Synopsis:
A Navy EOD specialist travels to Japan to bail out his father, an engineer who has dedicated his life to uncovering the mysterious collapse of a nuclear reactor years ago, exposing a threat to the entire world.

Impressions:
After the Devlin-Emmerich travesty of '98, I could forgive Toho for never wanting to trust Godzilla to the Americans again. However, we Yanks were given another crack at it and I have to say that I'm impressed. I like the setup that all the atomic testing in the 50s was part of a systematic effort to kill off Godzilla and the climate of denial leading to the big reveal. Godzilla himself is used sparingly, which make his appearances all the more powerful. I definitely like his design, a modern update yet still faithful to the original. The first time I saw the movie, I was fairly neutral about Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the lead, but after Age of Ultron, seeing him and Elizabeth Olsen together is more of a bonus. Part of me feels that the story might've been better if it stuck closer to Dr. Serizawa, but I can understand the appeal to American audiences to have a military man in the lead and Ford's specialization is fairly applicable for the circumstances. Some people complain about Bryan Cranston being under-utilized, but he's pretty good while he's onscreen (even if his Japanese is fairly shaky). There's a good flow from set piece to set piece. The HALO jump featured in the trailer is amazing and the grand finale is quite rewarding. This is an American-made Godzilla that Godzilla fans can enjoy, I think. Give it a watch.

Rating:
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