Ok just got back from GODZILLA. Here is my main thought..... I wish they gave us the movie the trailers advertised. I liked/loved the MUTOS... I did not love Godzilla being a "savior" of mankind. I would have preferred a "Bad" Godzilla movie... Just Godzilla and nothing else.
Having said that I still enjoyed it. My 8 and 5 year old both loved it and I think that that is what this film is... The perfect Godzilla film for a 5 - 10 year old. My son's was very happy that Godzilla was the good guy. When I was that young I would have liked that also...When I was younger I never liked Godzilla being considered the bad guy. It's strange that my 8 year old was so happy with the good guy angle since his fav. Godzilla film is the original.
Here is what I Loved
1. MUTOS Creatures. They were cool and well designed. They felt like a threat to humans and Godzilla.
2. The Golden Gate Bridge scene.... This was what I needed more of... Godzilla vs the Military. It is what IMO was sorely lacking. I would have enjoyed MUTOS vs Military also. I am talking Jets and tanks and other weapons. I know MUTO's knocked out Power (I do think that was a plot devise for budget... Military can't get close) but it would have been nice to see more.
3. Bryan Cranston.. Um More please.
What I liked
1. Godzilla's design was a nice update. While at times he did not look 100% real he still looked cool.
2. The Final Fight was great.. Not as Jaw dropping as many thought. But still cool.. I smiled a few times at what I seeing. I wish it took place in the day. Not that I couldn't see anything... I just liked the look of the one daytime fight scene we got. It looked better then the night IMO.
3. The first 20 min was great... I was fully into all of it.
4. There was enough Monster mayhem. HOWEVER... Like I said I wanted that Godzilla vs Military scene to be epic
5. Anytime Aaron Taylor-Johnson shared the screen with someone. With Olsen, Cranston, and that Asian child... All of those moments I thought he was good at. Which leads me to what I did not like
What I did not like.
1. Anytime Aaron Taylor-Johnson was not on screen with Olsen, Cranston, or the Asian child. He really was boring. Not enough emotion. He was just..... there.
2. I wish Godzilla used his arms more... They were a little too dead at his sides most of the time. He did use them... Just not enough IMO.
3. Godzilla is the good guy and really nothing but a good guy. It ruined the tone of the film that the trailers promised us.
4. Ken Watanabe. Nothing wrong with his performance. He just was a little too smart about these characters and he gave some of the most eye rolling dialogue about Godzilla being a Balance for nature. I just thought it was silly. I would have preferred that nobody knew what the hell they had on their hands other then a monster they tried to kill back in 1954.
So I think I would rate this a 7 out of 10..... However if this was not a Godzilla film and had another monster instead of Godzilla fighting MUTOs creatures then I would only give it a 5. A little Godzilla goes a long way for me.
I actually like Cloverfield more then this film.... But I love Cloverfield. If Cloverfield had Godzilla instead of that monster, was not a first person film, and had a little more Godzilla then what the cloverfield monster had then it would be just about the perfect Godzilla film for me. I thought it did a much better job of setting a tone of what we would do if we came into contact with a "real" monster.
I did think Godzilla was better then Pacific Rim... But who know how much I would have liked that if you took out the robots and replaced them with Godzilla
100% agree with what is in bold. Give me that one great Godzilla vs Military scene and I would have no problem giving this a 8 or 8.5 or even a 9.
As it is it's good... Just not great. But I think I was destined to be disappointed. I have loved Godzilla ever since I can remember... So unless it was a "perfect film" I was probably going to be let down... The Hype was just too much
I think I might enjoy this more with repeat viewings on Blu Ray and the Hype wears off...
I will see this again in theaters though.