Let me start by saying I have been a Godzilla fan ever since I saw Godzilla vs Mothra back in the 80s. With that out of the way I really liked this movie. It is in no way like the 98' movie (which was terrible) but instead kinda takes the Clover field route by showing how the fighting of the monsters really impact human. In this movie it's very clear that human need to get the hell out of the way! While there is not an overly amount of scenes showing all out fighting with the monsters you still get a feel for the current situation with Godzilla. This also attempts to ground Godzilla the creature in reality but doesn't 100% succeed. Some of the explanations for why things are happening are not always believable. Still, I enjoyed seeing Godzilla take on these "enemies" and eventually kill them. One interesting twist, which I had never seen in a Godzilla movie was he used his radioactive breath. In the movie he uses it almost as a last resort, seemingly because it takes a lot of energy from him. While this is inconsistent with any Godzilla movie before it I rather liked the idea. It would probably take a great amount of energy to create that blast of power. This is best seen when Godzilla brutally kills the last creature with a prolonged blast of energy that knocked him out till the next day. So if you cam looking for a movie that showed nothing but Godzilla fighting all the way through or a "Man v Monster" movie...this may not be the movie for you. However, give it a shot...you may like it after all.

Let me start by saying that I have never seen any of the Godzilla movies. I am neither fan nor hater, so my point of view comes from just another Joe that loves science fiction movies.

With that out of the way, this movie was another movie that sold me on the trailers but failed to deliver.

The supposed premise of where these creatures come from is absolutely ludicrous. Dinosaurs that feed on radiation? Really? The name of the movie is GODZILLA ... so where the hell is Godzilla for most of the movie? I wouldn't have minded the absence of Godzilla if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the movie wasn't anything to write home about. Ken Watanabi only appeared to deliver quick one liners. Bryan Cranston's acting was a far cry from Walter White.

The military being such a big part of the movie wasn't consistent with how the real military is structured. The soldiers ran around trying to cover sectors of fire when they clearly were not fighting terrorists. Despite finding out early on that these creatures are immune to the majority of their military arsenal, throughout the movie soldiers continue to fire their rifles, tanks, etc. Despite the fact that one of the creatures has a EMP capability, the military continues to fly jets and helicopters. Then there is the small matter of how the movie makers seem to think that just because you put people in uniform, no one is going to spot the fact that ....

(a) the main character is a Navy EOD officer who teams up with an Air Force sergeant that leads a group of Army infantry soldiers. The most unlikely thing about this is that Air Force sergeant would probably never ever lead a group of Army or Navy soldiers.
(b) the task force set up to stop the MUTAs on land seems to consist of a Navy admiral giving orders to Army sergeants ... again highly unlikely.
(c) Unless you are in Special Forces, you are probably not going to be doing any HALO jumps, yet one of the soldiers making the jump is a PV2. That is fine except that there are no Privates in Special Forces.

The military doesn't make sense sometimes, but individual soldiers aren't handicapped. Thank the heavens Godzilla exists, or we would all have been screwed.

Everything I have written would have all been moot if the movie did not take itself so seriously. If they are going to take yourself seriously, then they should have put a little more effort into their science fiction and the execution of things that aren't science fiction. I should have re-watched Pacific Rim if I wanted to see a movie with giant monsters rather than wasting my time and hope with Godzilla.

"Godzilla" is the sort of cinematic gift that keeps on giving, and the hunkily beefed-up Aaron Taylor-Johnson is always worth looking at - but sadly, neither of these features do enough to rescue this from a sort of disappointingly derivative mediocrity. This iteration of the plot picks up the story many years after a nuclear disaster in Japan. "Ford" (ATJ) is the son of the plant supervisor "Joe" (Bryan Cranston). They are not exactly close, but when they discover evidence near the ruins that the destruction was not accidental - and that a giant trapped, flying, "MUTO" - which feeds on radiation - might well be coming for more lunch, they can only hope that "Godzilla" might become aware and come to the rescue of a totally out-gunned mankind. It's a bit of a sprawler, this film. It takes far too long to get going, with characterisations that offer little of substance and a dialogue that borders on the inane - especially when the military are involved. The supporting cast features a sparingly used Juliette Binoche and Elisabeth Olsen, but they aren't really on screen long enough to add much value. On the plus side, the photography and visual effects are good - they flow with a realism that is quite convincing, but that's standard fayre nowadays for this kind of adventure. The rest of the photography really could have done with some more wattage. Darkness can add eeriness to a scenario, but after a while I do want to recalibrate my eyes! The ending is certainly effective, but I'm just not sure it was worth the wait - the whole film just needed something to bring it to life more.

Why must Hollywood scriptwriters of some genres of movies, especially monster, superhero and horror movies, so often think that the audience are total idiots? Or maybe they themselves are severely lacking in brainpower and do not understand the level of trash in what they spew out. In Godzilla scriptwriter Dave (David) Callaham should have a special dishonourable mention for ruining a promising movie.

The movie started of with the obligatory nuclear power plant scenes. When it started I first thought, oh no not the blame nuclear power scare again. However, as it turned out, this was not so. Unfortunately, this was pretty much the only good part in the entire script. The rest of the script is just a collection of illogical, unintelligent garbage.

It starts quite quickly when Ford’s father suddenly pulls of his mask, takes a sniff, and declares that there is no radioactivity in the air. Only a scientifically ignorant idiot writes something like that. Then we have the scene were the soldiers rush into The Nevada nuclear waste facility and checks the inspection hatch on every door until they find one where there is a light only to discover that the monster have broken free and left a gargantuan hole. A huge monster have broken through the walls of a nuclear waste facility leaving a whole big enough to drive a battleship through and no one would have noticed until some marines goes around and inspects the doors on the inside? Again, you have to be pretty unintelligent to write a scene like that.

The entire plot is basically the same unintelligent mess. They follow the creatures around until they reach civilization. First then do they actually try and do something. That is just so nonsensical. In the case that a huge city-destroying creature would approach any large population center it would be blasted way before it reached it. Also, when they do attack they fire some light weaponry and maybe a tank gun or two against it. If millions of people were at risk I think it is not a very far fetched belief that the military would throw everything they had at the threat. And do not get me started on the hair-brained scheme of luring out the monsters to the sea with a nuke. What a load of bullocks!

Okay, so with all this ranting, why did I give the movie as much as 6 out of 10 stars? Well, I am a fan of huge monster movies and the parts where the monsters rampage around destroying things or slugging it out against each others are great. Unfortunately this is pretty much the good that can be said about this movie.

**Fundamentals, reception.**

1. American/Japanese live action feature length film, 2014, PG-13, 123 minutes, science fiction, action, thriller. The spoken word is in English, with some sub-titled Japanese.
2. IMDB: 6.6/10.0 from 239,012 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 74% on the meter (average 6.6/10); 67% liked it from 171,052 audience ratings.
4. I saw this film off DVR from Cinemax.
5. Directed by: Gareth Edwards.
6. **Starring**: Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody, Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, Juliette Binoche as Sandra Brody, Sally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne Graham, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ford Brody, Carson Bolde as Sam Brody, David Strathairn as Admiral William Stenz, Elizabeth Olsen as Elle Brody.
7. Demographic targets: Godzilla fans, action fans, international market.
8. (from Box Office Mojo) Estimated production budget, 160 million USD. Estimated gross revenue as of 01jan2015: States, 200.7 million USD (38%); overseas, 328.0 million USD (62%).

**Setup and Plot**

1. In the opening sequence, Joe Brody, his wife Sandra and son Ford are in Japan. Joe and Sandra work at a project that aims to contain some unexplained phenomena involving huge amounts of energy and a partially buried large object. The object turns out to be living, breaks much of the containment apparatus, and causes widespread tragedy. A heavier blanket of secrecy is applied.
2. Jump forward to the present. Ford is grown up, is in the US armed services, and has a wife Elle and son Sam in San Francisco. Ford gets a call from Joe, then goes to Japan to get him out of jail. While Ford helps out Joe, the object (a 'muto') revives, breaks free this time, and flies away, leaving even more destruction and death than in years before.
3. A second, larger muto awakens in Nevada. The two mutos are tracked by the US Navy, which is now actively involved. The mutos' activity awakens Godzilla from his long slumber in the Pacific.
4. Ford and Dr. Serizawa are drawn into the military's quest to contain the mutos. Elle and Sam are at risk as the three giants converge on San Francisco.

**Observations**

1. True to tradition in Godzilla movies, human activity is depicted as futile. Most human efforts against giant monsters have no noticeable effect. The rest of our efforts catalyse the monsters to rain down more destruction on human cities and military personnel.
2. In a few of the many Godzilla films I have seen, a child is rescued, or a trapped helpless person is released. But for each such action, thousands of human lives are lost, and tens of billions of dollars of real estate value are zeroed out. The contrast accentuates the helplessness of the human race against forces it cannot control and never will control.
3. In a slight departure from what I'm used to in the Godzilla universe, a human being does something that will make the survival of the human race more likely. Watch the film; you can't miss it.
4. Godzilla causes a huge amount of property damage and loss of life, though not nearly as much as the mutos cause. The case could be made that Godzilla in this film, as in many others, is indifferent to the fate of the human race. He does in the mutos in order to get back to his snooze beneath the Pacific.
5. **One line summary:** Godzilla saves humanity from the mutos in an 8 minute appearance.
6. Three stars of five.

**Scores**

1. **Cinematography**: 8/10 Some of the SFX were cheesy, but most were fabulous.
2. **Sound**: 7/10 Few complaints. I could hear the dialog. The music was not too irritating.
3. **Acting**: 6/10 Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, and Sally Hawkins were fine in their limited roles. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's performance was both boring (beginning) and believably heroic (toward the end), so I ended up liking him.
4. **Screenplay**: 6/10 The director stayed true to the franchise, but with updated SFX and a few other adjustments. The holes in the plot, though, seemed endless.