User blog comment:GodzillaIsland7.2/"Godzilla (2014 film)" - Thoughts?/@comment-3367060-20140517065932

I'm sorry for the following review. [Spoilers inbound.]

Godzilla 2014 is the first Godzilla movie I saw in theaters. The crowd I saw this film with was full of non-Godzilla fans, so I got a taste of what the general public that doesn't go on IMDb posting reviews thought of it. I also went with my family.

The acting. Okay, I see why people think Ford Brody's bland, but at least he did stuff. He was kind of interesting, his voice never was annoying for me, none of the complaints people have about him. Elle and Sam Brody, on the other hand, did nothing. Elle just hid out in places where Godzilla happened to be and Sam only rode across the Golden Gate Bridge when Godzilla was nearby. Elle and Ford have some intimate-ish moments that made the audience feel awkward, but they're at least believable as a pair. Carson Bolde doesn't do a very good job as Sam Brody. He isn't really believable at all. Sandra Brody was a likeable character, but her death being so early in the film leaves almost no room for her development. The bit of development she gets makes her, like I said, likeable, though. Now for Joe Brody. (He's never called Joseph Brody in the movie so I don't know if "Joe" is just a nickname, but I really doubt it.") Joe Brody is the best human character in the movie. Too bad he dies within the first 40 minutes. Bryan Cranston lured in most people who were big Breaking Bad fans, and they probably would be very disappointed to see him die so early. Joe was a very complex and interesting character with a good backstory. I can get why people think he's just a nutcase, but I hate how Ford doesn't seem to care that much about him and doesn't cry give a flying #$%& about Joe Brody's death. Admiral William Stenz was wonderful, Ishiro Serizawa (not Ichiro) was a very good character, Vivienne Graham (who I don't think is ever named in the movie...) was kind of under-written but still interesting (I want to know more about him and Serizawa...), and the miscellaneous people were believable at least. The male and female M.U.T.O.s were very good Godzilla enemies (I think they should have been less-obviously-evil, however, and Godzilla less of a Showa-style good guy...) Godzilla was the most heroic and not-evil Godzilla since the late 60's and 70's one (meaning that he in fact is not that much like 1954, but I don't care because I like change), and that threw me off. I don't care that Godzilla had less screen time than the M.U.T.O.s, but the audience was obviously not very impressed when Godzilla's big reveal happened. Around two whole claps followed by silence; they were probably asleep, expecting Pacific Rim to start playing. Godzilla's atomic breath being used for an was pretty disappointing, though it wouldn't have been if when the first time he used it it wasn't so ineffective against the 8-legged M.U.T.O. Though honestly, I think no one should be disappointed by not much of the atomic breath since it was never even teased at in ads or trailers or anything. Oh and, no Akira Takarada.

The plot is this: A giant prehistoric fossil and a giant, freshly-hatched egg are found at a digging site. Joe's wife dies so he turns pseudo-crazy. Years later he gets arrested, forcing Ford to pick him up and then go into where the winged M.U.T.O. is. The M.U.T.O. escapes, Joe dies, and Ford doesn't care and goes to Hawaii. There the male M.U.T.O. and Godzilla have a pseudo-battle, the Brodys get separated, the female M.U.T.O. is awakened, the military tries to lure both MUTOs with a missile which fails, the MUTOs reproduce, Godzilla comes, Ford kills the babies, Godzilla kills the male MUTO, Godzilla destroys the female, that one missile explodes, Godzilla falls asleep and wakes up a day later, returning to the ocean. The story is kind of lacking. The first act is tolerable because of Cranston, the second act is just kind of teasing you, the third is mostly just action. Oh, and the title "card" of the movie sucked. Why didn't they use the one they used for every single trailer and advertisement? So anyways, whenever the monsters are on-screen everyone pays attention, but the characters are not cared for.

The music is... decent. To be very honest, I don't care that it isn't like Ifukube or Sato or anyone else. It's supposed to be different. Whoever said the film sucks for that ALONE should start reconsidering their pathetic lives. The same music tracks play throughout a lot of the film, distractingly.

The monster action was excellent, however, and that is the biggest reason why people like this movie. However, I must say that the male, winged M.U.T.O.'s death was disappointing. I expected something better than just a few building pieces up his chest. The female's death was extremely worth the admission price, and is the single most memorable moment of the movie.

Now for the public's reaction. They [the most of the crowd] clapped only once throughout the film. Once. It was when Godzilla killed the female M.U.T.O.. Then, when the end credits appeared, a very small amount of people clapped. Most people got up and started leaving immediately. I heard what some said getting out, and they said things like "I think it was a pretty bad movie," "it was pretty silly," and "I think it was good." I don't think anyone in there loved it. My family thought that the humans were extremely boring, and that they fell asleep in some parts. They said they liked when Godzilla killed the M.U.T.O.s, however, and they did get curious about Godzilla['s atomic breath], though I think that was just to make me feel better. But hey, at least they said that it was better than "the old one."

This movie can't get much more than an A-. It isn't A+. I personally give it an 80/100. The film made me ask myself questions like "am I really a Godzilla fan if I don't think this movie is the best movie ever?", "why do I spend all of my time on a Wiki about Godzilla?", "what's the point of my existence and what am I doing with my life?", "what happened to the dog from the tsunami scene?", and other such questions that make me depressed. The hype is what killed the movie for me, and watching the movie with a non-optimistic, non-fan audience only amplified that. At least this was a much better introduction to Godzilla to most of the world [United States] than 1998, and that's really the biggest good thing I can see about this movie.

I'm sorry, again.