Godzilla 2014 - Exclusive Movie Review - Monster of a Movie

Crew

 Directed by     Gareth Edwards
Produced by   Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, Brian Rogers
Screenplay by     Max Borenstein
Story by     David Callaham
Based on     Godzilla by Toho
Music by     Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography     Seamus McGarvey
Editing by     Bob Ducsay
Studio     Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by    Warner Bros. Pictures (International), Toho (Japan)
Release dates   May 16, 2014 

Running time     123 minutes

Country     United States
Language     English
Budget     $160 million

Cast

Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Lieutenant Ford Brody
Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Elizabeth Olsen as Elle Brody
Juliette Binoche as Sandra "Sandy" Brody
Sally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne Graham
David Strathairn as Admiral William Stenz
   

 Godzilla is a pop cultural icon in Japanese and the worldwide audience got a glimpse of it in the infamous Roland Emmerich's 1998 version. Even though I liked it, the film is universally hated for just being a Jurassic Park, making the iconic Monster an iguana faced evil villain who gets killed in the end. So hopes were high on this project to get a 'Godzilla' flick set in the modern world, more grounded to the CGI reality of current movies and one that doesn't treat the 'Icon' as just another monster. The posters the teasing trailers have done their trick and this is undoubtedly one of the most awaited movie this season.

Joe  and his wife has been working in a Japanese nuclear plant till one day a seismic activity leaves him alone in the world with his child. Studying the unusual readings of the day Ford came to conclusions, that it wasn't an earth quake or at least ain't normal one, which were ignored by everyone. Cut to 15 years later, his son has grown up but Ford is still living on the memories of that day, wanting to find the reason his Wife died. slowly starts believing in his father's conspiracy theories. As they go to the site of the plant to recover any possible evidence they come to know about secret scientific studies and the classified Government facility where they have kept an unidentified organism locked up for research. The beast  escapes captivity and wrecks havoc in the city and that's when our Hero/Villain makes his entry. What happens next in the war of the villains? who ever wins we loose......

Godzilla is a kind of Kaiju (collective names for such monsters) and Last year's 'Pacific Rim' also dealt with 'Kaiju's', and both film have similar story lines, but the way the movies have presented they look diametrically opposite. While PR was more a color ful, swash buckling mass masala kind of a monster movie Godzilla is rooted more to reality, emotions and keeping in check with the original mythology. The movie has a call against the harms humans do to Mother Nature, as each and every exploitation will have an impact and in the war with the Nature humans can't win they only can adapt to whats left. 'Godzilla' being a heroic villain represents the force of Mother Nature, the term 'God' is not just for the sake of it as the myth treats it that way (The very reason why 'God' was dropped from the Iguana shaped creature featured in 98 movie).
There is also adaptation from Hindu mythology, according to which when all hell breaks loose (Kalyug) Lord Vishnu takes his 10th Avatar, Kalki which fights the evil, restores the earth and a new cycle of life begins after wards. 'Godzilla' is the Hollywood representation of 'Kalki', that's the myth the film creates. Apart from a blockbuster graphics heavy Hollywood movie it is tied up to reality, mythology at very deep routed levels which is what makes the film stand out.

The film is slow to take off as it takes its own time to level all cards on the playing field before a final extravaganza. Breaking Bad fame Bryan Cranston as always is Outstanding. Ken Watanabe also did a great job. Rest of the cast doesn't get much scope even though there are names like Aron Taylor, Olesen etc. The cinematography is excellent. The CGI work is super cool. 3D effects are there, but nothing much to speak about. Background score is awesome. Godzilla the creature and its sound definitely deserves a special mention, for coming up with a gigantic, realistic, monsterestic, more closer to the classic 'Godzilla' and giving it an Iconic 'Roar' - KUDOS !!. Editing could have been better as it drags slightly in between.

In all Godzilla is a must watch movie for the fans of 'Godzilla', monster movies, disaster movies, huge Graphics spectacles and almost everyone who doesn't demand great acting, dialogues and strong story lines. Being a fan boy the film satisfied all my expectations and the final battle sequence were jaw droppingly awesome and scream/clap/whistle worthy....

Godzilla is a Mind blowing, epic, gargantuan, out of the world, blockbuster, Monster movie

Rating: 3.75/5

Verdict: BLOCKBUSTER !!!!

Last Word: What the Hellll..... still reading...go grab your tickets !!!


PS: Please try to watch the film in Imax and Dolby Atmos - Would blow you mind, Guarantee - [if both available in same screen - AWESOME, you are one lucky guy !!]