The King of Monsters makes his long awaited return under the direction of Gareth Edwards, who breathes epic new life into a roaring Godzilla like we’ve never seen before. It raised a few eyebrows when Edwards took the helm behind one of cinema’s most iconic monsters because quite frankly, no one had ever heard of him. With just one film under his belt, Edwards had a lot to prove when his vision of Godzilla came stomping into our lives once again.
Let’s just jump straight into it, shall we? Godzilla is a great film, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that Edwards urges the audience to be patient and trust that he knows exactly what he’s doing. He teases the titular monster in brilliant fashion, much like Spielberg did with Jaws because even though we all know exactly what Godzilla looks like, we’re glued to the edge our seats waiting for the big reveal—and what a reveal it is. The first time you hear that mighty roar will send chills down your spine as you hear the sound rattle off the theater walls. It was such a powerful moment, and I loved that Edwards lets it linger and soak into the bones of the audience.
Edwards likes to dangle the cinematic goods right in front of our eyes as he often cuts away just before something big happens, leaving the rest up to our imagination. It’s a bold move—especially for a Godzilla film—because we all showed up to watch the King of Monsters lay waste to anything that gets in his way, so denying those moments throughout the film can truly make or break it. Thankfully, all the teasing and a patience pays off in the end because the final act of Godzilla is as loud and destructive as you could ever hope for.
I also think Edwards did a great job of balancing the human element of the film with a story that, at its core, is about monsters. Let’s face it, at the end of the day when Godzilla steps into the frame we stop caring about everything else that came before it. And I can certainly see where some folks would have an issue with that, but for me I kind of liked the fact that Godzilla and the other monsters make the humans look so insignificant. It’s important to feel small in a Godzilla movie, that just means that Edwards did his job and delivered a monster that actually feels like, you know… a monster.
But beyond the sheer destruction and the greatness of Godzilla lumbering through a city while fighting off other monsters is a film that is often times stunning and filled with gorgeous imagery. Edwards’ style and vision is one of beauty and there’s something special to be said about that because not many people had faith in his ability to steer this film in the right direction with only one other feature film credit to his name; and one that was shot on a shoe-string budget no less.
I couldn’t be happier with the way Godzilla turned out. It’s monstrous and bold, and shines an undeniable cool light on one of horror’s greatest monsters. We never see Godzilla too much, only just enough. And for that I think Edwards did a phenomenal job and delivered a movie that will both surprise and leave the audience in awe.
I would’ve liked a little more action but overall I liked it.
Glad you at least liked it!
balance? more like the lack of sleep. what a snoozefest that movie was.
You can’t tell me you were sleeping during the Godzilla fights!
Great review. I liked the film and thought the majority of the film was good, which is a nice change from the 98 version which was mostly bad.
The visuals and tone worked really well but the characters where lifeless, except Cranston.
Still bring on MechaGodzilla! :D
Lol, MechaGodzilla! I’d totally be down for that! I can agree with the characters being lifeless a bit, but I kind of expected that with a Godzilla movie. He sorta steals the shows, which is a good thing if you ask me.
Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t care less about the human elements if the monsters were in for most of it but they weren’t it was mostly the human characters on display.
Great movie, enjoyed the hell out of it. I rarely choose a 3-D flick, but did last night and was not disappointed. As for the humans, Cranston easily plays the best human, the rest of them just don’t ever feel that important; that’s ok, Godzilla was the lead role anyways!
I saw it in 3D as well (not by choice) but actually didn’t mind it at all. The human part of the movie I think is the part people are disliking the most, but it honestly didn’t bother me because, well, Godzilla.
It could have turned out bad but it didn’t. It had the most serious tone since the original 1954 film. I liked that.
Yeah, the seriousness was cool and the visuals were just amazing. Loved the entire look of the film, and Godzilla was so badass looking!
Great review Ryan. Is on my list to go see, as soon as the Ranger’s cup run is over
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Ryan over at Rhino’s Horror has a great review of Godzilla – highly recommended reading!