- Location: Town Square 12 Cine
- Godzilla is back and...well, actually I'm not convinced he ever left. A quick internet search reveals that everyone's favorite giant lizard/destructive force of nature has starred in over 30 movies, a handful of cartoons, a surprisingly large number of comic books, and even a few video games since he first strode ashore in 1954. Not that all of his projects have been of uniform quality. It's probably inaccurate to describe anything beisdes the original Gojira as art, and his other appearances have ranged from pleasantly campy and fun to downright awful. I'm happy to report that Gareth Edwards' latest version of Godzilla is much nearer to the top of the list than to the bottom.
- To describe the plot of any Godzilla film in detail would be to miss the point, so let me just list Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, and Juliette Binoche as the primary human witnesses to various monster-induced waves of destruction. Driven by the death of his wife (Binoche) in an initially unexplained nuclear incident, former nuclear engineer Joe Brody (Cranston) easily makes for the film's most compelling character as his conspiracy theory-driven investigations slowly unearth more and more of the truth. Once the monsters are revealed, however, the story shifts to his son Ford (Taylor-Johnson), whose background as a military explosives expert we suspect might come in handy.
- But the real stars of the show here are the monsters, and they're admittedly pretty great. The primary antagonists, referred to as MUTOS (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms), look like a cross between a bat and a spider, if that makes any sense. The bottom line is that they're big, they're parasites, and they're looking to breed, a process the camera thankfully shies away from. And then there's Godzilla himself. Plenty of digital ink has been spilled over his swelling neckline and continually increasing height, but let me assure you that Godzilla looks terrific. Furthermore and much to my delight, his fighting style hasn't really changed that much over the course of sixty years. Godzilla's always been a bit of a showman when it comes to brawling, and he proves here that well-placed tail swipes and nuclear breath still get the job done.
- Honestly, I was a little apprehensive about seeing Godzilla given that Edwards' only other feature film, Monsters, started out so strongly and then didn't quite stick the landing. As is probably obvious, I now have complete confidence in the director's ability to make a great monster movie. The CGI in this film is impeccable, and the impressive direction frequently and seamlessly transitions from hundred-meter tall behemoths to human-sized conflicts at ground level. The story is a tad thin, but no more so than any other monster movie, and I was pleased to see that one can still blame nuclear scientists of the 1950's for modern monster problems. My only real gripe with Godzilla is one that seems to crop up more and more each year and that has to do with the film's music. While I generally enjoyed the riffs on Godzilla's classic theme, I must point out that the film's employment of Ligeti's Lux Aeterna is completely inappropriate. Even a great monster movie is considerably worse than 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I don't need to be reminded of that fact during an otherwise enjoyable film.
- Mothra makes a cameo appearance as a moth inside a terrarium in Joe Brody's house.
