Superb Scenes With Seanc

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Director: Gareth Edwards

Cast: Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Ken Watanabe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen

"They call him...Godzilla"

I went into Godzilla with no expectations whatsoever. I am a total rookie having not even seen the '98 Emmerich version. Characters are what make my film life click so the idea of the biggest creations possible simply wreaking havoc is not very appealing to me. I am a sucker for hype however, so I see a lot of films knowing full well they may not be made for my sensibilities. Godzilla also peaked my interest in a couple of other ways. I really liked the first trailer. Trailers do not usually grab me the way the one for Godzilla seemed to. It really appeared it was going to do something different with the audiences expectations of a Godzilla movie. The fact that Cranston and Binoche were involved appealed to me as well. I love both of these actors and was excited to see them here. Godzilla sets out to subvert the audiences expectations at every turn. It does a good job of doing so. That is not to say that you won't see certain moments coming, you will, but as far as blockbusters go Godzilla feels fairly fresh. What I liked most about the film is the aesthetic. Edwards sets and old school feel with modern visuals. The monsters look cool and are presented in an ominous tone. When the violence comes it devastates. Whole cities are laid to waste, it's not what I wanted from the film but from the reaction of the audience it is what they wanted and it is effective.

Where I have an issue with Godzilla and probably where my expectations were unrealistic is in the story telling. Basically what we get over and over again is a scene of clunky science, a scene of an actor telling others we have no idea what is coming, a scene of everyone staring in awe as a little more of the creatures are revealed, repeat-repeat-repeat. There is never a moment when we are not seeing the strings being pulled. Instead of having any characters that we care about in this world that is on the brink of annihilation we get scenes propelling us to the next reveal. One of the main scientists is Dr. Serizawa (Watanabe), he constantly reveals pertinent information based off of sound charts that he has and then runs out of the room to see what is happening next. This happens no less than three times. He is treated as insignificant by the military and then can be the most important person in the room minutes later. Maybe he deserves to be treated this way however, because this is exactly how he treats Joe Brody (Cranston). He refuses to listen to anything Brody has to say until the monsters begin to show up, but he already knew the monsters existed. It is all very confusing if your interested in narrative. One of the most egregious examples of this come in about a 30 minute stretch. Ford Brody (Taylor-Johnson) has to leave his family to go bail his father, Joe, out of jail in Japan. He tells his wife (Olsen) that his father is a crackpot. He has never recovered from a devastating event that he believes the government is unwilling to divulge the truth about. Ford travels from San Francisco to Japan to tell his dad the world is round and drag him back to California with him. Joe convinces Ford with some clunky science that something outrageous is happening and they must go investigate. Ford concedes and their adventure begins. Not more than three scenes late Ford is asked what pertinent information his father has that could help them understand what is transpiring. His responds by telling them that he never listens to the old man, he thinks he is off his rocker. Yet you just followed him into the abyss because he convinced you Ford. Talk about unclear character motivations.

Ford remains the most problematic character throughout. There are some very contrived scenes that I won't discuss so as to not get into spoilers. What I can say is that he is a Navy officer who has a job that involves bomb dismantling. Seems similar to Renner's character in Hurt Locker, although we never see him in action till the climax of the film and that is an altogether different situation. What bothers me about it is he is framed as about the only person who can do this type of work. As if this is not problematic enough, he basically has to beg his way onto the mission of which apparently only he is trained for. These are the types of moments in movies that frustrate me to no end. There are two other scenes involving children that are so take me so far out of the movie I may as well have been in another theater. Ford's moments with his wife and son are heart warming enough and are pretty much the emotion of the film. Besides that his character did nothing for me and the Taylor-Johnson's acting did not help that.

Godzilla is not a horrible film. I give it props for looking great and being entertaining but beyond that there is just not much there. It reminds me of Pacific Rim from last year in that I think audiences will flock to it and critics will give it some points for being more original than most summer blockbusters. Overall it is just not made for me. Bay, Abrams, and Emmerich to please the summer masses. I have both Andersons, O. Russell, and the Coen brothers to keep me entertained

Sean - totally agree with you . I've just posted briefly on the other Godzilla thread.
One of the scenes that took me right out of the film is the same one as you I guess?



Who could know that Juliette Binoche and Sally Hawkins could be so underused. They might as well have saved their money and used two unknowns for all the contributions they made.

Monsters were great tho

That's some of the problems I have to Christine. The story wonders sometimes. The scene you mentioned is one of those scenes I was thinking... What was the point in that.

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That's the scene @Christine. Terrible. And then:



I can't handle things being that canned.

yep know what you mean!

I need to rename my review thread. I thought maybe some of you creative types could help me come up with a cool name. The winner receives my admiration.

Admirable seanc's Reviews & Omelette & Waffle Bar

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Seanc Sees C's on a See-Saw by the Sea

Seanc's Motion Picture Professional Critique Thread ? xD

Here's your ad - just add it to whatever movie you're reviewing.

I cant tell if your saying my reviews are appetizing or a hot mess.

I just thought you wanted a cool name for the thread. People can have whatever they want in their omelettes, on their waffles or with your admirable reviews.

Oh Your winning right now for sure. I like the tounge twister too but need a better word than C's

Scenes?

Seanc Seems to See Superb Scenes

What do you guys think of Superb Scenes With Seanc

Classy.

Nice balance between the alliterative and the tongue-twistery. Mine was mostly in jest, anyway.

Just say the word and I or one of the mods'll update the thread.

Superb Scenes With Seanc

Whenever you can yoda and thanks as always.