Although it’s been only 16 years since Godzilla moved into the modern age of digital effects, the handlers of the franchise felt it was due for a reboot. Maybe even overdue. 2014’s version of “Godzilla” feels almost like a conscious apology for the ’98 film.
Indeed, this version does everything better than that one, and by the time it was over, I determined that this reboot wasn’t as unnecessary as I initially thought. If memory serves, in the ’98 picture, Godzilla was the de facto bad guy who tore up New York City because he was a large dumb beast, but the good guys – a military force almost as destructive as Godzilla — weren’t worth rooting for either. Plus, the whole production had a winking “We know this is stupid” tone.
The ’14 version makes Godzilla a hero again, and the script and actors set a serious tone. Indeed, gravitas drips from the cast list. Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) is the sole character who truly understands that Godzilla is sort of like Mother Nature’s Anakin Skywalker – he’s here to restore balance to the Force … erm, nature … by killing a male and female Mothra who aim to produce tons of offspring and take over the planet. Actually, I feel like calling them Mothras, but the film uses some scientific term like Insects of Unusual Size. They are bigger than the bugs in Florida, to give you an idea of how massive they are.
While the U.S. military is out of its depth, it’s not the laughingstock of the ’98 film, and while Admiral Stenz (David Strathairn) spearheads the plan to blow up Godzilla and both IUSes – wait, I looked it up and they are called MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) — off the coast of the Bay Area with a nuclear warhead, he at least sympathizes with the protests of Serizawa. And even Godzilla seems to understand that Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist Ford Brody (Aaron-Taylor Johnson) is a decent guy – and he also seems to sense that Ford is the film’s main character. Suffice it to say that Godzilla and the two MUTOs give more nuanced performances here than Matthew Broderick’s girlfriend in the ’98 version.
The love interest here, Ford’s wife Elle, is played by Elizabeth Olsen. That’s right, the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley is old enough to play wife and mother roles. And she’s good in the role – as is Bryan Cranston as Ford’s dad, a longtime investigator of the Godzilla mystery – but all that having been said, the character stuff is still pretty clichéd. Being better than the 1998 “Godzilla” is a low bar to clear. Also, the theme of “Don’t set off nuclear bombs because it will lead to the creation of massive creatures that will wipe out humanity” may have been powerful a dozen “Godzilla” pictures ago, but it’s standard sci-fi fare now.
The real hook of this “Godzilla” is the deliciously entertaining wanton destruction of Tokyo, Honolulu and San Francisco as Godzilla – restored to his classic Toho look — gets tag-teamed by the lovebird MUTOs. I mean, the devastation is so bad that these cities look like present-day Detroit after it’s over. Even residents of Cleveland will be like “Man, San Francisco is in rough shape after that monster fight!” Digital effects have gotten to the point where anything can look real, and this movie wields effects like a paintbrush. There’s an especially cool, moody scene where Ford and other paratroopers jump into murky post-devastation San Francisco to try to disarm a nuclear warhead that the MUTOs borrowed.
While the acting and plot stay safely on the right side of embarrassing, the visuals of “Godzilla” are sure to rank among the year’s best. In that sense, 2014 is legitimately The Year of “Godzilla.” Better 16 years late than never.