Godzilla - Review

Fresh from the failed Matthew Broderick filled 1998 ‘Godzilla’, Toho studios have teamed up with Legendary pictures and Warner Brothers to bring audiences the latest installment in the ‘Zilla series, following suit with the latest Reboot craze. ‘Godzilla’ had been hyped up around film studios since the crew began filming in 2013 and in all due respect so it should have, I mean, It is the King of the ‘Monster’ genre, Right?

Hollywood have been frothing at the tip, anxiously waiting for Tri-Star to drop the rights and move away from the project, only for some sorry act to pick it up and attempt to test fate with the latest American ‘Summer Blockbuster’. As an audience we have seen it all before, we have peered into the eyes of the beast and felt its wrath while Rage against the Machine, blast ‘Wake up’ into your eardrums. The latest 2014 version seems to sit on the fence in a grey area between Atrocious and ‘Sharknado’.

Sitting in the theatre watching the lackluster film unfold (An hour in and still no sign of old ‘zilla) I find myself contemplating my life decisions, like, maybe I would have been better off watching Bryan Cranston in re-runs of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ rather than his abhorrent performance within this film, which makes Tara Reid look like a superstar…

The induction of the ‘M.U.T.O’ to the story was a pleasant surprise, however this forced emphasis away from the main act and shuffled it into a maladroit Spoof-esque ‘Shaktopus’ number, sending the likes of ‘Pacific Rim’ into question. Why the writers and studio thought that following along this line was adequate is beyond me, then again I’m not one for ‘unearthed robotic imaged Spider-rats’.

The authenticity of sending the Creature(s) back to their origins of ‘Japan’ was a nice homage to the 1954 original, but that’s where it ends. I mean Come on, all we wanted was an over flow of ‘Gojira!!’ yelled across the city, is it that hard to deliver. In the positive category, the CGI is fantastic and it is every part a well-sculpted spectacle, but for fans of the origin, we are left long vampirey lust for more. Nice try ‘Murica, but If I wanted ‘Sharknado 2’ I would have jumped on Net Flix.

If you are after 2 hours of dark screened ‘all filler, no killer’ then go check out the ‘Monstrosity’ itself. I give this film a very generous…

I give it a solid and deserving 3.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Mase Shaw - Follow Mase on Twitter @MaseShaw