Godzilla
As a kid, I enjoyed watching old black & white Godzilla movies. Although they were cheesy, it was fun to watch a giant lizard wrecking havok on Tokyo or on another major metropolis. The uber destruction of these scale city models was the most fascinating part of these old gems of Japanese cinematography.
With that being said, I had my reservations about this film, specially knowing Hollywood and its bad track record in approaching the series (the 1998 movie comes to mind). Now I can say with total certainty that the final result was a mixed bag of emotions.
First of all, the movie was gorgeous. Gojira and the monsters were very menacing and the special effects were fantastic. The problem was that we hardly saw any of it, and just bits and pieces. Most of the time, all we got was the aftermath of a fight or the destruction left behind. This was very annoying and disappointing. After all, what is a Godzilla movie without Godzilla? Anyway, the human side was also inadequate and the conversations were extremely dull. The acting was so detached that you never got to care for any of the characters, their trials and tribulations. At least, I never did.
Overall the movie does a good job in paying homage to this iconic creature of Japanese Pop Culture and the lore that surrounds it, but it fails to capture the viewer's attention by only relying on the imagination and without proper visual references. It definitely did a better job in recreating Godzilla than its 1998 counterpart, but it was a lot less enjoyable. Hopefully, the next sequel can fix these shortcomings for a more pleasant watchable experience.
6/10 - Average
