As I walked out of the theater after seeing the new Godzilla film, it occurred to me that there is a very big difference between ‘monster movies’ and ‘Godzilla’ movies: in Godzilla movies, He’s on our side. The original Godzilla film from the 50s was a monster movie. The American remake in the 90s was a monster movie. But all of the classics, the films that made Godzilla a household name, they’re Godzilla movies. They were about this larger than life monster standing tall, kicking ass and fighting the good fight. And that’s the kind of magic that director Gareth Edwards has brought back to the King of the Monsters.

The new Godzilla is an exhilarating film once the Big Guy arrives in all his glory. It takes a little while to get there, and the human element of the film is a little underdeveloped, but the climactic battle in the streets and skyscrapers of San Francisco more than makes up for the long wait.

Movie Rating: 9/10 – Great.

If I were to really look at the new film closely, I would say that it is very underdeveloped. The human characters, the monsters, the plot; none of it gets very deep, emotional or philosophical. About two-thirds into the film, I was ready to write it off as simply ‘good’ or just generally enjoyable. But then the finale kicks into high gear, and all of those concerns wash away. Edwards brings his Godzilla center stage after teasing him for the whole movie. There are snippets of the monster throughout the film, and you first see Godzilla in all his glory about halfway through. But it isn’t until the final battle that we really see Godzilla cut loose and become the movie monster we know and love – and it’s amazing! The final fight alone elevates this film into one of the best summer blockbusters in years.

Join me after the jump for a full review. There will be some SPOILERS, so tread carefully.

The plot is actually rather basic. About 15 years ago, a nuclear power plant in Japan was destroyed so that a cocoon could be planted in the middle to feed off the radiation. Now in the present day, a giant, winged bug monster hatches and goes on a rampage across the Pacific. Godzilla is positioned as some kind of ‘Protector of the Earth’, and he rises mysteriously out of the ocean to put this bug monster in its place. That’s about it, really. We learn next to nothing about the origins of the bug monster or Godzilla, for that matter. They just are. And while part of me was curious about it, by the end of the film, I was fine with it. Because again, in this reboot, Godzilla is on our side. He’s not a rampaging monster, he’s a hero! He’s a big, damn, ass-kicking warrior god sent here to shake the very walls of the theater with his roar!

That roar takes me back

Godzilla is the best, most exciting part of the film. No doubt about it. His look is iconic, but is given new life thanks to the wonders of modern day CGI. He’s bigger, chunkier and meaner, and he looks great. Every time we get a good look at the guy, he just seems more and more impressive. Even just the sight of the spines on his back sticking out of the water is exciting. And when he fights…well…I’m not going to spoil any of the fight. Let’s just say I haven’t felt this stimulated in a movie since the Hulk told us he’s “always angry” in The Avengers. The final fight turns Godzilla into an instant summer classic, and could easily kick off a whole new American Godzilla franchise. Edwards puts every part of his monster to good use when it’s finally time to lay the smack down. Godzilla’s atomic fire breath is a sight to behold, and Edwards knows that this is what the audience came to see.

He also knows the meaning of ‘delayed gratification’.

Quick, cut away!

Some people out there are going to grouse that we don’t see enough of Godzilla, and I would agree, to a certain extent. Edwards only teases Godzilla for almost the entire movie. We see a lot of the big, flying bug monster (which doesn’t get its own name), but Godzilla is held back at every opportunity. I understand this technique and I’m fine with it. I would have loved a lot more focus on the monster, especially once all of the teasing is done and we finally see him in all his glory. But the lack of focus is not a deal-breaker. The final fight is that much more exciting because we haven’t already sat through two hours of monster fights. The amazing, imposing figure of Godzilla is a lot cooler when he’s saved for last. Patience will pay off.

Another trick that Edwards uses is showing everything from the human perspective. Very little of the film is from Godzilla’s perspective, and it’s another bold but worthwhile directing choice. The whole concept of Godzilla is more effective when you consider it from the human’s point of view. It adds a new depth to the giant monster fight to see it from street level, or to get an up close look at Godzilla’s jaws from the point of view of a paratrooper falling a bit too close for comfort. It adds to the realism that makes this movie so respectable.

Of course, to get the human perspective, you’ve got to have humans, and Godzilla has a couple. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the lead human.

It’s the part he was born to play, baby!

He plays Ford Brody, whose destiny seems entwined with the monsters. He was there in Japan 15 years ago, and he’s there in the present day when all the monsters start popping up. He’s a soldier, so when the military tries to fight back, Ford keeps finding himself on the front lines no matter where he goes or what he does. I like Taylor-Johnson, and he does an admirable job of keeping Ford focused and interesting enough to keep watching. Taylor-Johnson seems like a nice guy when he’s not trying to play up his dorky side, like in the Kick-Ass movies.

But there’s nothing to the character. He’s just a nice guy who happens to always be where the action is. He’s there when the bug monster first erupts out of its cocoon, he’s there when it makes landfall in Hawaii, and he’s there when the military jumps into San Francisco to try and save the day in the end. He has some heroic moments, to be sure, but his heroism is more a matter of fact than any great decision on his part. He does heroic things because he’s a nice guy. But these moments are never acknowledged by anybody else, and that kind of bugged me. It doesn’t seem like the world will ever know how crucial Ford Brody was to this whole incident.

There’s one moment in particular towards the end of the film where I was hoping Ken Watanabe’s scientist character – who knew Brody at the start of the film – might see him and acknowledge the fact that Brody was somehow, inexplicably still in the middle of all of this, but it didn’t happen. I thought it would have been the perfect moment to connect the start of the film with the end, characterwise, but the movie doesn’t even bother. That was a bit disappointing.

He only has eyes for Godzilla

Watanabe and the rest of the human cast are just as underdeveloped as Taylor-Johnson. Watanabe gets teamed up with David Strathairn as a military commander, but all they do is observe from the safety of a command center and try to figure out how to fight monsters. Elizabeth Olsen plays Brody’s wife, but she’s completely wasted. All she gets to do is stand around worrying about him. And despite Bryan Cranton’s prominent role in the trailers, he is likewise underused. He is not the one who knocks.

So the human cast is a little wasted, but like I said, Taylor-Johnson is a nice enough guy and a strong enough presence that he’s easy to follow for the film. Ostensibly you’re supposed to be rooting for him to get back home to his wife, but that’s barely more than an afterthought. He’s got much more important military things to do, and even that pales in comparison to the real stars of the film.

“I’m ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.”

Despite little depth in its human characters or plot, the new Godzilla roars to life on the big screen in every way we’d hoped. Godzilla himself is a sight to behold, and when he really gets going, the movie raises to a whole new level of enjoyment. The final fight may be the most exciting scene of the summer movie season, and we’ve still got three months to go. This is Godzilla as we’ve always known and loved him: larger than life and ready to kick ass like the biggest superhero in the world.

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