Joe Brody: You're not fooling anybody when you say that what happened was a "natural disaster,". You're lying! It was not an earthquake, it wasn't a typhoon! Because what's really happening is that you're hiding something out there! And it is going to send us back to the Stone Age! God help us all...
**THIS IS A MONSTER MOVIE! If you're looking for character development, I suggest you look elsewhere.**
It's
the 1950's, nuclear bombs going off in the ocean, we see a huge spine in the
ocean … nothing else, and then the roar/scream (or whatever you want to call
it). Fast forward to 1999, the Philippines, where Japanese researcher, Ichiro
Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and his British assistant Vivienne Graham (Sally
Hawkins) inspect an excavation site which also houses a monster's skeleton and
two cocoons hanging from the ceiling; except ... one has hatched and headed to
sea, leaving behind the biggest trail you can think of.
Japan
(same period), American engineer, Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) loses his wife,
Sandy (Juliette Binoche), in a nuclear reactor 'accident', where he watches her
die through a protective door as she's overcome by toxic radioactive mist; it’s
also Joe's birthday.
2014,
Joe's son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) - a Lieutenant with the US Navy returns
home (after 14 months at sea) to his wife, Elle (Elizabeth Olson) in San
Francisco and their son, Sam. After celebrating his return, and Ford has to go
to Japan, because his estranged father just can't seem to move past his
birthday, 15 years ago. Ford bails his father out of jail for trespassing; and
helps him retrieve his (Joe) research data from their old home which has been
quarantined off as a radioactive zone. As they go through the neighbourhood,
things do not appear as they seem - for starters, there is no radiation
whatsoever, then security guards take them to the supposedly abandoned nuclear
plant. From this point on, the monsters take over the movie, as expected.
While there have been complaints about the lack of
quality Godzilla shots; director, Gareth Edwards, went with the less is more
policy, which worked out brilliantly. An approach which is in contrast to
Roland Emmerich’s 1998 debacle also titled “Godzilla”. Rather, he soothed our
monster cravings by giving us an extended view of the MUTOs (Massive
Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) – you know those giant-flying-insect-looking
monsters.
Character
development was never an expectation for a movie of this genre – Monsters vs.
Monsters; if you want that I suggest you watch a mid-western American drama
like August: Osange County (2013). For a movie about literally the king of
monsters saving Western U.S.A. from desolation, the only character you need to
worry about is the KING! One good reminder here is that human influence is
almost irrelevant, because these guys (monsters) are definitely playing in a
much different league; it’s not to be compared to Pacific Rim.
The
supporting cast were all good, with big ups to Bryan Cranston, whose intense
moments on-screen added to the build up of the awesome cinematic thrill that
would come from an epic battle of monsters, and the devastation that would
follow. This is all possible because when Walter White is terrified, you should
be!
Another
notable scene is the halo jump scene, which was pretty awesome (a bit similar
to the 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise). But the most notable, is that moment
where Godzilla wakes up and walks back to the sea, those few seconds sum it up
– He is the King of Monsters.
He is the KING!!!
Opened: May 16, 2014
Runtime: 2 hr. 03 min.
Genre: Action, Sci - Fi.
Rated: 12
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