Film review: Godzilla (2014) with spoilers

At the height of 355 feet tall, Godzilla has made quite the effort to make its way into cinemas across the UK.

There was a huge build-up prior to the film, with posters leaving room for our imagination to think what Godzilla would look like and teasers that made fans get goosebumps.

The film was met with a general exceptional reception on the release date, in both 2D and 3D.

It begins with mysterious clips of a large beast arising from the water that one would merely think of being Godzilla himself. It’s only then when we see nukes being dropped by probably the most destructive creatures on earth, us.

Jumping into the present day, a colossal skeleton and two egg-shaped pods are discovered at a mine, which only begs us to question that Godzilla isn’t the only beast out there.

We see nuclear physicist Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) – a familiar face from Malcolm In The Middle – attempt to save his wife and then go into hiding as his son Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) thinks he’s in cuckoo-land.

Somehow, Joe manages to persuade his son to go out exploring. It’s only then that they end up stumbling across a huge secret site that is so loud and lighted that made me think, how did Google Maps miss it?

We are introduced to a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), an insect/alien like hybrid that feeds off radiation, in this case, just to mate and make life a living hell for humans. Although we saw the hatch coming, most of us didn’t expect one of the lead characters to meet an abrupt end.

So the MUTO’s (we found out there was another one) run amok and we see Godzilla rise from the depths in all his glory. He’s huge, he’s mysterious, and he’s slow.

Speaking of slow, it was a slow build-up till we saw Godzilla in full and many critics were disappointed about it. In one fight scene we were given cut-scenes on the news. Although it was slow, many argued on-the-other-hand that it built up excitement.

But unlike the 1998 American film, Godzilla is no villain, nor is he the good guy. He acts like the vigilante, who is destined to restore the ‘balance of nature’ by fighting off the bad guys but destroying things in the process.

You have to admit he does it with style. He is powerful, and he walks off like a boss near the final scenes. Many times he even does his famous roar, and when Godzilla does that… you know something’s going down.

The film was without a doubt something special, and although it included a lot of drama and emotion… it still captured the essence of the old Godzilla films, where creatures went head-to-head. But it was at times, a bit too focussed on humans. Most of us were there for the monsters.

But unlike the costume-clad monsters in past films, the film had some superb special effects thrown in to make it actually believable.

The scene of troops flying out of the plane was one of the iconic scenes (also in the trailer). There were some other interesting first-person scenes throughout the film but this one was probably the most noteworthy.

That all being said, this film is a must-watch for all.

Best part in the film? Godzilla’s attitude, that roar, and his secret powers.

Worst part in the film? MUTO eggs.

Rating: 8.5/10