Sunday, May 18, 2014

Theater Whore: Godzilla


Godzilla 8/10

When I heard that there was a Godzilla movie coming out I had a few things that I really wanted to happen in it. To me Godzilla is one of those characters that is a great idea but happens to be in films I don't like that much. Other examples of this are RoboCop (until the latest film), Batman (until the Christian Bale ones), and Superman. For me to leave the theater happy Godzilla had to look cool. I had to care about the human side of the story because in all the other films it usually boiled down tome going “Okay, where are the monsters punching each other?” because of weak characters. And lastly, his damned spine needed to light up.

Oh, there will be spoilers by the way.

I am happy to say that this movie accomplished these three goals! Me and my cousin Mala went to the Arclight on Sunset to check this out. We both made sure not to watch the 3D version because fuck that. Those things are too heavy and I already wear glasses. Double glasses are for window lickers. The movie starts off showing all the different nuclear bombs we have tested and used and it makes me wonder how this planet is still around. We're insane. 


15 years ago in 1999 Joe Brody played by Bryan Cranston head to work at a nuclear facility while their son stays at home. Joe is trying to warn people that shit is bad but of course no one really pays attention until the plant explodes. After sending his wife to go check some stuff out he has to watch her get trapped and die from radiation. The rest of his life is spent having the guilties and trying to find out the truth.


In present day Joe's son named Ford who is played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a soldier coming back home to his wife and son. Let me say that I kept trying to figure out where I knew this guy from and it turned out to be Kick-Ass. His wife Elle is played by Elizabeth Olsen. They stay in San Francisco but right after getting back home he has to head to Japan to help his father Joe get out of jail because he keeps trying to sneak back into their old home which has been quarantined since the nuclear explosion. Ford gets there and sneaks onto the base with his dad and they discover that there is absolutely no radiation.


They are arrested and taken to this secret facility where Dr. Serizawa played by Ken Watanabe is still working. He listens to Joe's ramblings about seismic activity and such and even though he sounds insane he is too close to the truth. Next thing you know this damned creature they have kept for studying starts letting off EMP's (thank you Escape From L.A for giving me the easiest explanation of what those are) and shuts everything down. They try to kill it and it hatches, breaks free, and starts wrecking shit. Me and my cousin agreed that the creature looked creepy as shit. They call it MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). Then the damned thing flies away!


They discover that it is being chased by something even bigger and wonder why it is sending out sounds to attract danger when they realize there is another MUTO. It is the female version of it and it is time to bone. These things feed off of nuclear energy which we just happen to pump out all the time around the world. At this point while watching I hadn't seen Godzilla completely and was happy that I wasn't upset about it. At this point its just a cool action movie where I know that a monster I like is gonna appear. And when he did the theater was like “Yes!” I told my cousin that I would've shit myself hearing that thing scream in real life. So far I got the human story I like and now I have cool looking Godzilla.


I'm gonna skip ahead because I don't need to recap the entire movie. You go see it. When I saw Godzilla's spine light up I got goosebumps. “He's gonna do it!” and he let loose his blue flames! The theater cheered each time he did it. It was so awesome to be in a theater watching a good Godzilla film. I was in the theaters watching that one from the 90's and the only other times I can remember a theater being that quiet and leaving upset was during Tomb Raider, Ang Lee's Hulk, and the second Matrix movie.

This movie had everything I wanted it to have plus more. I have read some complaints online and it makes me sad that some people just can't enjoy movies the way I do. Some wanted to see more Godzilla and as much as I like the character it is very easy to have too much of him. Every Godzilla movie that is dominated by his appearance becomes a punch fest which is good in small amounts. On one message board someone complained about Cranston's Japanese. How about Watanabe's English? Stop American bashing. Sorry someone from another country can't speak another language perfectly. 


I would love it if people who bash a film about giant radioactive monsters could make their own version and have everyone shit on it. When I don't like something I try to do better. When I hated TV I made my own series. When I had nothing to read I wrote. When radio became shit I made my own radio show. When comics sucked I drew. You don't like Godzilla? What are you gonna do about it other than complain?

Click here for previous Theater Whore.

No comments: