Godzilla

Question? How many "Godzilla" movies have we seen since its conception? Answer? Four, not including this new incarnation of the franchise we call "Godzilla". The others span a lengthy time period including "Godzilla" '58, "Godzilla" '98, "Godzilla Millennium" '99, and "Godzilla: Final Wars" '04. One would question: aren't we Godzilla'd out by now?

The world's most famous monster, Godzilla is pitted against malevolent creatures, called Mutos who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence. Our military tried to kill the creatures back in the '50s through nuclear warheads, but they only went dormant until in 1999, when unexplained earthquakes and other odd phenomena were occurring, scientists started getting alarmed.
Enter-- Dr. Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), a scientist at a nuclear plant in Japan and his wife, Sondra (Juliette Binoche) who works along side him. An incident occurs and the plant ends up having a meltdown killing his wife. Fifteen years later, Joe's son, Ford (Aaron Taylor- Johnson) is  grown, has a loving wife, Elle (Elizabeth Olsen), and is military. Joe tries to relay that something strange is happening--not earthquakes or tsunamis, but something the government is apparently not telling us. Soon, Joe's very concerns eventually materialize and Ford will have to work with the military including Admiral William Stenz (David Strathairn) and Capt. Russell Hampton (Richard T. Jones) to try and kill these creatures before they kill millions of people.

Others to round out the cast are Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ichiro Serizawa, Sally Hawkins as Vivienne Graham, CJ Adams as Young Ford, Carson Bolde as Sam Brody, Ford and Elle's son, Victor Rasuk as Sgt. Tre Morales, Patrick Sabongui as Lt. Commander Marcus Waltz, and Jared Keeso as Jump Master.

This was adequately directed by relative newcomer to feature films, Gareth Edwards ("End Say" (TV movie) '05, "Monsters" '10 plus other TV). The guy has potential, and given more work and time, he'll find his niche. This was just a bit choppy and did a little jumping around, but as said prior, he's relatively new to the director's chair. It was written by Max Borenstein based on a story by David Callaham. Even though the storyline was better than its predecessors, this isn't giving this a great deal of credit. The premise was certainly palatable, but not enough to not have to look at my watch twice throughout the film. Some of the areas of script were just dragged out and took time to really get going. The visual effects were created by way too numerous of companies to even list, but they were truly outstanding, but one has to realize this before you walk through the theater doors. This was also presented in the 3D process.

If you are a Godzilla or even sci-fi afictionado, you will be in Godzilla heaven, because this pulls out all the stops, however if you're looking for something a little meatier, try the next door film at the multiplex.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                          Rated: PG-13                           123mins.