May’s newest blockbuster was released this past Friday: a newer, stranger and better CGI-ed “Godzilla.” The film was stacked with famous actors, expanding across two continents and a 15 year period. “Godzilla” definitely staked its claim as one of the movies with the best special effects of 2014, but the 160 million dollars spent on technology and production does not replace a variety of logical flaws, poor character development and physically impossible fighting sequences.
“Godzilla” opens with the happy Brody family living in Japan, where both parents work at the nearby nuclear power plant. After a series of supposed earthquakes, the plant collapses, killing the mother, Sandra (Juliette Binoche, “The English Patient”), and leaving the father, Joe (Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”), with a variety of questions. 15 years later, the young son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “Kickass”), has joined the military and is returning from being deployed to his own family—only to discover that his father has been arrested in Japan and Ford needs to go get him. Father and son begin to search for answers; instead they find a horrifying creature the government calls a Massive Unidentified Target Organism (MUTO). The MUTO crosses the Pacific Ocean, searching for its mate, who just happens to be dormant in America, while Godzilla, who was awakened by their echolocator communication, follows close in the MUTOs wake. San Francisco has three monsters headed right for it.
There are some fabulous sequences in “Godzilla.” The best scene in the film would obviously be the military drop from an airplane, where a few dozen soldiers leap out over San Francisco, preparing to land with their parachutes between buildings. Red flares stream smoke from their feet, making their fall a stark contrast against the sky. At one point, the soldiers fall past Godzilla, a true and terrifying contrast in size, as operatic music plays in the background.
Yet even though this scene was captivating, the logical fallacies that led to it were abundant. The MUTOs secret weapon is their ability to send out electromagnetic pulses (EMP), which fry all the electronics in a pretty wide radius. The EMPs were first seen at the Japan facility, destroying the cage in which the MUTO was kept, as well as shutting down all transportation. By the time the MUTOs get to San Francisco, the military has had plenty of time to understand this threat—which does not stop them from continually sending planes into the air, which are continually brought down when they lose power. This military plane somehow manages to escape the same fate as dozens before it, probably landing fine instead of in a ball of flame.
Surprisingly, the acting in “Godzilla” did not end up being as good as expected. Cranston, who wowed so readily in “Breaking Bad,” was an interesting character who ended up not getting nearly as much plot time as the trailer indicated. Taylor-Johnson, on the other hand, stayed a pretty static character the whole film, which made it seem like the only reason he was cast was for his buff biceps, rather than acting ability. His wife, Elle (Elizabeth Olson, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”), did not fare much better, as her only function seemed to be making bad and unsafe choices, while providing a storyline from the ground so she could stare up at Godzilla in horror.
Though the special effects throughout “Godzilla” make it a phenomenally aesthetic and compelling action film, a lot of the problems with logical fallacies and poor character development draw away from the film’s limited assets. Viewers looking for a more mindless film than “Pacific Rim” and a better storyline than “Transformers” would definitely enjoy “Godzilla,” but for people looking for anything outside of that wheelhouse would find their time better spent somewhere else.
