Gareth Edwards’ New Godzilla Movie is No 'King of the Monsters'

Guillermo Del Toro’s movie Pacific Rim has nothing to fear from Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla film. Likewise, JJ Abrams’ movie Cloverfield is far from perfect, but it is more interesting and entertaining than Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla.

Unfortunately, American/British filmmakers have demonstrated once again that the intangibles of “Gojira” remain outside of their grasp.

The new Godzilla movie is a marginal improvement over Roland Emmerich’s horrible film of the same name. This is no great complement. Godzilla 1998 was cinematic refuse. Godzilla 2014 is tedious and uninteresting: it is boring. The new Godzilla is more like the friendly pet monster of the late 1970's children's cartoon than a force of nature, a legend, and the almighty King of the Monsters.

His weaknesses are many.

The new Godzilla is apparently prone to exhaustion, like a man once he expends his manly seed, after using his atomic breath.

Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla is also very obliging to the human beings in the film and seems to go out of his way to avoid causing undo harm to their cities, personhood, or other property.

Who knows? Maybe Godzilla is part of a long line of insurance adjusters or actuaries?

The citizens of San Francisco are thankful for Godzilla’s courtesy and kindness as they give him a standing ovation—and maybe even the keys to the city—at the end of the movie.

Gareth Edwards showed great heart and creativity in his 2010 independent film “Monsters”. To the (then) delight of Godzilla fans, the skill on display there made him the natural choice for the 2014 reboot of the Godzilla franchise.

The 15,000 dollars spent on Monsters is infinitesimal compared to the new Godzilla movie’s 160 million dollar budget. Unfortunately, those great resources were not able to improve a film that fails to provide either the social commentary of the 1954 classic or the fun “men in suits guilty pleasure” of the Japanese Toho sequels.

For Gareth Edwards, less may indeed be more.

The new Godzilla begins with intrigue and a compelling hook: unfortunately, the redacted opening credits and historic montage are the most interesting part of the two hour film that follows. 

Gareth Edwards and his writers reimagine the Godzilla mythology by suggesting that the titular character is an ancient creature that the American and Japanese governments have been aware of for decades. Consequently, the Cold War nuclear weapons tests during the 1950s in the Pacific were in fact a concerted effort to destroy Godzilla.

Godzilla has not been seen since the bombing of the Bikini atoll and a secret international program has been put in place to monitor the Earth for his return—or that of other monsters. Here, Gareth Edwards missed a great opportunity to craft an entertaining and compelling Godzilla movie.

He could have followed the logic of some of the original Japanese films and presented a world that is aware that giant monsters such as Godzilla exist, and thus has been preparing for their return.

Or Gareth Edwards could have more fully developed the conspiracy theory hinted at by the movie’s allusion to the recent Fukushima disaster to its natural conclusion (what if the meltdown was caused by a giant monster and not by an earthquake?) and had the truth revealed to a now frightened public by an activist, investigative journalist, or conscientious citizen. 

In this scenario, Godzilla is the punishment for man’s sins against nature. He is coming for vengeance whether humankind is prepared or not.

As shown in the trailers for the new Godzilla movie, other creatures appear (called “MUTOs”) and havoc ensues. The film opts for a slow burn while the audience waits for the inevitable clash between Godzilla and the two other creatures while the American military hatches a desperate scheme to stop them.

Gareth Edwards’ pacing and narrative are the central problems in Godzilla. The most interesting action scenes are shown on TV screens in the background of the frame. The fights between the monsters, with the exception of the climax, are either prematurely cut away from, or the audience is only shown the aftermath of the battle. Part of the charm of the original Toho Godzilla films is how the military is unable to stop Godzilla (or any of the other monsters that routinely appear to terrorize Japan). Perhaps because of the Pentagon’s consulting on the film (with few exceptions), the audience is denied seeing the United States military torn to pieces, and its soldiers obliterated, by the monsters.

To point. The film shows a 60 ton Abrams tank thrown about like a toy—but the audience never has the pleasure of seeing the actual MUTO on military violence in graphic detail on more than one occasion.

In the face of an attack by Godzilla or similar creatures, one would also expect a certain amount of hubris and over-confidence from the United States military.

They are the dominant military force on the planet. How could they not defeat a few ancient creatures?

Moreover, the tactical and strategic decisions by the United States military in Godzilla are barely disguised and lazy conceits to cinematic necessity.

For example, United States Navy ships face down Godzilla from a hundred yards (if not mere feet) away. In fact, Godzilla is so close to the ships that their missiles are unable to hit him. The massive firepower that would have been deployed from beyond the horizon against 300 foot tall creatures is almost impossible to comprehend. Of course, this could have potentially made for a boring movie in the hands of a less skilled director. But, part of the fun of Godzilla and the kaiju film genre is seeing the military throw its best punch and the monsters still survive. Gareth Edwards had all of the toys; however, Gareth Edwards did not use them wisely.

Instead, the military’s leadership is calm, soldiers do not panic as they are routed, there is no mass mayhem among the public, the President is not given an obligatory cameo or speech to the nation and the world goes on while two major American cities are all but destroyed by Godzilla and the MUTOs. Consequently, Godzilla lacks tension or suspense.

The acting in Godzilla is more than serviceable. Bryon Cranston is excellent until he is written out of the script during the first half of the movie. Ken Watanabe is also solid with the limited screen time he is given (his character is an homage to the original 1954 film). The main character, “Ford”, as portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, ties together Godzilla’s narrative arc. He is a two-dimensional soldier and family man. Adams portrays the character in a more than adequate manner. His wife, played by Elizabeth Olsen, is an obligatory part of cliched nuclear family in crisis because of the big bad monsters trope, and has very little to do in that role.

During the filming of the classic 1954 Godzilla film, a very young and handsome leading man by the name of Akira Takarada arrived on the set. Takarada was looking for the director of the film. While wandering about he told some stagehands that he was the star of the movie, and needed help. They replied that “you are not the star of the movie, Godzilla is” as they turned and walked away.

By the time Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla finally makes a proper entrance, the movie has been burdened by needless exposition and the inclusion of two other monsters that should have been edited out of the script.

Godzilla should be the star of his eponymous movie. Gareth Edwards’ failure is rooted in how he forgot that basic fact.