Godzilla
Director: Gareth Edwards
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston
Rating:
The Japs have been grumbling. Godzilla needs to go on a diet, they feel.Reports
coming in have stated a sizeable section in Japan feels Hollywood's
latest Godzilla is looking too fat. Well, the Japanese should know. They
created the beast after all before Hollywood hijacked it for a monster
killing at the global box- office more than once in the past.
Warner
Bros.' new Godzilla is a fat load all right, not just because of the
fuller figure the sea beast flaunts on screen. The priority obviously
lay in stuffing in as much special effects and action. If Godzilla 2014
cuts a slim picture, it is in the neat runtime of two odd hours that
pack in all the adventure. You wish there was more of it coming.
Warner
handed over a colossal $ 160- million budget to greenhorn British
filmmaker Gareth Edwards to helm this venture, obviously impressed by
his earlier effort, the small sci- fi hit Monsters . Edwards' latest is
not just about 3D bonanza and state- of- the- theart effects. He
maintains a fine grip on the narrative as the action adventure gets
going.
The film's script has an interesting spin which, if
discussed in detail, would be a spoiler and rob all the magic. Suffice
to say this film is not about humans fending against Godzilla the sea
monster.
Rather, a clever yet simple twist of plot idea ensures
Godzilla actually becomes a hero for humans, protecting the world from
doom.
The film sets up a credible suspense quotient banking on
that idea. A bare amount of human drama is also sustained all through to
act as a prop for the spectacular creature mayhem. The script is a
standard disaster drama recipe. If it works, it is because of the relish
with which the dangers threatening humankind are imagined. In itself,
disaster drama as a formula for the screen can hardly have any new
dimension. Director Edwards, who had shown a flair in this genre with
Monsters , treats Godzilla with due imagination to the keep the
adventure enjoyable.
A reason why the film never seems too trite
is also its cast. For a creature feature that is primarily meant to ride
violence and special effects, Godzilla has assorted some interesting
names from the Hollywood roster. Aaron Taylor- Johnson, Ken Watanabe and
David Strathairn are all actors with fine skills. Out fending against a
world problem of gigantic proportions, the cast was clearly having fun
shooting against the green screen. Juliette Binoche in a two- scene
cameo is a delight to watch.
If Warner wanted to reboot the
Godzilla lore as a saleable commercial product in Hollywood ( rival
studio Sony's 1998 effort was quite a misadventure), they have done a
smart job. Expect a whole new franchise of fresh monster tales rising
from the deep end of the ocean regularly over the next few years.
He may be fat, but he's fit for the fun grind. Go for Godzilla .
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