Let me start by saying I have been a Godzilla fan ever since I saw Godzilla vs Mothra back in the 80s. With that out of the way I really liked this movie. It is in no way like the 98' movie (which was terrible) but instead kinda takes the Clover field route by showing how the fighting of the monsters really impact human. In this movie it's very clear that human need to get the hell out of the way! While there is not an overly amount of scenes showing all out fighting with the monsters you still get a feel for the current situation with Godzilla. This also attempts to ground Godzilla the creature in reality but doesn't 100% succeed. Some of the explanations for why things are happening are not always believable. Still, I enjoyed seeing Godzilla take on these "enemies" and eventually kill them. One interesting twist, which I had never seen in a Godzilla movie was he used his radioactive breath. In the movie he uses it almost as a last resort, seemingly because it takes a lot of energy from him. While this is inconsistent with any Godzilla movie before it I rather liked the idea. It would probably take a great amount of energy to create that blast of power. This is best seen when Godzilla brutally kills the last creature with a prolonged blast of energy that knocked him out till the next day. So if you cam looking for a movie that showed nothing but Godzilla fighting all the way through or a "Man v Monster" movie...this may not be the movie for you. However, give it a shot...you may like it after all.

Let me start by saying that I have never seen any of the Godzilla movies. I am neither fan nor hater, so my point of view comes from just another Joe that loves science fiction movies.

With that out of the way, this movie was another movie that sold me on the trailers but failed to deliver.

The supposed premise of where these creatures come from is absolutely ludicrous. Dinosaurs that feed on radiation? Really? The name of the movie is GODZILLA ... so where the hell is Godzilla for most of the movie? I wouldn't have minded the absence of Godzilla if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the movie wasn't anything to write home about. Ken Watanabi only appeared to deliver quick one liners. Bryan Cranston's acting was a far cry from Walter White.

The military being such a big part of the movie wasn't consistent with how the real military is structured. The soldiers ran around trying to cover sectors of fire when they clearly were not fighting terrorists. Despite finding out early on that these creatures are immune to the majority of their military arsenal, throughout the movie soldiers continue to fire their rifles, tanks, etc. Despite the fact that one of the creatures has a EMP capability, the military continues to fly jets and helicopters. Then there is the small matter of how the movie makers seem to think that just because you put people in uniform, no one is going to spot the fact that ....

(a) the main character is a Navy EOD officer who teams up with an Air Force sergeant that leads a group of Army infantry soldiers. The most unlikely thing about this is that Air Force sergeant would probably never ever lead a group of Army or Navy soldiers.
(b) the task force set up to stop the MUTAs on land seems to consist of a Navy admiral giving orders to Army sergeants ... again highly unlikely.
(c) Unless you are in Special Forces, you are probably not going to be doing any HALO jumps, yet one of the soldiers making the jump is a PV2. That is fine except that there are no Privates in Special Forces.

The military doesn't make sense sometimes, but individual soldiers aren't handicapped. Thank the heavens Godzilla exists, or we would all have been screwed.

Everything I have written would have all been moot if the movie did not take itself so seriously. If they are going to take yourself seriously, then they should have put a little more effort into their science fiction and the execution of things that aren't science fiction. I should have re-watched Pacific Rim if I wanted to see a movie with giant monsters rather than wasting my time and hope with Godzilla.

I have been a Godzilla fan for years. I've seen them all and love the franchise as much as any other. I'll be the first to admit that most of the Godzilla movies are just dumb fun and that's almost always enough for me. But this new Godzilla...what to make of it? It really blew me away when I saw it on opening day.

I've sat on my reaction to it ever since, because I guess, I find I'm being influenced by the weak character development consensus that has become the "Yeah, but..." for those who require an opportunity to sound smart or be dicks. But my actual satisfaction with the characters runs counter to that crowd-think. The nuclear family (literally), played by Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche, are instantly likable. When the accident occurs at the power plant, it's heartbreaking. The fact that director Gareth Edwards instills that much depth in mere minutes is amazing. Cranston goes conspiracy crackpot over the years to come, but the way that respect and trust is reestablished with his son (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) before the father's death is touching and reinforces the son's need to get back to his own son and wife. The fact that he keeps "bumping" into the MUTOs and Godzilla on his way home really drives the film. He provides the up-close-and-personal viewpoint that the audience gets of the monsters. If it wasn't for his character, all we'd have are big beasts fighting in the distance.

I found the pace of "Godzilla" pretty much perfect. Although I found Edwards' earlier film, "Monsters", to be preachy and severely lacking in actual monsters, the subtle commentary on environmental dangers found in this film are well communicated. This is a complement because I am far from the first person to swallow every end-of-the-world scenario painted by the latest hot documentary. In other words, Edwards nails it here.

In John Kenneth Muir's great review of this film, he describes Godzilla's new form as wonderfully realized with old, experienced eyes, weary gait and mannerisms, an aged soulfulness. It's an absolutely beautiful and goosebump-inducing description.

I love this take on the monster. I don't need Godzilla to be a friend to Man, a funny puppy you can find in any of the late Showa period movies. I prefer the pure evil take on Godzilla more. But the 2014 version, THIS is a beast I can enjoy. It doesn't care for man. It doesn't want to be our buddy. Instead, it corrects the wrongs to the Earth and departs, regardless of what happens to humans in the interim. I wouldn't mind the next film interpreting Godzilla as a punisher after humans have done something incredibly stupid to the planet. A "Don't f**k it up!" message delivered by the monster would be my choice for a sequel.

The fights are teased but all memorable monster flicks pull this off expertly. Compare it to the everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach in today's current action/fantasy/science fiction offerings. Seriously, watch "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". There is so much action, it's mind-numbingly boring. Suspense and anticipation. They are key and "Godzilla" brings them.

Gareth Edwards gives us many great monster moments. The first roar, for example. Godzilla is centered in the frame, gathers up, and lets out the most satisfying roar I've ever heard. Another example is Godzilla's atomic breath, building from its tail, passing through its body and firing violently from its jaws. And of course, the dispatching of the mega-MUTO with a forced ingestion of some blue heat.

Now I'm gushing. The more I think about it, the more I need to get back to the theater before "Godzilla" disappears from the big screen forever.

For a 7-year old movie, I thought this was a decent reboot of the original Godzilla genre. The story was familiar, the acting was...meh...perhaps a bit sub-par, but not horribly unwatchable. My biggest complaint was the lighting. I mean, it's a movie about Godzilla, so naturally I wanted - and EXPECTED - to see Godzilla... And I wanted to see more than just brief glimpses, or shadowy outlines that roared into the darkness. I haven't seen the recent ones (this was the first GZ movie I've watched probably since the old black-and-whites on Saturday afternoon TV), so I'm not sure what the more recent ones are like, but I would have expected modern technology to at least give me a Godzilla that wasn't afraid to be seen under full lighting. This one, well, it took its sweet time even introducing the main character, and then you got momentary glimpses as he surfaced, then dove again...revealing his scales as the broke the surface of the water temporarily. The fight scenes between GZ and Muto (or whatever the other thing was called; I never did hear a name other than "muto") were so dark, so poorly-illuminated as to render them all but useless. I actually went back MULTIPLE times in multiple scenes during the showdown between Godzilla and Muto to try and make sense of what was happening, what did I miss, etc. Overall, I would say this is worth watching if you're a fan of the genre, but I'm hoping...SURELY...they've come up with something better in the newer Godzilla/King Kong movies. Looking forward to watching some of the newer ones...

I adore this movie. Honestly, the only reasons it doesn't get a 10/10 from me are that visually, it's very dark at times, and the music is honestly a bit much for a lot of the dramatic scenes where the focus should've been on cool monster sounds. The sound design is fantastic, the special effects are amazing, and the story is good. Things are carefully framed so that you only see bits of Godzilla until at least halfway through, which helps communicate his sheer size really well, and when we do finally get to see all of him it's for a big action shot that looks great. Bryan Cranston is stellar; he feels very Harrison Ford in this, not that I've seen him in anything else.

The people who complain that this is a monster movie and that the human story is weak and unnecessary: what would you prefer? We don't have telepathic access to Godzilla's thoughts, so do you just want a movie with no dialogue where it follows him around and we have to try and figure out why he does what he does? The human story grounds it and gives the movie a purpose. Godzilla's actions wouldn't have meant as much if we were without context for the fact that he's here to help, not harm. If you couldn't relate to any of the humans in the story, I personally feel like that's on you, not the actors. If you're just here for monsters, try the sequel, which I thought was also excellent but not as solid a movie.