Godzilla (2014)

The world is beset by the appearance of monstrous creatures, but one of them may be the only one who can save humanity.

Director:

Gareth Edwards

Writers:

Max Borenstein (screenplay), Dave Callaham (story) (as David Callaham)

Stars:

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston

6 wins & 31 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson	...	Ford Brody
CJ Adams	...	Young Ford
Ken Watanabe	...	Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Bryan Cranston	...	Joe Brody
Elizabeth Olsen	...	Elle Brody
Carson Bolde	...	Sam Brody
Sally Hawkins	...	Vivienne Graham
Juliette Binoche	...	Sandra Brody
David Strathairn	...	Admiral William Stenz
Richard T. Jones	...	Captain Russell Hampton
Victor Rasuk	...	Sergeant Tre Morales
Patrick Sabongui	...	Lieutenant Commander Marcus Waltz
Jared Keeso	...	Jump Master
Luc Roderique	...	Bomb Tracker
James Pizzinato	...	HALO Jumper

Storyline

In 1999, the Janjira nuclear plant was mysteriously destroyed with most hands lost including supervisor Joe Brody's colleague and wife, Sandra. Years later, Joe's son, Ford, a US Navy ordnance disposal officer, must go to Japan to help his estranged father who obsessively searches for the truth of the incident. In doing so, father and son discover the disaster's secret cause on the wreck's very grounds. This enables them to witness the reawakening of a terrible threat to all of Humanity, which is made all the worse with a second secret revival elsewhere. Against this cataclysm, the only hope for the world may be Godzilla, but the challenge for the King of the Monsters will be great even as Humanity struggles to understand the destructive ally they have.

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Plot Keywords:

godzilla | atomic breath | u.s. navy | radiation | halo parachute jump | 

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Taglines:

The king arrives

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook [Brazil]

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

16 May 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nautilus

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$160,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$93,205,000, 18 May 2014, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$200,676,069

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$529,076,069

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Disruption Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Gareth Edwards, the team started with the original Godzilla scream, then altered it, making fifty different versions of it, until finding the one scream that is used in the film.

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Goofs

At the beginning, the spinous process and transverse process on the the large ancient skeleton's vertebrae face inward, toward the rib cage. Essentially, the back of the spine is facing forward, which is anatomically wrong (even if the skeleton is from an extinct, undiscovered species).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Boyd: Dr. Serizawa? Jerry Boyd. I'm warning you, it's a mess. It's just a total mess. Monarch set me in this morning. Took a look around but I told them we need you.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are a montage of Monarch documents and 1950s videos. All text on these documents are blacked out except for the names cast/crew members. The montage ends with a nuclear bomb going off, which causes a white-out in which the film title appears.

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Connections

Referenced in Half in the Bag: 2017 Movie Catch-up: Part 1 (2018)

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Soundtracks

Glad About That
Written by Arrow Brown
Performed by Linda Ballentine
Courtesy of The Numero Group
By arrangement with Bank Robber Music

User Reviews

A Tedious, Heartless Film

For fans of monster movies, "Godzilla" was surely one of the most anticipated releases of the year. Therefore, the most surprising thing about Godzilla is not how empty the story is, but rather how little there is of the monster in the movie after which it is named.

The plot in "Godzilla" is disposable. It only exists as an excuse to unleash the film's titular character. However, is it too much to ask for an original plot with characters we could care about? Here, the back story is cliché-ridden and the characters simply serve the function of moving the story forwards. As such, one would expect that Godzilla is at least given ample screen time. Surprisingly, this is not the case, and the majority of the film's focus seems to be on the military attempting to find out how to kill Godzilla and the MUTOs, which look like giant, angry cockroaches. Ultimately, it is left up to the score and the Michael Bay-esque dub-step reminiscent sound design to create tension.

Its almost futile to talk about the performances in the film because despite the strong cast, the characters are so one-dimensional that nobody delivers a memorable performance. Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche do their best with the little screen time they are given, and the couple of Aaron-Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen are given the impossible task of creating interesting characters from the uninspired script. More worrying, however, is how unnecessary Sally Hawkins' character is and how the script manages to make Ken Watanabe look like a second-rate actor, as his character rarely changes expression from the looks of intense thought or surprise.

Overall, "Godzilla" did not work for me at all. Not only is it a film without heart, but it a film meant to thrill that ends up just being tedious. I could have left halfway through the movie. I just didn't care how things would turn out.