Godzilla: tribute to the Japanese classic

Watching Godzilla brings me back to the olden days, watching men in rubber suits fighting each other. That would include Ultraman and Godzilla. I have better recollection of Ultraman since there are so many generations of them until now. Therefore, I told myself I must watch Godzilla to reminisce my "lost" Gojira childhood.

When the film opens, it started off with such promise. Bryan Craston is somehow believable as the American engineer working in a Japanese nuclear powerplant. The opening scene of him watching his wife die in the nuclear meltdown was so poignant that I thought it would set the tone to the whole film. However, when the film progress, it started to develop into a mirror image to all those Japanese monster Godzilla film. It may or may not be a good thing. Look how the American remake destroy Japanese cult favourite. Look at 47 Ronin. Or the last Godzilla (which I have no recollection at all after watching it: selective amnesia perhaps). However, since Pacific Rim proves that American could do the Japanese some credit (although it was not base on any Japanese film specifically, it was still a tribute to the Japanese monster-mecha genre, none the less), there is some glimmer of hope.

You see, in all those Japanese monster film, the human does not matter. They are more like  decorations and fillers to make the film longer. The highlight of the film is the big monstrous battle between Godzilla and the evil monster (or Ultraman with any monster). Similarly, the human actors here pale in comparison to Godzilla. Ken Watanabe looks constipated throughout the whole film (I have great respect for Watanabe but I do felt his talent was wasted here). Craston story is poignant but only given limited screen time. Much of the film focus on Aaron Taylor Thomas, but seriously, I do not care much whether the American soldier reach home or not. Surprisingly, Elizabeth Olsen is believable in her role with those limited screen time. The whole film is a big long and tedious build up for the final battle. The whole story is so simple. Evil monster appears after years of being dormant, now feeding on nuclear energies. Human was unable to stop them. So, nature sends Godzilla. Throw is some side stories of a husband losing his wife in the past, a husband trying to get home, a Hiroshima second generation trying to stop nuclear catastrophe and a soldier trying to save the city. Insignificant stories compare to the Godzilla arc.

Luckily the Americans did not butcher the film. At least, it was NOT the American who saves the day. It was Godzilla who saves the day. The whole show is about Godzilla vs evil monster NOT how the American survives against evil monster. And they even kept the laser from Godzilla mouth. Cool~! And they kept the term "Gojira". Finally. And they also kept the trend of keeping the story mindless and illogical. Yup, there are so many holes in the story that could even sink Godzilla.

So, the whole film boils down to CGI and camera works. There are hit and miss. Again, they try to emulate the Japanese counterparts of not revealing Godzilla too early. Fine with that. The CGI are passable but somehow I expected more for a summer blockbuster. The MUTO (evil monster) design could be better. Likes the old Japanese film, Godzilla looks rubbery. Here, Godzilla is so chubby that it looks rather "kawaii" than menacing. Colleen says it reminded her of her soft toy penguin.

Still, it was enjoyable outing for me. Probably it was because I was from the early Gen-X who tends to enjoy mindless violent monster movie like this. Worth the watch then.

ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: sorry to say, but somehow American remake of Japanese cult classic still do not work for me. Probably Pacific Rim is the only exception.