Godzilla (2014) Review

Godzilla


Release Date: 15th May 2014 - Australia


Production Companies
Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)
Legendary Pictures (presents)
RatPac-Dune Entertainment (in association with)
Disruption Entertainment
Toho Company

Distribution
Roadshow Distribution


Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: M

Runtime: 123 minutes


Budget: $160,000,000

Box Office Gross: $529,076,069
(Worldwide)


Plot Summary
The world's famous monster
is pitted against malevolent
creatures who, bolstered by
humanity's scientific 

arrogance, threaten our
very existence.

Cast

Aaron-Taylor Johnson - Lt.
Ford Brody

CJ Adams - Young Ford

Bryan Cranston - Joe Brody

Ken Watanabe - Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Elizabeth Olsen - Elle Brody
Sally Hawkins - Dr. Vivienne Graham
Juilette Binoche - Sandra Brody
David Strathairn - Rear 

Admiral William Stenz
Richard T. Jones - Captain
Russell Hampton
Victor Rasuk - Sergeant Tre
Morales
Patrick Sabongui - Lt. 

Commander Marcus Waltz
Carson Bolde - Sam Brody

Eric Keenleyside - Boyle

Ken Yamamura - Takashi

Garry Chalk - Stan Walsh

Hiro Kanagawa - Hayato

James D. Dever - Captain Freeman

Brian Markinson - Whelan

Ty Olsson - Jainway

Al Sapienza - Huddleston

Gardiner Millar - Fitzgerald

Jake Cuninan - Akio

Yuki Morita - Akio’s Mother

Warren Takeuchi - Akio’s Father

Andy Serkis - Godzilla (Motion
Capture)

Crew

Director - Gareth Edwards
Based on Character - Ishiro Honda, 

Takeo Murata and Shigeru Kayama
Story - Dave Callaham
Screenplay - Max Borenstein

Additional Writing - Frank Darabont 

and David S. Goyer (Uncredited)

Associate Producer/Unit Production Managers - 

Jim Rowe and Leeann Stonebreaker

Associate Producers - Martin Cohen 

and Shannon Triplett
Executive Producers - Yoshimitsu Banno, 

Alex Garcia, Kenji Okuhira and Patricia Whitcher
Co-Producer/Film Editor - Bob Ducsay
Producers - Jon Jashni, Mary Parent,
Brian Rogers and Thomas Tull

Casting Director - Sarah Finn
Production Designer - Owen Paterson

Set Decorator - Elizabeth Wilcox
Costume Designer - Sharen Davis
Character Designer - Howard Lau

Lead Creature & Concept Designer - Matt Allsopp
Creature Designers - Greg Boardmore, 

Ian Joyner and Simon Webber
Director of Photography - Seamus McGarvey

Second Unit Director - E.J. Foerster

Stunt Coordinators - Jake Mervine and John Stoneham Jr.

Halo Jump Coordinator - J.T. Holmes

Creature Fight Coordinator - Garrett Warren
Special Effects Supervisor - Tommy Frazier 

Special Effects Coordinator - Joel Whist
Visual Effects Supervisors - Jeff Caprogeco, 

Jim Rygiel, Darren Poe, Katherine Rodtsbrooks and Ged Wright

Visual Effects Supervisors: Double Negative - 

Peter Chiang and Ken McGaugh

Visual Effects Supervisor: Double Negative Singapore - Patric Roos

Head of VFX: MPC - Greg Butler

Additional Visual Effects Designer - John Dykstra

Visual Effects Producers - Devin Fairbairn, Allen Maris, Sean Santiago 

Visual Effects Art Director - Steven Messing

Animation Supervisor: Weta Digital - Aaron Gilman

CG Supervisor: Double Negative - Benjamin Huber

CG Supervisor: Weta Digital - Daniel Macarin

Motion Capture Supervisor - Simon Kay

Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor - Erik Aadahl
Music Supervisor - Dave Jordan
Music - Alexandre Desplat

Review

Having seen the cheesiness of 1998's 'Godzilla'. I was pleased to see the 2014 remake of the old Kaiju series. Without the director Roland Emmerich on board or having the film's passable star Matthew Broderick as the lead, indie film director Gareth Edwards was assigned to helm this year's interpretation. This was after he came to prominence in the not-so-good movie 'Monsters'. Unlike the pleasant display of his first feature, this new monster hit 'GODZILLA' was an improvement to his earlier work.

Grittiness and deliberate intensity are strengthening the film which would be anticipated of every Kaiju film. In this interpretation, the titled monster was the hero that beat the other giant monsters. This is a feature shown in most of the Japanese classics. While the 1998 version looked exactly like a giant partially-mutated iguana, unfortunately, the 2014 film that we’re seeing doesn’t show much screen-time of the title character at all. While the film doesn't show much of Godzilla himself, the sheer destruction that he causes makes his presence well and truly felt. Even worse, one of the human characters that was introduced early in the film got killed off too soon.

Aaron-Taylor Johnson is never new to Hollywood when playing leading roles. He was specifically well-known in more recently from his famed role in the two 'Kick-Ass' films. I didn't see him in those two features. I don’t think he’s that interesting. The co-actors Ken Watanabe and Bryan Cranston exceeded in their supporting roles to their full extent. It's literally the director who only selected them and they were better suited to the roles than their predecessors putting Matthew Broderick to shame. Besides the cast and the new-found identity of the character, we have what we want in the film through the monster battle scenes and the fascinating special effects design.

Never will I again deplore the remake of 'GODZILLA' as I did with the 1998 version. The craze of bringing Asian pop-cultural motifs into the western cinema is continuous. It will be very hard to pay your money to see the monstrous mayhem of 2014. 'GODZILLA' is a semi-decent movie and all of you Kaiju fans will have to see it.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

Back to Home