The Buzz: Godzilla
May 20, 2014
I have always been a big fan of the Godzilla franchise since I saw them as a child. Due to my love for dinosaurs and monstrous, sci-fi creatures, I quickly became obsessed with this enormous, infamous lizard monster. Being an advocate for the original films from the 1950s, I began to doubt that Gareth Edwards’ contemporary version of “Godzilla” would fulfill my expectations.
This film opens in 1999 when Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), a scientist, travels to a quarry in the Philippines to investigate the remains of an unidentified fossil and two egg-shaped pods. The scene then transitions into a nuclear plant near Tokyo that has mysteriously exploded, causing radiation to leak. After Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), an engineer and the plant’s supervisor, fails to save his wife during the event, he begins to realize that the explosion wasn’t just an accident. Fast forwards 15 years. When Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Brody’s son, travels to Japan, his father takes him to the abandoned, quarantined plant. They soon find out that Serizawa and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) are conducting a research on an enormous egg pod similar to the one discovered 15 years ago. The egg then hatches into an enormous bird-like creature called MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), causing chaos at the site.
I feel like Edwards focuses too much on Ford’s story line instead of showing more battle scenes between Godzilla and two MUTOs. I, for one, am a person who desires hard core action and thrilling films, so I was disappointed when Edwards didn’t show enough scenes that exposed Godzilla and the MUTOs.
Serizawa believes that the only way to stop the two MUTOs from breeding is for Godzilla to confront them and restore the balance of both worlds. With intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence, Edwards does a fantastic job with the graphics and effects of the multiple battles.
After Godzilla finally defeated the last MUTO, he collapses on the ground and doesn’t get up for a very long time. I immediately felt scared because I began to believe that this would be the end of the once beloved, terrifying lizard. While the film was coming to the end of the rise and fall of Godzilla, I began to cry for this ancient creature because I felt as if my childhood still exists. That the memory of myself playing with its plastic version will stay with me forever.
The question still remains unanswered to both the creators of this franchise and the audience: Is Godzilla a hero or a villain?
