Before I get to the review, a disclaimer, and a rant.
Brace yourselves, and welcome to The Critic's Dungeon!
I grew up watching Showa Era kaiju movies. Watching guys in silly rubber costumes trashing the hell out of models and cardboard buildings were a must-see every week on WABC-New York's Property Damage Playhouse.
So I went to see this movie with a lot of expectations.
And now, a rant: WTF ? Seriously, WTF? The primary reason I don't go to the movies is the cost. Case in point, one adult ticket for an afternoon matinee ran me $19.50 - $10 just for the ticket, and the rest for one medium drink and one box of Raisinets(tm).
Now that we're done with that, onward! Allons-y!
This was a good movie. We got glimpses of the Big Guy, Gojira himself, and the producer kept teasing us with him until it was time for the Big Reveal. Excellent use of a tail whip, and perfect deployment of Godzilla's trademark flaming halitosis.
I swear, watching his back spines lighting up reminded me of the Wave Motion Gun going through its firing sequence.
The gratuitous use of Brian Cranston and the vapid-looking guy who played his grown-up son (honestly, he got into more shitty situations than The Perils of Pauline) takes up a lot of the time. It's left to Ken Watanabe, playing Dr. Serizawa in an homage to the 1954 original, to make the philosophical point of the movie.
Which is that Man is arrogant to think he's the master of Nature, when the opposite is true.
All in all, a fun movie.
The Critic's Dungeon reverberated with the Godzilla Roar and the trademark Toho theme, and I am happy to give Godzilla (2014) three whips and a nipple clamp.