GODZILLA

GODZILLA

Directed by: Gareth Edwards

USA/Japan, 2014

Kaiju/Godzilla, 123 min

Blah, blah, blah, Gareth Edwards. Blah, blah, blah, Monsters, blah, blah, blah, amazing debut movie. Blah, Blah, blah what to do with the legacy of Godzilla. You know all that, so let’s not waste time, and chill. I won't spoil anything for you if you haven't seen it yet.

FINALLY, it hit the screens, the most anticipated monster movie this year, or the last three years if you have been waiting as long as I have. So there we where my blogging buddies Fred from Ex-Ninja and Jocke from Rubbermonsterfetischism (who also reviewed GODZILLA today), fidgeting, worrying, fretting, trying not to focus on the negatives we’d heard before hand, but remind each other of the positives we’d heard too. If you’re a listener to the Podcast that Fred and I run, The Human Centipod, then you know all our backstory with Godzilla, and just what our hopes where for this one and what we where expecting.

Well it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I wanted monster movie mayhem non-stop, instead I got semi interesting drama with monster movie mayhem in it. But, that’s all right, because even though I feel that there was to little Godzilla in the movie, the monster mayhem was absolutely foot stomping, building crushing fantastic and gorgeous in every possible way. It took its time getting there, but boy does it pay off. It’s a genuine goose bump moment when she finally shows herself and a damn mighty scene that will stay with you for a long time. I shit you not, if I'd have had my kids with me at the screening, I would have fucking teared up at sharing the moment with them. At the same time, this is probably on of the most serious Godzilla movies made, on par with stuff like Godzilla Vs Destroyah, because it’s a big bad, dark toned movie without place for goofy standoffs, corky dialogue, and as Joachim would say, "The cheapest, poorest western actors possibly available, to play the Americans".

But despite a cast of really good actors, Bryan Cranston, five minutes of Juliette Binoche, Aaron Taylor-Johnson Elizabeth Olsen, the characters where still really paper thin. No real character development, no real character arcs, no attention grabbing multifaceted dimension… but wait… This is a GODZILLA movie, there has never really been any dimension, development, or arcs for that matter, in any Godzilla movies. But still, in the world of Godzilla, character dimension is huge, because it’s all found in the title character, GODZILLA! So where I could waste precious time yapping about the lack of all this I’d rather focus on the real character of the piece, Gojira! 

Straight  up, She’s a beauty in Gareth Edwards GODZILLA. Big, strong, forceful, and as both Jocke and Fred pointed out, her face looks like that of a bear. I don’t think this is by chance, as the plot somewhat focuses on Godzilla being a mystic force of nature, risen from the depths of the ocean, as to quote Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Ichiro Serizawa character “Set the balance right!” A strange force attacks nature and mankind, that’s the MUTOs, and Mother Nature sorts things out… or should we say Mother Bear. Because just like a Mother Bear protecting her offspring, that is the exact thing Godzilla does here! She steps out from her hiding and beats the crap out of our antagonists in her genetic programmed “defend the kids” instincts. She’s also where all emotions lay, as Godzilla is the one I root for, Godzilla is the one I feel for, Godzilla is the one I cheer as that last scene closes the movie. Yeah, this one has some really iconic moments to be honest, and it’s a movie that will slot in amongst the top 29 Godzilla movies.

I’d heard it was a slow build and a somewhat tedious first act, but it never really felt neither slow nor tedious. Obviously it was thanks to the plot, not to be confused with characters, because the plot does keep stuff moving forth, and it adds and evolves the Godzilla universe, and it works. Again not the most spectacular plot, but as said, this is a Godzilla movie, no need to complicate it, and we’re only here for one thing, and one thing alone. The plot uses our history to shed light on events; it uses our history to explain the story of Godzilla. And one cannot help but think that certain scenes are taping into our horror of current events like the Fukashima disaster, the tsunamis and earthquakes of the last couple of years, and to some extent 9/11. Perhaps a rhetorical fantasy for something to come save us as we destroy our world

No matter how serious they try to cloak Godzilla, there’s always going to be a Kaiju playfulness to it, and that shines through here too. Even though it is dark and somewhat “bleakish” at times, there are fun moments where Edwards staying true to the “less is more” form that he used on Monsters shows huge destruction scenes, but has them shown as parts of news broadcasts. Framing and visually they come off as the signature wide-angle distant shots that make rubber suit monster model chaos Kaiju. The MUTO monster is grand, and looks nothing like those plastic toys that surfaced online a few months back. These are slick organic ruthless Kaiju beasts that solidly earn their place in the Godzilla universe.

Gareth Edwards has done us good. He’s presented us with a cool Godzilla flick that actually does fit nicely into the universe as created by TOHO. Screw Emmerich and, that which shall not be named, because that’s not a Godzilla movie. It’s a farce, a mockery to all that we Kaiju fans love, a parody on what they though was a Godzilla movie, it’s the Crocs of Kaiju! There, got it out of my system. Edwards has made a movie that delivers on all fronts, it is everything that a Godzilla movie should be. This one is going to be a new starting point, and I can’t wait for the sequel (in my mind it will happen) and just like Fred says, that sequel will be filled with more monsters, more Godzilla, more mayhem! Until then we have Edwards to thank for bringing that darkness back and also bringing a new life to a monster that never dies! Godzilla is KING OF THE MONSTERS and we love her!

Go see GODZILLA at the cinemas now, because this movie needs to be a hit and spawn a multitude of sequels so that we can keep shooting up our Kaiju fixes for a long time to come.

(And please, please, please, despite my complaining that the movie was a tad to long, and took a bit to long to show the monsters, please release a longer bluray so that we get to see the deleted Akira Takarada scenes.)

Monsters

MONSTERS
Directed by: Gareth Edwards
UK, 2010-11-20
Drama/Horror/Road Movie, 94min

A probe returns to earth after NASA discover an alien life form in our solar system. But after the probe explodes during re-entry, crashing into Central America, a new life form starts to take hold of the jungle. Six years later, an “Infected Zone” separates America from Mexico. When the monsters in the zone start to attack outside the zone, freelance journalist Andrew [Scoot McNairy] is assigned to the task of getting his employers daughter, Samantha [Whitney Able], safely out of Mexico. Pretty soon they find that greed and corruption are at apparent even in times of crisis, and they are forced to take a route though the perilous Infected Zone to manage their return to American soil.

Comparing Monsters to District 9 would be wrong. There’s nothing that really connects them apart from the fact that aliens are part of our world. It wouldn’t be fair to compare it to something like Cloverfield either, as that movie kicks off hard from the start and just slows down as it goes along. The Mist isn’t too far off despite it’s piss poor characters and predictability. But somewhere in-between those three movies would be a good spot to place Monsters, even if I found this movie to be quite a lot better than all of them. Probably because District 9 uses is a comedic social metaphor grip, Cloverfield has thatstrong survival horror approach, and The Mist uses a really poor TV movie narrative and a social aspect with religion versus science angle. Monsters is neither, as it stands firmly on it's own.

Monsters is one of those skilfully crafted flicks that walks the stern path of realistic drama and uses a fair amount of horror genre traits to make some really effective moments. And there are some really creepy, suspenseful moments that certainly get the adrenaline pumping, especially whilst in the Infected Zone. But with that said it has to be pointed out that there are some really tender and delicate moments in the movie too. And that’s a vital ingredient to why this movie works.

Despite the title I wouldn’t say that Monsters is a horror genre piece. Instead, as mentioned above, this is first and foremost a drama. At times there’s a road movie quality to the film, at times it is horror tinted, and at others a tender romance, but never one determined genre. It’s a well-crafted mix of them all.

There’s a few effective ways that this movie manages to pull off it’s narrative. First and foremost, there’s the time taken to establish characters and their ordinary world. Second there’s the threat of the creatures, and then in the last act the deeper development of the characters. There are a lot of minor subplots and emotional arcs that come to a grand climax before the last minutes play out.

So in short, the movie plays out in three waves, the set up, the threat and the climax. It sounds pretty simple, but it’s all done in a really effective way. The handheld faux documentary style works for the movie, even though it’s never said once that this is a faux documentary, it just holds that tone, then the tone and mood shifts when in the Infected Zone. Rapid cuts, jumping over the axis and creating confusion as we isolate the characters from stern reference points… it’s all green and growling jungle. Finally the movie lands in the last act and the pace slows down giving time to those conclusions about to be made.

The ending may seem to be somewhat positively open when you first see it, but being that I always enjoy a movie that stimulates my mind, Monsters really stayed with me when the light went on and I connected the dots. Monsters does just that, it makes you think, because if you have been paying attention to the flick, the ending will give you a shattering rush of insight that puts the movie in a whole different light. This is a brilliant move by Edwards as he invites the audience to make the connection. A few edits made differently and the film would have had a completely altered tone. Instead it’s a piece that does crawl into your head and that all boils down to the characters and age-old emotions Life and Death, with love in between. Now don’t back away just yet. Monsters isn’t a love story, it’s not a romantic movie either, but it is a movie that plays hard with powerful tools like sympathy and empathy. Two of the most important ingredients no matter what genre you are working in. And we will always want a love story to work out, even in the most sinister and nihilistic world. We can fell the feeling and have an emotional recognition with the characters which makes us empathise with them, hence making us care about the characters.

Characters who are driven by the choices and actions they take. There’s a hefty does of common sense and logic in the narrative that otherwise easily over turned this movie, and the subplots come into action during these moments giving a subtle insight into what really is going on in their heads. I keep saying emotional movie, and that’s pretty true, because there’s a lot of that emotional recognition that helps it along. As a viewer I can totally understand the reactions Andrew and Samantha have in their interaction. I understand why they make the choices and go about the actions they take. It’s quite rare to see movies in this niche work this well. Remember in Cloverfield they decide to go look at the monster… dumbasses. You don’t do that, you run. There's a certain irrationality to their actions. But Andrew’s a freelance photographer and Samantha’s father pays well for shots of children killed by the alien life forms. See, there’s a logic reason to their actions and choices that make it all believable.

Finally we have to talk about the monsters. There’s a lot at stake when you call your movie Monsters, because if you don’t deliver, then you are screwed. Looking back at the movies I mentioned in the opening, District 9, Cloverfield, The Mist. Well they all kind of suffer from the same problem, once they show and reveal their creatures it never really manages to keep me interested. Sure, you could argue that the aliens in District 9 have character and personality. Yes they do, and at the end you have seen so much of them that they become acceptable characters themselves. But they don’t really intrigue me anymore. Cloverfield;, as soon as they showed that big bad monster, well, then the mystery is gone. It’s just a big bad monster. The Mist does manage to show monsters in various sizes and keeps it fresh, but at the end? It’s just a bid bad monster show too, and after those gigantic ones hit the screen it just looses it’s power because they are nothing but big bad monsters. But Monsters manages to present a rather interesting and intriguing monster that isn’t filled with the common big bad monster conventions. Sure, that’s the image we get in the early stages when we see them on the televised assaults, and when they attack during the movie – big bad monsters that wreck stuff and are more or less indestructible, but this all changes the further the movie goes. And the final question you ask yourself is, are they really monsters? The last minutes of the movie are easily amongst the most poetic and emotional monster scenes since Spielberg’s tear jerking finale to Close Encounters of the Third Kind... if you get the rush of insight that is.

Monsters is a brilliant debut feature. Engaging, creepy and moving. It's no secret that Edwards has a background working with C.G.I. on documentaries and stuff, and it shows. There’s not one spot where the computer-generated materials expose themselves. It all looks extremely authentic. Edwards has crafted an intelligent, beautiful and atmospherically movie that definitely deserves all the attention that it is getting and will have in the future. He can easily get in line with some of the leading new names of genre cinema spawning out of the UK as of now. It’s a great piece and the future seems to hold great things for Gareth Edwards. I’ll be looking forward to it.