Godzilla: Mudd Reviews

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By Chris Mudd, Eagle Life Writer

 

Godzilla, the king of all monsters, has returned to the big screen.

A majority of the film can’t be explained, because going in blind is half the fun. There are many unexpected moments that discussing them would be a discredit to how awesome they are when you’re not expecting them.

However, there are times when it feels like the human storyline is predictable and feels forced to add more of a personal impact to the destruction being caused. It isn’t fleshed out enough to really get me to care too much about any of the characters besides Godzilla.

Godzilla has never been this gigantic, and seeing the film in IMAX only served to make me feel even smaller in comparison. Every scene that included the giant was met with complete silence in the theater; all the little whispers and comments stopped completely just in sheer awe of the scale.

While the overall sound design of the film is remarkable, the score seems to hit and miss at times. Alexandre Desplat will write a theme that fits the massive scale and power of the film, but at times the music doesn’t seem to fit the tone the film was going for when the ambient and dark notes are replaced with more symphonic pieces.

The kaiju movie, or the giant monster film, is a tough genre to really tackle in today’s world, where movies have a tendency to try to be gritty and real. “Godzilla,” for the most part, accepts the new movie-going audiences expectations of a fantastical reality while simultaneously harkening to the roots of the genre’s core.

It takes itself seriously, but not in a way that undermines the films many, “Oh my God giant monster fight, awesome” moments. “Pacific Rim,” another film of the kaiju genre, knew exactly what it was, and the campy moments of that film set it apart. But it’s an interesting comparison between the two styles.

I understand how the filmmakers attempted to make the story as realistic as possible, explaining how nuclear tests of the past were all an attempt to kill the beast, but there’s a certain degree of reality that you have to disregard when watching the film to really get the best of it.

It’s a movie about a giant monster, and if you go in analyzing every particular minute detail of military strategy, you’re not going to have as good a time. Just sit back and let the fun happen.