The Excellent
Godzilla himself is very well done with a great respectful design, similar to its origins, yet updated for 2014. Godzilla's face shows some good emotive expressions which helps to make him seem more intelligent than just a large monster stomping around.
The MUTO's were also well designed and had a menacing evil look, which helped to make them seem more threatening. They also had a very different look to Godzilla which helped in the action sequences to know who was who!
The action itself (when we finally get to it) was great. The final showdown really does get you rooting for Godzilla and the Atomic Breath when it is used was very well done, akin to Man Of Steel's heat vision.
The Good
Bryan Cranston is as always very good in this. He is just a great actor and he really pulls you in at the beginning and makes you care for his character. However he is not in this film nearly enough and (SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!) when he dies, part of that care for the human characters is lost as a result - he never see's Godzilla!
The score is fantastic especially the parachute drop scene, which had teh hairs on my arms stand up on end.
The Bad
The majority of the human characters are a little simplistic in this.
Ford Brody (Johnson) is quite one dimensional and some might say 'wooden' however I think this is more down to the script than the actor.
Dr. Serizawa (Watanbe) seems to know everything, but nothing at the same time. He knows Godzillas plan and his motivations before he even arrives, without any evidence. He also knows that Godzilla won't after defeating the MUTO turn on the humans and attack as well.
Elle Brody (Olsen) dosen't have a whole lot to do in this and is mostly there as an anchor for Johnson's character to give him more depth with a family of his own.
The story itself could have been better, there were long strecthes were the film was a little dull and with some of the one dimensional characters I really found it hard to care about them, (SPOILER!!!!!) especially after Joe Brody's death (Cranston).
The Stupid
In this film two seperate children run off in different scenes, after mass destruction with thousands of people milling around only to run into the exact person/people they were looking for. Once is forgiveable, twice is lazy story telling.
SPOILERS!!!!!! The whole bait the MUTO's with a huge Nuclear device set to explode plan was just plain stupid.
Small little quibble. Cranstons character forgets that it is his birthday - has this ever to happend to anyone, anywhere in real life? Why have it in there? It just makes the characters seem less real when the whole point is to make this grounded as much as possible in reality.
Overall
I enjoyed Godzilla on my second viewing more than my first. I think my expectations of the film made me more disappointed than I would have been had I not read rave reviews beforehand. Its well worth the visit for the action and Godzilla alone, however you may find the story and some of teh supporting characters a little hollow outside of the atomic breath and beat downs.
I give it 3 Godzuki's out of 5.
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