{"id":30931,"date":"2014-05-19T12:04:13","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T16:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=30931"},"modified":"2014-05-19T12:04:13","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T16:04:13","slug":"godzilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2014\/05\/godzilla\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cGodzilla\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/center>It isn\u2019t a good idea to approach a Godzilla movie with a \u201cless is more\u201d attitude. The gold standard of the \u201cless is more\u201d horror movie is \u201cJaws,\u201d which this movie wants to be so badly. In that film, you didn\u2019t actually see much of the shark, but you were scared nonetheless. There isn\u2019t much of Godzilla in this movie, and the attitude seems to be that if you\u2019re impatient waiting for her to show up, then it\u2019s your fault for not appreciating the nuanced way the film is subtly toying with your expectations.
\nThe problem is that Jaws, as big as he was, had a whole ocean he could hide in, and it was believable that he was doing all his damage beneath its surface. It made sense to keep us in suspense about his appearance and actions. Godzilla, on the other hand, is the size of a skyscraper and spends a lot of time on the surface. It does not make sense to shroud her appearance and actions. Yet we spend most of \u201cGodzilla\u201d not quite getting a good look at her. It quickly becomes apparent that the film simply does not have the money to represent the creature properly.
\nThe first half of the film where we wait for Godzilla to first show up is boring, but at least it can get away with saying that it\u2019s just building suspense. Eventually there comes a point where it has to give us one good look, and then it spends the rest of the time coming up with one reason after another to not give us subsequent good looks. Sometimes Godzilla is underwater with just her spikes sticking out. Sometimes it\u2019s dark or rainy. Sometimes there\u2019s an obstruction like a slowly-closing door. Watch the scene where Godzilla is blocked by a closing door and tell me you don\u2019t feel cheated.
\nThere\u2019s some bare-bones plot about Godzilla only coming out from hiding now so she can stop a pair of even more dangerous creatures called MUTOs, who have just escaped captivity on two continents. The army naturally wants to nuke all three of them and we\u2019re supposed to see them as reckless for doing so. They just won\u2019t listen to the reasonable alternate plan of trusting the giant monster with animal instincts to defeat the MUTOs and then walk away and leave us alone.
\nThe human characters aren\u2019t very interesting. There\u2019s a scientist played by Ken Watanabe, a general played by David Strathairn, a soldier played by Aaron Taylor-Johnston, and his wife, a nurse played by Elizabeth Olsen. None of these roles are written with any personality. The only character who comes even close to being memorable is Taylor-Johnston\u2019s father, the requisite broken-down conspiracy theorist that no one believes until it\u2019s too late played by Bryan Cranston. And if you\u2019ve seen the trailers, you\u2019ve gotten the extent of his passion. Also, there is zero comic relief in the movie. Say what you will about the poorly-regarded 1998 Godzilla movie that this one thinks it\u2019s so superior to, but at least that one knew enough to have some fun with the absurdity of a giant radioactive creature destroying a city.
\nEvery now and then we\u2019ll get a hint of what this version of \u201cGodzilla\u201d could have been. Godzilla does look pretty good in the brief glimpses we do get, and the MUTOs don\u2019t look half bad themselves. Of course everyone cheers when the creatures roar or smash or do that other thing that Godzilla is known for. But the film just takes one shortcut after another, and this is definitely not the place for a \u201cless is more\u201d approach. The less people waste their time on this movie, the more happy I\u2019ll be when it bombs.<\/p>\n

One Star out of Five.<\/p>\n

\u201cGodzilla\u201d is playing at Hershey Cocoaplex. The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence. Its running time is 123 minutes.<\/p>\n

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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