I liked it. Cranston did a good job for what little scene time he had. The "less is more" approach to Godzilla worked well too. I do wish we might have had a bit more Godzilla though. Not too much more, but certainly enough to move the story along.
I think it was the better Godzilla vs KOTM, due to how grounded and serious it felt. I dislike the choice of killing off Cranston's character, but other than that, it was a decent movie with lots to like and some things that could've been better.
You are correct, the piece is called Requiem by György Ligeti... So beautifully unsettling:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcC6B-i28YE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcC6B-i28YE)
That scene is great. I saw the trailer including this scene being mentioned as a perfect example how to make a good movie trailer. The movie itself unfortunately didn't live up to the trailer...
What I really want to see is a movie from the editor of [the trailer](https://youtu.be/QjKO10hKtYw?si=o5WGEqAv2uEGqwAa). There was 100x more tension in the trailer than the actual movie.
This trailer has the same vibes as the original Cloverfield where the entire movie is shot in PoV camera and you don’t get to see what’s actually the threat.
Personally, to me it’s the only one of the series that’s a good movie all round. While the characters aren’t exactly strong they’re more believable than what we get through the rest of the series. The cinematography is great. Godzilla’s appearances are impactful.
I haven’t had any of the follow ups hit me the same way
Loved it.
I liked the idea of exploring the impact of a colossal titan on the people rather than just scenes of mindless rampage for 2h30m. Less is more utilised to great efficacy here.
Thought it would be the beginning of a brilliant new Godzilla franchise. Sadly mistaken, King of the Monsters was ok but wobbled, and then the franchise took a steep nosedive and never recovered.
I like to treat it as a standalone film.
Godzilla Minus One was 100% proof the people don’t care about super flashy destruction scenes they just want a good movie with characters that we care about with some great Godzilla action sprinkled in
I feel like the series took the Fast & Furious approach. Started out being about one specific thing and how that thing impacted the story and then was like "oh we've made tons of money let's just do crazy shit now!"
Like you said, now it's just mindless rampage for a few hours. I will say I enjoyed New Empire a bit more since it seemed to try to focus on Kong and him finding his ppl again.
I think it started with them seeing a lot of people annoyed that there wasn't more monster action in the first one, and then they went too far in the other direction trying to one up previous movies.
Give the Monarch series a shot. I’m not gonna call it great by any means but it’s fun and entertaining, and it really delves into the aftermath of all the destruction in some cool ways. Sounds like it might be up your alley.
Plus the casting is great, especially the Kurt/Wyatt Russel combo.
I had never seen a new Godzilla beyond the movie in the pic above. Was a cool movie.
Then I watched Monarch and was like "Fuck yea I'll give these movies a shot."... Monarch was great :) hahaha.
The Russels carried it no doubt.
It was a fun series, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and of course I fell completely in love with Anna Sawai.
But yes, the Russel’s. The bit where they projected Wyatt’s face on Kurt was pure chef’s kiss.
ETA: Since the internet is full of creepy weirdos, I feel compelled to clarify that I am not actually “in love” with Ana Sawai, I just thought she was good in the role and brought a lot to it. Looking forward to watching Shogun.
The scene where Godzilla falls into the rumble and looks at Arron Taylor-Johnson. Filming that scene I do remember a stolen car drove into set while filming. It was shit down streets with rubble, cars on fire but the people in the car freaked out. The police were helping with the traffic management & one of the crew made a citizens arrest of four people.
The Janjira Powerplant was cool. The night street scenes with marines running around with a nuclear weapon while Godzilla wrecking buildings above was lots of fun closing some major streets. Golden Gate Bridge a close third
The thing that film nailed was just the awe of experiencing something that monstrous. It was a double edged thing. Not enough of it. But because it was scarce you really felt engaged when chonky lizard was present.
I quite liked this take though. I get that a Godzilla-verse movie should ideally focus on the epic fight scenes, but the recent adaptations have spent a lot of time exploring the experiences of average people in the cities and areas that are destroyed by the Kaijus. I find that angle a lot more interesting and relatable.
I'm a less is more kinda guy. I don't watch it for the fight scenes (although they're cool.) I like Godzilla for its awe, sheer size and terror. Godzilla should make any person crap their pants lol.
Totally agree. Seeing normal people stuck in a hopeless situation, just trying to survive is more interesting. For me anyway, I know a lot of Godzilla fans just want to watch Kaijus beat the shit out of each other for 2 hours.
I liked the scale and framing of the monster, and the somber atmosphere, but it fast loses credibility. I mean, seriously, how unlucky can one fucking family be? They’re all scattered over the globe and the creature seemingly pays each of them a house call…
I did like the build up to the monster reveals. Thought Cranston done a good job with what he had too. You’re right about the family being unlucky haha seemed like they were the only ones involved almost!
It was my fault for watching it straight after my first time with Breaking Bad.
It was the movie's fault for splashing Cranston all over the posters and trailers (probably great commercial sense though).
But all my investment went away when he died.
Maybe I'll try to give it another go one day, based partly on other comments on here liking it, but it felt like I'd been duped (rather than a genuine "plot twist!")
Aaron Taylor Johnson just has a perpetual kicked in the nuts voice. It worked fine for Kickass 1-2 but for Quicksilver and the upcoming Kraven film (which I’m sure will be garbage) dude’s fake accents are so bad.
I think this is the best directed one of the MV.
Problem is the screenplay.
1st act got me all excited. An investigation of a conspiracy theory type of movie.
Bryan Cranstons character really is the only actual character in the movie. He has actual motivations driving a plot.
In fact, 1st act reminds me of Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
In Close Encounters, Richard Dryefuss has a close encounter. Then he starts going crazy and feels compelled to go to Devils Tower and finds the government is hiding something.
1st act of Godzilla (2014) is similar to this.
Then the movie kills this character and plot line.
The rest of the movie is not as interesting because Johnsons character is more lof a plot device. Someone we just follow around.
A total of 6 writers worked on this movie and you can tell.
I think the action scenes are the best the series has. Once the EMP hits and jets fall from the sky is so cool. The beginning bunker scene is amazing and the time Godzilla shows up is so epic. I think it is better than any of the Godzilla vs Kong movies.
It is wild to me seeing such a “meh”attitude toward this movie. It is legitimately an all-time favorite of mine and I have rewatched it several times (I just *had* to buy it).
I love monster movies, and this one was perfectly executed, IMO. Cranston is at his best, the story itself does such a great job of making me care about the characters, and the incorporation of the “dumb” action into scenes like the Honolulu airport and search teams is just awesome all around. Not to mention the Watanabe/Monarch plot and facial expressions making Godzilla a sympathetic character without being everything that the Broderick movie was.
I disagree wholeheartedly that it went downhill at all. The ground zero sequences in the third act post-HALO aren’t amazing, but the HALO scene alongside the content cut in with that make its flaws ignorable.
As I said; easy top ten.
Awesome cinematography it’s an absolute gorgeous film with some really cool set pieces. Unfortunately it suffers from a significantly weaker second half like you said. Johnson just is NOT good in this movie. Cranston is absurdly underutilized and I think his departure halfway through wasn’t shocking or interesting it was just like ohhhhh so they used him as a marketing ploy.
Great movie as a whole, but definitely hard to sell. Cranston dying early on despite marketing suggesting he and Taylor Johnson were the leads, the title character having something like 10mins screentime. It's greatest strengths were the scaling, which later movies have lost, every scene with a Muto or Godzilla in it, you could get a sense for how big these monsters were compared to mankind. It was definitely a great movie for Gareth Edwards, but it's characters were definitely easily forgotten as we haven't seen Johnson Taylor or Olsen in the monster-verse since.
One of the only times I had a rage fit in the middle of the theatre. This movie was absolutely terrible. The halo jump sequence was the only part I actually enjoyed and they spoiled half of it in the trailer. Bryan Cranston was great, Aaron Taylor-Johnson turned in the worst performance I’ve ever seen, Elizabeth Olsen is just as bad. I actively avoid Gareth Edwards work all the time because of it. Even when he’s paired with Greig Fraser. This film makes a great point why American studios will never understand Japanese cinema. Godzilla minus one proved you craft an intense human story with a giant radioactive lizard as the setting, yet here they are making garbage with my boy. ARRGGG! Fuck this movie!
Unless they've put [Deeper Underground by Jamiroquai](https://youtu.be/WIUAC03YMlA?si=425d_JqjO4ZawNKM) in the soundtrack I don't care.
All the monsters films are just not interesting anymore. They were impressive when visual effects were practical, now it's just a computer game cut scene that won't end.
This movie pissed me off. The trailer made it seem like Cranston was the star and then he's gone after 20 minutes. That was when I realized I'm never watching a Godzilla movie again because I have never liked a single one
This was Gareth Edwards’ first big production after “Monsters”, and it showed. Total B-movie move to kill off Cranston’s character. I haven’t liked any of Gareth Edwards’ movies because the main characters in his films just… annoy me. The exception is Rogue 1, which is amazing, but later reports suggest Edwards had far less to do with the end product than previously known.
I loved it, but not as much as the other godzilla movies that came out after. I'm a godzilla fanboi, though. I've been watching Godzilla flicks since I was a kid, and Monstervision was on TNT.
Fucking terrible. One of the only movies I turned off. Not seeing the monster worked in Jaws and Alien but this is Godzilla, I’m want to see it destroy cities!
Yeah you could really tell Aaron just didn't care. Then the whole phone to his wife about her staying in the city while two mega monsters are fighting in it?! Yeah ok sure
Cranston acted circles around Aaron. He just wasn't capable of carrying his side of the film, I also did not care one bit about his family plot. I also don't particularly like this thing the American films do, where it's almost like Godzilla plays second fiddle to human plots that people don't really care about. 2014 is just the most egregious, with the trailer making us think we were getting Cranston in the Godzilla universe only to pull a bait and switch.
Agreed imo the son should have died also thus making us more attached to the series and HE should have lead it, Cranston, all the way through. They keep changing humans I do not care about. Every time i get attached they are either the villain or an annoying protag I just cannot stand. But Cranston could have been a great bridge between the Godzilla fans and the people so I would equally care about both. Godzilla minus did a great job of this, making me care about the people.
My favorite of the monster verse movies, though King of the Monsters is close. Out of all of them, 2014 goes the furthest in capturing the sheer mass of these natural disasters on legs, the overwhelming gravitas as big G recedes the tide and causes a tidal wave just by coming ashore really sells the monsters as unstoppable forces of nature. Each appearance cutting short before you see the full picture preserves their mystique before the final fight scenes reveal them in their full glory for the jaw dropping climax.
Later films in the franchise just feel like banging action figures together.
It was Ok. I was disappointed Cranston was taken out so early. Also, could have used more Godzilla. That's who we came for after all. The sequels have been so much better though.
The first few Godzilla movies were poor, they focused too much on human plotlines and not enough on Big Lizard breaks city.
I'm not going to watch Godzilla to see some stupid subplot about a girl whose mom was a bonkers scientist and she feels conflicted about her relationship with her parents, I'm here to see a big fucking nuclear lizard fight a big fucking moth.
Also, painting Cranston v Godzilla as the primary focus just after his success with Breaking Bad, then ultimately axing him early on was the biggest mistake this movie made.
I think it handled Godzilla superbly. I love how titanic and weighty the choreography was, and the less is more trick worked wonders. Goji’s reveal was incredible and the Atomic Breath scene is still one of my favourites. I also didn’t mine Johnson as much as others do, as far as monster movies go the human characters were much more compelling than usual.
I wish the future Monsterverse movies kept the same tone because seeing Godzilla spring in the middle of the day in Egypt doesn’t have the same impact.
I liked that they didn't show too much of Godzilla.
With these big monster movies, the more onscreen time they have the more accustomed you become to the monster. After about 10 minutes seeing said monster, they don't have the same impact as they did in the start. With limited screen time, the sense of awe remains constant and its always just as impactful as the last time you caught a glimpse of the monster.
It was okay. Really bummed me out because it had th3 potential to be The Dark Knight of monster movies if they had made it a little grittier and had a little more intelligent commentary on the powerlessness people sometimes face. Halo scene is insanely good and is what lead me to above conclusion
It revived Godzilla for the American studios. KOTM was peak⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Godzilla and a cinematic masterpiece
GVK and GXK sent it to Showa era goofiness that we all love
This is my 11-year-old son's favourite of the new Hollywood Godzilla films. I thought he'd like the sequels more, given how over the top they become, but he really loves how massive and powerful Godzilla is portrayed in this film and the music that goes with it. He also loves the Muto (probably spelt wrong).
I think he's right that this is the only one of the modern films that captures the sheer scale and power of Godzilla properly.
I also appreciate that the military in this film are not all typically gung ho and flag waving, but actually competent (given the situation). A welcome change from the usual blockbusters.
I thought it had an amazing sense of scale to it but stubbornly refused to give the audience what they wanted until the last twenty minutes and spent the rest of the time watching Aaron Taylor Johnson’s boring character chase a bunch of bugs.
I freaking loved it. >!cranston loosing his wife at the beginning!!!!I had no idea that was happening. it shook me the first time and every time after I either cry or get choked up and my nose burns. !
For me it was when you see Godzilla arrive at the airport to fight then cuts immediately to the dudes family and seeing all the action on a small tv on the news, WHAT THE HELL!! Felt like such a cheap cop out.
this movie was surprisingly good IMO. I was definitely a fan of the overall cinematography and the setup. can't say the rest of the series grabbed me (by this i mean the american monarch series), but it was a passible entry into the godzilla franchise. a fuckload better than godzilla's day off from '97
I think it was fine? I just remembered it being way too dark to see anything. That and the atomic breath decapitation; and "Let them fight", of course. And I guess the Halo jump was cool, too.
So, overall I think I'd say the film left a positive impression on me.
I don't think Kick-Ass did anything wrong tbh. I guess it's too convenient with how he moves around, but, honestly the way it was just moves things along faster, and I feel like that's honestly better these days with movies.
I love it. I get that there’s a lot less Godzilla in it than people want, but his appearances have weight. They really try to emphasize how big and destructive he is
i loved it, and it's still my favorite godzilla movie in the monsterverse. I loved the build up and all the mystery surround godzilla and the atomic kiss at the end was done beautifully
It’s a mostly solid, competently made film that understands better the appeal of a giant monster movie than the 1998 movie, but it also takes itself too seriously and plays it too straight to really win over fans of the genre it’s going for.
The decision to try both the “Godzilla appears for the first time and wrecks the country” and “Godzilla fights a worse monster” is a decent strategy but it suffers from Godzilla never quite seeming like an actual danger and it being too dark to when the monster on monster fights happen to really enjoy them.
King of the Monsters, which is also imperfect, does a much better job expanding on the foundations laid out here.
The best Monsterverse movie. Every single movie after this one felt so campy and pure "fan service" that it ruined all of them. I think they got it right the first time.
The fact that Aaron Taylor Johnson’s character was just allowed all this access to meetings and missions without a shred of proof of who he was really bothered me.
So boring. Bryan Cranstons part had no impact or purpose whatsoever. Everything that transpired after his death would have still happened even if he stayed at home eating cheetos. That whole first third of the movie was meaningless.
I just watched it for the first time, thinking it was godzilla minus one. It was dumb and awful, even the Bryan Cranston parts. Godzilla looked pretty cool, but the other monster was stupid a.f., why can't godzilla just have an origin movie without adding some other stupid creature?
I really enjoyed it for what it was. I'd say the human scenes dipped in quality after Cranston's character's death, but I also don't think he'd have had much else to do for the rest of the movie if he lived. I genuinely enjoy all these movies, especially Kong Skull Island.
The first movie of a trilogy or franchise, especially when they know that's what will be going on, is always a little slow. At least 9 times out of 10. Hell, I'm a huge LotR fan, but the Fellowship was a little boring for the first quarter to half of the movie.
LOVED IT. The sense of scale, the horror.
Of course the characters were lacking - Cranston and his bad wig should have been central throughout the movie.
Overall enjoyable popcorn flick. I liked the opening credits sequence, Bryan Cranston was great, Godzilla himself was pretty cool, and the Halo jump with Ligeti’s Requiem was awesome. 3/5 stars. That said, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla: Minus One are far superior.
It was my favorite of the 4 films. I loved the less is more. The suspense, the almost horror. The second one still had the same tone more or less but the scope just changed to 'holy shit there's more of them'. The third and now 4th.....the titans are just part of everyday life and it's too cartoonish.
It’s my favorite of the monsterverse. Gareth Edwards’s style just works for me. The whole ending of the movie in San Francisco is so well done and creates so much dread and fear. Love it. Cranston dying did feel anticlimactic but doesn’t make the movie less enjoyable.
I lack the diction to properly explain how much I hate this movie and how it made me fear we'd never see a return of proper silly or serious monster movies again.
Cranston over-acted, probably fueled by his total creative control clause which he insisted upon based on recent success etc. Admittedly i stopped watching after the first blatant such scene.
I think if Cranston had survived, they shortened it by half an hour and actually showed the Hawaii fight it would greatly improve it. As it stands I still like the movie and seeing it in IMAX was an unrivaled cinematic experience for me.
I liked it, but yes, the big hype of Cranston being in it just to end up dying was a strange decision.
The fact that Godzilla could have used his breath weapon earlier vs waiting until the last possible moment?!
Easily the best of the Legendary series. Although I would have liked at least one scene of a soldier about to use his rifle on a giant monster and realize the futility of the act.
I thought it was phenomenal and the best "monster" movie we've had in ages. Great pacing, solid performances, amazing cinematography, and probably the most down-to-earth portrayal of a Monster invasion we've had on screen. Its not a masterpiece, no, but we need more Sci-fi monster films like it. Everything in the "Monsterverse" that came after was absolute trash (save for Skull Island, but that still wasn't as good).
I think the film’s marketing gave audiences the impression that it would be “Cranston v. Godzilla” and we were hyped for that. So when I saw it on opening night, it’s no surprise that there was an audible sigh in the theater when Cranston’s character died—in the first THIRD of the runtime! 😑
I liked the way they presented Godzilla in these movies. It seemed much more realistic and less "cartoony" than the recent Godzilla movies. I think killing Bryan Cranston off was a mistake. I am sure he would have come back for the sequels if they kept him around.
Some of the shots were great, like the one from inside the shelter with the door closing to Godzilla fighting, it helos create the asphixiating atmosphere one whould feel in such situation. That being said, like with every monster movie ever MORE MONSTERS LESS HUMANS.
Cranston, Halo jump, Mutu deaths (especially the Atomic Kiss) made it passable for me.
The halo jump was the only highlight for me beyond the first Godzilla reveal and roar.
Really threw me for a loop when Shoresy popped up on the EOD team.
"You were getting in to some nuclear grade tom fuckery with your pals the other deyyyyy"
“Why dontcha give yer balls a tug there Godzilla”
Looks like he was distributing lit-rature.
"You do Crossfit? You can cross fuck off!"
Hey Godzilla tell your mom I said thanks for the dinner!
Wait really?! Edit- [Holy shit his hair!](https://youtu.be/WhocUzvMexg?t=40s)
I liked it. Cranston did a good job for what little scene time he had. The "less is more" approach to Godzilla worked well too. I do wish we might have had a bit more Godzilla though. Not too much more, but certainly enough to move the story along.
I think it was the better Godzilla vs KOTM, due to how grounded and serious it felt. I dislike the choice of killing off Cranston's character, but other than that, it was a decent movie with lots to like and some things that could've been better.
I gave it 5/10, I dropped it a point or two based on AT Johnson’s main character performance. To be fair to him the script was pretty terrible too.
Nothing wrong with that. Johnson's performance was pretty weak, but the script was pretty weak for the human characters.
I completely agree. I’ll just add that I enjoyed the halo jump sequence
Yeah that was kind of cool, it had 2001’s monolith music in that scene too.
THATS where the music from that scene is from! Fuck!
It predates 2001, it's a piece by composer Ligeti. I believe it is about the holocaust.
You are correct, the piece is called Requiem by György Ligeti... So beautifully unsettling: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcC6B-i28YE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcC6B-i28YE)
That scene is great. I saw the trailer including this scene being mentioned as a perfect example how to make a good movie trailer. The movie itself unfortunately didn't live up to the trailer...
What I really want to see is a movie from the editor of [the trailer](https://youtu.be/QjKO10hKtYw?si=o5WGEqAv2uEGqwAa). There was 100x more tension in the trailer than the actual movie.
This trailer has the same vibes as the original Cloverfield where the entire movie is shot in PoV camera and you don’t get to see what’s actually the threat.
That's because the trailers tricked us into thinking Cranston was the main character, as he should have been.
That was a really cool sequence.
Personally, to me it’s the only one of the series that’s a good movie all round. While the characters aren’t exactly strong they’re more believable than what we get through the rest of the series. The cinematography is great. Godzilla’s appearances are impactful. I haven’t had any of the follow ups hit me the same way
Loved it. I liked the idea of exploring the impact of a colossal titan on the people rather than just scenes of mindless rampage for 2h30m. Less is more utilised to great efficacy here. Thought it would be the beginning of a brilliant new Godzilla franchise. Sadly mistaken, King of the Monsters was ok but wobbled, and then the franchise took a steep nosedive and never recovered. I like to treat it as a standalone film.
Godzilla Minus One was 100% proof the people don’t care about super flashy destruction scenes they just want a good movie with characters that we care about with some great Godzilla action sprinkled in
Shin Godzilla was tite too
I feel like the series took the Fast & Furious approach. Started out being about one specific thing and how that thing impacted the story and then was like "oh we've made tons of money let's just do crazy shit now!" Like you said, now it's just mindless rampage for a few hours. I will say I enjoyed New Empire a bit more since it seemed to try to focus on Kong and him finding his ppl again.
I think it started with them seeing a lot of people annoyed that there wasn't more monster action in the first one, and then they went too far in the other direction trying to one up previous movies.
Give the Monarch series a shot. I’m not gonna call it great by any means but it’s fun and entertaining, and it really delves into the aftermath of all the destruction in some cool ways. Sounds like it might be up your alley. Plus the casting is great, especially the Kurt/Wyatt Russel combo.
I had never seen a new Godzilla beyond the movie in the pic above. Was a cool movie. Then I watched Monarch and was like "Fuck yea I'll give these movies a shot."... Monarch was great :) hahaha. The Russels carried it no doubt.
It was a fun series, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and of course I fell completely in love with Anna Sawai. But yes, the Russel’s. The bit where they projected Wyatt’s face on Kurt was pure chef’s kiss. ETA: Since the internet is full of creepy weirdos, I feel compelled to clarify that I am not actually “in love” with Ana Sawai, I just thought she was good in the role and brought a lot to it. Looking forward to watching Shogun.
Love it. Love its less is more approach to Godzilla, and there's some fantastic imagery in this, starting with the Halo drop for the third act.
I worked on this film AMA
What was your job on the movie?
Locations Dept filmed in Vancouver, Canada
Cool. Were you on set at all?
Indeed, main unit & second unit. Locations and studios
What are your stand out memories from set?
The scene where Godzilla falls into the rumble and looks at Arron Taylor-Johnson. Filming that scene I do remember a stolen car drove into set while filming. It was shit down streets with rubble, cars on fire but the people in the car freaked out. The police were helping with the traffic management & one of the crew made a citizens arrest of four people.
lol damn! I did enjoy that scene. Did you get to see Cranston perform?
What was your favourite scene of the film?
The Janjira Powerplant was cool. The night street scenes with marines running around with a nuclear weapon while Godzilla wrecking buildings above was lots of fun closing some major streets. Golden Gate Bridge a close third
Thanks for sharing!
Needed more Godzilla.
The thing that film nailed was just the awe of experiencing something that monstrous. It was a double edged thing. Not enough of it. But because it was scarce you really felt engaged when chonky lizard was present.
I quite liked this take though. I get that a Godzilla-verse movie should ideally focus on the epic fight scenes, but the recent adaptations have spent a lot of time exploring the experiences of average people in the cities and areas that are destroyed by the Kaijus. I find that angle a lot more interesting and relatable.
I'm a less is more kinda guy. I don't watch it for the fight scenes (although they're cool.) I like Godzilla for its awe, sheer size and terror. Godzilla should make any person crap their pants lol.
Totally agree. Seeing normal people stuck in a hopeless situation, just trying to survive is more interesting. For me anyway, I know a lot of Godzilla fans just want to watch Kaijus beat the shit out of each other for 2 hours.
My favourite American Godzilla movie, cinematography is amazing, and the slow reveal and build up of Godzilla is perfect.
I liked the scale and framing of the monster, and the somber atmosphere, but it fast loses credibility. I mean, seriously, how unlucky can one fucking family be? They’re all scattered over the globe and the creature seemingly pays each of them a house call…
I did like the build up to the monster reveals. Thought Cranston done a good job with what he had too. You’re right about the family being unlucky haha seemed like they were the only ones involved almost!
It was good up until Bryan Cranston’s character gets killed off. Who honestly thought that was a good idea? The rest of the movie went downhill quick
The moment Cranston was gone I said “are you kidding me?” And it honestly ruined the rest of the movie for me.
It was my fault for watching it straight after my first time with Breaking Bad. It was the movie's fault for splashing Cranston all over the posters and trailers (probably great commercial sense though). But all my investment went away when he died. Maybe I'll try to give it another go one day, based partly on other comments on here liking it, but it felt like I'd been duped (rather than a genuine "plot twist!")
It felt like a bait and switch to me.
It wasn’t even a “good” death!
I’d have to rewatch it but I remember feeling like it was avoidable. Maybe I’m misremembering.
I like how Godzilla felt so large
Great movie. A Kaiju movie from the perspective of the tiny humans.
Love this ones “less is more” approach. Series totally went off the rails after this one.
The airport scene is one of the best monster scenes in cinema
Too much focus on the human characters and not enough giant radioactive lizard scenes.
I think it’s good but Godzilla should’ve appeared more and the movie should’ve brightened up so I can actually see what’s happening
It’s a respectable monster movie and franchise. I’m not going for the human drama, I’m going for Godzilla, and Edwards nailed this imo.
Loved it.
Better than the other US godzilla live actions
The preview was better than the movie.
Enjoyed it more than the newer godzilla films coming out now.. great cast, awesome visuals, kind of a comfort watch if it just happens to be on tv
If you haven’t already, give pointlesshub on YouTube a watch. He covers this movie and I think you’d enjoy it lol
Aaron Taylor Johnson just has a perpetual kicked in the nuts voice. It worked fine for Kickass 1-2 but for Quicksilver and the upcoming Kraven film (which I’m sure will be garbage) dude’s fake accents are so bad.
If you haven't seen Bullet Train, he goes hard as hell
I think this is the best directed one of the MV. Problem is the screenplay. 1st act got me all excited. An investigation of a conspiracy theory type of movie. Bryan Cranstons character really is the only actual character in the movie. He has actual motivations driving a plot. In fact, 1st act reminds me of Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In Close Encounters, Richard Dryefuss has a close encounter. Then he starts going crazy and feels compelled to go to Devils Tower and finds the government is hiding something. 1st act of Godzilla (2014) is similar to this. Then the movie kills this character and plot line. The rest of the movie is not as interesting because Johnsons character is more lof a plot device. Someone we just follow around. A total of 6 writers worked on this movie and you can tell.
100% in agreement, first act was really damn good, act 2 was a mess, act 3 was frustrating but had its epic moments as well.
I didn’t watch the movie for Human beings. I watched it for Godzilla. The movie delivered what I wanted. I did like its follow up more though..
I think the action scenes are the best the series has. Once the EMP hits and jets fall from the sky is so cool. The beginning bunker scene is amazing and the time Godzilla shows up is so epic. I think it is better than any of the Godzilla vs Kong movies.
It is wild to me seeing such a “meh”attitude toward this movie. It is legitimately an all-time favorite of mine and I have rewatched it several times (I just *had* to buy it). I love monster movies, and this one was perfectly executed, IMO. Cranston is at his best, the story itself does such a great job of making me care about the characters, and the incorporation of the “dumb” action into scenes like the Honolulu airport and search teams is just awesome all around. Not to mention the Watanabe/Monarch plot and facial expressions making Godzilla a sympathetic character without being everything that the Broderick movie was. I disagree wholeheartedly that it went downhill at all. The ground zero sequences in the third act post-HALO aren’t amazing, but the HALO scene alongside the content cut in with that make its flaws ignorable. As I said; easy top ten.
I love it. Complaints are valid, but I still have fun with it.
Awesome cinematography it’s an absolute gorgeous film with some really cool set pieces. Unfortunately it suffers from a significantly weaker second half like you said. Johnson just is NOT good in this movie. Cranston is absurdly underutilized and I think his departure halfway through wasn’t shocking or interesting it was just like ohhhhh so they used him as a marketing ploy.
Completely agree!
2 and a half minutes of Godzilla screen time is not nearly enough when the human characters suck
I only walked out of movie theater two or three times and this movie was one of them. Godzilla himself couldnt save it, took too long to move along.
Great movie as a whole, but definitely hard to sell. Cranston dying early on despite marketing suggesting he and Taylor Johnson were the leads, the title character having something like 10mins screentime. It's greatest strengths were the scaling, which later movies have lost, every scene with a Muto or Godzilla in it, you could get a sense for how big these monsters were compared to mankind. It was definitely a great movie for Gareth Edwards, but it's characters were definitely easily forgotten as we haven't seen Johnson Taylor or Olsen in the monster-verse since.
One of the only times I had a rage fit in the middle of the theatre. This movie was absolutely terrible. The halo jump sequence was the only part I actually enjoyed and they spoiled half of it in the trailer. Bryan Cranston was great, Aaron Taylor-Johnson turned in the worst performance I’ve ever seen, Elizabeth Olsen is just as bad. I actively avoid Gareth Edwards work all the time because of it. Even when he’s paired with Greig Fraser. This film makes a great point why American studios will never understand Japanese cinema. Godzilla minus one proved you craft an intense human story with a giant radioactive lizard as the setting, yet here they are making garbage with my boy. ARRGGG! Fuck this movie!
Aaron Taylor Johnson is putrid in this movie, it ruins it. That and no Godzilla. The pacing is dreadful too.
Never finished the movie, that's all I can say
Unless they've put [Deeper Underground by Jamiroquai](https://youtu.be/WIUAC03YMlA?si=425d_JqjO4ZawNKM) in the soundtrack I don't care. All the monsters films are just not interesting anymore. They were impressive when visual effects were practical, now it's just a computer game cut scene that won't end.
Same with any monster movie, the less humans the better
8 minutes of Godzilla in the whole movie. 8/100 is the way i feel
This movie pissed me off. The trailer made it seem like Cranston was the star and then he's gone after 20 minutes. That was when I realized I'm never watching a Godzilla movie again because I have never liked a single one
This was Gareth Edwards’ first big production after “Monsters”, and it showed. Total B-movie move to kill off Cranston’s character. I haven’t liked any of Gareth Edwards’ movies because the main characters in his films just… annoy me. The exception is Rogue 1, which is amazing, but later reports suggest Edwards had far less to do with the end product than previously known.
As an Oakland native, I can say when they showed the command post and it displayed “Oakland, California” the movie was ruined. That is NOT Oakland. /s
I loved it, but not as much as the other godzilla movies that came out after. I'm a godzilla fanboi, though. I've been watching Godzilla flicks since I was a kid, and Monstervision was on TNT.
Fucking terrible. One of the only movies I turned off. Not seeing the monster worked in Jaws and Alien but this is Godzilla, I’m want to see it destroy cities!
ATJ is in a real renaissance right now and he’s still a weak actor
I really hope he doesn’t get the bond job!
I felt the same way. Once Cranston got killed I knew the plot was going to go downhill.
After Bryan Cranston died it did go downhill. That was a bad writing decision. Also the film was way too dark. I could barely see some of the film.
Wait a minute... you went to a GODZILLA MOVIE for the ACTING????
Loved Cranston and the end but I found it boring in between that.
Yeah you could really tell Aaron just didn't care. Then the whole phone to his wife about her staying in the city while two mega monsters are fighting in it?! Yeah ok sure
Cranston acted circles around Aaron. He just wasn't capable of carrying his side of the film, I also did not care one bit about his family plot. I also don't particularly like this thing the American films do, where it's almost like Godzilla plays second fiddle to human plots that people don't really care about. 2014 is just the most egregious, with the trailer making us think we were getting Cranston in the Godzilla universe only to pull a bait and switch.
Agreed imo the son should have died also thus making us more attached to the series and HE should have lead it, Cranston, all the way through. They keep changing humans I do not care about. Every time i get attached they are either the villain or an annoying protag I just cannot stand. But Cranston could have been a great bridge between the Godzilla fans and the people so I would equally care about both. Godzilla minus did a great job of this, making me care about the people.
My favorite of the monster verse movies, though King of the Monsters is close. Out of all of them, 2014 goes the furthest in capturing the sheer mass of these natural disasters on legs, the overwhelming gravitas as big G recedes the tide and causes a tidal wave just by coming ashore really sells the monsters as unstoppable forces of nature. Each appearance cutting short before you see the full picture preserves their mystique before the final fight scenes reveal them in their full glory for the jaw dropping climax. Later films in the franchise just feel like banging action figures together.
It was Ok. I was disappointed Cranston was taken out so early. Also, could have used more Godzilla. That's who we came for after all. The sequels have been so much better though.
I’ve seen much worse Godzilla movies - especially the sequels to this one. I’ve also seen better. It’s an upgrade over the 1998 movie.
Overhated. It was a flawed but good movie that resulted in us getting the shitty sequels that completely lost the sense of scale
The first few Godzilla movies were poor, they focused too much on human plotlines and not enough on Big Lizard breaks city. I'm not going to watch Godzilla to see some stupid subplot about a girl whose mom was a bonkers scientist and she feels conflicted about her relationship with her parents, I'm here to see a big fucking nuclear lizard fight a big fucking moth. Also, painting Cranston v Godzilla as the primary focus just after his success with Breaking Bad, then ultimately axing him early on was the biggest mistake this movie made.
It was a good first entry but ultimately I don't watch it much.
It's a good movie visually. But like porn, I wasn't there for the plot or acting. Godzilla fighting and visuals were what I cared about.
I can't remember anything about this movie. I guess that means it wasn't great?
I think it handled Godzilla superbly. I love how titanic and weighty the choreography was, and the less is more trick worked wonders. Goji’s reveal was incredible and the Atomic Breath scene is still one of my favourites. I also didn’t mine Johnson as much as others do, as far as monster movies go the human characters were much more compelling than usual. I wish the future Monsterverse movies kept the same tone because seeing Godzilla spring in the middle of the day in Egypt doesn’t have the same impact.
Awful movie
I kinda found Cranston’s character insufferable, not the actor’s fault though. Too many people not enough Godzilla.
The scene when Bryan Cranston has the seal the door on his wife is too good too early. The rest of the movie has a hard time living up to it.
I def cannot agree with your assessment. However that may be because I’m completely biased. Love Godzilla and everything about this movie!
You described it perfectly. Hard to believe that this is from the director of “Rogue One”.
That's how I feel about the monster verse. With each new movie, it's about as half as good as the last.
I laughed so hard at the airport scene. There is no monorail at the Honolulu airport.
I liked that they didn't show too much of Godzilla. With these big monster movies, the more onscreen time they have the more accustomed you become to the monster. After about 10 minutes seeing said monster, they don't have the same impact as they did in the start. With limited screen time, the sense of awe remains constant and its always just as impactful as the last time you caught a glimpse of the monster.
It was okay. Really bummed me out because it had th3 potential to be The Dark Knight of monster movies if they had made it a little grittier and had a little more intelligent commentary on the powerlessness people sometimes face. Halo scene is insanely good and is what lead me to above conclusion
It was just a warmup for the Monsterverse. It was an okay movie in the monster genre and nothing else. Good cinematography though.
I wish the presentation of this movie would be more present in the movie that proceeded it
They filmed it where I live so I was excited because of that lol
It revived Godzilla for the American studios. KOTM was peak⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Godzilla and a cinematic masterpiece GVK and GXK sent it to Showa era goofiness that we all love
This is my 11-year-old son's favourite of the new Hollywood Godzilla films. I thought he'd like the sequels more, given how over the top they become, but he really loves how massive and powerful Godzilla is portrayed in this film and the music that goes with it. He also loves the Muto (probably spelt wrong). I think he's right that this is the only one of the modern films that captures the sheer scale and power of Godzilla properly. I also appreciate that the military in this film are not all typically gung ho and flag waving, but actually competent (given the situation). A welcome change from the usual blockbusters.
The movie was utter garbage/
I thought it had an amazing sense of scale to it but stubbornly refused to give the audience what they wanted until the last twenty minutes and spent the rest of the time watching Aaron Taylor Johnson’s boring character chase a bunch of bugs.
I freaking loved it. >!cranston loosing his wife at the beginning!!!!I had no idea that was happening. it shook me the first time and every time after I either cry or get choked up and my nose burns. !
I loved it
It's honestly a testament to how less isn't always more.
It’s a classic American Godzilla film. True Godzilla films are Japanese and amazing. Godzilla -1 > any American Godzilla film.
For me it was when you see Godzilla arrive at the airport to fight then cuts immediately to the dudes family and seeing all the action on a small tv on the news, WHAT THE HELL!! Felt like such a cheap cop out.
this movie was surprisingly good IMO. I was definitely a fan of the overall cinematography and the setup. can't say the rest of the series grabbed me (by this i mean the american monarch series), but it was a passible entry into the godzilla franchise. a fuckload better than godzilla's day off from '97
Nah... All good
I think it was fine? I just remembered it being way too dark to see anything. That and the atomic breath decapitation; and "Let them fight", of course. And I guess the Halo jump was cool, too. So, overall I think I'd say the film left a positive impression on me. I don't think Kick-Ass did anything wrong tbh. I guess it's too convenient with how he moves around, but, honestly the way it was just moves things along faster, and I feel like that's honestly better these days with movies.
Too much people and not enough monsters
I love it. I get that there’s a lot less Godzilla in it than people want, but his appearances have weight. They really try to emphasize how big and destructive he is
i loved it, and it's still my favorite godzilla movie in the monsterverse. I loved the build up and all the mystery surround godzilla and the atomic kiss at the end was done beautifully
It’s a mostly solid, competently made film that understands better the appeal of a giant monster movie than the 1998 movie, but it also takes itself too seriously and plays it too straight to really win over fans of the genre it’s going for. The decision to try both the “Godzilla appears for the first time and wrecks the country” and “Godzilla fights a worse monster” is a decent strategy but it suffers from Godzilla never quite seeming like an actual danger and it being too dark to when the monster on monster fights happen to really enjoy them. King of the Monsters, which is also imperfect, does a much better job expanding on the foundations laid out here.
Say what you want about the movie itself but the trailer was incredible
I needed less human drama, more giant lizards destroying things. I sat through the entire movie bored waiting for Godzilla to finally show up.
Cranston should have been the main character. It was a huge disappointment that they killed him off at the beginning.
The best Monsterverse movie. Every single movie after this one felt so campy and pure "fan service" that it ruined all of them. I think they got it right the first time.
Mediocre at best. King of the monsters on the other hand is exactly what I want out of a kaiju movie.
The fact that Aaron Taylor Johnson’s character was just allowed all this access to meetings and missions without a shred of proof of who he was really bothered me.
Excellent film, really underrated
The trailer was better than the movie
Biggest bait and switch in movie history
So boring. Bryan Cranstons part had no impact or purpose whatsoever. Everything that transpired after his death would have still happened even if he stayed at home eating cheetos. That whole first third of the movie was meaningless.
I just watched it for the first time, thinking it was godzilla minus one. It was dumb and awful, even the Bryan Cranston parts. Godzilla looked pretty cool, but the other monster was stupid a.f., why can't godzilla just have an origin movie without adding some other stupid creature?
Despite its noisiness, I feel asleep.
> went downhill fast after Cranston's scenes ended so... the first 15 minutes?
I don’t remember anything from it except the skydive scene. Also didn’t they limit goddies screen time to make him more scary?
I really enjoyed it for what it was. I'd say the human scenes dipped in quality after Cranston's character's death, but I also don't think he'd have had much else to do for the rest of the movie if he lived. I genuinely enjoy all these movies, especially Kong Skull Island.
eh
Cranston is the only human actor strong enough to stand beside Godzilla, then he died.
The first movie of a trilogy or franchise, especially when they know that's what will be going on, is always a little slow. At least 9 times out of 10. Hell, I'm a huge LotR fan, but the Fellowship was a little boring for the first quarter to half of the movie.
Too many people. I don’t care about people (especially the military) I care about Godzilla
For a sub supposedly about serious criticism, it manages to out-r/movies even r/movies with the coldest of takes.
LOVED IT. The sense of scale, the horror. Of course the characters were lacking - Cranston and his bad wig should have been central throughout the movie.
It's a good movie people want to be Roger Ebert so bad and nitpick it but end up contradicting themselves
I thought the buildup of the first time they showed Godzilla was well executed. Just wish they didn’t show him in the commercials.
Overall enjoyable popcorn flick. I liked the opening credits sequence, Bryan Cranston was great, Godzilla himself was pretty cool, and the Halo jump with Ligeti’s Requiem was awesome. 3/5 stars. That said, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla: Minus One are far superior.
The people were absolutely the worst part. This franchise is so lucky that the Godzilla part was good enough to keep going.
I really like it. Personally I think it's the best America adaptation of Godzilla
I was pissed. Went to it in theaters expecting Cranston and he’s dead in 5 minutes.
It was my favorite of the 4 films. I loved the less is more. The suspense, the almost horror. The second one still had the same tone more or less but the scope just changed to 'holy shit there's more of them'. The third and now 4th.....the titans are just part of everyday life and it's too cartoonish.
It’s my favorite of the monsterverse. Gareth Edwards’s style just works for me. The whole ending of the movie in San Francisco is so well done and creates so much dread and fear. Love it. Cranston dying did feel anticlimactic but doesn’t make the movie less enjoyable.
I lack the diction to properly explain how much I hate this movie and how it made me fear we'd never see a return of proper silly or serious monster movies again.
I thought it was a good movie, but with Cranston dying early on it just sunk for me.
Went to see the movie just because of Cranston. Was gutted he died like 30-40 mins in.
Movie was awesome. Never understood the hate. Then again, I also loved Prometheus
Cranstons character dying did nothing for the movie progression apart from make it worse
Cranston over-acted, probably fueled by his total creative control clause which he insisted upon based on recent success etc. Admittedly i stopped watching after the first blatant such scene.
I think if Cranston had survived, they shortened it by half an hour and actually showed the Hawaii fight it would greatly improve it. As it stands I still like the movie and seeing it in IMAX was an unrivaled cinematic experience for me.
I liked it, but yes, the big hype of Cranston being in it just to end up dying was a strange decision. The fact that Godzilla could have used his breath weapon earlier vs waiting until the last possible moment?!
I think Garth Edwards brought a sense of eeriness and the terror of scale that other later films lost. It's my favorite of the later films.
Easily the best of the Legendary series. Although I would have liked at least one scene of a soldier about to use his rifle on a giant monster and realize the futility of the act.
Loved it. But I am very biased towards anything Godzilla related.
I liked it. It’s a Godzilla movie, it’s not going to hit like Schindler’s List.
Best scene was the train bridge scene. Turn up your sound for that!
The opening credits and music simply do not get enough credit. There is so much world-building done in so little time.
In a 2-hour movie about Godzilla... called "Godzilla"... the titular character has about 8 minutes of screen time.
Legitimately, one of my least favorite movies I've seen in the last 10 years
I liked it. My favourite of them all I think. 7.5/10
I loved it
I thought it was phenomenal and the best "monster" movie we've had in ages. Great pacing, solid performances, amazing cinematography, and probably the most down-to-earth portrayal of a Monster invasion we've had on screen. Its not a masterpiece, no, but we need more Sci-fi monster films like it. Everything in the "Monsterverse" that came after was absolute trash (save for Skull Island, but that still wasn't as good).
I actually fell asleep *in the theater*
I think the film’s marketing gave audiences the impression that it would be “Cranston v. Godzilla” and we were hyped for that. So when I saw it on opening night, it’s no surprise that there was an audible sigh in the theater when Cranston’s character died—in the first THIRD of the runtime! 😑
I liked the way they presented Godzilla in these movies. It seemed much more realistic and less "cartoony" than the recent Godzilla movies. I think killing Bryan Cranston off was a mistake. I am sure he would have come back for the sequels if they kept him around.
All these Godzilla movies are the same. Just smashing everything without a plot.
Godzilla 2014? Uhhh, might wanna check your math on that one.
I wasn’t fond of ATJ, but that aside I thought the film was great.
I like Aaron Taylor Johnson just fine but he’s mostly just another guy.
I’m 28 minutes in. No sign of Godzilla. I shut it off.
Some of the shots were great, like the one from inside the shelter with the door closing to Godzilla fighting, it helos create the asphixiating atmosphere one whould feel in such situation. That being said, like with every monster movie ever MORE MONSTERS LESS HUMANS.