GODZILLA review

If you were born at some point during the '80s, then you probably remember the 1998 Godzilla. In the wake of "Jurassic Park," the mere idea of a brand new Godzilla movie that utilized CGI effects was quite exciting, especially when you were a kid. And honestly? As a 10 year old, I was just fine with that "Godzilla." I didn't know what else to expect. It was, more-or-less, like another Jurassic Park. Did I want more Jurassic Park? Absolutely.

Of course, ever since the release of the '98 version, the movie's reputation has not been too great. Critics hated it, audiences have mostly dismissed it. This is what made this new "Godzilla" film so intriguing. If they're going to make another one of these films, they can't screw it up again.... right? They have to actually make "Godzilla" stay true to the original Japanese versions combine that with modern visual effects and make it something that audiences will flock to. The question remained: how do you make a good modern-day Godzilla movie?

Well, it seems relative newcomer Gareth Edwards wanted to model the film after a highly successful blockbuster film. And luckily, he picked the right one. The first one really. Steven Speilberg's Jaws.

Ugh, let me just skip the pretense already...

This new Godzilla film is miles better than the 1998 version and, I think, a lot better than some people are giving it credit for. It's wonderfully paced and it delivers big time on the action and the thrills. There's solid acting all around, though Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the weak link of the bunch. I never thought the movie lost its human element either. All the scenes in San Francisco with Godzilla and those two MUTO thingies were from the point of view of Taylor-Johnson's character as well as other characters that were in the middle of the action. I think the overall point of the movie is how mankind always wants to control the environment they're in and in this particular situation, ultimately, they had to let mother nature go ahead and do its thing. At a certain point, there was nothing they could do but watch Godzilla go HAM on these MUTOs.

The movie's not perfect, but this is a monster movie, fellas. Again, like with Pacific Rim, I got what I paid for. I enjoyed both movies fairly equally though, a year later, I do think I may have graded Pacific Rim too highly.

So I give a B+ to this movie and a retroactive B+ to Pacific Rim.

I'm sorry about this lousy review but I've been sitting on this movie for weeks and have not really had the chance to really take the time and really think about it. Ultimately, there's not a whole lot to think about. Though I will say it had some striking visuals for being a monster movie.

This is probably the worst review I've written since 2010. Again, very sorry.

Grade: B+