Godzilla - The King of Monsters, saviour of the city. Finally Hollywood pays a true homage to Gojira.

Plot - 

Let me clarify that this movie is not about Godzilla vs Humans, it's treatment is completely different than the 1998's Roland Emmerich's Godzilla. This movie solely lies on the battle of the monsters where humans are made into just spectators unlike the previous film where humans were made to battle it out directly.

So, this time Godzilla is back but for a reason & that reason is what holds the movie till the end. He has his monster friends who call him out for a battle & humans are caught in between them. All the humans do is get shocked looking at the monsters in Japan followed by Honolulu & of course California. The story begins in 1999 where a nuclear plant is being attacked by an unknown force, we are introduced to Joe Brody played by Bryan Cranston who is the first one to detect the unusual events that occurs. The attack results in a mysterious meltdown of the nuclear reactor leaving Brody's wife dead. Now Joe Brody, the Hollywood's most conventional be-the-only-person-to-know-it-all, continues his search for the truth behind the nuclear meltdown. 15 years later, the truth is revealed & it comes with it's own price. The monsters get unleashed & what follows forms the entire film.

Movie -

The first 15 minutes of the film starts as a prologue with the events that occur in the nuclear reactor. Then the story moves forward to the current times where the characters of Aaron-Taylor Johnson & Jennifer Olsen are introduced along with their son. Soon, Aaron has to leave for Japan to get his father who is currently been arrested for getting inside a prohibited zone. After the father-son reunite, they opt for their own journey back to the prohibited area in search for the truth. The entire first half is about introducing the main human characters & move the story forward along with them. Apart from Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Bryan Cranston there is Ken Watanabe to introduce the audience to the respective monsters as the story moves forward in it's own pace. The main character, Gojira aka Godzilla makes an entry only towards the end of the first half & it's a superb introduction scene for him.

The second half shifts to Las Vegas where all the monsters are headed to. All the attempts by humans to contain these monsters go in vain. The story moves in a brisk pace here as the audience anticipate a huge showdown between the monsters & any scenes before the final battle adds as a built up having a positive effect on the scenes that unfold. The audience get to view the three huge monsters, they get to sympathize with the big guy, they get a glimpse of human emotions & efforts to witness as well as do their part in this epic battle. The final showdown like I mentioned is epic & is worth all the wait. The movie ends on an open note & yes there'll be a sequel. But to the ones who expected an after credit scene, realized that it's not a Marvel movie a tad bit late.

Performances -

Bryan Cranston sets the mood of the film as the scientist & the father of Sam Brody. He forms the emotional involvement in the initial 15 minutes. Juliette Binoche is effective in her brief role. Aaron-Taylor Johnson puts up an honest effort to make up for all the scenes not featuring the monsters. Jennifer Olsen gets very little scope. Ken Watanabe gets limited exposure but all his scenes contribute majorly to the film.

Technical Aspects -

As usual it's done brilliantly. You get to see choppers to trains to submarines being played upon as broken toys, you get to see a tsunami, you get to see several money shots of Godzilla, all that money spent proves to be worthy. The 3D, well enhances the film.

Positives -

1. Godzilla himself.

2. The epic battle between Godzilla & the MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms)

3. The effective initial 15 minutes.

4. Portraying Gojira/Godzilla in it's original form nowhere like the 1998 version.

Negatives -

1. Godzilla has roughly about 20 minutes screen appearance & he's absent for the larger part.

2. MUTOs though positive additions to the movie remain unidentified creatures as far as the Indian audiences go. As happened with the audience in my theater, they seemed largely disconnected with MUTOs till the entry of the big guy.

3. Humans are turned into mere spectators throughout since the entire movie is about the battle between the three monsters. This could be a negative aspect for those people who expect  Godzilla vs Humans showdown.

The movie is typical Hollywood in all aspects, got way too many cheesy scenes, entire climax is heavily relied upon the battle that turns out to be epic & despite it's cheesiness what makes this movie so good is the fact they've got everything right this time. It's pretty clear whose side we are on, it's not the MUTOs, it's definitely not the humans...  yes it's the big guy, who gets all the sympathies followed by loud cheers as he gets up, walks towards the ocean & swims off.

Final Word -

This Godzilla is a true homage to the original Gojira series. He's the King of the Monsters & he's definitely the saviour of the city. GO FOR IT !!!

My Rating - 4/5