The 2014 version of Godzilla finally moves the mesmerizing movie monster of yore out of the downtown areas of Japan and into the United States. Not that this hadn’t happened once before, but that version was fairly wretched.
This one is not.
Adorned with excellent special effects, actual characters, and an eye for dramatic visual shots, this Godzilla carries the burden of its cinematic history effortlessly, not hesitating to reference it, but not letting that history be an anchor on this one. Similarly, the monsters exhibit impressive powers, including Godzilla’s trademark halitosis, but upgraded with Hollywood’s best efforts.
And while perhaps kaiju-movie purists may object, for this viewer it was a bit of a relief to see that humans can actually affect their fate, even as monsters older than God have a go at each other. Perhaps this is the latest message from the series; in previous incarnations, the message was that nuclear weapons and power hold humanity helpless; in this entry, we’re told that, with effort, we can save ourselves.
But it would be more effective if some bad guys, interested in self-enrichment, had gotten their just rewards. This doesn’t happen.
But for those of us who enjoy a good dustup, this surely fits the bill, particularly as the monsters wrestle about in the gloom of burning buildings. Perhaps sublime seems a strange word to use here, but the power and terror are classically, in the Burkean sense, sublime, much like the Balrog of Lord of the Rings, both seen and unseen, letting our imaginations believe in their greater power, just out of reach of our eyes.
And getting there is really fun.
