Review: Godzilla

Darkness and largely grey colour palette frustratingly obscures the monsters in this 2014 creature feature - and hard to say whether that was a deliberate design choice or reflects budgetary restrictions. That's a shame because it makes it difficult to fully appreciate the scale of them and the destruction they cause. And it doesn't really feel like the deal with this movies is being honoured - the original wasn't afraid to show off the monsters - even if the reveal looked a bit cheap.

The exposition when it comes is very welcome as for much of the movie I was left as baffled as some of the characters as to what was going on. I'd paid to see Godzilla (admittedly not very much) and he or she takes their sweet time to make their appearance.

The story and acting is about as bland and predictable as can be. It's not really the fault of the cast, as they are only there to react against largely unseen monsters.  The two hour running time doesn't help its case either.

There are nice little musical steals/riffs from other movies e.g. the use of something like 2001's choral score during a parachute scene is inventive but one monster's roar feels like Jurassic Park's T-Rex uttered it first.

Verdict: Mediocre monster movie.