Latest American reboot of the venerable Japanese giant lizard franchise is leaps and bounds better then the memorably awful 1998 Ronald Emmerich version, but still.... One should remember that in Japan Godzilla actually became a kind of 'good guy' battling as he did an array of other giant monsters hell bent on smashing-up Tokyo. British director Gareth Edwards decided to go this rout with his film, as here Godzilla battles a couple of MUTO's (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism's), that look kind of like the aliens from Starship Troopers crossed with a Plymouth Prowler, as they tear up some Hawaiian resorts as well as San Francisco in their search for sources of radiation, which they somehow are said to live on, as in solely, as in no organic food, as in violates basic biology.
The film kills off its most interesting character early on, Bryan Cranston as an obsessed scientist, and leaves us with terminally bland leading man Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and his equally bland love interest Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins do show up occasionally, but are left with little to do. The summer blockbuster, with rare exceptions such as Gravity (which wasn't actually released in the summer, but rather in October) has largely lost its ability to awe, there's impressively animated CG monsters and wanton destruction on a large scale here, but basically no emotional or story investment. I hear that based on the supposed strength of this Godzilla Gareth Edwards has been taped to direct one of the new Star Wars films, which judging form this will likely by technically proficient, and competently structured, but lacking in soul. **1/2
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