Here's what you need to know; Joe Brody has long suspected that the cause of the nuclear disaster that killed his wife was covered up, but when he and his son Ford return to the site in search of answers, they learn the terrifying truth. Something huge is about to be revealed, as forces far older and more powerful than they could possibly imagine emerge from the depths of the Earth, forces humanity is powerless to stop.
Godzilla makes a difference in it's opening titles; as the nuke tears up the islands, and the screen is blasted white, the title fades in slowly, particles fall from the top of screen, as if to invoke the idea of ash or debris, and the distant, echoed sound of screaming people can be heard, this few seconds says so much about the film, the invoking of ash or debris is to invoke images of natural disasters; Volcanoes, Earthquakes, which is aided by the people screaming, conveyed a sense of terror and tragedy that would come from such a disaster. It's an incredibly subtle touch, but it's one I noticed even back in the IMAX, and it does a fantastic job of setting up the film's tone. Plus, that intro reel with the archive footage and the fucking awesome music was great, and sets up the Monarch story line in the film, showing Godzilla being nuked in 1954. It's then that we get the first of a few homages to other films, this time it's Jurassic Park, as a helicopter flies over a dense jungle, only accompanied by ominous and unsettling music. It's at this point that we are introduced to one of the film's major themes, and it's something that can be easily missed; the detail that the miners dug up the MUTO's thinking they'd found Uranium. In a broader sense, it was Man that woke up the MUTO's, two of the film's major themes are the Arrogance of Man and the Insignificance of Man, Man waking up the MUTO's is down to his Arrogance, the miners disturbing their spores caused the male MUTO to wake up and start burrowing for Janjira, otherwise it's safe to believe that they'd have stayed dormant. The Insignificance is also something that can be observed here, as they walk through the cave among the enormous bones, bones that belonged to a creature that no doubt completely dwarfed humans, but that's something we'll get back to. Joe Brody serves to give the events of the film emotional weight, as the Janjira plant is destroyed, and he is forced to seal the door, before saying a crushing goodbye to his doomed wife. This is a heavy scene, you can't help but feel that immense sadness as Joe sees his wife on the other side of the door, she's two feet from him, but he's completely powerless to save her, and the film excellently conveys that hopelessness. When you next see Joe, he lives alone in an apartment littered with books and newspapers, the walls are covered in newspaper clippings and posters on scientific subjects like echolocation, the only thing missing it red string to tie it all together. Over the years Joe has clearly let his grief and guilt drive him insane, but at the same time his situation is entirely understandable, as if he wants to find any reason his wife is dead that doesn't fall down to him. What makes Joe such a great character is that motivation, he's a crazy truth seeker, but at the heart of his crusade is a simple desire to understand why his wife is dead, while the only other thing he has in his life, his son, now has his own family, and doesn't want to drag them into his crazy conspiracies. These are two characters that handled an incredible loss in two different, but entirely understandable ways, one trying to forget it and leave that pain behind, while the other has let that pain consume him and drive him insane. At the heart of Godzilla is that personal story, one that starts with Joe's wife dying, and ends with Ford being reunited with his wife, through this personal drama we are shown an apocalyptic scenario, and that emotional anchor adds a huge amount of realism to that apocalyptic scenario.
As Serizawa summarises in the film's best line, this film represents a conflict between Man and Nature, and that becomes very evident in the Janjira quarantine zone. The city is eerie, devoid of humans, and slowly being retaken by the land, overgrown with plants, and inhabited only with animals like wolves, a subtle signifier that Nature is going to win in this battle with Man. Meanwhile in the plant Man continues to meddle with Nature, studying the MUTO as it grows, inadvertently letting it become a threat to humanity's existence, because of not just scientific curiosity, but arrogance, a belief that the situation was under control, when it so massively wasn't. And when we get our first really good look of the MUTO, that arrogance and our actual insignificance is perfectly encapsulated, as Ford looks up in amazement at the massive creature climbing up out of the pit, and its true size is revealed. The film has several of these shots, with humans in the foreground, and the Kaiju in the background, to show the audience how small they are. It takes a good half an hour before the film even gets to something that can be considered a flaw, and that is the moment Joe dies. I said in my review of the film that his departure causes the film to lose a lot of its emotional weight, with every scene he's in before that serving to make us attached to this character, only do just have him die. On a lot of reflection however, it actually makes sense, a lot of film follows the idea that Man is insignificant, that larger forces are at play in the world, and that we are relatively unimportant. Joe's death fits right into that theme, as human life is so fragile, Nature can take away lives with ease, and Man cannot stop that, Man cannot stop a Hurricane or Earthquake, Ford cannot stop Nature from taking his father from him, and Joe being a character we have become attached to, it's almost like a reality check, that in the real world people we love can and will die, and that that's beyond our control. So while on the surface Joe's premature death is disappointing for the audience, on a deeper level, it serves this film's themes excellently. Let's jump ahead to Hawaii, and check out a visual metaphor, a close up of a lizard, with Soldiers in the background not paying it any attention, it's a clever reversal, as now we see a creature that is tiny and insignificant to us, just as we are tiny and insignificant to the Kaiju. It's in Hawaii that I have my only flaw with the film; and like the Joe Brody death, I understand what it means, but I have a much harder time justifying it. Keep in mind that when a disaster happens like an Earthquake, you never see the disaster itself, usually only the aftermath on the news, much like you only see the aftermath of the Honolulu fight, destroyed buildings, displaced people, and news coverage showing glimpses of the fight itself. It's realistic that we don't see the destruction as it happens, but even I will admit it always disappoints me to see the build up, the MUTO causing chaos at the airport, and seeing Godzilla coming, the spines, the tail, the immense size. The shot in the terminal as the explosion rips through the airport is immaculate, as you see the MUTO, the fireball tearing up the airport, as people in the terminal stare in panic and terror, screaming, before a foot comes down, and the thud from that foot silences every other noise. The panning reveal of Godzilla is so awesome, I tear up every time, the film gets you so excited to finally see Godzilla throwing down, and then it cuts away. Even I'll admit that that was bullshit, the film deliberately leading you to expect a brawl, then taking it away and not giving you anything. In fact I think the film would have benefited from actually having at least a bit more there, maybe a taste of what the fight is like, to really get people excited for the finale, a free sample to get them really worked up, props to the film for being brave enough to not give us a thing, but it was disappointing.
Now let's jump ahead to one of my favourite scenes in the film, one I brought up in my review of the film, the Golden Gate Bridge scene. The scene starts out somewhat foreboding, with the bridge partially obscured by rain and cloud, and everything appears fine, with the police aiding people along the bridge, and the kids on the bus getting all excited by the military presence on the bridge, but like the foot in the airport, everything comes to a stop with a single noise, a distant roar. Godzilla's spines emerge from the fog, ploughing towards the warships under the bridge, but they stop before impact. Godzilla's spines already look big in this scene, but then it's quite excellently revealed that that's just his tail, as the much larger spines on his back start lifting the Warships out of the war, like they're toys. In the panic, several ships fire their missiles, that go off course and hit the bridge, but before the bridge takes more fire, Godzilla rises, blocking the stray missiles, and casting a literal and metaphorical shadow over the people on the bridge with his sheer size. When I think of the Lovecraftian horror of Godzilla I always think of this scene, because there is no better example in the film. Godzilla may be simply an animal, but to us, to Man, he might as well be a God, a creature that casts humanity into complete insignificance with his very existence, when Godzilla attacks the Golden Gate Bridge, it's just one great shot, after another, after another, as the people on the bridge, and by extension the audience, bears witness to the enormity of the monster. The camera is always kept at ground level, and Edwards uses extreme low angles, and deliberately keeps Godzilla's entire form out of the shot, to impose a sense of scale upon the audience, and to enforce that Lovecraftian terror in them. The children are screaming as Godzilla destroys the bridge, put yourself in that position, a few dozen people at least were just killed by a creature so impossible and monstrous, how scared out of your mind would you be. How oppressive would the feeling of insignificance be as you looked up at this God, it would be enough to drive you mad. Also notice how ineffective the bridge is at stopping his progress, in the battle of Man and Nature, the bridge and Godzilla, Godzilla, and Nature, wins. Like a Hurricane, Man's creations are not safe from Nature's forces. As the scene goes on, and fighter jets start falling from the sky, Nature's assertion of dominance over Man is only made more pressing. So far Man has done nothing constructive; he's inadvertently woken up a MUTO, he's failed to contain the MUTO, and all his military might has failed to stop the MUTO, but why stop there, why not break out the nukes. On the surface it's a predicted response to the situation that you know is going to fail, but once again, there's more going on beneath the surface. Riding the line of Man vs Nature again, it's that a nuclear response is entirely predicted that is the problem, Man can't just let Nature do its thing and sort itself out, he wants to believe that he has power over the situation, because he is arrogant, and he thinks that he can assert that dominance he thinks he has using his most powerful weapon, only so far all he has done is fuck things up, and that trend will continue. Now rather than the Nuke a safe distance away from the city, it's buried right in the middle of the city, where it can kill thousands of civilians, with no guarantee that it will even bother the Monsters.
The best line in the film is said by Serizawa, and it isn't "Let Them Fight," like everyone say it is, it's what he says immediately before that, "The arrogance of Man is thinking Nature is in our control, and not the other way around." The core of this film's themes is perfectly summarised in that line, Humanity thinks it's top dog, when we, like all other things, are at the mercy of Nature, not the other way around, guns, tanks and bombs are useless against a Hurricane, or an Earthquake, or any other force of Nature, which is what Godzilla and the MUTO's are in this film. All those burning tanks and Helicopters floating down the river were useless against the MUTO, and all that Nuke has done is make the situation worse, now putting a few thousand more lives at risk, and aiding the MUTO's in their plans to reproduce. Then there's the infamous HALO jump scene; Where the highlight we are treated to is hellish and ominous imagery, unsettling and intense music, and a fantastic point of view shot of the Monsters. What I actually like more than that scene however is the Godzilla reveal we are treated to in the final act, so let's set the scene. The music calms, the camera slowly pans upwards, a tails moves slowly through the fog, as the music remains slow and minimal, a flash of lightning reveals the silhouette of Godzilla, the effect of the fog and lightning is to capitalise on the other worldliness of Godzilla, a cosmically horrifying creature. His face emerges from the smoke, and he roars; I'm sure I've said how much that roar scared me in the IMAX, and I reckon that was the point. The music stops, and the film explodes with the sound of his roar, an intensely loud, prolonged roar, right at the audience's' faces, one that instils an intense sense of panic, an immediate, metaphorical reality bomb for the audience, Man cannot compete with God, in fact Man really should just get out of way, because it's about to go down. What follows is an excellent fight between Godzilla and the MUTO's, one the whole film has been building towards, and that we finally get to see. Far from flashy and fast, the fight is slow, simple physics from how massive the monsters are, and it actually gives the fight a sense of beauty, as the hits are slow to build, but carry an effective impact. This isn't Pacific Rim, the fighting is not intelligent, it's animalistic, raw, it's swiping of claws and thudding of insectoid limbs, nor is the fighting flashy, again, the impacts or slow, but heavy, and the destruction is believable. Like the Lovecraftian horror and the Golden Gate, this fight has one fantastic example of why it works, and it's also my second favourite moment in the film, behind the Godzilla airport reveal; as the MUTO closes in for the kill on Ford, his face is illuminated by a blue glow. Just imagine me watching that for the first time, and completely losing my mind. The music starts to build as the glow, still dim and ominous, moves through the darkness, along his tail, up his back, a flash of lightning shows Godzilla revving up the attack, the music builds to its climax, and Godzilla irradiates the shit out of the MUTO's face. The build is perfect, and the payoff is immensely satisfying, as the MUTO is literally flawed by it, and the soldiers on the ground stare up in amazement, and one correctly uses the phrase 'holy shit', which is probably what I said in the IMAX, if I said anything at all, and wasn't completely giddy from the pure awesomeness of the Atomic Breath. I actually prefer that use of the Atomic Breath to the admittedly stupidly badass kill at the end, when Godzilla rips the MUTO's mouth open and breathes fire down the her neck, not going to lie, that looked painful, and it was a badass kill.
This is an area I know people will have different opinions on, but I thought Godzilla's ending was perfect. With the exception of the Nuke, which somehow made it far enough away to not level the rest of the city, I mean, for that the boat it was on would have to be going about sixty knots, not very likely is it. Ignoring that very sizable hole, Godzilla's ending is perfect. Keeping in mind how relentlessly the film has enforced the notion that Nature is the one in control, and that Man is ultimately unimportant, it's brilliantly ironic that in the film's final moments, as Godzilla returns to the sea, the people of San Francisco cheer for him and call him a hero. Despite the events of the film; the destruction of several major cities, the loss of probably thousands of lives, and property damage in the billions of dollars, Godzilla is still a hero, he saved us, or at least that's how we interpret it, because ironically, we are still too arrogant to get it, Nature doesn't care about the plights of Man. In that arrogance is the film's greatest tragedy, we simply cannot see the world as it really is, we assign so much meaning to ourselves and our lives, and even a God destroying a few cities is too hard for us to understand, instead this God saved us, rather than just acting on its instincts, and inadvertently kind of helping us out in the process. That in a way makes this ending somewhat bittersweet, as Man has not learned from this cosmic reality check, and the mistakes that led to this disaster will inevitably be repeated. But the world has forever been changed by this event, now it knows the truth about monsters, and must learn to accept that reality, even if it doesn't learn from the mistakes that woke him up in the first place. It's in that arrogance that you also find hope, the natural order has been restored, not my Man, but by Godzilla, a force that arose, not to hunt his prey, but to save us from monsters, and with that order restored, he returns to the sea, there goes humanity's hero. The hope comes with the notion that Godzilla is out there, that should another MUTO show up, or humanity make another huge fuckup, Godzilla will set things right, and in that sense he truly is a hero, so long as he's alive, there is a force that can protect the order of nature, and by extension, protect us insignificant little monkeys. This is something I want to see explored in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I want to see a post Godzilla world that actually shows how Godzilla has changed it, it'd be cool to see a sort of Godzilla religion, or to see the reality of their insignificance actually start to sink in, as morbid as that sounds, it would provide a very different look at Godzilla, in a world of people that either fear him or worship him, either way they see his size and power and understand that he is bigger than them, metaphorically. As the film ends, and Godzilla's spines vanish beneath the waves, the sea is calm, as is the world, now that the threat has been taken care of. But you, the audience, know that Godzilla is down there, just as Man knows of his existence now, a fact that will, despite being delayed by our arrogance, change our perspective on ourselves and the world.
Here's the part where I have to admit that Godzilla's not perfect, so yeah, it's not prefect, but I don't care. Joe Brody's death is premature, but that's the point, even if it's disappointing, and no amount of apologia will make the airport fight make sense, but that's seriously it, I can even ignore the reason defying nuke, because I love this film, and probably give it more praise than it actually deserves, but I don't care. Godzilla is a film I have now seen seven times, and each time I've loved it more, even if the initial blind excitement of seeing my childhood hero monster in the IMAX becomes a more and more distant memory. Sure I wanted to see Godzilla tear shit up in this movie, but it instead offered me something I wasn't expecting; showing itself to be a surprisingly intelligent and meaningful film, something I appreciate infinitely more than simple, mindless fun. Godzilla is, as I've said before, the Godzilla film I didn't know I wanted, and as you'd expect me to say, it's absolutely a must watch.
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