Godzilla 2014 preview review

Well, what do you think?

For me, I can tell you that I like it! It seems, dark, serious, and no joke! Godzilla looks amazing, not like that iguana/raptor looking thing from 98...oh no....THIS IS GODZILLA! I grew up on this stuff. My father used to take me to the movies in Washington Heights to see Godzilla films when they were finally released here in the US. I used to look through the TV Guide every week to see if they were playing any Godzilla movies on the TV...for those of you who are very young...we only had like 14 channels....And let's not forget those Friday afternoon Godzilla marathons on channel 9 the day after Thanksgiving. I used to eat a left over turkey sandwich as I watched Godzilla fight either King Kong, or Hedorah, or that big Lobster thingy in the ocean....awesome.

Enough of my rant regarding my glee….let’s get into the meat of it.
First you see these soldiers being given instructions before their mission. At first you think this is just another military film, but as they dive off the plane with those red streams of smoke trailing behind them (actually made me think of that dive out of the Enterprise in JJ Abrams first Star Trek), you can see this was something darker than a war with mere humans. It looked apocalyptic. Hearing the soldier’s breath as he is hurtling towards the earth, you wonder when he’s going to open his parachute…but he keeps falling. You see through his eyes a city in complete ruins. Then you start making out a mammoth form of a creature. The spikes on the back are trademark….you know what that is…

Screen goes black and then you start seeing the people in the film in their situations, at least glimpses of it. Children running out of school, explosions in an airport, a train being literally torn apart, people hanging on to dear life….dear God that looked so real. You see glimpses of the emotions the stars of the film are experiencing. It’s horror. It’s concern. It’s urgency. Something has gone terribly wrong, and people are dying as a result. You see a bird’s eye view of the train from earlier smashed like a tin can with dead bodies littered all over the field. At first you can’t make it out but that’s exactly what that is. The music was making me feel like I want to take a good look at Godzilla. You know He is causing all of this.

Screen goes dark again and out of ashes and smoke of a city completely destroyed you see His form emerge. I WAS IMPRESSED. He looks different and scary…yet he is definitely Godzilla. All of the trademark features were there, just as they were had this creature been actually real. That is the plus side of CGI effects. They can make something look so real and tangible that there would be no mistaking the authenticity of it. No rubber suit here. Simply put genius.

When he roars that iconic roar of his….it was like his trademark roar but pumped full of steroids. It was amazing. I loved it. I also like how they put his name up with the Japanese name also etched into the title. Toho be proud.

As a matter of fact, I just saw the same trailer but what Japan released earlier today. It’s essentially the same thing but with a couple of new shots. I would suggest you look at it. One of the actors plays Dr. Serizawa. He was the doctor with the eye patch in the 1954 Gogira. Yep. He’s in this movie. Cant’ wait to find out his role in all of it.

Yep, this movie is already taking away the stink of Tri-Star's stupid rendition of Japan's most celebrated monster. Soon, it will be all about the drama of the people like Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick Ass) and how they must deal with this greatest threat to mankind's existence. This has a similar feel to the original 1954 Gojira (Godzilla's name in Japanese)...it's dark, deep, dramatic and people die....like hard core.... This is no joke...not to mention Godzilla fights another monster in this one...what it is I don't know. I tell you this, Toho, the film company that created the original Godzilla, has given this monster their thumbs up approval! That says a lot!
In May of 2014, Godzilla will be 60 years old from his first appearance on the screen. What a better way to celebrate this iconic force of destruction than with the release of this film. I'll be there on May 16th with popcorn at hand.