Movie Review: Godzilla

It's surprisingly good, for a giant-monsters-stomp-L.A.-flat type of movie.  There's some backstory, some gobbledygook pseudo-scientific explanation as to the what and why of how a big green monster ends up smashing skyscrapers... it's gobbledygook, but at least they stuck some explanations in there and made them sound sorta plausible, and I do appreciate the effort.  Some of the family scenes with cute kids are a little saccharine, but that's easy to look past.  Some of the acting is hammy, but it's never completely awful.  As for the rest, it's all about the monsters and action!  And on the strength of that alone, this movie stands tall.

A lot has been made of the remade iconic roar.  Here's an article that covers most of that.  My take on it is that it's the same roar we all know and love, but upgraded and made bigger and badder for the 21st Century.  It works.  Here's the main event: "Just the roar, Ma'am" courtesy of Soundcloud.

I've seen several reviewers wanting to drag their politics in on this: it's about global warming, or it's about man's futility against the forces of nature and we can't affect the planet's temperature, or or or...  No, I'm having none of that.  It's a damn movie about big-ass monsters, originally played by a man in a rubber suit, now upgraded 60 years on with CGI and every other special effect Hollywood can throw at it.  Got it?  If I want to assign something deeper to this, it may be getting a bit Lovecraftian, with big impersonal forces that treat humans with the same contempt we treat fire ants in the yard: a minor annoyance at worst, but usually simply ignored.  Maybe it goes that deep, maybe it doesn't.  Either way, it is a spectacle not to be missed.

3.5 stars out of 4.
Time for my morning walk.