The iconic atomic lizard receives another update. In 1954, Ishirô Honda introduced Gojira to cinema, a creature still considered worthwhile viewing today. Despite being essentially a man in a rubber suit monster movie, the original film is clever and engaging. It captured an era defined by nuclear anxiety through a somber atmosphere while also delivering plenty of creature feature action, achieving a good balance. The creators of Godzilla 2014 attempted to emulate this approach, showing respect for the earlier films and drawing inspiration from them, but ultimately fell short. The story centers on a world under attack by giant Kaiju (MUTO) monsters, resulting from human interference with nuclear materials. Disaster looms unless humanity can find an ally in Godzilla, a massive prehistoric lizard himself born from past nuclear incidents. The human storylines involve typical secretive government officials alongside scientists, all appearing concerned or rushing about anxiously. There’s a father-son dynamic—the son is a skilled military man with a loving wife and child at home. Numerous characters populate the film and occupy a significant portion of its runtime; however, very few are well-developed, which is disappointing considering the amount of acting talent involved. The movie runs over two hours, with a lengthy buildup that keeps Godzilla offscreen until about an hour in. This makes the primary monster feel like a minor character in its own film—a recurring problem in many sequels to Honda’s original. Another frustrating aspect is that good Godzilla films require plenty of monster action and destructive clashes, but these are scarce here and often relegated to background elements, at least until the final act. It takes considerable time to reach this point, but thankfully it prevents the film from being a complete failure. The finale delivers excitement and visual spectacle, and fans of all things Godzilla will likely feel a thrill during the sequence involving electrical discharges and nuclear fire breath. However, this highlights the frustration that the impressive technical aspects previously seen were used sparingly, and prioritizing underdeveloped characters over cinema's most famous monster proved to be a significant misstep. The filmmakers need to significantly improve their efforts for the planned sequels featuring other legendary creatures. 6.5/10

Source on TMDB