GODZILLA 2014 (Review)

Godzilla (2014)

Director: Gareth Edwards

RATING: 3.5 / 5

After a 10-year absence, the King of the Monsters has returned -- with a vengeance! 

After its first week of release, Gareth Edwards's monstrous re-imagining of Japan's most famous monster is smashing its way through the box office to the tune of a $196 million worldwide opening weekend. Western audiences are obviously coming out in droves to support Godzilla's big-budget return to the big screen, but really how faithful is Edwards's take on Godzilla? And can it hold a nuclear flame to the other installments in the monster's 60-year career?

The short answer is a complicated one. I have never seen a Godzilla movie that I so thoroughly enjoyed while my butt was in the theater that I then so profoundly disagreed with while leaving the theatre. Talk about cognitive dissonance! This review is an attempt to bridge my enthusiasm with my disappointment. I guess I could say that I loved Godzilla the same way I love films like Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and Godzilla vs. Megalon. They're all really fun and light B-movies, but they do not feature my preferred representation of Godzilla.

 SPOILERS from this point on.

Godzilla travels to the US to try out for the San Francisco Giants.

Godzilla Remake Gets New Screenwriter

The Godzilla remake that has been in production by Legendary Pictures has landed a new screenwriter, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Max Borenstein has been tapped to write the second American remake of Godzilla, which Legendary has long promised would finally do justice to Japan's King of the Monsters after Roland Emmerich butchered the beast in his failed 1998 big-budget blockbuster.

Bornstein joins Gareth Edwards (director of the fabulous indie-film Monsters) who was recently announced as the director for Godzilla's second -- and hopefully more faithful -- second American outing.

Will the new Godzilla breathe atomic life back into the monster for American audiences? I hope so.