Here we are again, talking about how much I love monsters.  I hope you stick around rather than rolling your eyes, but either way, I have something important to say.

 

Stop reading movie reviews.

 

I will have to say that I have been thinking that for a very long time.  It makes me sad for the people that DO read them, BELIEVE them and choose to make movie-going decisions based on them.  Sad mostly because they are rarely right.  Most times I disagree with them but the “critics” that I have seen reviewing Godzilla have taken the hate to an entirely new level.

 

How do I see a completely different movie?

 

My calendar has been marked as long as the release day was available.  My plans to see the movie set and tickets purchased in advance, much as I do with any movie that I REALLY want to see in the theater.  Nothing that “film critics” and “movie reviewers” were saying would change that but I couldn’t help feel like what they were saying was shaping up to sound a lot like what was said about the OTHER Kaiju movie I liked so much.

 

You know, because, the Internet.

 

I grew up during a time when there was still black and white movies shown on TV regularly.  I had to get up and turn the knob to change the channel and giggle the rabbit ears so the picture was a little clearer.  During those pre-remote, pre-digital times, monsters battling and smashing things was a high form of entertainment.  I didn’t see those old movies with the eyes of a millennial thinking that the effects were cheesy and the plots not cerebral enough.

 

Who cares when there are monsters?

 

Most reviews I have read of Godzilla recently have missed the point of the movie or outright misrepresented things in or not in the movie, presumably after reading someone else’s review.  Come on, when some of you post virtually the same sentences as other reviewers, aren’t you possibly COPYING someone else’s opinion rather than distilling your own?

 

Here is what I know about Godzilla

 

 

Godzilla 2014 is a beautifully executed homage to the Godzilla vs. Mothra type movie of my childhood.  I wish I had a bowl of Fruit Loops when I was leaning forward watching these beasts fight.  The story of the Brody family was both heart breaking and enduring as the next generation picks up the pieces post-Kaiju devastated San Francisco.  Hands down the best character to emerge from the movie is that of Dr. Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe.)  Serizawa is our bridge to the past.  He articulates all those things that Godzilla movies traditionally echo.  We are out of balance, Godzilla sets that right again.  His love and respect of this creature is palpable and I found myself rooting for Godzilla right along with him.

 

Thank you Gareth Edwards.

 

I so profoundly appreciate you getting this movie right.  I watched Godzilla thinking, “Wow, he gets it, he really, really gets it.”  As a long time military brat, I sincerely appreciated the accuracy you tried to add to military interactions and scenarios.  Having recently finished a novel in which I wrote a HALO scene, I particularly enjoyed you showed what its like for the soldiers waiting to jump.  Each of them locked in their own private ritual was an important, accurate, depiction for someone like me who notices such details.  Speaking of which, I also really enjoyed the precise attention to detail in which military planes, air craft carriers, etc. were depicted geographically where they would most likely operate, i.e. your use of the Edwards AFB on the tail of planes flying in northern California and Nevada area.  Well done!

I hope there are more Kaijus to come from you and I have the opportunity to make you take my money again.

 

BRAVO!