Film: Godzilla

Well, well, well. It finally came around to Godzilla! It had to happen - its IMDB rating kept falling, but not fast enough, and there was nothing higher rated showing today that I had any interest in. On the plus side, it was showing in my local cinema, and not until 8.20 - which meant that I could walk there, and could enjoy the sunshine beforehand.

I went via the cemetery..

I read my book for a while there, conscious that closing time was at 8. I planned to leave by the South Gate - turn right on Fulham Broadway and you're at the cinema in 10 mins (walking briskly). When it was time to leave, I headed down the main avenue - only to discover that it finished in a dead end at a wall! You could turn left or right.. I turned right, less worried about being locked in when I saw other people there. When I saw they were all headed in the opposite direction, and with closing time nearly upon us, I figured they knew which way to go, and turned that way myself. Sure enough, I soon found the gate, just as a van rolled up to it, announcing loudly through the megaphone that it was closing time. So, if you're headed south through the cemetery, turn left at the dead end for the exit.

Walking along the main road, I passed the football stadium. We sometimes see the crowds pass on match days, but they don't bother us much. In due course, I came to the cinema. I had resolved, if they asked me tonight whether I had a voucher, to explain to them something of how I'm quite a regular customer, but haven't been offered a voucher in ages! Sure enough, she asked, and I told her how I haven't had a voucher in ages. It worked - she gave me two! :-)

The lady who took my ticket seemed to think the showing was 3D. I'm glad it wasn't - I'd have asked for a refund. 3D gives me a headache. I usually ignore whatever seat I'm given and just sit wherever, for these non-busy performances. This time though, given the size of the screen, I decided to sit where I was supposed to, which was further back than I normally go. I was pleased with my decision when the film began. It idly occurred to me that I could have taken a VIP seat, but my bare legs would just have stuck to the leather.

After a string of trailers - for films the majority of which I wouldn't see except if strapped in place with my eyes forced open, a la Clockwork Orange (not an auspicious start) - the feature began. This was my first Godzilla film, but of course I'd heard the name and knew the basic premise, of a giant Japanese lizard laying waste to cities. In this incarnation, we start with an incident at a Japanese nuclear power plant in 1999. Head honcho at the plant is Bryan Cranston, whom I know as Malcom's father from Malcolm in the Middle. He's terrible in this. Really. Laughably bad. He's married to Juliette Binoche, of all people. (Spoiler) She doesn't last long. Anyway, fast forward 15 years and his little boy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is all grown up and has become an army bomb disposal technician (who knew that would come in useful fighting monsters?!), and is equally terrible in this film. (And he doesn't even get to defuse any bombs!) Tragically, they have several scenes together. He's married to Elizabeth Olsen and they have a little boy of their own. Dad, though, has this unfortunate habit of getting arrested, because he keeps trying to go back to their old house for his data, and it's in a quarantine zone. But, you see, he's sure they're hiding something..

Other names to watch out for are Ken Watanabe, who now has Bryan's old job (kind of), his side-kick, Sally Hawkins, and David Strathairn, who plays the military head of the anti-monster operation. But all the humans are pretty much just an annoyance in this - the wives less so, but then they are on screen less. Fortunately, after a while the monsters appear, and then it's just a rollercoaster to the finish! The monsters are spectacular. Yes, you see, there's more than one - seems Godzilla was always there, something akin to Neptune or the like - but the humans playing around with atomic substances have woken a couple of creatures that feed on radioactivity. Fancy! And one of them flies! And they are all terrific. The MUTOs, as they're called (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms), seem to have taken a leaf from the Alien design books, and although Godzilla himself is as big and clunky as ever, he's surprisingly lithe.

I have to say, the effects are predictably superb, and all fight sequences are excellently directed. It's great fun to play Spot-the-Famous-Monument-That-Was-Just-Destroyed! And as we approach the breathtaking finale, it becomes positively epic, with a soundtrack that I'm sure was taken from 2001: A Space Odyssey. 10/10 to the set designers, the effects people, everyone involved with monsters, and the director. The film would have been pretty perfect if they'd only left the actors out of it.

If I'm going to a film tomorrow, top of the list is another Japanese shocker - Battle Royale, set in a class of 14-year-olds who, under a new government missive, are ordered to kill each other. It certainly looks interesting. Only thing is, it's in the Prince Charles, at 6.30 - I'd have to go straight into town from work. No sun for me. We'll see how I feel..