By Chad Bokelman:

Classic rock, grilling, camping, family values…and Godzilla. These are the things I got from my father. The latter of which was via video cassette rental viewings one on one between my father and I. Therefore, to me, Godzilla TRULY is the King of the Monsters. Now, I’ll be the first to admit, 1998 Godzilla is a guilty pleasure movie for me. If it’s on? I’ll watch it. BECAUSE IT’S GODZILLA. So when I heard they were releasing a NEW Godzilla movie…I was stoked. When I saw the teaser trailer, I LITERALLY watched it 20+ times that night. When the first ACTUAL trailer came out, I jumped out of my chair.

My standards were high.

And they were not let down.

Now I’ll admit that the criticism that has been leveled at this movie is justified. Not enough kaiju, too many characters, “bad” acting, etc. But here’s the deal. 1998 Godzilla left a BAD taste in peoples mouths. They had to set the reset button. The original movies we all love so much? They had to set the reset button. There is TOO MUCH history to Godzilla bogging him down. TOO MUCH that fans (including myself) bring to the theater seat with them. They had to break free of those constraints and yet remain true to the core of who Godzilla is. That is an incredibly difficult task.

But they did it. Godzilla wasn’t overly benevolent or cuddly. He was feral and ancient and powerful and massive and intimidating. He WALKED and let nothing get in his way. He used his arms, he used his teeth, he used his tail, he used his size. His roar was true to form and FANTASTIC. His origin was plausible and not overly complicated. It still maintained a slight air of mystery to be explored (or not) later on. The MUTO’s were nicely designed. I felt they looked too…Clover (from ‘Cloverfield’) meets the alien from ‘Super 8’. I guess I’m trying to say it looked more ALIEN than anything that originated on Earth (whereas Godzilla looks…domestic).

Did I truly care about the human-based plot? Not really. But, to be fair, I really didn’t want a knock down, drag out monster fight for the entire movie either. I’m GLAD they took the time to introduce Godzilla to a modern audience and build the threat level enough to where you can see the NEED for Godzilla.

The fight scenes weren’t overly one sided and the “final blow” was quite possibly the best Godzilla moment I’ve seen on the big screen.

Bottom line? This was the best movie I’ve seen in a good long while. Is it the best movie I’ve ever seen? By no means. But it ABSOLUTELY is a fun, action packed, true to form, Godzilla movie. I give it a 4.3 out of 5. Small changes here and there, but overall a FANTASTIC flick!

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