GodZZzzzzilla

I've stated before on this blog that I'm only going to write a review for something if I feel passionately about it. Usually, I only post on here if I think a movie/show was awesome or horrifyingly godawful.

But my forthcoming review of Godzilla (2014) is going to be an exception to that rule. Why? Because I felt so strongly about NOT feeling strongly about ANYTHING that was happening in the film.

Have I ever watched a film so passively? Have I ever been so disinterested in a movie before this one? It's funny when you think about the subject matter of the movie...it's pretty hard to make a film about giant monsters destroying cities that's more boring than an informational video about fire safety.

I guess I should say SPOILERS at this point, because I am now going to bitch about every little thing in this film that bothered me.

Alright. So we start with Bryan Cranston, the main reason I felt like paying the price of admission. I know I'm not alone in this--people LOVE this man. Anyone who's watched Breaking Bad knows that Cranston deserves all the hype in the world. He's a top-notch actor, to put it lightly. Anyway, so we start with Bryan Cranston, an engineer in Japan. I won't go into the specifics of his position because I really didn't get it. A lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo. But that's okay! I don't need to understand everything, and Cranston's character is informing me that something is wrong. The facility he works in starts rumbling, and we find out that his wife (!!) is trapped in a hallway that's being flooded with deadly radiation. She dies, and Cranston is crushed. :'(

Then we skip ahead fifteen years, and...we're focusing on his son now. I've seen this actor, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, before. I didn't really care for the movie Kick Ass, but if there was anything good about it, it was Taylor-Johnson's performance in the lead role. So I'm excited!

Uhh, not so fast. My theory is that Taylor-Johnson is much MUCH better at playing the nerdy, outcast roles, because he really bombs in this movie as the straight, tough-guy, humorless lead. I mean, he is DULL. I'm not saying this to be mean--like I said, he impressed me in Kick Ass. Some actors are just better suited to play certain roles. For instance, I love Jay Baruchel, but could you see that lanky Canadian playing a crime boss or a grizzled Army vet? Taylor-Johnson does not work in this role, and its something that really hinders the success of this movie.

So anyway, now we're spending time with the son character, who has a wife and a small kid. He's just gotten back from the war. He receives a phone call that same night that his dad (Cranston) is in jail in Japan. He was caught trying to break into the quarantined area where his wife died, apparently spouting crackpot theories that it wasn't an earthquake that caused his facility to be destroyed...it was something else (dum dum duuuuuuum)!

I don't want to get into the specifics, so I'm going to very briefly go through the rest of the movie's events. Taylor-Johnson goes with his dad to the facility. They start uncovering clues about what really happened fifteen years ago. I am still intrigued at this point, and 95% of that is due to Cranston's character and his performance. Then, five minutes later, Cranston is killed by a giant spider-looking monster.

....

...

You mean I'm stuck with the son for the rest of the movie?

This is when I pretty much disengaged from the movie's events. I didn't do it purposely...I really wanted to like this film, but I could NOT connect to any of the remaining characters or give a rat's ass about what happened to them. The wife character, while perfectly performed by Elizabeth Olsen, is uninteresting. We have no sense of her character quirks or her personality. She is the 'wife' character. Ken Watanabe is the 'scientist' character, only there to reveal important plot developments through dialogue.

Taylor-Johnson coasts through the movie, coincidentally showing up at every spot that the spider-monsters do. I guess I should say here that Godzilla only appears in maybe the last 45 minutes of the movie...until then, the main plot involves two big spider-things. Not really a complaint from me since I'm not really attached to the Godzilla character or anything, but others were probably bothered by it.

I don't get Taylor-Johnson's motivations.He steps in as the de-facto war vet, dedicated to doing whatever he can to stop the spider-monsters. MAYBE I would buy it if there had been some attempt to make it seem like revenge for poor dead Bryan Cranston, but there's no mention of his character after he's dead. His son moves on from that pretty fast! You would think his main motivation would be to get back to his family, but he constantly gets sidetracked trying to help with the operation to eliminate the spider things. Whatever. By this point I was slouched over in my chair wondering how much longer I had to sit through this dreck.

I'll be fair. Technically, it is a well-made movie. The effects are great, and when Godzilla finally is revealed, he looks awesome. But when it comes to the heart of everything--the characters, their motivations--it falls flat spectacularly. The dialogue isn't bad, per se, but it isn't good or realistic either. The dialogue does nothing to establish characters...it simply moves the story along.

In the end, the spider-things are defeated and our hero (?? I guess ??) is reunited with his wife and son. Aaaaand I couldn't care less. Elizabeth Olsen cries her head off, which is believable, and Taylor-Johnson just sort of looks pleased with everything? Are we supposed to care about these people?

This might make me sound like a rabid fangirl, but WHY was Bryan Cranston's character killed so early in the movie? Until his death, I viewed him as the main protagonist. He had a clear motivation for his actions (understanding his wife's death), and he had the scientific smarts to figure out what was going on with the spider-things and Godzilla. AND, as opposed to other protagonists *eyes swivel to Aaron Taylor-Johnson*, his character was engaging and completely believable. Had Cranston been the movie's lead, I would have liked this film so much more. I would've had a character to care about and connect to. Without him, the movie just plods along, biding time until the inevitable BIG BATTLE in the city! Woohoo!...I guess.

The film is only two hours long, but it feels like it's at least three. By the last twenty minutes, I was actively trying to fall asleep. Unfortunately, Godzilla was being too loud.

I'd give this film a solid C-. Technically, its fine, and visually it's quite breathtaking, but there's no meat to this story whatsoever. I'd recommend it on a rental basis only. Watch until Cranston dies, then fast forward to the big monster battle at the end if that sort of thing interests you.

Transitioning from Ten to Eleven

I know every time I update this blog I go on a little schpeil about how it's been forever since I've updated. Then I usually make a crack about how nobody cares since nobody reads this blog. I will do that now!

hey guiz I know it's been awhile, pls forgive me! o wait no one reads this but myself, lolol

ALRIGHT, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I feel like talking about the latest show I'm marathoning on Netflix: Doctor Who. No, not Classic Doctor Who, because that's over forty years of content to watch, and also...I just don't want to, okay? Maybe when I've finished with modern Who I will, but right now I'm way too invested in what's going on to wonder if NuWho is canon, etc., etc.

So, here's how it's been going. I LOVED Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, and, more importantly, I loved Rose Tyler and Company (Jackie, Mickey, Pete). This was a show that spent time making everyone special. Rose isn't just the damsel in distress--she's a fully realized character. Mickey isn't just the jilted boyfriend...he's a fully realized character. I made a comment to my roommate that it would've been easier to make Micky some kind of jerk so that we'd feel more comfortable with Rose and the Doctor's relationship, but that's exactly why showrunner-at-the-time, Russell T. Davies, didn't do that. It would've been easy and unrealistic. Also, Jackie Tyler is hilarious and sympathetic, not just your stereotypical loud mother.

When Eccleston left and Tennant came in, the show continued to be great. It was hard saying goodbye to the Ninth Doctor, but Davies wisely kept many elements of the story the same. When you lose a Doctor you loved, it's going to be difficult accepting the new one. Instead of just trying to make him forcibly likable, we have Rose representing the viewer...she doesn't trust this new Doctor, and she wants the one she's spent so much time with back. And instead of Rose falling in insta-love with Tennant, it takes a few episodes before she's really and truly used to him; at this point, I was really and truly used to him too (and it doesn't hurt that David Tennant is, um, amazing).

I love that Russell T. Davies KNEW he was asking a lot of viewers to love and trust a new Doctor. And it wasn't the hardest transition in the world because we still had Rose, Jackie, Mickey, and Captain Jack, all of whom are brilliant characters.

When Rose left (insert a picture of me weeping uncontrollably), we had firmly transitioned to the Tenth Doctor. It was hard losing Rose, but again...Davies knew this would be hard. Throughout seasons 3 and 4, there are countless references to Rose Tyler (and, as you know, she comes back in Journey's End and her story line is wrapped up). Martha Jones was yet another three-dimensional, fully-realized character that we rooted for and empathized with.

And, for the crowning achievement during Davies' run, in my opinion: Donna Noble. It's hard as a writer to create a close male/female relationship that has absolutely no sexual tension at all. As the Doctor says in The End of Time, Donna Noble is his BEST FRIEND. And I believe it. It would've been easier, I suppose, to make her like Rose or Martha (not knocking them, just saying they both had the hots for the Doctor), but he believably wrote a female character who loves and trusts a man yet feels no romantic attachment towards him. The saddest Doctor Who moment for me is still Rose's departure in Doomsday, but coming in a close second is Donna losing her memories of the Doctor.

This successfully brings us to The End of Time two-parter, in which David Tennant says goodbye as the Tenth Doctor. It was sad and heartbreaking. To this day, he played the Doctor longer than any other actor, and he is the face that many think of immediately when you say 'Doctor Who'. He was funny and charming and magnificent, but you also don't think of Doctor Who without thinking of his companions--three women who were also funny, charming, and magnificent.

I'm not trying to be a hater. I'm not. But....man, this transition from the Tenth Doctor to the Eleventh is becoming a struggle for me.

Let's examine the reasons why.

Davies knew audiences would be leery of a new Doctor, so he made the other characters leery too. Plus, every other element of the story save for the Ninth Doctor was still there. In comparison, in season 5 of Doctor Who, EVERYTHING is different.

The Doctor, obviously, is different. The TARDIS is different. The theme song is different. The opening credits are different. Every single character is different. The visual look of the show is different. And, instead of acknowledging changes like RTD did, Moffat, the current show runner, just throws it in our face and expects us to accept it. He has new Doctor Matt Smith acting all wacky and silly, as though these mirrored traits of Tennant's Doctor will immediately make us like him. It doesn't. I mean no disrespect to Matt Smith at all, by the way...I think he's a fine actor, and he's doing the best with what he's given. But as the viewer, and as a representative of the human race in general, we are resistant to change. We like the things the way we like them and are used to.

I went into season 5 with the same attitude I went into season 2 with..."meh, I don't want a new Doctor, I like Eccleston/Tennant". RTD successfully made me fall in love with Tennant. I really don't see that happening with Matt Smith.

Everything is just too different for me to adapt to naturally. As far as plot points and story arcs go, I do believe Moffat is a talented writer. But he had no awareness of what he was asking of his viewers. Why not have ONE single character who knew the Tenth Doctor in season 5 (just brainstorming, but here are some possibilities: Willard, Capt. Jack, Mickey, THE DOCTOR HIMSELF feeling strangely/mistrustful of his new transformation)?

Not only are we asked to immediately accept a new Doctor, we're also asked to immediately accept a new companion. The introduction of Amy Pond as a child at first is creative, albeit predictable (who didn't see the reveal that the attractive redhead in the same house was Amy?). But Amy's reaction to the Doctor's return doesn't ring true to me...where is the believable hurt? Sure, she's mad and annoyed, but being abandoned like that must have been devastating for her. I'm only halfway through season 5, but I've seen nearly no vulnerable moments from Amy Pond whatsoever. She's the poor-writer's ideal "strong, sassy female" character. She's hardheaded and opinionated. What Moffat fails to see is that these aren't really likable traits on their own...they're likable if they're there to mask a person's vulnerability, but so far there's no sign of Amy Pond possessing this sort of depth.

I could be wrong--like I said, I'm only halfway through season 5. Maybe Amy becomes a more empathetic character that we can relate to in the same way that we related to Rose, Martha, and Donna. But uh...I doubt it.

Having loved seasons 1-4 of Doctor Who so much, I honestly hope that I can eventually stop missing Tennant and his companions and embrace the Matt Smith era. When I've finished season 7 and am caught up completely, I plan on revisiting this post and commenting on whether or not I ever came around to liking the Moffat era of Doctor Who.

Now that that's all out of my system, anybody else out there have a hard time getting used to the new Doctor Who? Does it get any easier?