(This article was originally posted on the Scified.com column, We All Wear Suits - Japanese Sci-Fi & Fantasy, here.) *Major Spoiler Alert*
The film
has been praised and criticized for being many things. While Steve
Ryfle condemns it for 'whitewashing'*, David Erhlich praises it as the
first post-human blockbuster.** Others use Godzilla
as a Christ analogy.*** Good, bad or indifferent I don't fully agree
with those takes. They're not without credence, but they miss the basics
for their analysis... it's a Godzilla movie! For years I've sat in
quiet solace knowing if Hollywood would just crank out a film reminiscent of the series fans love it would be successful. Being a Godzilla film automatically opens it up for sociological interpretation and world event therapy. Social dialogues are prevalent in nearly every entry in the series, regardless of quality, and that's where the comments of post-human ideas and Christ-like debate come from. Not because it's a big-budget production, but, again, because it's a Godzilla movie.
Effective
commentary is measured in the timeframe it's birthed; the best films in
cinema are aged with abbreviations of their respective eras. Director Gareth Edwards was wise to keep his man-versus-nature theme prevalent over that of nuclear proliferation. If 2001's Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack showed us anything it's that the nuclear message isn't very strong anymore-- Which is why director
Shusuke Kaneko focused on using Godzilla as a metaphor for generational
gaps and the dangers that come from forgetting history. Edwards,
likewise, is cautious to fill the movie with themes that are less
relevant, but maintain an undercurrent of Godzilla's original protests.
For
example, there's Dr. Serizawa's (Ken Watanabe) warning to Adm. Stenz
(David Strathairn). In one of the film's more interesting beats Serizawa
shows Stenz his father's pocket watch stopped the morning of
Hiroshima's destruction. (Watanabe's Serizawa looks about twenty years
too young to have survived Hiroshima himself, but it's never specified
if his father actually died there. In any case, to linger over the
inconsistencies is to miss the forest for the trees.) William Cox said,
"Time is free, but it's priceless …. Once you've lost it you can never
get it back.” Serizawa's
warning is the most direct connection to the horrors of atomic
devastation, but it's in and out before it becomes ham-fisted; his watch
a reminder of a world where time stopped. Serizawa understands he will
never find that time again.
The nuclear metaphors are atomosophobia “lite” compared to the 1954 original. Much of the new film reflects on nature's effect on modern civilization. Its images work like Cloverfield's visual calls to 9/11. Here there are obvious connections to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor meltdown caused by the Tohoku earthquake triggered tsunami. While the MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) sparked memories of the Fukushima disaster, using the fictional setting of Janjira, Godzilla's Hawaiian entrance imitated the tsunami.
Is it callous to use these images in a monster movie? Hardly. Rod Serling created The Twilight Zone as an outlet for stealth social commentary and the original Godzilla was used for similar reasons. In its later years the Godzilla series branched from its nuclear themes: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) tackled Japan's tripling emissions of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide that created two major pollution diseases. (1) Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
used the monsters to illustrate issues with unchecked capitalism and
runaway nationalism, inspired by Japan's late 80s “bubble economy.” (2)
Edwards used Godzilla to illustrate how today's technologically savvy world can still be humbled by nature.
“Nature has a way sometimes of reminding man just how small he is.” Martin's (Raymond Burr) words, from Godzilla 1985,
punctuated an unstoppable Godzilla that was likened to a natural
disaster. I think many audiences expected something similar with
Edwards' iteration. The misleading ads indicated a Godzilla similar to
the 1984 production. Instead Godzilla plays the role of an anti-hero,
(with more heroic leanings) but man still believes they can/should stop
him and his mission. Capt. Hammond (Richard T. Jones) postulates the
monsters will follow an armed nuclear warhead and their existence will
end with its detonation. Of course this fails spectacularly and “nature”
maintains its course with a rumble between Godzilla and the MUTOs. Just
as no one could stop the Tohoku earthquake's tsunami from causing a
nuclear meltdown, Edwards treats Godzilla's hunt for the MUTOs with the
same reverence and inevitability. It's the series' most rampant vision
of nature's wrath; instead of using Godzilla as a mindless drone to
embody, for example, a twister's unpredictability he is the result of
nature's collateral-- The metaphoric tsunami pushed into action by an
earthquake. (Represented by MUTO, no less.)
The
best of the Godzilla series not only uses its monsters as commentary
for present day events, but indirect reflections of its characters.
Edward's film fails at utilizing all of its characters effectively, but
it shines at connecting its title creature with the journeyman, Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Ford's
mission is set by his late father, Joe (Bryan Cranston): He's trying to
get to his family. As a soldier, however, he takes it upon himself to
stop the MUTOs from reproducing. (Poetic justice for his father's
death.) Likewise, Godzilla is a soldier on a mission to restore
“nature's balance.” Much has been made of the moment where Godzilla and Ford make eye contact. Younger fans like to runaway believing Godzilla recognized Ford
and later came to save him. Amusingly, I think that's acceptable for
their age group; otherwise I feel the moment shows a thematic
recognition of two tired, worn soldiers. Ford stood in awe of the
fatigued Godzilla and the King of Monsters paused briefly at the limping
human. It's not a cognitive connection, but one that tied two
characters on the same narrative path. Later, with their missions
completed, both Ford and Godzilla fall to exhaustion. The horizontal
camera angles suggest a link between the battered soldiers and their
acceptance of the rules of war; as they say on Game of Thrones, “All men must die.”
I don't believe the journeyman/soldier parallel between Godzilla and Ford
is completely satisfying, but it effectively echoes stories and visuals
seen in previous films: The peaceful Katsura and Titanosaurus being
manipulated into killing machines from Terror of MechaGodzilla (1975). Dr. Shirigami's undying love for his daughter misplaced through Biollante's birth in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989). Outside of the Godzilla series, in Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris (1999),
young Ayana sides with Iris in a joined hatred for the super-turtle.
Although his use of the cast leaves something to be desired, Edwards'
attempt at weaving characters with monsters represents an understanding
of one of the series' finest traits.
Although Godzilla
has all the marks of a true Godzilla movie it comes with franchise
weaknesses as well. Characters, specifically Dr. Serizawa and Elle
Brody, have little or nothing to do with the final
act. This is a large, re-occurring problem found in most of the 1990s
movies. And although most of these films have characters, typically
scientists, that are used as the monsters' expositional mouthpieces, (in
this case Dr. Serizawa and his completely useless assistant Dr. Graham,
played by the insultingly underused Sally Hawkins) I invite filmmakers
to break tradition and give these archetypes something else to do.
Other
unique traits that come under fire is Edward's decision to kill off the
film's most engaging character before the second act, Joe Brody, and
keep Godzilla out of sight for the first hour. The monster battle
cutaways have also been a point of contingency. I don't take any issue
with the monster footage. I thought the balance of action was one of the
stronger aspects of the film and keeping Godzilla offscreen elevated
his god-like status above the oft seen MUTOs. Meanwhile, the cutaway to
Ford's son watching Godzilla on TV struck me as an amusing nod to fans
who grew up watching the films on television. Cranston's omission from
much of the movie is far more objectionable. The excuse that Edwards and
his writers couldn't find a way to keep the most interesting character
in the movie smacks of contractual obligations or weak writing.
Yet
Edwards manages to answer every flaw with a vision that is not only
unique to the series, but many modern blockbusters. For example, Godzilla
mercifully dispenses with being another origin story. Summer after
summer provides the next big superhero with a man vs. world premise
inevitably putting him into a costume. I was happy that Edwards glossed
over Godzilla's genesis with a stellar opening montage. (Although,
admittedly, later exposition could have been trimmed down.) After all,
Godzilla has had thirty films to his name in sixty years. If you don't
know what he is by now you likely didn't make it this far into the
article.
And then there was the consensus. At the end of every day Godzilla will continue to be a powerfully entertaining movie that includes everything a Godzilla film should
have-- Strong social themes punctuated by rousing monster action and
worthwhile character dynamics. For all its flaws Edwards rebounded with a
rare, notable love of old-school, less-is-more filmmaking. More
importantly he understands the Godzilla series. It's not about
over-reaching spectacle, dark/grim apologists or tacky, western
futurism. Like a lot of science fiction it's a smokescreen for larger
issues. At worst it's a fun romp. Edward's interpretation does not
represent the best or the worst of the series, but it's rightly a
Godzilla film. That's a higher compliment than a great many movies will
ever receive.
------
*Whitewashing Godzilla - Steve Ryfle
**Godzilla: The first post-human blockbuster - David Ehrlich
***Of Godzilla... and God - Tom Nash
(1) Japan’s Pollution Diet - Alexandra Harney
(2) Japan's Bubble Economy of the 1980s - Jesse Colombo
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