June 2, 2014
Arts Culture & Entertainment
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 11
New Godzilla spans both sides of the Pacific
Godzilla
Directed by
Gareth Edwards
Now showing at area theaters
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
lthough its Japanese
versions enjoy mega-cult
status in the United
States and worldwide, the God-
zilla franchise hasn’t translated
well to Hollywood. Some of this
comes from the disconnect
between eastern and western
film culture, and some of it from
the way Toho Studios jealously
guards its Godzilla character.
But director Gareth Edwards
may have finally struck the right
balance with his recent Godzilla,
creating a satisfying spectacle
that successfully translates a
Japanese classic while echoing
themes from both sides of the
Pacific.
Toho added scenes with, and
narration from, Raymond Burr
before releasing the original
Godzilla in the United States,
creating the awkward hybrid
Godzilla: King of the Monsters!
Hollywood took another 40 years
to make its own version of the
famous monster, 1998’s Godzilla,
directed by Roland Emmerich
(Independence Day, The Day
After Tomorrow) and starring
Matthew Broderick alongside
B-list stars like Harry Shearer,
Hank Azaria, and Jean Reno.
The result was uneven, funny
but talky, with too much conflict
between characters and not
enough against the monster.
Created by nuclear tests in
French Polynesia, not postwar
Japan, this Godzilla lost both his
cultural roots and antiwar
subtext. The film seemed less a
monster movie homage than an
attempt to insert Godzilla into a
typical Hollywood disaster flick.
Though not a complete flop, the
1998 film fell short enough of
expectations
that
its
two
follow-up films were cancelled.
Toho did not again grant the
Godzilla rights to a Hollywood
studio until now, to relative
newcomer Edwards, in his first
big-budget, and his second
feature, film. This 2014 version
better fuses eastern and western
A
EAST/WEST BLEND. Godzilla, the world’s most revered monster, has resurfaced for moviegoers this summer. The release of the 2014 version of Godzilla, which was created by
filmmaker Gareth Edwards, coincided with the 60th anniversary of the original 1954 Godzilla by director Ishiro Honda. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
Godzilla films by creating
evocative imagery while sticking
closer to the feel of the Japanese
originals.
This fusion begins by uniting
some prominent eastern and
western stars, albeit as the weak
characters typical of the Toho
movies. Aaron Taylor-Johnson
(Kick Ass, Savages) is adequate
as Lt. Ford Brody, the one-
dimensional hero who defends
both family and country. Ken
Watanabe, known in Japan for
his samurai portrayals, takes an
intellectual turn as lead scientist
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa, providing
little more than anguished
exposition about Godzilla. And
Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad
plays Dr. Joe Brody, Ford’s
father, his emotions ranging from
heart-wrenching pain to haunted
obsession, but his role is rela-
tively minor.
To balance those thinly drawn
characters, Edwards creates
emotional depth with cinematog-
raphy and themes reminiscent of
contemporary, dramatic world-
wide events. Ford Brody has just
returned home from duty as a
Navy explosive ordnance dispos-
al officer, a common specialty in
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars,
and his reunion with his family
early in the movie is similar to
many such scenes among
veterans of those wars.
Godzilla’s
appearance
in
Hawaii creates a tsunami, and
the scenes of terrified victims
fleeing a wall of water through
swamped city streets draws
instant parallels to footage from
tsunamis in Japan and the
Philippines. Lastly, images of
first responders rescuing victims
and refugees seeking their lost
families bring to mind 9/11’s grim
aftermath.
The real focus of the movie, of
course, is Godzilla, whom we do
not see in full until over an hour
into the movie, but his
appearance is dramatic. Just 50
meters tall in the first Godzilla
picture, he is now twice as large,
towering over the San Francisco
skyline. He has all of his usual
powers, from his prodigious tail
to his glowing radioactive breath.
This lizard also has his roots in
postwar nuclear testing, like the
original Godzilla, providing the
subtext that he is not just a
horrifying creature, but one of
our own devising. This Godzilla
survives from early radiation-
soaked earth, and the postwar
bomb tests that were actually
attempts to destroy him instead
made him stronger. In the same
way, the film’s nuclear weapons
become threats to humans, not
their intended monster target.
Watanabe encapsulates this
theme in his one great line: “The
arrogance of man is thinking
nature is under our control, not
the other way around.”
Godzilla’s disposition further
displays his Asian origins.
Western movie monsters are
either malevolent (think Dracula
or Freddy Krueger) or, less often,
misunderstood (like King Kong
and Frankenstein). In his Japa-
nese incarnation, Godzilla some-
times protects Japan from other
monsters, a role he assumes here,
unlike the 1998 version, in which
the creature nests destructively
in Manhattan.
This newer Godzilla defends
the west coast against two other
huge monsters, yet another
element
drawn
from
the
Japanese originals. After the first
Godzilla, in which the monster
fights the Japanese military, the
sequels typically pitted him
against other gigantic monsters,
from
King
Ghidorah
to
Mechagodzilla. Instead of merely
matching him against the
military, as Emmerich did in
1998, Edwards evokes the
Godzilla
originals
with
a
monster-on-monster showdown
in downtown San Francisco.
The outcome of this battle has
its own surprising twists, cap-
ping off a movie that will satisfy
many more fans than Em-
merich’s 1998 version. Evoking
cultures on both sides of the
Pacific, Edwards draws strongly
on Godzilla’s Asian roots while
still creating an action-packed
thriller that western audiences
can enjoy, too. The film’s success
as the top draw so far this year
has already led to news of a
sequel, assuring us of more east-
west monster mayhem to come.
To learn more, visit <www.
godzillamovie.com>.
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