To be clear, this is the Godzilla reboot with Bryan Cranston in it. At least, that's how I keep hearing it referred to and, indeed, how I think of it. In reality though, if Bryan Cranston is the main reason you're thinking of watching this film I'd recommend to look elsewhere. That's not a knock on Cranston's acting or even his character, but he doesn't exactly stick around for very long and ultimately is entirely inconsequential to the plotline.

Unfortunately, these same criticisms pretty much sum up all the main characters. Despite having some decent actors, Godzilla contains no worthwhile interactions whatsoever. Most of our time is spent chasing around Cranston's son, who is seemingly the incarnate embodiment of American heroism, utter lack of empathy or common sense included. Whilst he goes out of his way to save countless 'innocents', including one mildly infuriating child, and is constantly risking his own life for the 'greater good', he barely ever gives pause to consider his actual loved ones. Hell, this is such an obvious character flaw that there is an actual scene where his wife complains about how he never thinks to call them to let them know he's alive. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, however. I mean, the one time he actually tries she's casually discarded her phone and is in the middle of happy-play times with their kid, so is clearly not that hung up on his personal welfare herself...

But fine, this is a kaiju movie, you're not here for the plot or the human characters. Viewed through this lens, Godzilla is an enjoyable romp with some interesting creature design ideas, the occasional jaw-dropping action sequence and a generally coherent plot. Audio and cinematography are decent throughout and pacing never leaves you bored or confused.

Creature design is decent enough. Ultimately, with such a lengthy history Godzilla was always going to be a little ridiculous by modern standards, just to appease old school fans and remain recognisable. That said, there weren't any jarring or weird movements or noises that pulled me out of the action and in general, stature and build seemed reasonable. Even Godzilla's infamous nuclear breath was done 'believably' enough. Scaling did feel a little off to me. Godzilla now dwarfs all but the largest skyscrapers on the American west coast, which looks okay when he's aquatic but on land does seem a bit too unbelievable. I see that the King of Monsters has always dwarfed the high rises he tears down, but historically those have been mid-1900 Japanese buildings which were never that tall due to material constraints and earthquake consideration. Personally, I would rather have had his scale kept the same, to show that humans have advanced in the interim. I'm not actually convinced, though, that scale was really considered at all. The various kaiju appear to grow and shrink at will, even within the same battle sequence.

Indeed, Godzilla isn't the only kaiju in Godzilla, which was a nice surprise. In fact it could be argued that he isn't even the main kaiju, with much more time spent looking at the back story of the male/female 'parasites'. These are interesting enough, with some clever and (in my experience) unique body designs and biohistory. I generally like the idea that Godzilla predates humanity and was part of an entire chemotrophic (or... nucleatrophic?) food chain, where abundant radioactivity enabled gigantism on an unprecedented scale. Still, as much as this goes some way to explaining a (pretty unscientific) how for the various kaiju expected to pop up in this latest franchise attempt, it leaves some very large knowledge gaps in the lore. First and foremost, has Godzilla been hibernating underwater? If not, are there a breeding population of these creatures? Either way, how does a megaton nuclear weapon leave no damage, or is Godzilla lead-lined? Basically, though a neat idea, it asks more questions than it answers.

Ultimately, I feel that this incompleteness can be found throughout the film. Whilst the visual effects tend to be adequate and are occasionally stunning, they're also jarring from time to time. Characters are trope-filled and not well fleshed out, despite some solid casting choices. Plotlines are left open-ended or suddenly brought to a halt without much consideration. Overall, the film is fun but nothing spectacular, which is a shame given the source material.