To describe the latest American version of Godzilla as better than Roland Emmerich's 1998 mess is tantamount to damning with faint praise, and Gareth Edwards' effort seems to have gone too far in the opposite direction, replacing camp silliness and terrible gags with a po-faced seriousness that threatens to strip the film of any sense of fun. Still, while the latest Godzilla movie is hardly a barrel of laughs (or a laugh full stop, to be more accurate - humour is notably absent from the film), at least it manages a few awe-inspiring moments of the eponymous giant lizard as he towers over cities whilst battling other MUTOs. The real shame with Godzilla - beyond the fact that the only really interesting character is killed off in the first act - is that there isn't more of the creature on screen. When the film comes to life, Edwards proves that he is capable of staging some impressive set pieces with a real sense of scale while keeping the photography naturalistic. It's a shame the lack of action and long-winded exposition drag this Godzilla down.
