I sort of admired last year's Godzilla, but I definitely didn't love it. The film's attempt to channel a more character driven narrative through the usual blockbusting pigmentation was admirable, but unfortunately the human dramas weren't strong enough to justify the decision. Godzilla ended up as a bit-player in his own movie, whilst Aaron Taylor-Johnson's vanilla soldier dominated the story-telling to turgid effect. Nice try, but no dice. One of the film's screenwriters Max Borenstein seems to think the sequel will mark an improvement. Talking to Collider, Borenstein suggested that having laid the initial groundwork, he and director Gareth Edwards can heighten the scale. Whether that means we'll be getting more of the bombastic action that characterizes the 2014 film's finale, or a plethora of new monstrous titans for the eponymous lizard to face-off against remains unseen, but it indicates we're getting a gigantic movie either way. Injecting more spectacle into the mix is fine - the original felt a little soft in terms of awe - but it's really the character work that needs realigning. I can't emphasize how harshly the film ground to a halt when following Johnson's mundane father-cum-soldier, a product of wooden acting and obvious writing. By the time Godzilla came to the fore, the feature lacked tangible human stakes, rendering the finish grand, but sort of boring. Edwards is currently working hard on Star Wars: Rogue One, so he won't be getting behind the camera for this one anytime soon. It's tentatively slated for a 2018 unveiling, but with Borenstein still clacking away on the keyboard, I imagine that's subject to possible change.
