Perhaps the most disconcerting - and surprising thing - about Godzilla is the sheer amount of exposition that it attempts to drive home for two acts. The first act of the movie, in fact, is made up of only characters telling each other things for the purposes of the plot. After a while, you begin to think to yourself: "All this for a movie about a giant lizard that attacks things?" Which is to say, it's admirable that the filmmakers wanted to set up a mythology and reasons for Godzilla to exist, but did they have to convey that in scene after scene of people just talking plot? What's more, listening to Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins' scientist duo talk becomes so inane that the movie threatens to become actually boring. Watanabe, through what feels like sheer luck alone, manages to imbue his dialogue with a certain amount of gravitas ("We call him Godzilla" clings to a fun delivery - it also feels like it's in the wrong movie), but Hawkins has been noticeably shortchanged; her character might has well have been called "Sally Exposition." All she does is ask questions and clarify plot points - almost to the point of total parody.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
