dvd of the week
The latest remake of the iconic Japanese monster movie made a lot of money despite giving the actual monster very little screen time. Probably the darkest – both visually and thematically – of any of the 33 Godzilla films, this new one was directed by Gareth Edwards, who had made one feature before and on the strength of Godzilla was awarded one of the new Star Wars films. In this version, ancient monsters are awakened from the deep oceans to feed on various nuclear devices and cause insane destruction and hundreds of thousands of deaths in Japan and the western United States. The American seismic scientist in Japan who figures everything out is a frantic and brilliant Bryan Cranston, and his soldier son, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, must help stop the giant lizard and get home, where his wife, played by Elizabeth Olson, is waiting with their son. It’s an astonishingly violent and gloomy film, but it’s also rather well-made and beautifully shot, with a terrific and too-small performance by Cranston.
