Godzilla is a 2014 American science fiction monster film featuring the Japanese film monster of the same name in a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise. The film retells the origins of Godzilla in contemporary times as a "terrifying force of nature", depicted in a style faithful to the Toho series of Godzilla films. The film is directed by Gareth Edwards, and stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston. The screenplay is credited to Max Borenstein but includes contributions from David Callaham, David S. Goyer, Drew Pearce, and Frank Darabont.
The world's most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.
Director:
Gareth Edwards
Writers:
Max Borenstein (screenplay), Dave Callaham (story)
Stars:
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston.
Storyline
The world's most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.
Plot
In 1999, scientists Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham (Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins) are called to a quarry in the Philippines where an enormous skeleton and two egg-shaped pods have been discovered. Shortly after realizing one of the pods has hatched, the Janjira Nuclear Plant near Tokyo, Japan suffers an explosion and radiation leak. Plant supervisor Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) attempts to save his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) and her team, but they fail to escape the containment area in time and Joe is forced to close the containment doors on her and her team. Their son, Ford, observes the total collapse of the plant from his school. The event, attributed to an earthquake, results in the evacuation and quarantine of the Janjira area.
Fifteen years later, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is an explosive ordinance disposal officer in the United States Navy, living in San Francisco with wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and son Sam (Carson Bolde). When Joe is arrested for trespassing in the quarantined area, Ford travels to Japan to assist him. He is convinced by Joe, who believes the event to be a cover-up, to come with him to Janjira. There they discover no signs of radiation and are soon caught and taken in custody inside a secret complex built within the plant ruins. Inside the complex, a massive chrysalis (similar to the one seen in the Philippines fifteen years prior) is being studied led by Dr. Serizawa and Graham. The chrysalis hatches and unleashes a gigantic winged creature, which flies off after obliterating the facility containing it. Joe is wounded in the chaos and dies, while Ford joins a US Navy team to track the monster, which is using the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga as centre of operations for the mission.
Aboard the Saratoga, Ford is informed by Serizawa and his team that the creature he saw at Janjira was a MUTO (or Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) an ancient creature from a much earlier time period which feeds off radiation and radioactive material. It in turn is being hunted by a much larger animal that was awoken during a deep sea expedition in 1954. Its existence has been continually covered up, following numerous attempts to kill it with nuclear weapons. Ford reveals that his father had tracked a form of echolocation from the Janjira area, which leads the team to believe the MUTO was communicating with something else.
A US Navy search team in Hawaii finds the wreck of a Russian nuclear submarine that has reported an attack and finds the MUTO, feeding on its reactor. The military attacks the MUTO and a battle ensues at Honolulu International Airport. The larger creature, named “Godzilla” by the United States Navy staff, suddenly arrives and fights the MUTO before pursuing it as it leaves the island. The second MUTO pod, which was brought from the Philippines to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, hatches and breaks free, demolishing Las Vegas as it heads towards the west coast. Serizawa then concludes that the second MUTO is a female and that the two are converging on the city of San Francisco to breed.
A plan is approved by Rear Admiral Stenz (David Strathairn) to lure all three monsters into the ocean with an armed nuclear warhead and kill them in the ensuing blast, much to Serizawa's disapproval. Before the plan can be put into action, the MUTOs steal the warhead and construct a nest around it in the middle of downtown San Francisco, threatening the lives of millions. When the Navy attempts to prevent Godzilla from entering the city, Serizawa advises them that Godzilla may be the only thing capable of stopping the MUTOs, as all weapons have proven to be useless against the creatures. The Navy allows Godzilla to pass and a fierce battle takes place, causing widespread destruction.
While the MUTOs are distracted with Godzilla, Ford and a team of soldiers enter the nest and try to disarm the warhead. It is discovered to be badly damaged and cannot be disarmed, and is instead taken to a boat to be driven out as far to sea as possible before it detonates. The nest is destroyed by Ford and Godzilla kills the two MUTOs before collapsing, apparently dead. Ford gets the boat out to sea and is rescued by the Army before the warhead explodes, saving San Francisco from annihilation.
In the aftermath, Ford is reunited with his wife and son and Godzilla, presumed dead, suddenly wakes up and returns to the Pacific Ocean, touted "the king of monsters" by the media.
