Chandler’s Trailers: “Godzilla” (2014)

      There is a harrowing moment very early on in Gareth Edwards’ busy but empty Americanized version of Toho perennial “Godzilla” in which the horror of a critical failure in a nuclear facility is made heartbreakingly personal when the wife of a plant supervisor is condemned to quickly die from radiation exposure during a reactor breach; their final moments of intimate contact separated by the closing windows of security doors, suddenly closing all past and future  in a matter of seconds. That the scene is given its emotional weight from the participation of the exquisite Juliette Binoche (her prominently billed role is in actuality an extended cameo) who in a few brief scenes manages to convey a humanity that when cut off is deeply felt, which becomes problematic for the rest of the film as paradoxically, this early introductory infusion of intense emotions makes the subsequent flat human element seem more threadbare and  cynically manipulative in a noxiously Spielbergian manner (you lose count of how many children in peril are forced to the forefront for no good reason).

To read the complete review, click the following link to:  https://chandlerswainreviews.wordpress.com/chandlers-trailers-short-bits-for-emerging-cinephiles-and-a-better-america/