Double Movie Review: X-Men and Godzilla

This is the first, and probably last time, that I've seen movies back to back so I've decided to do a special double movie review. I'm gonna change the format up this one time otherwise this will end up being a mega long post and we ain't about that life on here so let's get right into it, starting with X-Men: Days of Future Past

 PLOT:X-Men DOFP is a retelling of the classic X-Men storyline where the mutants have been hunted down by machines called Sentinels and send an X-Men back in time in order to prevent that future from ever happening. As far as adaptations go it's pretty good, it takes the basic framework of the comic and turns it into a film that fits well within the X-Men universe. Wolverine is the one who is sent back ( no surprise there) and must unite Professor Charles Xavier ( James McAvoy) and Magneto ( Michael Fassbender) to prevent Mystique from setting off a chain of events that will ultimately lead to their doom.

PROS:  This film does a lot of things right starting off with its use of time travel as a tool to effectively fix the X-Men timeline ( which  I won't say how because it might be a spoiler) and gives more weight to the film as the actions of the characters actually does in fact effect the universe that they inhabit. I was apprehensive at first when I found out that Wolverine was going to be the mutant they sent back just because of the love affair Fox seems to have with him, but he never felt like he stole the show away from the real stars of the film; Xavier and Magneto. They could have easily done what they did in previous films and have it pretty much center around Wolverine, but instead you have Wolverine as a kind of interactive spectator who watches, along with the audience, the story of Charles and Magneto unfold and it is that story that is the main driving force of the film. Speaking of Charles and Magneto, James and Michael deliver and even better performance here than they did in X-Men First Class; easily keeping up with Jennifer Lawrence and Hugh Jackman as scene stealers although I will say that Michael was the shining point of the film. His portrayal of Magneto is just so perfect, not to say that Sir Ian McKellan ( older Magneto) doesn't do a fine job of it, but Michael brings a level of cool intensity that makes Magneto seem like a major threat to everyone, as well he should be. The rest of the main cast do their jobs well and the acting in this film is easily the best of the series

You will find a whole new level of respect for Magneto after this film

CONS: One of the big selling points of the film was that they reunited the old cast and introduced new mutants but their roles were so insignificant that they could have been anyone. Bishop, Warpath and Blink are criminally underused and have a total of about 15 mins of screen time and say about 10 lines between them. The old cast doesn't fare better either as anyone not named Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman or Ian McKellan served almost no purpose at all ( save for Kitty who could somehow project consciousness into the past), if Storm or Iceman are your favorites then you will be disappointed to know that they are as important to the story as salt is to a snail and don't even get me started on Colossus ( more like a colossal waste of a character amirite?). Another knock against it is that for an X-Men film that has Sentinels in it...there are barely Sentinels in it. I expected to have expect battle scenes between the machines and mutants but instead I got what amounted to those little tease videos you get when you're watching those videos you must be adult to view...you know the ones I'm talking about, it whets your appetite but ultimately doesn't satisfy your needs and you're left with a sense of frustration...and a bit of shame.

 Overall: I give it a 7.9/10. It is a really enjoyable summer film and is the best film of the franchise, but it has enough missteps to keep it from getting a higher score. I cannot stress enough how good Magneto is in this film and if he had a solo film I would give it a 10/10 before I even saw it...that is how good he is; unfortunately this is an X-Men film and I felt that a lot of the characters were underutilized ( off screen deaths? c'mon Fox) and that made the film suffer for it. Still, like I said before it is an enjoyable film.

Well that was a monster of a review, speaking of monsters the King of Monsters decided to make a comeback this month in the eponymously titled "Godzilla" ( see what  I did there with the monster thing?)

Plot: In a psuedo reboot/ retelling of the story of Godzilla we find ourselves following Joe Brody ( Bryan Cranston), and Ford Brody ( Aaron Taylor Johnson) on their quest to discover the secret behind the death of their wife/mother 15 years ago in Japan; but what the uncover goes beyond that and soon they are caught in the middle of a giant battle between impossible creatures and nigh insurmountable odds. Together with the help of  Dr. Ishiro Serizawa ( Ken Watanabe) and the unlikely help of one Godzilla, they race against time to save the world from total destruction at the hands of monsters.

PROS:  The visuals in this film are simply stunning, you get a real sense of power when you see all the destruction and chaos the monsters cause just be being in the area. Cities are destroyed with such fanatical glee that you feel as if it is hopeless for the humans to even try to resist and I think that was done by intent. The entire film is like a reminder that no matter what humans do, nature will always win out and that is personified in Godzilla himself; he's a force that will stop at nothing to restore balance to the world, even if that means causing some destruction. I never got the sense that the monsters were entirely bad and I liked that because far too often do I see monsters having a somewhat evil personality, intentionally killing humans just to be evil, but in this film the monsters are simply acting out their nature and it's the humans that cause most of the issues ( when you watch the film you will see what I mean). Speaking about the humans, Bryan Cranston did a tremendous job as a scientist on the brink of sanity in search of the truth and Aaron did a solid performance has EOD expert Ford Brody. One thing I really liked about the film was how it was able to combine that retro Godzilla feel yet modernize it without sacrificing the spirit of the previous film; from the score to the crowds running in terror, I felt like it this movie was created by an actual fan of the source material and that really shows through. Oh and freaking Godzilla looks so goddamn awesome, like he's all big and rawr and the monsters are all screech and big and it's just good stuff man.

Unfortunately, most of the fights are like this

Cons:  Aaron and Bryan did a good job like I said before but the rest of the cast seemed sort of pedestrian, like they could have casted anyone else and the impact would have been exactly the same. I know I said that modernized the film but they still did the old trope of having the wife ( Elizabeth Olsen) be a non factor and exist pretty much as a little more than motivation for the main character. They then compound that trope by adding an unnecessary child to the mix that amounted to nothing, there was never any real drama around the boy, you never felt like his life was in danger at all; in fact, for the majority of the characters you never feel that they are in any harm..hell Ken Watanabe's character is almost never in the same vicinity as the monsters after the initial meeting. During the film I couldn't help but draw comparisons between this and Pacific Rim ( no matter how unfair they might be) and while Godzilla did have superior acting, Pacific Rim gave me what I wanted to see; giant monster battles. Most of the battles in Godzilla are obscured and are shown as news snippets instead of real live action ( well I guess CG action) events and I felt sort of cheated since I've seen spectacular monster fights already in theaters; Godzilla had about maybe 10 mins of actual visual monster battles. 

Overall:  Godzilla gets a 7/10. It's an enjoyable summer diversion and carries the legacy of Godzilla well with it's easter eggs and retro feel, but it didn't give me what I wanted really. It focused more on the plight of the humans ( something I call Transformers Syndrome) and less on what we all wanted to see; Godzilla. Still, it's a fun movie and if you're a fan of Godzilla or giant monsters I recommend you watch it.

There you have it, 2 reviews for the price of 1...I hope I never have to do this again because man my fingers are cursing me out right now. Until next time...which is probably like Thursday.