Godzilla 4K/Blu Ray Review (Warner Bros)

Godzilla is a 2014 monster film directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Monsters, and End Day). It is a reboot of Toho’s Godzilla franchise, it’s the 30th film in the Godzilla franchise, and the 1st for the Legendary’s MonsterVerse. It was written by Max Borenstein (Minority Report, The Terror, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Godzilla vs. Kong). Additional uncredited dialogue written by Frank Darabont (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob, The Fly II, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist) and David S. Goyer (Death Warrant, Demonic Toys, Dark City, Blade Trilogy, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Batman Begins). It was produced by Thomas Tull (Watchmen, Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Kong: Skull Island, Jurassic World , Trick ‘r Treat, Warcraft, and Pacific Rim:1/2) and Jon Jashni (The Hangover, Jonah Hex, The Town, Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, Straight Outta Compton, Krampus, and Godzilla franchise). It was followed up by sequels: Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong. The budget was $160 million and it grossed $529 million worldwide at the box office!!!!Godzilla, a prehistoric alpha predator is lured to Bikini Atoll in an attempt to kill him with a nuclear bomb In 1954. In 1999, Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa (played by: Ken Watanabe from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Batman Begins, and Inception) and Vivienne Graham (played by: Sally Hawkins from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Shape of Water, The Killing Gene, and Cassandra’s Dream) investigate the skeleton of a monster similar to Godzilla in a cavern unearthed by a collapsed uranium mine in the Philippines. They also find two giant spores, one dormant and one hatched along with a trail leading to the sea. In Japan, the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant experiences unusual seismic activity as supervisor Joe Brody (played by: Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad, Argo, El Camino, and Total Recall) sends his wife Sandra (played by: Juliette Binoche from The English Patient, Dan in Real Life, Cosmopolis, and Chocolat) to lead a team of technicians into the reactor. A tremor breaches the reactor, forcing Joe to close the reactor door before Sandra and her team can escape while the plant collapses.Fifteen years later, Joe and Sandra’s son Ford (played by: Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Kick-Ass 1/2, Tenet, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Nocturnal Animals) returns from a tour of duty to his wife Elle (played by: Elizabeth Olsen from WandaVision, Avengers franchise, Captain America: Civil War, and Oldboy) and son Sam (played by: Carson Bolde from The Never List) in San Francisco but must immediately depart for Japan after Joe is detained for trespassing in Janjira’s quarantine zone. Joe is determined to find out the cause of the meltdown, and persuades Ford to accompany him to retrieve vital data from their old home. This leads to a facility that harbors a massive chrysalis that had been feeding off of the plant’s reactors for 15 years and emitting strong electro-magnetic pulses over time. A giant winged insect-like creature emerges from the chrysalis and escapes. The incident is reported publicly as an earthquake.  Serizawa and Graham join a U.S. Navy task force led by Admiral William Stenz (played by: David Strathairn from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the Bourne franchise, A League of Their Own, and L.A. Confidential) to search for the creature, dubbed a “MUTO” (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). Project Monarch was established to secretly study Godzilla and similar monsters. They also explain that the MUTO caused the Janjira meltdown. Godzilla arrives which causes a tsunami in Honolulu, and briefly engages the MUTO in battle until the MUTO flees. They now have multiple monsters to deal with in this disaster. Can they save the world from these mysterious creatures????Godzilla 2014 is definitely much better than the last American effort in 1998. This one takes a minute to get somewhere because it actually has some character development in it. It’s one of the better scripts when it comes to Godzilla. I’ve always scratched my head at this newer reboot because it spends so much time with Bryan Cranston’s Joe Brody role at first and then it goes into a different completely direction when it picks up to the action. Visually, this one looks top notch and it’s a great start to Legendary’s MonsterVerse. I will say that Godzilla needed to go on a diet here, it’s the heaviest the King of Monsters has ever been and it’s a new spin on the iconic character when it comes to his appearance. This Godzilla reboot rewards you for your patience because it has some crazy monster fights and some quality action once everything fully kicks in here. It’s loaded with talent when it comes to the cast that includes Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, David Strathairn, and Richard T. Jones (Event Horizon). The acting here was way better than all your past Godzilla flicks. Godzilla is not perfect but it was a step in the right direction for the iconic franchise. I think this one gets better with repeat viewings, the replay value is strong here. RECOMMENDED!!!!Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Warner Bros!! This 2160p (2.39:1) transfer with HDR10 is a huge improvement over the original blu ray release. This one is very stylized and the cinematography looks beautiful here. Visually, this is a great feature to upgrade when it comes to the UHD format. It’s loaded with a variety of audio options that includes English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1, French: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, German: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1, and Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1 on this 4K home video release. This is the first review that I done with my brand new home set up and it’s damn near perfect when it comes to sound. Atmos roars through the speakers and it really shines during the action in this. All of the dialogue is crystal clear and the music is elevated here. It also has a large variety of subtitles that includes English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, and Thai on the UHD. This is a very impressive technical release when it comes to home video and it’s a great re-issue of the 2014 reboot of Godzilla!!!! Let’s discuss the special features from Warner Bros! There’s no extras on the actual UHD, they are all located on the blu ray. It has all the same exact extras as the previous blu ray, nothing new added for this 4K. “MONARCH: Declassified” is broken down into 3 different segments which includes Operation: Lucky Dragon, MONARCH: The M.U.T.O. File, and The Godzilla Revelation that’s a little over 14 minutes. This one has all kinds of interesting material relating to the film. It has a origins of Monarch video. A brief history of M.U.T.O. from the early days. A TV documentary on the legendary monster and the events of this feature. “The Legendary Godzilla” is broken down into 4 different segments which includes Godzilla: Force of Nature, A Whole New Level of Destruction, Into the Void: The H.A.L.O. Jump, and Ancient Enemy: The M.U.T.O.s that’s almost 40 minutes. It has interviews with various members of the cast and crew from the Godzilla production. They chat about the origins of the classic monster franchise. They talk about making this one more series compared to the others. It goes over the creature designs, the look of the movie, fx, production design, shooting locations, important scenes, and a little more focus on M.U.T.O. from the film. They share their experience working with Gareth Edwards and what style he brought to the Godzilla universe. It also includes a slipcover, a digital code, and a blu ray copy of the release. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!