Whenever I thought of Godzilla, I always pictured the monster tearing through cities and destroying buildings. However, in the 2014 remake all my thoughts of Godzilla were placed on their heads.

In 1999, Joe Brody and his wife Sandra work at a nuclear plant in Japan where they live with their son, Ford. They begin experiencing tremors around the nuclear site, which many believe to be aftershocks from an earthquake in the Philippines, but Joe believes it is something else. Sandra is sent to the core to check the sensors, but there is an explosion and the plant collapses.

Flash forward 15 years. Ford Brody returns to his wife and son in San Francisco from the navy, but is almost immediately called to Japan where his father has been arrested for trespassing. Once he is released, Ford follows his father back to their old home to find evidence that the tremors Japan is experiencing is not aftershocks from an earthquake, but the same thing that destroyed the nuclear plant. What they discover is a creature, called MUTO, being hidden by scientists under Project Monarch, which hatches and flies off, wreaking havoc. As the military closes in, making plans to destroy the creature, Project Monarch scientists urge them to allow Godzilla, a predator of the MUTO, to come in and take out the creature for them.

I had never watched any other Godzilla movie, so I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. While it ran for a little over 2 hours, it didn’t feel like the movie was too long and the plot was interesting enough to keep me wondering what would happen next. The acting was stupendous, and even caused me to shed a few tears at certain parts in the film. I was impressed with the overall production and the art aspects of the movie. Everything looked realistic, which I think is important in the monster movies. You never want a creature to look fake. It definitely ruins the feel to the movie.

I say this is a must see movie for fans and non-fans.

Grade: A