Movies
Even Bryan Cranston Knows ‘Godzilla’ Wasn’t Very Good
When I don’t like something, I make it known, and sometimes I even go as far as to beat a dead horse.
Sometimes that rubs you guys the wrong way, I know, but if I didn’t stand by my convictions then how would I be able to stand behind something that I love with the same impact?
With that said, Warner Bros. and Legendary’s Godzilla was bad. No, no, it wasn’t just bad, it was terrible.
I have shared many reasons why I don’t like the movie – the biggest issue being that the characters don’t actually interact with Godzilla or MUTO. While that’s just the icing on the proverbial cake, there’s a lot of character missteps that also impacted the emotional content of the Gareth Edwards-directed film.
Don’t believe me? Even star Bryan Cranston took issue with the way his character was treated. If the main star of the film is vocalizing his disdain, clearly there were some behind-the-scenes issues that many of us weren’t aware of. With the movie being a resounding success, and a sequel in development, Cranston must really have been frustrated to rain on the parade.
Here’s what Cranston told the Nerdist Podcast:
“That character dying at that time was a mistake. I knew it when I read it. When I read it I said, ‘Oh, page 50 this character who was the emotional core at the center, that was guiding the audience in the story up to that point – he dies?’ What a waste.
They kind of dealt with it poorly, that’s my only criticism of it because I think it was a fun movie, it was a very successful movie. I told them that even if I wasn’t doing this role, that character shouldn’t die at that point. It’s just bad narrative, but they were too far down the road. I was the last guy hired because I was still shooting Breaking Bad and they kept pushing because ‘Breaking Bad’ kept pushing. Finally, I was able to get in and do it.”
He gets even more detailed in his dig on the filmmakers’ decision:
“That character should have been with his son and they would’ve started to bond a little bit more and they went on this journey together to go back home and be reintroduced to his grandson. Just when they’re bonding and it looks like they could have a relationship, the father sacrifices himself to save his son. And that’s the way he should have died.”
The filmmakers behind Godzilla must have thought they were pulling a Scream by killing off so many characters early on in the film, but all they were doing was pulling the rug out from under viewers, and leaving Godzilla callow and soulless.
Still, Godzilla was visually stunning, and I can only hope lessons were learned by the monstrosity of a film. If you can’t learn and get better as a filmmaker, you’ll continually fail the people who need you the most: the audience.
Edwards is currently at work on Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, where I hope he had a stronger screenplay to work from. Once completed he’ll be back at work on a sequel to Godzilla, which hopefully gets it right this time around.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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