Godzilla (2014)

“Nature has a power, a power to restore balance. I believe he is that power.”

“The arrogance of man is in thinking nature is in our control and not the other way around.”

Godzilla is an action movie yet I cried all throughout the movie. It’s about the revival of ancient gigantic creatures who are enemies, or what Dr. Serizawa calls nature’s balancer. A scientist’s wife died while on duty checking a nuclear power plant. Fifteen years later, the scientist’s son is a soldier with a family of his own, while the scientist hasn’t gotten over the death of his wife. He has theories of his own about the agency’s incorrect assessment of the situation back then, with the suspicion that they are hiding something. When he attempted to go back to their old house, he was caught. The son flew from San Francisco to Japan too get his father. After the father explained his side to him, the two agreed to return to the old house, now part of a territory that is off-limits to civilians. There they discovered that the scientist has been right all along. At that moment, a large winged creature wrecked havoc and the scientist got killed.

The US military assumed responsibility upon learning that the winged creature and others are headed to San Francisco. Despite Dr. Serizawa’s pleas to let nature to take its own course, the arrogant Americans still continued the operations. Dr. Serizawa suspected that the giant dinosaur-like creature that suddenly apppeared from the seas is the answer to their predicament. The Japanese call it Gojira.

To cut a long story short, of course the day is saved because of Godzilla. But one cannot help but note the following:

1. The Americans always want to be the heroes that save the day. Ugh! They always interfere in other countries. Why don’t they just mind their own business? Oh yeah, US businessmen run the country and so their interests are at stake which means, they project an image of benevolence to third world countries when in fact they are only after the resources.

2. A country as strong as Japan can dominate the world if it wants but its debt of gratitude to the US for making it the way it is now gets in the way. This US ally used to be an enemy during the World War 2 but the US helped rebuild its economy, using Japan as base to stop the spread of Communism in Asia. In this movie, it acts as the brains while the US provides the muscles. Oh well, what do we expect from Americans? They’re all so stupid and selfish and self-righteous. (I have never met a decent American in all my life and I always encounter annoying Americans who think they own the country when they’re just tourists! Such despicable manners and they are such know-it-alls! So I am not sorry for the overgeneralization.)

3. It makes me think how far from our agricultural roots we have come. We now have all these nuclear plants to provide us energy for warming our homes and all. Makes me wonder if geography plays a role in all these since those that are technologically advanced have winters. They naturally have big incentives to level up and provide solutions to problems such as providing cheap energy without using fossil fuels. The Philippines is not that motivated because we are a tropical country. (But maybe we should turn the harsh summers into motivation, too, to have sustainable energy to cool our homes?)

4. A soldier will always have duty first to country as top of his priority. But a decent soldier with a family will always make a way to find his way back. I am touched at how Ford and his wife Elle formed such a partnership based on trust. It’s a given that they trust each other when it comes to fidelity. I am talking more of the trust in the capability of the other to survive in unusual circumstances.