Godzilla

In 1954, Japan's Ishir­ō Honda created the iconic sci-fi creature Gojira as a warning against nuclear proliferation following the horrific bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1956, the dubbed-into-English version was released as Godzilla, King of the Monsters. In this latest slick and spectacular-looking remake, crypto-zoologists (Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins) discover puzzling chrysalis-shaped pods attached to an enormous skeleton…with one pod already hatched. Japan-based American scientist Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) lost his wife (Juliette Binoche) when the Janjira nuclear plant where they both worked suffered a seismic reaction. Skeptical of the cover-up by the Tokyo government, Joe has been obsessively searching for an explanation for the past 15 years, despite urgings to move on from his son (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who is a military explosives expert with a distraught wife (Elizabeth Olsen) and son in San Francisco. Naturally, history will repeat itself with the arrival of mysterious monsters. Working from a globetrotting screenplay that features a cautionary environmental tale, director Gareth Edwards slowly builds tension while suggesting that U.S. nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean (1946-1962) nourished an amphibious behemoth. Now, mining reawakens “Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms” (MUTOs), and only sentient, prehistoric Godzilla—a 492-foot tall CGI lizard—can save humanity. A solid popcorn flick, this is recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the production featurettes “Force of Nature” (18 min.), “A Whole New Level of Destruction” (9 min.), “The Godzilla Revelation” (7 min.), “Ancient Enemy: The M.U.T.O.s” (6 min.), “MONARCH: The M.U.T.O. File” (5 min.), “Into the Void: The H.A.L.O. Jump” (4 min.), and “Operation: Lucky Dragon” (3 min.), as well as trailers, and bonus DVD and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an entertaining remake.] (S. Granger)