I was a big fan of Gareth Edwards' 'Monsters', but had low expectations of this blockbuster, even populated as it is with some of the most enjoyable A-listers in Hollywood. And I guess it's not a *bad* film, but it's not a great one either - Cranston is dispatched far too early, Olsen is there as window dressing only (criminal given her established chemistry with Taylor-Johnson), and for a film called 'Godzilla' the big guy really isn't the lead character here. That would be Aaron Taylor-Johnson, not for the first time the excellent (and beautiful) actor without a character to sink his teeth into. To his credit he clearly knows this - Ford is little more than the (very pretty) prism through which we experience the ongoing disaster being inflicted by the MUTOs. With a better script Edwards' signature style could have shone through, but CGI wins out (and it is good) consistently over character and any sense of story. Once Cranston's character is killed off it all gets very Pacific Rim, the monsters' motivations somehow ever being knowable, Godzilla's the most improbably of all. That some of its climactic scenes are really fantastic to watch doesn't make the tonal switch any the less annoying. Taylor-Johnson to his credit does seem to understand what film he's in, even though we have to suspend disbelief repeatedly way beyond reasonable and accept heart that's strung together rather than being generated by a half decent script. It's too long, when it debates going full Emmerich it falls apart, but it does have its moments, Godzilla is cool and Taylor-Johnson is mesmerising, even without much to do other than lead us from scene to scene. Onto the next one now, before the AppleTV+ series launching soon!