| WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS! |
With blockbuster season upon us, Warner Bros. & Village Roadshow Films are ready to unleash two of their biggest releases upon the masses: Godzilla & Edge of Tomorrow.
Matt's Movie Reviews was fortunate enough to attend a presentation for both films, where exclusive footage was shown to an eager group of movie journalists & bloggers who ate up these tasty morsels with glee.
First up was Godzilla. Introduced by it's clearly pleased director Gareth Edwards (one can't help but notice the grin on his face when listing his impressive cast), a lengthy montage clip begins with seismic activity of unknown origin threatening to damage a large Japanese nuclear power plant and bring about a disaster that would make Chernobyl look tame in comparison.
The only one wise to the suspicious activity surrounding these mysterious seismic shifts is nuclear engineer and family man Dr. Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), an American in Japan whose concerns fall on deaf ears until the inevitable happens and a nuclear fog engulfs the power plant, killing his wife (Juliette Binoche) in the process.
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15 years later whatever creation caused a nuclear fallout all those years ago has decided to break free from its underground prison, unleashing destruction & chaos in its wake as a worldwide effort struggles to destroy the beast, among them Dr. Brody's son now turned soldier, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).
As for the monster himself, a few more glimpses of the creature shows a Godzilla that's loyal to tradition in design, yet evokes an awe inspiring fear that the now comical original movies & absurd Roland Emmerich remake could not evoke.
Like its epic sized monster, Edward's Godzilla is sure to awe with its larger than life scope & action packed visuals. The only cause for concern is how Edwards will handle the stock standard "family torn apart by disaster" sub-plot that has been a part of sci-fi disaster movies since their inception.
Yet if the emotional weight found in Edwards first film Monsters is any indication, the melding of epic monster film and intimate human drama should work just fine.
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GODZILLA WILL BE RELEASED IN AUSTRALIAN CINEMAS ON THE 15TH OF MAY THROUGH ROADSHOW FILMS
Next up was Edge of Tomorrow, introduced by Tom Cruise himself whose intense enthusiasm makes him the ultimate pitch man.
Cruise stars as Bill Cage, a PR man for the army turned defector & charlatan, who (as punishment) is thrown into the frontline in a last stand against an extra-terrestrial enemy.
After physical contact with an alien being, Cage is powered with the ability to re-live his tumultuous last day, in the process befriending ultimate soldier Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) who trains him to be the ultimate weapon in this fight for humanity... or die trying again, again & again, bringing to the fore the films mantra: "Live. Die. Repeat".
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What followed was a ridiculously entertaining sequence of scenes that is often hilarious (Cruise's interactions with a moustached Bill Paxton were a hoot, as were his bungled training attempts that often ended with a bullet to the head), and thrilling in its frontline action sequences where exoskeleton clad soldiers do battle against aliens that are akin to a tentacled version of Looney Toons character The Tasmanian Devil (only without the cheeky personality).
Director Doug Liman's (Swingers, The Bourne Identity) pedigree as a man of all genres really comes to the fore in this glimpse in what could be a huge hit for all involved, especially Emily Blunt who just might get that nudge into A-list status with her turn as a tough and toned soldier & symbol for the human resistance.
Cruise chooses his projects carefully, and so far Edge of Darkness looks like another winner for the box office king.
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EDGE OF TOMORROW WILL BE RELEASED IN AUSTRALIAN CINEMAS ON THE 5TH OF JUNE THROUGH ROADSHOW FILMS
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