Godzilla (12A) ***
For some viewers, the sight of an impressive CGI monster obliterating various locations along the Pacific Rim will be enough, but you can’t help but feel the opportunity to make something great has been missed here.
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Casting a bunch of talented thesps like Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche and David Straithairn alongside the younger cast an indication that the filmmakers were going for something a bit more inspired than your average summer blockbuster.
The story opens in 1999, with a top nuclear physicist Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) looking at unusual seismic activity near a nuclear power plant in Asia - and his protests that something’s amiss falling on deaf ears.
When a team at the plant (including his wife, played by Juliette Binoche) is called in to investigate, things go very badly wrong.
Convinced he is somehow to blame, Joe dedicates his life to discovering what caused the accident, causing tension between him and his son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).
Ford works for the navy and specialises in diffusing bombs. Turns out he’s going to come in very handy when the navy is called in to investigate a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) that threatens to wreak havoc on planet Earth.
It’s a shame, given the talented supporting cast involved, that the script skims over their roles in the emerging drama, focusing instead on the miscast Taylor-Johnson, unconvincing and lacking personality as the central lead.
But if it’s the monster you’ve come to see, the emerging special effects are undeniably impressive and the fear and tension is cranked up very well (and could well be too frightening for younger kids).
A Thousand Times Goodnight (12A) ****
An Irish and Norwegian co-production, this drama stars Juliette Binoche as Rebecca, a Co Wicklow-based war photographer who thrives in taking part in volatile assignments.
She shares a home in the Irish countryside with hubby Marcus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and their two daughters, offering her a badly needed contrast from the world’s war zones.
But when developments lead her already concerned loved ones to realise the risks she is taking, a frustrated Marcus confronts her - and demands that she takes stock of the impact her career is having on her family.
Some story elements work better than others, but as a drama about the choices Rebecca must make, the film is powerfully resonant.
Support cast including Maria Doyle Kennedy and Larry Mullen are not given enough to work with - but even when the pace sags, the movie benefits from some fine performances.
Binoche brings a great complexity to the lead character, while Game of Thrones star Coster-Waldau is excellent as the husband who’s no longer willing to tolerate the risks his wife takes.
Kudos, too to young Irish actress Lauren Canny, building on her role in TV’s Amber with a very strong turn here as Rebecca’s eldest daughter, both fascinated in and terrified by her mother’s choices.
