The Corner Penthouse

Godzilla (2014) is the first in Warner Brother's "Monsterverse" series of films, though I prefer to call it the "Monarchverse" since that's the entity that ties all of the films together. Currently, the other films in the series are Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). Read on to find out more about it...


Godzilla (2014) is the cautionary tale of what happens when an ancient spore that humans have kept preserved for 15 years finally hatches. With Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms (MUTO) threatening the existence of mankind, an ancient creature from the depths of the ocean rises again to restore the natural balance.


When I got the press release for this 4K a few months ago, I was surprised. I really thought that the film was already out on 4K UHD disc. The film was a year and a half early to the party. Godzilla came out on disc on September 16, 2014; while the first Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs were officially released on February 14, 2016. That's fine with me. Better late than never, as a wise, and usually stoned, man once said. To be fair, while I've owned the Blu-ray since late 2014, I never actually sat down to watch it. So, my viewing of the new 4K disc is my first time seeing the film.


That said, I did watch the second and third Monsterverse films, though not in chronological order. I watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters back in 2019 when (I reviewed the 4K disc), and I just watched Kong: Skull Island right before I watched the new Godzilla 4K. Although the films are connected, there isn't a single line of continuity, as far as I can see. For what it's worth, Kong takes place in 1974, Godzilla is set in 1999 and 2014, and Monsters occurs in 2019 (according to what I wrote in my review two years ago). So, I guess, other than watching the last one first (and spoiling the fate of a major character that I don't remember now), I didn't really watch them "out of order".


In my review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I said that the story was filled with "a cornucopia of [human] characters, some of whom only appear for the briefest moments". While I didn't hate the film, I didn't really connect to any of the characters. Kong: Skull Island fares much better, as we are actually given a chance to know most of the characters and get a little invested in them - aside from a couple of nameless "red shirts". Even though Godzilla has fewer main characters, honestly, I couldn't care less about any of them, especially the main character - which isn't Godzilla. The main character of the film is Ford Brody, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He is one of the most boring human characters I've ever seen in a movie. He's also one of the luckiest, as Ford just happens to be the sole survivor of a massive train wreck that, from the look of it, NO ONE should have survived!


Aaron Taylor-Johnson is surrounded by a wealth of talented actors who don't appear for very long. Juliette Binoche (as his mother) makes a cameo appearance at the start of the film, despite getting major credit. Bryan Cranston (as his father) gets a little more screen time, but is still limited to only the first one-third of the film. Elizabeth Olsen (as his wife) does much of nothing, other than being the stereotypical "military wife waiting for her husband to return". This is kinda insulting, as the character is a nurse in a hospital. With there being chaos all over San Francisco, she should have much to do, and thus give us a good story, but she - and their completely unnecessary son - could have been written out of the story without much consequence. Supporting actors Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and David Strathairn are the only ones who return for Godzilla: King of the Monsters; and they're used just as infrequently in that film as they are here. For what it's worth, even the titular character - Godzilla, himself - doesn't get as much screen time as he should.


Although set in the United States, most of the movie is filmed in Canada. Fans of the TV series Once Upon A Time will recognize a familiar setting at the 1:08:21 mark. The establishing shot of "Lone Pine, California" is really 3551 Moncton Street in Steveston, Richmond, British Columbia. This was also used as the main street of Storybrooke, and the film gives us a look at Storybrooke's "library" without the CGI clock tower addition. A few blocks down the road, at 4111 Moncton Street, is the Steveston Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre/Martial Arts Centre. This is the "Janjira International School" that little Ford attends at the start of the movie.


In my review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I said that the movie looks "weird" because it was "bathed in an unnatural mix of either teal/blue or amber/orange". Well, I have the opposite complaint about Godzilla. This is one of the darkest movies I have ever seen in my life! Almost the entire second half of the movie take place at night or in gloomy grey cloudy skies. From what I've read, and seen in this 2014 2D & 3D Blu-ray comparison video, the original 2014 Blu-ray disc looked really bad. It made a dark film even darker, so that most of the time, you wouldn't be able to see what's going on. I think that Warner Bros. took note of that because this 4K UHD looks better than what I see in that comparison video. Mind you, it's still a very dark film, and I certainly felt some eye strain watching it, but I never had an issue figuring out what was going on. While this won't be a disc that you will use to show off the 4K capabilities of your system, I have no doubt that it's the best version of the movie released on disc.


Godzilla is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 2:03:06. Audio languages include English, English Descriptive, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Thai. The film includes English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, and Thai subtitles.


The UHD disc does NOT contain any bonus features. Here's a list of all of the bonus features that can be found on the included Blu-ray disc.

• Operation: Lucky Dragon (2:44) - A faux-vintage film about the origins of Monarch and the group's first encounters with Godzilla.
• MONARCH: The M.U.T.O. File (4:29) - A look at the fictional history of M.U.T.O.s since the 1940s.
• The Godzilla Revelation (7:25) - A faux-documentary that recaps the events of the film and looks at the larger story.
• Godzilla: Force of Nature (19:18) - Cast and crew look back on the franchise's origins, and discuss various aspects of the making of the film.
• A Whole New Level of Destruction (8:24) - The making of several key moments of destructive mayhem, including practical and digital elements.
• Into the Void: The H.A.L.O. Jump (5:00) - The filmmakers discuss one of the film's iconic scenes.
• Ancient Enemy: The M.U.T.O.s (6:49) - A look at the Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms.

Also included is a second standard Blu-ray disc (originally released back in 2014 [see note below]), which contains the movie and ALL of the bonus features listed above. Audio languages include English, French, and Spanish. The film includes English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Oddly enough, this is NOT the same Blu-ray disc that Warner Bros. released back in 2014. Sure, it physically looks the same, and has the same bonus features and advertisements on disc boot-up. However, there is a very subtle difference. The original 2014 disc has two items under Special Features: "MONARCH: Declassified" and "The Legendary Godzilla". Each of these submenus has the individual featurettes listed above. MONARCH: Declassified contains the following three items: "Operation: Lucky Dragon", "MONARCH: The M.U.T.O. File", and "The Godzilla Revelation". The Legendary Godzilla contains the following four items: "Godzilla: Force of Nature", "A Whole New Level of Destruction", "Into the Void: The H.A.L.O. Jump", and "Ancient Enemy: The M.U.T.O.s". While the new Blu-ray disc included in this 2021 4K/Blu combo pack has ALL of the same bonus features, and the same menu design, the organization is different. As you can see in the image comparison below, the new disc no longer has the "The Legendary Godzilla" submenu item. All of the individual featurettes that were listed under it are now listed directly under Special Features, with "Into the Void: The H.A.L.O. Jump" and "Ancient Enemy: The M.U.T.O.s" listed on the second Special Features page. The "MONARCH: Declassified" submenu contains the same three featurettes as it did before. As far as I can see, nothing else about the disc is different. I do not know if the movie transfer is different - I would hope that Warner Bros. would lighten up the movie a little bit - but I would assume that it is the same transfer as the original 2014 disc.


A digital copy code voucher is also included in the standard two-disc black UHD Blu-ray case. The first print run includes a shiny slipsleeve.


Godzilla (2014) is available on 4K UHD/Blu-ray, Blu-ray/DVD, and DVD. Kong: Skull Island (2017) is available on 4K UHD/Blu-ray, Blu-ray/DVD, and Target-exclusive Blu-ray. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) (reviewed here) is available on 4K UHD/Blu-ray, Blu-ray/DVD, and DVD. Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) will probably be available on physical disc in late June/early July 2021. I hope to have it to review for all of you at that time.


All images were taken from the IMDB gallery of the film. The item was provided by Warner Brothers for review on this site.