Drab Human Personalities
Continuing along with the previous point, there really isn’t a single worthwhile, entertaining, or relatable character in the film left once Bryan Cranston dies. In some ways, the fact that the characters don’t overshadow the presence of the monsters is a sign that the filmmakers knew what moviegoers wanted to see when attending a screening of a movie called Godzilla, but giving them nothing engaging whatsoever to do is just as harmful. These are characters that are eating up a lot of screen time, yet doing a whole lot of nothing.
For example, the amount of depth for the film’s actual human protagonist in Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Ford Brody character is that he’s an expert at bomb disposal, and wrapped into this situation because of his parents. He also has a wife played by the talented Elizabeth Olsen and a child, but neither have any relevance to the story or have a single memorable scene. In general, this film has a cast full of fantastic actors that essentially do nothing. The only character that genuinely seem to serve a purpose throughout the film is Ken Watanabe’s scientist character that exists to drop exposition every once in a while. He’s still pretty irrelevant to the story, but at least there’s something here.
What truly stands out, however, is that if multiple characters are completely cut from the film, nothing of value would be lost. If anything, the movie would just go by quicker and have better pacing.