12) Godzilla
A lot of people didn’t like this film, and that’s something I’m sure I’ll get hell for when people see it on my “Best Of” list, but in my opinion, Godzilla was the blockbuster restart that such a storied franchise needs. We already suffered through Roland Emmerich’s more actioneer version of Godzilla, so Gareth Edward’s franchise kickstarter gets back to what the original movies are about – Godzilla battling other monsters.
The director captures the epic scale of the towering beast, revealing the true insignificance of humanity when pitted against a gigantic fire-breathing monster, yet Edwards still brings an almost humanistic quality to the titular creature. Godzilla echoes the same compliments I constantly bestow upon Cloverfield, re-establishing the legend of the creature so that future efforts have the ability to pack a creature-filled pay-per-view event – like the teased introduction of Monster Island.
Edwards created the Godzilla movie that needed to be created, and he did so while keeping an epic, sprawling scale about the whole production that tops any disaster movie seen in 2014.