History Film / Godzilla2014

* OminousFog: At least they got this part of UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco right.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Zoe, the little girl standing on the beach at the onset of a tsunami and Akio, the little boy with Ford during the [=MUTO=] attack both live through the moments of peril that they experience. The buses filled with kids evacuating San Francisco also make it across the bridge before Godzilla smashes it.

[[caption-width-right:350:''“Nature has an order. A power to restore balance.\\
I believe he is that power.”'']]

For the original Japanese film, see ''Film/Godzilla1954'' (along with the American re-edit, ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 Godzilla: King of the Monsters!]]'', and the Italian re-edit, ''Film/{{Cozzilla}}''). For the 1984 direct sequel, see ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla''. For the first American-made OneWordTitle ''Godzilla'' film, see ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}''.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-''“Nature has an order. A power to restore balance.\\
I believe he is that power.”''-]]]

** It's unclear specifically how bad things would get if the [=MUTOs=] succeed in their goals of [[spoiler:reproducing]] beyond "human civilization would be FUBAR", but based on the sheer devastation that just '''two''' grown [=MUTOs=] inflict on San Francisco to build themselves a nest (not to mention the devastation the female does to Las Vegas [[NonMaliciousMonster just by strolling through]]) combined with how they can ''cripple'' the electronic technology on which our society is dependent, it's safe to assume it will be ''at least'' a ApocalypseHow/Class1, more than likely a ApocalypseHow/Class2, for humanity. The ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' tie-in graphic novel provides evidence that a successful MUTO repopulation could potentially cause a ApocalypseHow/Class4 on par with Earth's previous mass extinctions, due to the species causing massive environmental and tectonic upheaval and [[HostileTerraforming destructively terraforming away entire ecosystems to suit themselves]].

** Godzilla's breath weapon is less a concentrated solid beam that explodes like the '80s–2000s movies but more of a whispier heat wave like his earlier Showa movies.

** As Godzilla enters the San Francisco Bay, the Navy pelt him with gunfire on Admiral Stenz' orders[[note]]Not shown in the film but confirmed in the novelization[[/note]]. Not only does this not work, but if anything it ''provokes'' Godzilla into acting in self-defense when his gills are wounded, likely leading to extra military and civilian casualties.

** It's unclear specifically how bad things would get if the [=MUTOs=] succeed in their goals of [[spoiler:reproducing]] beyond "human civilization would be FUBAR", but based on the sheer devastation that just '''two''' grown [=MUTOs=] inflict on San Francisco to build themselves a nest (not to mention the devastation the female does to Las Vegas [[NonMaliciousMonster just by strolling through]]) combined with how they can ''cripple'' the electronic technology on which our society is dependent, it's safe to assume it will be ''at least'' a ApocalypseHow/Class1, more than likely a ApocalypseHow/Class2, for humanity. The ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' tie-in graphic novel provides evidence that a successful MUTO repopulation would cause a ApocalypseHow/Class4 on par with Earth's previous mass extinctions due to the species causing massive environmental and tectonic upheaval.

Legendary had since decided to expand Godzilla into a trilogy, having announced plans at Comic-Con to incorporate classic Toho characters Film/{{Mothra}}, Film/{{Rodan}} and [[Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster King Ghidorah]] into ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'', which released in 2019. Furthermore, Legendary confirmed that the prequel film ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', released at March 10, 2017, is in the same universe as this movie and ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' lead up to a climactic confrontation in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong''. This Cinematic Universe is being called the ''Film/MonsterVerse''. Taking note of the renewed interest in the long-dormant property, Toho followed up on the film's success by initiating a new era of Japanese-made ''Godzilla'' movies, starting with the release of ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' in July 2016 and continuing with an anime movie trilogy with [[{{Creator/PolygonPictures}} Polygon Pictures]] titled ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters'' Released in November 2017 and May 2018 on {{Creator/Netflix}}. Meanwhile, the [=MonsterVerse=] is set to continue in 2024 with the film ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire''.

* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: When Admiral Stenz talks with Serizawa after deciding to use a nuclear warhead against the Kaiju, Serizawa hands Stenz his father's watch. Stopped at 8:15 ever since [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki the morning of the 6th of August 1945]], in a town called Hiroshima. Serizawa hopes it'll be enough to dissuade him. Though he's visibly provoked to thought, Stenz ultimately decides to use nukes anyway. [[ContinuityNod This is a reference to the original Godzilla]], who was a dinosaur mutated from overexposure to nuclear radiation; the entire concept was created as a metaphor for the horrors of nuclear war, which naturally the Japanese knew very well at the time of the original release. Since this movie attempted a more natural, scientific explanation, a nod was thrown in for the true origins of Godzilla. As ''Awakening'' reveals, Godzilla did surface for the first time in centuries due to the radiation of the atomic bomb dropped there, as it attracted the attention of Shinomura.

** Serizawa reveals that almost as soon as humanity became aware of Godzilla's existence in the mid-20th century, their response was to build bigger and more powerful nuclear weapons all in an attempt to kill him. Bear in mind, this Godzilla incarnation ultimately proves during the movie to be one of the more heroic iterations of the character, and he never attacks humanity or other kaiju without provocation or reason, making it seem in hindsight like the military in the 50s just saw a gigantic animal and thought, "It's big and looks scary and we don't understand it, kill it". ''Godzilla: Awakening'' reveals this was more of a Nuclear Option, since the nuclear strike against Godzilla was only made when he and another kaiju were approaching a population center, and the nuke ''did'' succeed in killing Shinomura for good.

The narrative picks up in 1999, when the Brody family ([[{{Film/Jaws}} no relation]]), Americans contracted to work at the Janjira nuclear plant in Japan, drop off their son at school and head to work, only to be torn apart when a sudden earthquake causes the plant to collapse. Fifteen years later, Joe Brody convinces his son Ford, now a US Navy lieutenant, to help him investigate the Janjira collapse more closely, which brings them into the middle of a conspiracy involving the organisation known as MONARCH and the rekindling of an ancient conflict between giants that could threaten the safety of the world.

-->'''''[[SignatureRoar SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*]]'''''''[[SignatureRoar ...OOOOOOONK...!!!]]''

-->'''''[[SignatureRoar SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*]]'''''''[[SignatureRoar ...OOOOOOONK...!!!]]''

-->''[[Music/BlueOysterCult History shows, again and again,]]''
-->''[[Music/BlueOysterCult how nature points out the folly of men.]]''

** Admiral Stenz at first is quite competent (as much as can be given how out of their depth the military are) and reasonable in his approach to tracking the Kaiju. But once he, his colleagues and Monarch learn [[spoiler:the [=MUTOs=] are going to become {{Explosive Breeder}}s]], Stenz decides that attempting to nuke all three Kaiju with an even more powerful bomb than the ones used in TheFifties is somehow ''not'' an even more impractical idea than hoping Godzilla would do the job of killing the [=MUTOs=] for them. If Godzilla was just allowed to do his own thing, then whilst there would certainly be regional collateral damage to property and civilians , there would '''not''' be the frightening and considerable risk of any one of the kaiju surviving the nuke's blast and becoming ''even more dangerous'' due to absorbing the radioactive fallout (especially considering that whilst the modern nuke is even more powerful than the ones used in TheFifties, the 50s bombings as far as we can see failed to so much as lastingly ''scratch'' one kaiju, and in the present one nuke is being used against three of them). This leads to [[spoiler:the crisis with the stolen nuke]] which drives the humans during the final act of the film.
** Ford and his team on the railroad bridge in the dark and foggy Sierras radio ahead to their advance scouts to ask if the tracks are clear. The scouts reply with ''frantic full-automatic fire and screaming''. What do Ford and his team make of this? "[[CuriosityKilledTheCast Let's move up on foot and check it out]]." They start to take a hint when the [=MUTO=] throws a flaming M1 Abrams tank at them.

* SaveTheWorldClimax: Despite a consistently apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic vibe, this human-focused ''Godzilla'' film begins with a HurtingHero[='s=] personal quest to find out what a government agency is hiding in the ruins of Janjira years after an apparent nuclear disaster turned the city into Japan's [[UrbanRuins Chernobyl]]. The situation gradually escalates as more revelations come to light, leading to a fight to stop the [=MUTOs=] (just two of which manage to cause mass destruction on a seaboard-wide scale solely by being active) [[spoiler:from becoming ExplosiveBreeders and overwhelming the world with ''thousands'' more of their kind, which leads into [[YouCantThwartStageOne the military's plan for dealing with them going spectacularly pear-shaped]] whilst [[YouCantThwartStageOne the MUTOs reproduce]]]].

** There is also Al Sapienza, who played a taxi driver in the 1998 film.