History Film / Godzilla2014

* TheNewTens: The film's primary time frame.

* TheNineties: The Janjira incident takes place in 1999.

** To a passive viewer who doesn't really consider all the Fridge Horror of the military's plan going wrong, Serizawa and Graham invoking the NuclearWeaponsTaboo against the military's plan to use nukes on the Kaiju can seem somewhat {{Anvilicious}}. In the novelization, Graham explicitly spells out for the reader that the core problem of the military's plan: what if the nuke blasts these monsters which grow strong by eating radiation, and the concussive force ''doesn't'' kill them before they can eat the radiation?

* AStormIsComing: Used on the [=MUTO=] Research ViralMarketing website for the film if you type in "STORM" or something similar, in a bit of promotional {{Foreshadowing}} for Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'s GiantWallOfWateryDoom and the [=MUTO=]s' {{EMP}}:

* BadassDriver: The film features a OneSceneWonder bus driver who manages to drive his vehicle full of kids through police and military barricades in the middle of an explosive skirmish between Godzilla and the Navy. He gets off the Golden Gate Bridge just before the massive {{Kaiju}} barges through it.

* BystanderActionHorrorDissonance: [[ExaggeratedTrope It goes a bit overboard]] with this trope -- most of the sequences involving the Kaiju are shot with a focus on the people in the vicinity of their rampages trying to not get killed (and not always succeeding) or marching through the devastation they leave behind. Up until the climactic battle, all that is given of the monsters is fleeting glimpses [[NothingIsScarier at best.]] One of the biggest complaints regarding this film, as a result, is [[JustHereForGodzilla that there is not enough Godzilla]].

* DistantPrologue: The film starts in Japan in [[TheNinties 1999]], where Joe Brody tragically loses his wife at the power plant before cutting to the main plot fifteen years later.

* HumanFocusedAdaptation: The film puts nearly all its focus on the human cast and their battle with the [=MUTOs=], leaving the titular King of the Monsters with roughly 8 minutes of screentime. Those 8 minutes will blow you clear across the room and the rest of the movie itself ''is'' very well done and entertaining, but was a major letdown to a large portion of fans who [[JustHereForGodzilla were really hoping for it to be about Godzilla]]. That said the ratio of Godzilla to not-Godzilla run-time is more or less equal with the [[Film/{{Gojira}} original film]], so this is OlderThanTheyThink. Still, the creators clearly listened to the criticism; [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the sequel]] gives vastly more screen time and development to the kaiju, none of whom are [[CanonForeigner Canon Foreigners]] like the [=MUTOs=], to the delight of many.
* IdiotBall: 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? [[WhatAnIdiot "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.

* NotSoDifferent: For much of the film humans are shown caring about their offspring, Joe and Sandra for Ford, Ford and Elle for Sam, Akio's parents for him and Ford being his guardian. Then the MUTO show complete alarm and terror when there is an explosion where their nest is. The sounds of anguish made by the mother border on a TearJerker.

** Admiral Stenz aims to be this trope perpetually, but it's arguably ZigZagged by his narrow mindset affecting his decisions. He treats the Kaiju as a threat for a good reason, but he persistently displays enough respect for the Monarch experts he's provided to not just brush them off without first hearing what they have to say, and he can honestly be credited with considering the safety of civilians' lives first and foremost. He also seems to have serious second thoughts about his nuclear plan after he authorizes it, although he doesn't back down, and after this plan horribly backfires and leaves the military with their hands tied, he concedes to holding out hope that Serizawa is right that Godzilla will destroy the threat of the MUTOs for them.

* StockSoundEffect: The [=MUTO=] Research ViralMarketing website uses a Geiger Counter Crackling as one of its background sounds.

* VillainProtagonist: Subverted. This version of Godzilla is TheHero (nominally) rather than a villain the trailers made him out to be. WordOfGod says he's an anti-hero.

** Much like Zilla in ''[[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} Godzilla]]'' (1998), Godzilla creates a massive swell in the water as he swims, with his dorsal spines protruding from the top. Taken UpToEleven when the act of landfall is preceded by a tsunami.

** To a passive viewer who doesn't really consider all the Fridge Horror of the military's plan going wrong, Serizawa and Graham invoking the NuclearWeaponsTaboo against the military's NuclearOption plan can seem somewhat {{Anvilicious}}. In the novelization, Graham explicitly points out for the reader that the core problem of the military's plan: what if the nuke blasts the kaiju and the concussive force ''doesn't'' kill them?

*** The military overall seem to have a problem bordering on PerceptionFilter of disregarding the male MUTO's EMP attacks until things go FromBadToWorse. Notably, their NuclearOption plan seemingly doesn't account for the obvious fact that the [=MUTOs'=] EMP can deactivate the boat transporting the nuke before it's far enough away from the city to be safe.

* HeroicLineage: Besides the fact Ford and Joe both end up playing a role in combatting the kaiju over the film; the novelization reveals another common pattern between them is that they've both served in the military (Joe was in the Navy). Also PlayedWith in the novelization in regards to Admiral Stenz, as it states (albeit in relation to the military's current NuclearOption plan) that Stenz's father served aboard the USS ''Indianapolis''.

* NuclearOption: Serizawa explains that at least some Pacific nuclear tests were not tests, but attempts to nuke the monster. Stenz eventually lays out a reasonable strategy to use nuclear warheads on Godzilla and the [=MUTOs=]. [[spoiler:However, this ends up backfiring when the female steals two from a train, and the Male steals the third one ''after it has been armed'', and takes it to the center of San Fransisco.]]

* PostApocalypticTrafficJam: PlayedWith, and more like ''Mid''-Apocalyptic Traffic Jam. Naturally, once the [=MUTOs'=] rampage becomes a public-known national disaster, roads become packed with a BigHonkingTrafficJam. The female [=MUTO's=] EMP sphere of influence causes the bumper-to-bumper cars to just stop where they are, leaving the roads packed with unmoving cars, and several still-working vehicles trying to navigate around the traffic jams through roadside fields.

** While Admiral Stenz treats Godzilla as a threat for a good reason, he doesn't go out of his way like many military characters in these type of movies would and is always open to suggestions from civilian experts. Also, related to the above plan of using a nuke, he points out that they have exhausted all other artillery at their disposal to no avail and have to do all they can to protect the civilians on the coast, and despite that genuinely empathizes with Serizawa's perspective on the matter.

* ScientistVsSoldier: PlayedStraight during Monarch and the US Navy's cooperation. Monarch didn't try killing the MUTO in its cocoon during the years they were studying it (allegedly with a reasonable explanation that they feared trying to kill it might release the absorbed radiation, although it's also implied they kept it alive so they could study it and out of admiration while they believed it was no threat), but they still play AdmiringTheAbomination straight when they cooperate with the military to see the [=MUTOs=] destroyed to save humanity. When it comes to Godzilla, Drs. Graham and Serizawa clearly admire him as a PhysicalGod a great deal, whilst the US military operation led by Admiral Stenz has no such attitude towards Godzilla and prefers to attempt killing him with the [=MUTOs=]. True to its GreenAesop and how Godzilla fits into it as a force of nature, the film ultimately leans towards the Scientist side of the conflict, but despite the recklessness of the military's NuclearOption plan which could make the kaiju problem worse, the military are not portrayed in an unsympathetic light.

* NuclearOption: Serizawa explains that at least some Pacific nuclear tests were not tests, but attempts to nuke the monster. Stenz eventually lays out a reasonable strategy to use nuclear warheads on Godzill and the [=MUTOs=]. [[spoiler:However, this ends up backfiring when the female steals two from a train, and the Male steals the third one ''after it has been armed'', and takes it to the center of San Fransisco.]]

* ReclaimedByNature: The ruins of Janjira fifteen years after the DistantPeologue-='s=] events. This is actually a relevant plot point, as not only is vegetation overwhelming the buildings and murky water flooding in, but [[spoiler:the presence of wild dogs in the ruins makes Joe realize that the ruins are not really irradiated at all]].

** There's the tsunami scene which begins when all of the water on the beach is retreating far beyond where it normally would, heading out to sea. This is an real life sign of an incoming tsunami.

''Godzilla'' is a {{Kaiju}} {{Action}} {{Adventure}} film which is also Creator/LegendaryPictures' and Creator/WarnerBros 2014 ContinuityReboot to the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, and the second ''Godzilla'' movie produced in America, following the [[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} 1998 remake]]. It is also the first ''Godzilla'' film to be made since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' 10 years earlier, as well as the first ''Godzilla'' movie to receive an American theatrical release since ''Film/Godzilla2000''.

''Godzilla'' is a {{Kaiju}} {{Action}} {{Adventure}} which is also Creator/LegendaryPictures' and Creator/WarnerBros 2014 ContinuityReboot to the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, and the second ''Godzilla'' movie produced in America, following the [[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} 1998 remake]]. It is also the first ''Godzilla'' film to be made since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' 10 years earlier, as well as the first ''Godzilla'' movie to receive an American theatrical release since ''Film/Godzilla2000''.

''Godzilla'' is Creator/LegendaryPictures' and Creator/WarnerBros 2014 ContinuityReboot to the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, and the second ''Godzilla'' movie produced in America, following the [[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} 1998 remake]]. It is also the first ''Godzilla'' film to be made since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' 10 years earlier, as well as the first ''Godzilla'' movie to receive an American theatrical release since ''Film/Godzilla2000''.

** To a passive viewer who doesn't really consider all the Fridge Horror of the military's plan going wrong, Serizawa and Graham invoking the NuclearWeaponsTaboo against the military's NukeEm plan can seem somewhat {{Anvilicious}}. In the novelization, Graham explicitly points out for the reader that the core problem of the military's plan: what if the nuke blasts the kaiju and the concussive force ''doesn't'' kill them?

*** The military overall seem to have a problem bordering on PerceptionFilter of disregarding the male MUTO's EMP attacks until things go FromBadToWorse. Notably, their NukeEm plan seemingly doesn't account for the obvious fact that the [=MUTOs'=] EMP can deactivate the boat transporting the nuke before it's far enough away from the city to be safe.

* HeroicLineage: Besides the fact Ford and Joe both end up playing a role in combatting the kaiju over the film; the novelization reveals another common pattern between them is that they've both served in the military (Joe was in the Navy). Also PlayedWith in the novelization in regards to Admiral Stenz, as it states (albeit in relation to the military's current NukeEm plan) that Stenz's father served aboard the USS ''Indianapolis''.

* NukeEm: Serizawa explains that at least some Pacific nuclear tests were not tests, but attempts to nuke the monster. [[spoiler:Stenz eventually lays out a reasonable strategy to use nuclear warheads on all three monsters, but this ends up backfiring when the female steals two from a train, and the Male steals the third one ''after it has been armed'', and takes it to the center of San Fransisco.]]

* ScientistVsSoldier: PlayedStraight during Monarch and the US Navy's cooperation. Monarch didn't try killing the MUTO in its cocoon during the years they were studying it (allegedly with a reasonable explanation that they feared trying to kill it might release the absorbed radiation, although it's also implied they kept it alive so they could study it and out of admiration while they believed it was no threat), but they still play AdmiringTheAbomination straight when they cooperate with the military to see the [=MUTOs=] destroyed to save humanity. When it comes to Godzilla, Drs. Graham and Serizawa clearly admire him as a PhysicalGod a great deal, whilst the US military operation led by Admiral Stenz has no such attitude towards Godzilla and prefers to attempt killing him with the [=MUTOs=]. True to its GreenAesop and how Godzilla fits into it as a force of nature, the film ultimately leans towards the Scientist side of the conflict, but despite the recklessness of the military's NukeEm plan which could make the kaiju problem worse, the military are not portrayed in an unsympathetic light.

* AndroclesLion: It's hinted that [[spoiler:Godzilla stopped the female [=MUTO=] just because it could kill Ford to repay him for saving him earlier]].

* HeroicLineage: Besides the fact Ford and Joe both end up playing a role in combatting the kaiju over the film; the novelization reveals another common pattern between them is that they've both served in the military (Joe was in the Navy). Also PlayedWith in the novelization in regards to Admiral Stenz, as it states (albeit in relation to the military's current NukeEm plan) that Stenz' father served aboard the USS ''Indianapolis''.

* NukeEm: Serizawa explains that at least some Pacific nuclear tests were not tests, but attempts to nuke the monster. [[spoiler:Stenz intends to try and eliminate all three monsters with warheads, but this ends up backfiring when the female steals two from a train, and the Male steals the third one ''after it has been armed'', and takes it to the center of San Fransisco.]]

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

-->''"You're not fooling anybody when you say that what happened 15 years ago was a 'natural disaster,' alright? It was not an earthquake, it wasn't a typhoon, okay?... You're lying! Because what's really happening is that you're hiding something out there. I'm right, aren't I? ''MY WIFE DIED HERE! SOMETHING KILLED MY WIFE! AND I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!! I DESERVE ANSWERS!'' ''[lights flicker]'' You see? There it is again. ... This is what caused everything in the first place! Don't you see that?! And it is going to send us back to the Stone Age! You have no idea what's coming..."''

''Godzilla'' is Creator/LegendaryPictures' and Creator/WarnerBros 2014 ContinuityReboot to the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, and the second ''Godzilla'' movie produced in America, following the [[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} 1998 remake]]. It is also the first ''Godzilla'' film to be made since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' 10 years earlier, as well as the first ''Godzilla'' movie to receive an American theatrical release since ''Film/Godzilla2000''. It's directed by Creator/GarethEdwards (''Film/{{Monsters|2010}}''). [[RevisitingTheRoots It takes a great deal of inspiration from]] [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original 1954 film]] over the {{Camp}} {{Toku}} movies of the late Showa era [[PopCulturalOsmosis that most Western audiences are familiar with]]. The film also shares several similarities with [[Script/Godzilla1994 the unused 1994 script]] for the first American ''Godzilla'' movie to a lesser degree.

* VillainProtagonist: Subverted. This version of Godzilla is TheHero (nominally) rather than a villain the trailers made him out to be.
** WordOfGod says he's an anti-hero.

''Godzilla'' is Creator/LegendaryPictures' and Creator/WarnerBros. 2014 ContinuityReboot to the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, and the second ''Godzilla'' movie produced in America, following the [[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} 1998 remake]]. It is also the first ''Godzilla'' film to be made since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' 10 years earlier, as well as the first ''Godzilla'' movie to receive an American theatrical release since ''Film/Godzilla2000''. It's directed by Creator/GarethEdwards (''Film/{{Monsters|2010}}''). [[RevisitingTheRoots It takes a great deal of inspiration from]] [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original 1954 film]] over the {{Camp}} {{Toku}} movies of the late Showa era [[PopCulturalOsmosis that most Western audiences are familiar with]]. The film also shares several similarities with [[Script/Godzilla1994 the unused 1994 script]] for the first American ''Godzilla'' movie to a lesser degree.

''Godzilla'' is Creator/LegendaryPictures' 2014 ContinuityReboot to the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, and the second ''Godzilla'' movie produced in America, following the [[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} 1998 remake]]. It is also the first ''Godzilla'' film to be made since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' 10 years earlier, as well as the first ''Godzilla'' movie to receive an American theatrical release since ''Film/Godzilla2000''. It's directed by Creator/GarethEdwards (''Film/{{Monsters|2010}}''). [[RevisitingTheRoots It takes a great deal of inspiration from]] [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original 1954 film]] over the {{Camp}} {{Toku}} movies of the late Showa era [[PopCulturalOsmosis that most Western audiences are familiar with]]. The film also shares several similarities with [[Script/Godzilla1994 the unused 1994 script]] for the first American ''Godzilla'' movie to a lesser degree.

The story starts off with the opening credits in 1954 where humans accidentally awaken a prehistoric creature that gets sustenance from nuclear energy. To keep the beast from becoming a threat to people, nuclear strikes are directed at it in the Pacific Ocean under the cover of weapons testing, and when that fails to kill it, the creature's existence is concealed from the public.

** While Godzilla is rather large, he can't exactly create an ocean withdrawing, two story tsunami propagating for blocks inland just by stepping onto the beach. Tsunamis are caused by water displacement and Godzilla is just over two Olympic swimming pools in main body length/height. Whatever his density he cannot displace more than his physical ''volume'' of water as water cannot have its density increased beyond 1.0 in normal circumstances. He also happens to be a point rather than an ocean-wide wave, so water displaced by him can and will propagate in all directions (including passing him as he is broadly streamlined under water) rather than all pushed forward like a bulldozer.

** Serizawa himself is one. When he first sees Joe Brody being interrogated, at first he thinks the guy's a loony. Then he looks at the papers Joe had on him, and notices the patterns perfectly match the ones they're seeing now. When the US Navy picks him up, he also has them bring both Brodys along. He realizes too late that Joe had indeed predicted that something wasn't right about those readings he was examining for the last 15 years. Though his son Ford didn't have the same knowledge, he did provide enough of a clue for Serizawa to figure out Godzilla may not be quite the bad guy as he's seen as.

* ShootingSuperman: The military continues to use conventional weapons against Godzilla, who has survived multiple nuclear strikes. They quickly realize how pointless this is. It's justified against the [=MUTO=]s as the conventional weapons are no more effective against them than against Godzilla, but they are capable of ''distracting'' the creatures.

* SpottingTheThread: After breaking back into old Janjira, after it was quarantined due to a reactor meltdown, Joe Brody realizes the place isn't radioactive when he spots three dogs chasing each other, when they should be dead from radiation. A quick check of his Geiger counter confirms his suspicions.

** The Navy attacking Godzilla as he reaches California, as an instinctive reaction to his displacing their naval vessels. Not only does this not work, but Godzilla ends up destroying the Golden Gate Bridge ''by accident''.

* AdultFear: Your child is on an evacuating vehicle when a giant monster suddenly rises from the ocean, and the Navy starts attacking it. Stenz is understandably worried when he realizes Godzilla's current location is nearing the Golden Gate Bridge.
** You need to choose between saving a loved one (who's only at risk because of your choices) and hundreds of thousands of people. And when you choose the latter, you get to see them start to die and forgive you. Also, you can never retrieve their body or give them a proper burial. When you try to find out the truth, everyone, including your own son, dismisses you as a nutjob conspiracy theorist. You are Joe Brody.

** Doctor Serizawa learns critical facts too late to save his massive, expensive project. Which is bad enough, before the failure gets hundreds of thousands if not millions of people killed.

* AllThereInTheManual: The Novelization gives the characters more development and provides insight into them, as well as additional backstories.

* FatalFamilyPhoto: [[spoiler:Joe Brody dies roughly 20 minutes after finding an intact photo of his family in their old house. Subverted with Ford, who brings out a photo of his wife and son and has a close call soon after, but ultimately lives to the end.]]

?** To a passive viewer who doesn't really consider all the Fridge Horror of the military's plan going wrong, Serizawa and Graham invoking the NuclearWeaponsTaboo against the military's NukeEm plan can seem somewhat {{Anvilicious}}. In the novelization, Graham explicitly points out for the reader that the core problem of the military's plan: what if the nuke blasts the kaiju and the concussive force ''doesn't'' kill them?

* MonumentalDamage: The Golden Gate Bridge and (in a tongue-in-cheek version of this trope) the replica Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas are among the landmarks that get torn apart in the film. Waikiki, with 90% of the hotels on Oahu, gets flooded. Many notable San Francisco buildings are trashed, the Transamerica Pyramid being an exception[[note]] (There's a short glimpse of it being intact in the last minute of the movie)[[/note]].

** Creator/AaronJohnson as Ford Brody, with military training to remain calm no matter what (and his job disarming bombs for them) helping matters.