History Film / Godzilla2014

* TemptingFate: Ford Brody comes home after months of military service but quickly has to leave when he learns his father in Japan has been arrested. He's annoyed with having to leave his family so soon, but Elle assures him the trip will just be a few days. "It's not the end of the world." [[spoiler:Subverted in that she tells him he'll only be away for a few days, then come back to his family. That's pretty much exactly what happens, though in a way none of them could have expected.]]
* ThatsNoMoon: Subtle nonverbal example, achieved by means of clever cinematography. Ford and some other soldiers are doing a HALO jump into San Francisco, which Godzilla has recently ravaged. As they get into visual range of the city, we see Ford's point of view as he scans over the numerous burnt and ruined skyscrapers. Then he catches on to one "structure" that is moving, and sees several of his guys diving right past it...
** This is just the trailer, though. In the movie, it's pretty obvious that it's not a building, as Godzilla is busy in the middle of a battle with a [=MUTO=].

** The [=MUTO=]s eggs lay dormant in a massive skeleton for millions of years.

** Whilst the majority of the Honolulu beach-goers did the sensible thing and ran for high-rise buildings once they saw the tsunami warning signs, in the camera shot of the barking dog on the beach a few moments before the tsunami hits, several people are visible on the ground staring dumbly.
** After Godzilla makes landfall on Honolulu, the landing forces decides it's a good idea to open fire on him with their puny assault rifles at a 350 foot monster, given the flares has shown just how huge he is.

** They have airplanes flying around San Francisco in anticipation of the arrival of a monster that has already demonstrated EMP abilities powerful enough to disable airplanes and send them crashing. Not-a-spoiler: They also crash.

* TwoKeyedLock: The Navy's nuclear warhead is armed via this trope, relying on a clockwork arming mechanism to resist the [=MUTOs'=] {{EMP}}.
* TheUnmasquedWorld: Monarch's been upholding the {{Masquerade}} and keeping the existence of Godzilla and other {{Kaiju}} secret since at least 1954. Needless to say, three of them appearing all at once and destroying several major cities has broken it.

** Sandra Brody and the technicians stuck on the wrong side of the breach doors are the first characters to die.
** All the Monarch staff at the Janjira containment site except for Serizawa and Graham get only a little screentime before they're all killed during the male [=MUTO's=] awakening.

* WideEyedIdealist: PlayedWith by Drs. Serizawa and Graham, who are regarded by Admiral Stenz as naive because of their strong admiration of Godzilla, although they -- particularly Serizawa -- are implied to be more TheIdealist. In the novelization, Monarch chief scientist Dr. Whelan receives an AdaptationPersonalityChange which portrays him as this.
* WindowLove: Joe does this with Sandra across the window of the door behind which he had to lock her to keep irradiated steam from leaking into the rest of the Janjira plant.

** Godzilla itself does this towards the [=MUTO=]s. While it beats the male one pretty badly in Hawaii, in San Francisco its initial attack against both of them don't quite work out, and Godzilla suffers from a tag-team attack by the duo.

** The [=MUTO=]'s make their presence know with an [=EMP=] field they emit, causing all electronic devices to fail within their radius.

* SaharanShipwreck: The [=MUTO=] manages to lift and drop a Russian [[ReportingNames "Akula"]] in the middle of a jungle. An "Akula" is a ''submarine''.
* SavedForTheSequel: Although the [=MUTOs=] were introduced as {{Canon Foreigner}}s rather than updated versions of classic Creator/{{Toho}} monsters in order to give the film a bit more narrative freedom, Creator/GarethEdwards has jokingly stated that he is contacting the casting agents of creatures like Mothra and [[ArchEnemy Ghidorah]] so that they can appear in sequels.

* 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 nuclear plan which could make the kaiju problem worse, the military are not portrayed in an unsympathetic light.

** The visual setup of the shot when the door of the HALO jump plane opens, with the setting sun framed dead center just above the horizon, is a reference to the start of the 'Stargate' sequence in ''2001: A Space Odyssey'''. The use of Ligeti's 'Requiem' from that scene in the film confirms this.

** In the novelization, the captain leading the team who head into the Nuclear Waste Depository is named Roger Pyle. [[Film/FullMetalJacket The actor in the film does kinda look like Private Pyle]]...

** MONARCH's (completely ineffective) plan for dispatching Hokmuto in the ruins of the Janjira reactor is called "[[Literature/TheAndromedaStrain Wildfire Protocol]]".

* SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic: When Serizawa is discussing the nuclear plan with Stenz and Hampton, a screen uses colorful graphic to depict the considerably large-looking blast zone. It's used to further effect in the novelization where, after the nuke [[spoiler:is stolen by the [=MUTOs=]]]], a map indicates to Monarch and the military the blast zone shifting as the nuke is being moved by Ford (how the nuke can be tracked is never explained, given how it had to be fitted with clockwork to stop the [=MUTOs'=] EMP deactivating the mechanism).

** Dr. Serizawa knows that humanity ''needs'' Godzilla to stop the [=MUTO=]s.

** When Ford [[spoiler: blows up the MUTO's nest, he is flung several feet into the air by the explosion which leaves him with a broken leg and, in the novelization, internal bleeding]].
** Although Monarch has gone to great lengths to uphold the {{Masquerade}} for decades, they quickly realize that there is no way to keep a 200ft tall monster a secret and immediately abandon all attempts at secrecy.

* SwallowedWhole: The female MUTO does this to a group of soldiers on a pier, and [[spoiler:would have done so to Ford as well had Godzilla not force-fed her his Atomic Breath]].

[[folder: A-M]]

* TheNewTens: The film's primary time frame.

** Ford and Morales' first view of the Nevada MUTO indicates what the viewers were told earlier: she's female. The OhCrap comes from the fact that [[spoiler: she's heavily pregnant with thousands of active baby MUTO embryos. A second occurs when they get to San Francisco and she oviposits the eggs in the nest, implying that even if the two are stopped, the world will be ''overrun'' with baby [=MUTOs=].]]
** The principal moment of this is [[spoiler: When the [=FemMuto=] is mourning her lost babies...then sees Ford.]]
* OlderHeroVsYoungerVillain: Godzilla is ''millions of years old'', while the [=MUTOs=] are only fifteen years old[[note]]The ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' comic confirms the spores in [=Adam/Dagon's=] skeleton are thefirst phase of their life cycle[[/note]] -- only ''a few days old'' if we only count the [=MUTOs'=] adult forms.

* OneDimensionalThinking: Except for the unnamed couple with the cute daughter, the crowd running from the tsunami doesn't flee into the buildings to gain height. Averted with the soldiers on the railway bridge, as there's only one direction ''to'' run. Then double subverted when Ford jumps off the bridge into the river. . . the fall ''might'' kill him, but being hit by a burning runaway train ''will'' kill him.

* PlotArmor: Played with. When the first MUTO emerges, both Ford and his seriously injured father, just two of hundreds of casualties, somehow rate a helicopter escape (thus continuing Joe's run as DecoyProtagonist,[[spoiler: at least briefly]]).
* PoorCommunicationKills: It seems that despite having the resources of the US west coast at their fingertips, no one is actively watching the hundred foot tall monster or warning other units when it gets near.

* 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; with legions of cars packed bumper-to-bumper, and several trying to navigate around the traffic jams through roadside fields.

* ProfaneLastWords: Listen closely, and you can hear a soldier attempt to get out an "Oh, shit!" before a MUTO kills him. This would become a RunningGag across the Franchise/MonsterVerse[='s=] subsequent film entries, where a character says those words (or [[CurseCutShort attempts to]]) just before the film's antagonist kaiju kills them.

** Joe Brody, before the death of his wife at least. He pushes for an emergency meeting because he's concerned about ''unexplained'' seismic reading near the nuclear power plant's vicinity, and before the meeting can happen, when supposed quakes start striking the plant, he rightfully orders that the entire plant be taken offline without hesitation. Lastly there's his tragic ShootTheDog.
** 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.
** 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.
* ReclaimedByNature: The ruins of Janjira fifteen years after the DistantPrologue[='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]].

* RedSkyTakeWarning: Done for nighttime scenes of the places that Godzilla has demolished, as a result of all the burning buildings.

* RibcageRidge: The action of the film is set into motion when Serizawa finds a cave where the walls are supported by the fossilized remains of a member of Godzilla's species that was infested by fossilized "[=MUTO=]s".
* RidingIntoTheSunset: When it's all over, Godzilla rises from several days of DeepSleep, stomps out to the docks, pauses to do The Roar one last time, and heads out to sea. Once the waves cover his scales, the movie is over.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: After the destruction of her nest, the female [=MUTOs=] persistence in trying to kill Ford left her vulnerable to an attack from Godzilla, the only living thing in the world capable of killing her. And thus nature's balance was restored.

** The [=MUTO=]s aren't really evil; most of the destruction they cause is just due to them being so large, and through the movie they act like actual animals. There are even sympathetic moments with them, such as the loving moment the couple have sharing a nuke, and the mother crying at the destruction of her nest. Notably, [[spoiler:the female doesn't stop to wreck anything in Las Vegas, the destruction she causes is entirely incidental as she just walks through the city in a straight line, ignoring everything else]].

* NoSell: The [=MUTOs=] are only mildly annoyed by even the heaviest ordnance the military can bring to bear. Godzilla, on the other hand, simply doesn't even notice that the humans are attacking him.

* NotSoAbandonedBuilding: A variation. The whole of Janjira is believed to be an irradiated quarantine zone, and with no civilians approaching for miles, [[spoiler:Monarch has constructed a containment site where the destroyed Janjira power plant once stood, to monitor the MUTO cocoon]].

* NuclearOption: Overlapping with NukeEm. Whilst Admiral Stenz does eventually decide to authorize an attempt killing the Kaiju, to the military's credit the plan is only proposed once Monarch and the military realize that the [=MUTOs=] [[spoiler:are looking to reproduce and become {{Explosive Breeder}}s]] roughly halfway through the film. The military also aren't oblivious to the fact they already tried nuking Godzilla before and failed to kill even that one Kaiju, with Captain Hampton believing modern nukes will overwhelm the Kaiju due to producing a greater blast.
* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: When asked by the admiral why he doesn't want to use nukes to kill the [=MUTO=]s, Serizawa hands him 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, he 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.

** Overlapping with NuclearOption. Despite the aforementioned sympathetic points which the film addresses, it's made clear enough that the military's plan is liable to go wrong. Drs. Graham and Serizawa object to the plan, as besides Godzilla's survival of the 50s bombs being a cause for concern that the Kaiju will survive the blast, they also point out that if one or all three of the Kaiju survive then they will likely feed on the excess radioactive fallout and become even ''more'' dangerous; but they both end up {{Ignored Expert}}s when Admiral Stenz decides to approve the plan anyway. The nuclear plan ends up backfiring horribly when [[spoiler:the female MUTO steals two of the nukes from a train, and the male steals the third one ''after it has been armed'' and takes it to the center of San Fransisco, putting all the un-evacuated civilians at risk with the nuke's timer counting down, whilst also giving the female MUTO the radiation source she needed to fertilize her young]].
** Serizawa explains that at least some Pacific nuclear tests were not tests, but attempts to kill Godzilla after the giant ancient creature had been discovered due to the potential threat his mere existence posed. PlayedWith and ZigZagged in this instance, since it doesn't become clear until later in the film whether this incarnation of Godzilla is a savior or a straight-up destroyer to humanity.

* KilledMidSentence: Listen closely, and later in the movie you'll hear a soldier scream out, "Oh, SHI-!" before he's killed by a MUTO.

* LandSeaSky: The three monsters fit this trope. The amphibious Godzilla represents Sea, to the point where his initial BigEntrance involves a GiantWallOfWateryDoom and a FireWaterJuxtaposition in the form of soldiers shooting flares past his drenched hide. The male [=MUTO=] represents Sky, being a GiantFlyer whose {{EMP}} is the one that takes down the most aircraft and whose second major scene sees him directly attacking an airport. The female [=MUTO=] represents Land, being (as far as we know) entirely land-bound and the monster that is seen furthest inland (namely, the Nevada desert).

* LethallyStupid: The military firing on Godzilla, a creature who survived being directly nuked in the 50s with no lasting damage done, at the Golden Gate Bridge not only fails to slow him down but if anything provokes Godzilla to acting in self-defense once they hit his weak spot -- the Navy forces in the river get extra points for firing and risking damaging the Golden Gate Bridge whilst their were still evacuating civilians on it.

** Also, the [=MUTOs=] have their EMP attack, and Godzilla has his Atomic Breath.

** Likewise, Ford is quite stoic himself and has tried to move on from his mother's death, but it's still clear he never fully got over it, and it's implied his father has a point when he accuses Ford of having run away from the incident. In the novelization, Ford is worried following [[spoiler:his father's death]] about never seeing his wife and son alive again.
* {{Masquerade}}: Monarch has been covering up the existence of {{Kaiju}} for some time now, at least as far back as 1954, including Godzilla and the [=MUTO=]s (later films reveal they were aware of even more than that).

* MilitariesAreUseless: As per usual for these films. However, they eventually [[CharacterDevelopment realize this]] and decide to just dismantle their plans to kill all of the kaiju (which might not have even worked at all) and just do their part to [[WeNeedADistraction distract the [=MUTO=]s]] so Godzilla can kill them. They help save the day in the climax [[SubvertedTrope by destroying the MUTO nest]].

* MistakenForQuake: Somewhat averted. One of Joe Brody's colleagues at the Janjira plant assumes the encroaching trail of tremors (actually caused by the male MUTO's approach) assumes when hearing the terms about them that it's an earthquake, but Joe immediately corrects him, commenting the pattern is far too consistent and concentrated and not jagged enough in shape, and the fact the vibrations are increasing in strength further discredits the idea that it's a mere earthquake Both Joe and a fellow worker at the plant make a point of referring to the vibrations as "tremors" or "seismic anomalies" instead of earthquakes.

** The second MUTO spore was taken to [[spoiler:a nuclear waste depository]] after Monarch finished their experiments on it years ago. Serizawa and Graham seem to realize how reckless this was as soon as they learn the spore has reawakened in the place where the Americans stored it. Though to be fair, Monarch was certain the thing was dead at the time, and the [=MUTOs'=] radioactivity did limit options of where to store the spore.

* 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 [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Admiral Stenz]], as the novel states (albeit when discussing his and the military's plan to use nukes) that Stenz's father served aboard the USS ''Indianapolis''.

** One occurs when Lt. Brody gets the boat with the nuke on it going into the sea, only to then have it die when the female [=MUTO=] shows up.

** The American government disposing of a highly-radioactive dormant but alive egg which feeds on radiation by storing it in a bunker which is ''filled'' with the U.S.'s old nuclear waste stores -- thereby [[spoiler:enabling the female to rapidly mature]] -- wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do.
** Admiral Stenz at first is quite competent 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 worse idea than doing nothing and hoping Godzilla would kill the [=MUTOs=] would've logically been, despite the fact the 50s bombs failed to kill even ''one'' Kaiju and despite the fact these creatures feed on radiation to grow stronger. This leads to [[spoiler:the crisis with the stolen nuke]] in 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? "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.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Zoe, the little girl standing in front of the 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.
* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace: In the DistantPrologue, Drs. Serizawa, Graham and Wates are all wearing {{Hazmat Suit}}s with lights that illuminate their faces when they enter the irradiated cave holding [=Adam/Dagon's=] bones.

** Godzilla gives the distinct impressing of regarding TheProtagonist at one point when it eyeballs him close up. The [=MUTO=]s hint at it as well, such as when the female figures out that Brody is what killed her eggs.
** The female MUTO seems to actively ''wait'' for [[spoiler:the train carrying the nuclear weapons]] and ambush them, making use of her natural camouflage. Also, it appears by the point of the San Francisco fight, that the [=Mutos=] have learned to weaponize their EMP abilities (before, primarily using the shockwave accompanying it to throw soldiers). [[spoiler:When she sees Ford crawling away by himself after the nest is destroyed, Femuto instantly deduces he's the one responsible, and begins hunting him mercilessly.]]

* EdibleAmmunition:

* 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.]] Also PlayedWith by Sergeant Tre Morales in the novelization.
* FeedItABomb:
** The Male [=M.U.T.O.=] is found by the army in the jungle near Honolulu casually munching on a Russian nuclear submarine.
** ThePlan to get rid of all three monsters consists of taking an armed nuke out in the ocean and letting one of the [=MUTO=]s eat it, which will rip it to shreds with the sheer force of the explosion. The radiation itself is bait.
** Aside from the [=MUTO=]s ''literally'' eating nuclear bombs, [[spoiler:Godzilla kills the female [=MUTO=] by blasting his Atomic Breath straight down her throat]].

* FiveRoundsRapid: When Godzilla makes landfall in Honolulu, SWAT members and soldiers alike attempt to shoot both the [=MUTO=] and Godzilla alike. Amusingly, when Godzilla shows up, the SWAT members run dry… then look at each other and decide not to reload, [[NoSell for obvious reasons]].
* ForebodingFleeingFlock: In the Golden Gate Bridge scene, a huge flock of sea gulls flying past the bridge signals that Godzilla is approaching.

* FromBadToWorse: The [=MUTOs=] rampaging, pursued by Godzilla, and the {{kaiju}} causing destruction to humanity where they go with little more than their presence is bad. But when Admiral Stenz and the military [[NiceJobBreakingItHero attempt luring the MUTOs with a nuclear warhead]], [[spoiler:the [=MUTOs=] instead steal the armed nuke and set up nest in the middle of San Francisco, with the nuke counting down and hundreds to thousands of people still trapped in the city]].

* GentleGiant: Strangely appears to apply to Godzilla himself. After waking up and being subjected to multiple nuclear attacks in an attempt to kill him, he spent half a century swimming in the deep oceans and avoiding contact with humans. He only emerges to combat the [=MUTOs=] and ignores humans even when they attack him- the only time in the entire film that he harms any humans it's completely by accident.

* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: Godzilla displaces so much water that he floods a sizeable amount of Honolulu, just from rising out of the ocean.

** Attempting to kill the male MUTO in its cocoon seems to be this for Monarch, based on Serizawa's contemplation before he gives the order and based on Vivienne Graham's silent reaction. During the kill attempt, Serizawa and every other Monarch operative in the control room except for Whalen turns their head away in dismay.
** Invoked. Serizawa suggests that the only thing that can stop the [=MUTO=]s is the legendary Godzilla. Once Stenz is out of options, Serizawa tells him "Let them fight."
** Admiral Stenz believes that utilizing nuclear weapons works as the least costly way of dealing with the [=MUTO=]. He's aware that they feed off of radiation, but believes the sheer strength of the explosion will be enough to kill them, and he waits until it's clear that nothing short of a nuke has even a shot at doing so.
** Godzilla seems to have one of his own; he only uses his signature Atomic Breath once in ''Awakening'' and a couple of times in the climax of the film.

* DaylightHorror: In several ''Godzilla'' movies in the past, civilians are rarely seen when Godzilla fights another monster in a major city. In this, we see their point of view, and it's ''terrifying''.

* DeadToBeginWith: Adam, the Godzilla fossil in the mines that was host to the MUTO spores.

** Some police officers open fire on Godzilla in Honolulu with their small arms. They quickly realize the pointlessness and give a face that says this trope. Godzilla doesn't seem to notice.
** The military send fighter jets to Honolulu to combat the MUTO, but fail to account for the MUTO's EMP blasts (which it previously demonstrated when escaping Monarch's containment) causing the jets to shut down mid-flight and violently crash. [[TooDumbToLive They repeat this mistake when they have jets in the San Francisco airspace during the MUTOs' arrival]].
*** 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 nuclear 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.
** The female cocoon is taken to a nuclear waste depository. Serizawa realizes that was a mistake when checking the data for the male's communication.
*** To be fair, they did think it was dead at the time and thus no danger, and they did have a reason for putting it where they did.
** The military underestimates the speed of the three Kaiju; Godzilla makes it to San Francisco while the evacuation efforts are still in-progress, and the male [=MUTO=] makes it to the nuke well before it can be transported to a safe distance and long before its timer is about to go off.

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

* EarnYourHappyEnding: In spite of the destruction that occurred over the course of the film, the victory over the [=MUTO=]s and Godzilla's return to the ocean are portrayed in a triumphant light.

* EldritchAbomination:
** Strictly speaking, Godzilla and the [=MUTOs=]. While not as actively malicious or sanity-rending toward humanity as some other examples, they are gigantic, unfathomably ancient creatures with their own motivations that take no account of human presence.

* EpicFail: The Navy trying to attack Godzilla just as he rises outside of San Francisco Bay. One of the ship rockets hit a supporting cable, prompting a soldier to tell them to stop firing due to civilians on the Golden Gate Bridge. They ''still'' keep firing at him, and a hole gets torn in the bridge in the chaos.

-->'''Navy Tech''': Godzilla's still following the [=MUTO=].

-->'''Stenz''': Doctor, what do you mean, 'hunting'? Is he chasing the [=MUTO=]?

-->'''Serizawa''': No, he was only listening. The [=MUTO=] was calling something else. (''Pause'') Nevada!

* CatScare: Or Seagull Scare, during the Golden Gate Bridge scene.
* CelebrityParadox: There are no Godzilla movies in this universe. While it might seem weird that the young Ford has a poster for a Japanese {{kaiju}} film, which ''Godzilla'' was the TropeCodifier for, the genre and ''Godzilla'' itself was inspired by giant-monster films like ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms''. Creator/GarethEdwards later explicitly confirmed that Godzilla movies don't exist in this universe.

* CentralTheme: That NatureIsNotNice and that mankind isn't nearly as powerful as they think they are. Also, family is important.

** During the MUTO's emergence at Janjira, Ford is able to grab and don a gas mask in only a few seconds - something the average person would fumble for ten seconds or more to do. However, the Marines are drilled hard on rapid deployment of masks, so for Ford that action is ingrained in him as deeply as breathing.
** Subverted in that [[spoiler:despite repeatedly establishing Ford's EOD tech abilities, the bomb is too damaged to be defused and goes off, though out of range.]]
* CitywideEvacuation: A city in Japan is evacuated when the first M.U.T.O hatches.

** While it can be difficult to see, Godzilla does adapt to his opponents based on their strengths and weaknesses. [[spoiler:It's also how he kills them most effectively.]] This may also be why he seems to avoid the boats by diving under them and does not destroy the Golden Gate Bridge until he literally falls through it.

* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: Averted. Despite [[http://www.scified.com/site/godzillamovies/igns-godzilla-set-visit-reveals-new-stills-potential-spoilers--godzilla-easter-eggs rumors that Godzilla would not be referred to as such]] in this film, Dr. Serizawa introduces him during the briefing as "Gojira" and the military uses the name Godzilla as a code name for the beast. News broadcasts even dub him "King of the Monsters."

** Joseph Brody. After his wife Sandra was among the deaths at the Janjira nuclear power plant when it was abruptly destroyed, he is convinced that whatever caused the disaster was [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever a bit less "natural" than an earthquake]]. He spends the next 15 years trying to puzzle out the truth behind the tragedy and becomes estranged from his son in the process. He's unsurprisingly miffed to find out that a group called [[CovertGroup MONARCH]] is, indeed, covering up what actually happened.

** Promotional videos for the home video release of the movie had one of these narrating over top secret footage from MONARCH files and photographs of the Universal Western Mining collapse sight, the remains of the Janjira plant, and the massive fossil skeleton, with him claiming that this is all part of a conspiracy to cover up the existence of giant monsters. The special features for the Blu-Ray, meant to have been made chronologically after the events of the movie, feature most of the same content, but edited to give an IToldYouSo tone.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: {{Discussed}}. Ford questions why Monarch, who had access to the male MUTO's cocoon for fifteen years while studying it, didn't just kill it while they had the chance before it hatched (which if successful, would've probably also stopped [[spoiler:the female's awakening without the male calling out to its formerly-dormant egg]]). Graham states that they didn't know what the cocoon was doing with all the radiation it absorbed and they feared killing it could've had Chernobyl-level global consequences. Nevertheless, the look on Serizawa's face suggests it was partly JustThinkOfThePotential and that he now regrets it.

* CurbStompBattle: The first battle between Godzilla and the male [=MUTO=] at Honolulu goes this way. Godzilla supposedly beats the tar out of it due to his superior size and strength, forcing the male [=MUTO=] to flee. He also beats the heck out of the female in the final battle until the male joined in.
* CuriosityKilledTheCast: Curiosity caused a lot deaths at least. In prehistoric times, monsters dove to the depths of the ocean and burrowed past the mantle, far away from human habitat [[spoiler: in search of radioactive material that was becoming scarce on the surface.]] A mining accident leads to the discovery of one of their eggs, which is brought up to the surface for study. [[spoiler: A surface where there are new sources of radioactive material to feed on.]]

** In the film, it seems like a plothole or a case of Fridge Horror when you realize that there's no way [[spoiler:Ford got the nuke anywhere near a safe distance from San Francisco before it went off (with both how much time the countdown had left and the speed the boat transporting the nuke was going at)]]. According to the novelization, the wind direction was on San Fran's side and prevented the radiation fallout from being carried back towards the city.
* AdaptationInspiration: It tells a markedly different story than previous ''Godzilla'' movies; by having the titular beast be an ancient creature, older than the earliest dinosaurs, the theme shifts from a direct allegory of nuclear destruction to primal, unstoppable forces of nature keeping the world in check, with the MUTO being the threat to humanity and Godzilla himself the inevitable response. The bombing of Hiroshima is mentioned, and gives context to Dr. Serizawa's concern over a nuclear strike (his father experienced the bombing first-hand), but the continuous American atomic testing in the Pacific, then current in 1954, is also quantified in-story — it was a cover for the Navy's repeated efforts to kill Godzilla. The plot and ending, in turn, reflect the modern conception of Godzilla and his CharacterDevelopment into a heroic figure; rather than being killed and crumbling into dust before he can destroy again, he defeats his ancient enemies and walks triumphantly back into the ocean, with press outlets contemplatively asking if his actions make him the savior of the city.

* BadVibrations: Joe and Sandra Brody are rather worried about the earthquake that seems to have hit the Janjira nuclear plant. Then Joe realizes that it ''can't'' be an earthquake because A) none of the other plants in the region are reporting tremors, B) the vibrations are too concentrated and regular for an earthquake, and C) the vibrations are slowly but surely ''increasing in strength''.
* BattleAmongstTheFlames: Mostly {{downplayed}}, fitting with the film's grim and slow-paced tone. Parts of San Francisco are visibly smoldering and the battling Kaiju are wreathed in smoke during the HALO jump. Probably the closest to dynamically playing with this trope is the chain of airport explosions which occur just as Godzilla arrives and engages in a (mostly offscreen) battle against the male MUTO.

** The [=MUTOs=] do this three times, once when eating the submarine and once when one left a ''hole in the side of a mountain and was marching on Vegas in broad daylight'' and no one noticed until looking from the inside of the mountain. Also when sneaking up on the train in the dark.

* BigBudgetBeefUp: The film features Godzilla in his biggest incarnation yet, bigger than every other incarnation of the character in terms of both height and length.
** No longer true. In accordance with TOHO's habit of one-upsmanship, the Godzilla in [[Film/ShinGodzilla Shin Godzilla]], from 2016, is 118.3 metres tall over Legendary Godzilla's 108 metres. Then TOHO decided to one up THEMSELVES in their anime Godzilla trilogy on Netflix in 2017 by introducing Godzilla Earth, a gargantuan plant-based Godzilla who hits a whopping 330 metres tall.

** The [=MUTO=]s seem unstoppable until Godzilla pimps into town to show them who's boss. The big reveal in the Honolulu airport suggests this trope, but really it's the final showdown in the San Francisco Bay that best captures it, [[spoiler:after Ford blows up the Female MUTO's eggs, she attempts to kill him. Cue atomic breath, allowing Ford to escape.]]
** Ford to Godzilla, ironically enough. When both [=MUTO=]s were pummeling the snot out of Godzilla, [[spoiler:the explosion that Ford caused to destroy all the [=MUTO=] eggs]] drew their attention, freeing Godzilla.
* BigEntrance: A [=MUTO=] is introduced demolishing a Honolulu airport. At one point, it causes a long chain reaction of exploding aircraft. The last explosion dissipates, revealing a GiantFootOfStomping that [[AlwaysABiggerFish manages to dwarf the entire [=MUTO=]]]. We then get a sweeping shot of Godzilla's whole body as he roars. It's also done in San Francisco just when he's about to face off against the female MUTO.
* BigGood: [[GodzillaThreshold In a very loose way]], Godzilla is seen as this by Dr. Serizawa, who notes that the creature is humanity's best chance at survival. Yet, he is still nothing more than a wild animal who cares nothing of the human species.

* BilingualBonus: The title of the {{Kaiju}} movie whose poster is in young Ford's room is "Let Them Fight." Also, Joe Brody will occasionally snap a phrase in Japanese; they aren't subtitled, but are all relevant to the action.
* BioluminescenceIsCool: The [=MUTO=]s are black with glowing red markings. Godzilla's dorsal plates begin to light up blue, just like they do in the TOHO films. The new film adds in the plates glowing blue from the tail up, a la WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries.

** After the presence of the [=MUTO=] become blindingly obvious, the media encourages people not to panic, and to evacuate in an orderly fashion. The next shot shows hundreds of cars either piled-up or in traffic, many of which are off-road as a way to sidestep said traffic, along with a plane that got hit by an EMP.

* BlackSite: [[spoiler:Monarch has built one on the site of the ruined nuclear power plant in the heart of the Janjira exclusion zone, to contain the cocooned MUTO]]. The facility is heavily fortified despite [[spoiler:being surrounded on all sides by ruins that are believed by the public to be irradiated]], but the hero manages to sneak in just in time to see the containment fail.
* BreathWeapon: Par for the course for this trope's image holder. You know awesome is about to ensue when Godzilla's spinal spikes start glowing blue while shrouded by the dust cloud...
** Also, he visibly ''inhales'' before using it the first time. He is quite literally ''breathing'' atomic fire.
* BroadStrokes: Has Godzilla first awakening in 1954, but remained publicly unknown for another sixty years and never having the chance to attack Tokyo before he was nuked back into dormancy.

* TheBusCameBack: A meta-textual one for the franchise as a whole: Dr. Serizawa, a character not seen since the first film, is back, being portrayed by Creator/KenWatanabe. However, the character is for Godzilla instead of against him.

** To a passive viewer who doesn't really consider all the horrific implications 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 heavy-handed. 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?
** In the film, the three kaiju arriving at San Francisco Bay before the military are anywhere near ready merely seems like incompetence on the military's part. The novelization explains the reason the military aren't ready is because they were severely delayed by dealing with the unexpected train attack, which forced them to expend extra time retrieving a viable nuke while navigating around the female [=MUTO's=] sphere of influence.

* AdaptationInspiration: It tells a markedly different story than previous ''Godzilla'' movies; by having the titular beast be an ancient creature, older than the earliest dinosaurs, the theme shifts from a direct allegory of nuclear destruction to primal, unstoppable forces of nature keeping the world in check, with the MUTO being the threat to humanity and Godzilla himself the inevitable response. The bombing of Hiroshima is mentioned, and gives context to Dr. Serizawa's concern over a nuclear strike (his father was killed in the blast), but the continuous American atomic testing in the Pacific, then current in 1954, is also quantified in-story — it was a cover for the Navy's repeated efforts to kill it. The plot and ending, in turn, reflect the modern conception of Godzilla and his CharacterDevelopment into a heroic figure; rather than being killed and crumbling into dust before he can destroy again, he defeats his ancient enemies and walks triumphantly back into the ocean, with press outlets heralding him as the savior of the city.

* AdaptationalJobChange: In the novelization, Mr. Boyd is explicitly an executive of the mining company that accidentally disturbed Adam/Dagon's skeleton and is bewildered by what's going on, whereas in the film he's indicated by his dialogue to be a member of Monarch.
* AdmiringTheAbomination: Doctors Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham have a quasi-religious attitude toward Godzilla, with Dr. Graham even calling him "a god, for all intents and purposes." Serizawa believes that Godzilla is essentially the personification of the balance of nature and the only hope humanity has of neutralizing the [=MUTO=]s, even if he has to kill people and destroy cities in the process. Admiral Stenz understandably thinks them naive for this.

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

* AlwaysABiggerFish: The main dynamic between Godzilla and the [=MUTO=]s; Godzilla happens to be the Apex Predator of eons-old radioactive giants, and is pursuing the [=MUTO=]s like a predator hunts its prey.

* ApocalypseHow: Being a {{Kaiju}} movie where TheUnmasquedWorld first occurs, naturally a ApocalypseHow/Class0 occurs with Hawaii, San Francisco and other U.S. cities devastated at the end of the film (to say nothing of the UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}}-style disaster that occurs in Japan in the DistantPrologue); with the [=MUTOs=]' {{EMP}} apparently causing even more national disruption than would otherwise occur. The [=MUTOs=] seemingly threaten to cause a ApocalypseHow/Class2 if they win due to them being {{Explosive Breeder}}s; but the ''Godzilla: Aftershock'' tie-in comic suggests the species would've actually likely caused a ApocalypseHow/Class4 in the form of a new extinction event, due to them destroying or reshaping entire ecosystems.

* AsYouKnow: When the Janjira reactor collapses and starts venting radioactive gas into the structure, Joe gets so worried he feels the need to remind his wife (and, by extension, the audience), that she has to hurry out of there, otherwise she "won't last five minutes, with or without the suits". Never mind that she's one of the (if not ''the'') lead technicians at the plant and is probably more aware of the risks than he is.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: Godzilla's gills are quite sensitive and seem to be his most vulnerable area.
** [[spoiler:The female [=MUTO=] is too heavily armored to kill through brute force. Godzilla gets around this by forcing her jaws open and firing a torrent of atomic breath down her throat, disintegrating the [=MUTO=] from inside out.]]

* PlotArmor: Played with. When the first MUTO emerges, both Joe and his seriously injured father, just two of hundreds of casualties, somehow rate a helicopter escape (thus continuing Joe's run as DecoyProtagonist,[[spoiler: at least briefly]]).

* CovertGroup: Monarch, a top-secret government organization.

* BilingualBonus: The title of the {{Kaiju}} movie whose poster is in young Ford's room is "Let Them Fight."

** 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 [=MUTO=s] for them.

** In several ''Godzilla'' movies in the past, civilians are rarely seen when Godzilla fights another monster in a major city. In this, we see their point of view, and it's ''terrifying''.
** A creature with Godzilla's mass and weight leaving the ocean would ''not'' be a quiet affair. All the water he displaces causes a tsunami. The same thing would have happened if a battleship suddenly grew legs and walked onto shore, all that displaced water has to go somewhere.

* AdvertisedExtra:
** Trailers heavily featured Bryan Cranston of ''Series/BreakingBad'' fame. His character is important in the beginning of the film, but [[spoiler: dies pretty quickly]]. This however isn't the case in an earlier screenplay from 2012 where Joe was called "Nathan Brody" and he was Ford's stepfather.
** Godzilla himself barely gets 20 minutes of screen time. Granted, those were an ''insanely nostalgic and epic'' 20 minutes, but to some they simply weren't enough.

* {{Anvilicious}}: InUniverse. When asked by the admiral why he doesn't want to use nukes to kill the [=MUTO=]s, Serizawa hands him 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... [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped Serizawa hopes it'll be enough to dissuade him.]] Though he's visibly provoked to thought, he 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.

* 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 mother makes sounds of anguish.

* MilitariesAreUseless: As per usual for these films. However, they eventually [[CharacterDevelopment realize this]] and decide to just dismantle their plans to kill all of the kaiju (which might not have even worked at all) and just do their part to [[WeNeedADistraction distract the [=MUTO=]s]] so Godzilla can kill them.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: {{Discussed}}. Ford questions why Monarch, who had access to the male MUTO's cocoon for fifteen years while studying it, didn't just kill it while they had the chance before it hatched. Graham states that they didn't know what the cocoon was doing with all the radiation it absorbed and they feared killing it could have had Chernobyl-level global consequences. Nevertheless, the look on Serizawa's face suggests it was partly JustThinkOfThePotential and that he now regrets it.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In similar spirit to Creator/GarethEdwards[='=] earlier film ''Film/Monsters2010'', the scenes of destruction left in the Kaiju's wake and how they're constructed with emergency services, camps and displaced survivors bring to mind the aftermath of RealLife natural disasters. Adding to the effect is that all the major urban locations the Kaiju wreck (Japan, Hawaii and San Francisco) are known for being hotspots of earthquakes or tsunamis and having infamous large--magnitude disasters of those types happen there at some point after 1900.

** The backstory involves a nuclear submarine disappearing and the Americans and Soviets blaming each other for it before finding out that a certain nuclear dinosaur was the real culprit. This brings to mind the early scenes of ''The Return of Godzilla''.

** Godzilla being an ancient beast from a time when the conditions on Earth were severely inhospitable and his conflict with other monsters from the same time period references ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain''. In both, the military attempts to lure fighting kaiju away with a fake-out plan, which falls apart.

** Joe's old house contains a moth cocoon marked, uh, "Film/{{Mothra}}". More precisely it was in a tank labelled "Dad's Moth", with the label partly covering the marking "Janjira" -- spelling out "Dad's Mothra".

* RailroadTracksOfDoom: When the female Muto attacks the USM train carrying nukes, [[spoiler:the train is set on fire and nearly crushes Ford]].
* RealityEnsues: When Ford [[spoiler: blows up the MUTO's nest, he is flung several feet into the air by the explosion which leaves him with a broken leg and, in the novelization, internal bleeding]].
** In several ''Godzilla'' movies in the past, civilians are rarely seen when Godzilla fights another monster in a major city. In this, we see their point of view, and it's ''terrifying''.
** A creature with Godzilla's mass and weight leaving the ocean would ''not'' be a quiet affair. All the water he displaces causes a tsunami. The same thing would have happened if a battleship suddenly grew legs and walked onto shore, all that displaced water has to go somewhere.
** Although Monarch has gone to great lengths to uphold the {{Masquerade}} for decades, they quickly realize that there is no way to keep a 200ft tall monster a secret and immediately abandon all attempts at secrecy.
** [[spoiler:When the female MUTO's EMP springs Joe from Monach's cell, he's too curious, and then shocked, to run with everyone else. And then the walkway he's on collapses, because he doesn't have PlotArmor. There's no scene where Ford finds him in the debris, digs him out, and tearfully clutches Joe's hand as he expires; Joe dies while he's being moved, with full emergency medical treatment ongoing. Also, Ford is an experienced EOD tech who knows how to hold back his emotions when necessary, and he's ''still'' visibly upset in the successive scene where Serizawa reads him in.]]
** [[spoiler:When Ford finally gets to the bomb on the boat, it's too damaged to even access, much less disarm. All he can do is aim the boat far out to sea, collapse from exhaustion, and watch it tick down. Luckily a Navy chopper arrives to save him, but he's still near-comatose on the way out.]]

** 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.

** The only time audiences got to see the centipede-like Teaser Trailer Monster, it was already dead.

* 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? "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.

** Joe Brody survives the first incident in the nuclear plant. [[spoiler:He suffers CharacterDeath when the male [=MUTO=] awakens.]]

* MisplacedWildlife: The Hawaii scene has [[StockSoundEffect loon calls]].

''Godzilla'' is a 2014 {{Kaiju}} {{Action}} {{Adventure}} film which also serves as Creator/LegendaryPictures' and Creator/WarnerBros 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''.