The follow up to the 2014 Godzilla offers a CGI ridden Monster battle-fest, but lacks any real sense, logic or credible plot…

Godzilla returns to the big screen in one of this summer’s blockbuster movie’s that never really became an actual blockbuster.

We find the world coming to terms with the existence of Godzilla and titans (huge monsters that have lived on earth all along but are often in a form of hibernation) following the events of the previous Godzilla Film and the chaos that took place in San Francisco.

The film was written and directed by Michael Dougherty who previously also was involved with writing X-Men : Apocalypse and Superman Returns – yes, these are warning signs…

Dougherty picks up the helm after Gareth Edwards was unable to take on the sequel due to his commitments to directing Rogue One : A Star Wars story.

A divorced couple film themselves in the middle of an awakening of these very titans – with Vera Farmiga (Up in the Sky, Source Code, The Judge) playing Dr Emma Russell who has been developing a form of communicating with these titans. Following the loss of her son in the San Francisco events she has become obsessed with the work, leading to concerns of her daughter Madison (Milly Bobby Brown – of Stranger Things fame).

Russell’s ex-husband Mark (Kyle Chandler – Game Night, Wolf of Wall Street, Manchester by the Sea) has retreated to nature in response to the loss and seems very happy just fishing. Then (and this will shock you) there is awakening of one of these monsters – and………..action!

There are no acting or writing awards to be found in this film. It offers little in terms of coherent characters beyond serving as a means to set up monster attacks, battles and CGI on a huge scale.

In fairness – There is a place and time for such films albeit you need to be in the right mood for it. If you’re looking for a popcorntastic special effects movie, this will serve you well. Beyond this though, there isn’t much to be had here and frankly it could have been a lot better.

It does include a solid supporting case with Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, and Ken Watanabe to name but a few – all of whom deserved a better script. It also worth noting that the cinematography was by Lawrence Sher, whose next film was Joker.

One point of note, if you add in 2017’s Kong : Skull Island movie which also came from Legendary Pictures,  as part of their ‘Monsterverse‘, this is another rapidly building cinematic universe. Indeed, next year will see the next film in this  –  Godzilla vs. Kong. We can only hope for the best.

5/10