© 2014 Lawrence Tuczynski

Title	Godzilla (OST)
CD Label	WaterTower Music
CD Number	WTM39519
Music Composed & Conducted by:	Alexandre Desplat
Number of tracks	20
Running time	61:02
Number of discs	1
Year of release/manufacture	May 13, 2014
Movie Release (U.S.)	May 16, 2014

REVIEW

May 15, 2014 [Updated May 16, 2014] I just received this CD on it's release two days ago and the movie doesn't open until tomorrow so this will be a preliminary review based on listening to the CD twice so far and reviewed as stand alone music and not how well it does or doesn't work in the film. I may update this review at a later date. First of all the music is very good with several action pieces and seems fitting to the type of movie it was written for. That being said, none of the tracks jumps out and grabs me the way the early Akira Ifukube scores did. It seems to me that unlike many soundtracks from the 1950's and 1960's, many of today's soundtracks are nothing special and written precisely as background music without really complimenting and immersing you into the film as a joint venture. Listen to the original Akira Ifukube scores or the many Bernard Herrmann scores for films of that period or composers like Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry and many others to see what I mean. Until I see the film tomorrow I won't know how well the music works in the film. Since this film is a reboot of sorts for Godzilla during his 60th anniversary year I was a bit disappointed that Alexandre Desplat didn't at least give us one track with a few bars of familiar Ifukube Godzilla music as a homage to Mr. Ifukube and Godzilla in general. One really nice thing is that you can pick up this soundtrack at Amazon.com for the new lower price of $9.99 making this soundtrack a bargain. Update - May 16, 2014 Just got back from seeing the movie. WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD If you are a Godzilla fan, then go see this movie. Hollywood has finally gotten it almost right and it's immensely better than the 1998 GINO disaster. I can say that the soundtrack works well with the film. My opinion above about the CD as a standalone listening experience still stands. I am not a professional reviewer so the following is my opinion only. While I really enjoyed this film there are a few things I wish had been done a little differently. First of all Godzilla looks more like our beloved Godzilla however I still prefer the rounder TOHO style head. The head on this one still resembles the 1998 movie too much for my tastes. As early reviews state, I think Godzilla isn't on screen enough or long enough in the scenes he is in. I prefer the way the 1990's TOHO films like "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah" or "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" where Godzilla appears in the first scene and is seen quite a bit throughout the movie. I can appreciate the back story in this film but think they could have shown a short Godzilla scene up front to grab you instead of waiting for nearly half the movie The trailers lead you to believe Bryan Cranston (of Breaking Bad fame) is one of the stars of the movie. In fact his character only spends a short time in the movie. Not sure how I like the male & female monster pair that Godzilla fights in this movie. They kind of reminded me of a cross between a stink bug, Gyaos from Gamera and some bugs from "Starship Troopers". I'd prefer something more Rodan or Ghidrah looking. At least this time Godzilla has an atomic fire breath and not a fish stink breath like GINO. Too bad they didn't use it more often. In the one shot I remember of Godzilla's feet stomping the ground his feet reminded me more of an Elephant's foot than the 3 or 4 toed creature we are used to. The feet are more dinosaur like. Nit picking aside, there is a lot more to like than dislike in this film and hopefully this will be the beginning of a new franchise.

Godzilla (OST) [WTM39519] Godzilla! Inside The Mines The Power Plant To Q Zone Back To Janjira Muto Hatch In The Jungle The Wave Airport Attack Missing Spore Vegas Aftermath Ford Rescued Following Godzilla Golden Gate Chaos Let Them Fight Entering The Nest Two Against One Last Shot Godzilla's Victory Back To The Ocean