Image: Godzilla promo
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See, the military tries repeatedly to bomb the monsters into oblivion, but since they feed off of nuclear power, they just happily chomp the bombs. The military tries to get bigger bombs, but Watanabe's scientist objects with this piece of ancient wisdom: "Let them fight." Godzilla, he suggests, will combat the two bugs and restore "balance." Sometimes, you just have to let 300-foot monsters bash each other to bits, and if they destroy a major city or two in the process, so be it.The moral message of the movie, as much as it can be said to have one, ends up being: If we beget a massive catastrophe, we should wait it out until another catastrophe steamrolls that one. Suffer through disaster; buildings will fall, but eventually Godzilla will come, set things right, and slink off again into the sea. That's eventually what happens, to the puzzlement of the viewer: this thing that had just torn down the Golden Gate bridge, killed hundreds of people, but now, after killing two other animals that were attempting to procreate, he is hailed as a hero.Ultimately, problem with modern Godzilla is that he doesn't stand for anything—he stands over plenty, and on top of lots of things, but there's nothing of any significance behind those crusty CGI scales of his. There's no trace of meaningful threat, no looming nuclear danger, ecological disaster, or any other manmade catastrophe. As with most fantastic cinema concoctions these days, he's an entertainment engineering marvel, who lumbers capriciously onto and off the screen for our amusement. This Godzilla has no coherent story to tell about our fears, so we end up not fearing him at all.