Godzilla (2014)

WORK – Bad giant lizard?

In 1999, the Janjira nuclear power plant was mysteriously destroyed, causing numerous losses including the wife and colleague of supervisor Joe Brody. Years later, Brody teamed up with his son, a Navy officer, on the scene of the disaster to find out the truth about the accident. They then witness the awakening of a terrible threat. As the forces of nature unleash and humanity seems powerless, Godzilla reappears...

The King of monsters makes his great return to cinema with this human and spectacular blockbuster that manages to dust the myth while paying him a poignant homage. The disaster scenario, if it does not avoid certain sponcives of the genre (on the family in particular), is of a beautiful emotional correctness and of great dramatic intensity, the staging that favours plans at the height of men is cleverly controlled and delivers sequences of an amazing beauty, the creatures are also « beautiful » how impressive and the action scenes are breathtaking. So this is a dreadful cinematic earthquake whose seismic waves should still be felt by many spectators long after the end credits!

IMAGE – Divine as his King?

Advantaged by a video compression in titanium, this UHD transfer from a DI 2K and encoded in HDR10 upgrades its HD counterpart without forcing the least in the world.

The definition has gained in majesty (the environments are sharper), the sting in finesse (faces, clothes, backgrounds) and the colors in realism (the « breath » Godzilla blue), but the main advantage of the disc lies in the innumerable night scenes that now illustrate with a feeling of increased depth.

Because while the daytime sequences are already brighter (the sun really shines), those at night are now more legible thanks to better shade gradients and improved lighting. Compared to the Blu-ray, it's still very dark, but the details don't fail.

SOUND – Make « greuh » Hey!

Simply exceptional soundtracks (VO Dolby Atmos and VF DTS-HD MA 7.1) that are required as a perfect demonstration in the genre.

The mix immerses dramatically by soliciting all the speakers with as much finesse as power, the voices are clear, the pyrotechnic effects (the activation of heavy artillery, the collapse of buildings) like the atmosphere (urban chaos) throw and proliferate serious on the front and/or surrounds, the music of Alexander Desplat is widely open and the infra-graves are titaniums (explosions, shock waves, Godzilla's steps).

And if the auditory performance is outsized in VO as in VF, the first takes advantage of a sensational aerial scene (the passages of helicopters and jet planes, the screams of monsters, etc.) allowing it to offer an acoustic attraction with increased sensations.

CONCLUSION – The monster war is just beginning...

Finally available in Ultra HD Blu-ray, MonsterVerse's first album has been considerably muscular (the HDR and the 3D soundtrack make the difference) to compete!