I watched Godzilla last week, I've only processed just how awesome it was.
I love how Joe Brody plays the protagonist, playing the bossom buddy to Serizawa with his son brooding and being a bitch from the sidelines while they gush and coo over the MUTO and Godzilla data.
So we have a traumatized man who had the choice between saving the residents of his city from the radiation and waiting the last few moments just to save his wife -- and picked the world, just as she wanted. And then he's just plain obsessed with the phenomenon, neglecting Ford and can't even bond with his daughter-in-law and grandson BECAUSE he has to find out why his wife had to die.
Which is all nice and good in theory, but then shit got real and THEN the MUTO and Godzilla are off to SF and Ford is like MY WIFE AND SON IS THERE I HAVE TO GO AND SAVE THEM LET'S NUKE THE MONSTERS and Joe is conflicted because he doesn't think it's possible and now he has the ability to stop his son from going out and getting killed because HE CAN'T LOSE MORE PEOPLE.
And Ford tells him that it wasn't Joe's decision, it just is, and wasn't it Joe who told him that he has to protect his family no matter what it takes? And Joe's forced to face just how a terrible dad he's been and LOOK AT WHAT HE'S TAUGHT HIS SON.
In his obsession with MUTO/Godzilla/whatever killed his wife, he brought his son (his aimless, angry and unhappy son) into the whole monster business, even though Ford never wanted to get involved in the first place
And again, he's taught his helplessness against nature.
And on Ford's side, he realizes that despite how many nukes they use, how much destruction they use, there's little they can do, and that nature, MUTO and Godzilla, is an unstoppable force, and can destroy the world because they're small and helpless.
But then he has that poignant moment!!! with Godzilla, where Godzilla sees him, the small him and doesn't want to kill him, or hurt him, and Ford sees that the fearsome monster is terrifying, yes, carelessly destructive, yes, but there's no malice, or intent, it just is.
It's not there to destroy humanity. It's just there for the MUTO, and it just so happened that they're all collateral damage.
And then Ford realizes that his goal shouldn't be fighting these things. That it should have been and must remain "to save his family" first, and not "destroy."
Because that's what you do when faced with nature's destruction: you save what you can, salvage what you can, and try to keep it from happening again.
And Ken Watanabe, the only actual intelligent guy in the film, doing his guru-thing is gif-worthy. Tumblr agrees.
Oh, and Ford's wife saying fuck this and getting proactive and helping the evacuation before leaving too is pretty great. She doesn't need a hero to save herself.
This movie, Godzilla, is a great movie about father-son relationship, obsession and man vs nature.
Wish there were more Godzilla though.