How big a problem is the lack of Bryan Cranston?

[Mecha-SpaceGhidorah]

I rewatched the movie today, and I wouldn't call it a huge problem. It's undeniably a bit of a downer HOW soon he's killed off. It feels like we know him so well, and then he is abruptly removed from the movie. If he'd been in the movie a little bit more, I think I would have been more satisfied with his role. And keep in mind, unlike a lot of people, I actually think ford was a pretty good protagonist for the story. I just wish his father would have stuck around a bit more.

My take as well. I've seen it thrice so far and you could have taken the words right out of my mouth.

More Cranston would have been great, but it's not to big a deal.
Johnson was a decent protagonist. Not great, but decent.

[Primevalgodzilla V2]

Even completely ignoring the acting calibre or ATJ or Cranston, killing Joe Brody was still a miss. I wouldn't have minded so much if Cranston had completed his character arc, or Ford had actually been an interesting protagonist with decent motivations.

[Carcosa]

Well we have the benefit of hindsight. From my limited knowledge, the film wad beingbeing written before breaking bad got extremely popular. Gareth was not even aware of Cranton's cred via Breaking Bad and only got hold of the man because he love his performance in previous works such as malcolm in the middle.

I saw ATJ in kick ass and savage. The lad can act when given the part but Ford Brody, EOD who passed plenty of classified psychological test to stay cool under pressure of any kind, expected to stay frostt in his working environment per credenfials required and a history of repressing his emotion is not the best character to show off any acting credentials via emotional stimulant.

[HannibalBarca]

Even completely ignoring the acting calibre or ATJ or Cranston, killing Joe Brody was still a miss. I wouldn't have minded so much if Cranston had completed his character arc, or Ford had actually been an interesting protagonist with decent motivations.

I haven't seen ATJ in anything before, never seen Kickass, but I know Elizabeth Olsen and and Ken can act, I've seen them act really good in other movies. I blame the writing more than anything, they aren't given much to work with.

Correct. ATJ is a fine actor. He just was not given much to work with, at all, and this applies to basically the entire cast, outside of Cranston. And we have Darabont to thank for that.

[LegendZilla]

One major factor that lead to this problem is that they must've wrote the character's story arc and death BEFORE they cast Cranston. Bye the time he actually was cast, Breaking Bad had not quit reach the skyrocketing hype as it did near the final few episodes.

Due to that, we were likely triggered into expecting too much.

[Killswitch]

When you get a star like Cranston, it wouldnt hurt for a re-write. Heck, some movies are being re-written when they have already started production. lol I didn't see the need to kill the character off. They could of had him recovering in the hospital, so they could be one happy family at the end of the film. lol

[kaijumaikeru]

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[MUTO]

The problem with his characters quick exit wasn't even that I thought he should have been the main character but from a plot perspective it was a bad call. Why? because the father character and the son character had plot threads that required them to be together to be fulfilled. With the exit of Cranston the sons character took a major plot hit and left him basically with less a character than he should have had.

Spoiler:

The two characters should have been together throughout the movie. He was a distant father and obsessed they both had to come to terms with the mothers death and move on but with the characters death none of these plot points could go anywhere and were left flapping in the wind. The two characters should have pursued the Muto and Godzilla throughout the film, gradually together overcoming the loss of the mother and growing stronger and reconnecting. By the end Cranstons character would have stood and watched his son reunite with his family and finally have been ready to move and and be a father/grandfather and be there. It would have tied their plot threads together and left on a better human message than whatever the film had. It wouldn't have taken anything away from the movie and would have made the human story a lot better. It would have strengthened the movie a lot and its almost painful to see such a good set up go to such a waste.

[GR8GODZILLAGOD]

The problem with his characters quick exit wasn't even that I thought he should have been the main character but from a plot perspective it was a bad call. Why? because the father character and the son character had plot threads that required them to be together to be fulfilled. With the exit of Cranston the sons character took a major plot hit and left him basically with less a character than he should have had.

...

All this.

[GojiMet86]

I was thinking of how Joe could have been kept alive (not necessarily on-screen) in the film, and there's one possibility that might have been plausible. Joe would have stayed alive, albeit severly injured, the military would have questioned him as much as his condition would allow, and then they would have sent Joe to the hospital where Elle works at. What came up though was what would could they have done together, and what would have happened to Joe during the attack.

However, what killing Joe early in the film did was that it established the MUTO as a real threat, a danger so real that it killed Walter White.

[EdGojira]

However, what killing Joe early in the film did was that it established the MUTO as a real threat, a danger so real that it killed Walter White.

A danger so real it destroyed a plot thread.

[GR8GODZILLAGOD]

However, what killing Joe early in the film did was that it established the MUTO as a real threat, a danger so real that it killed Walter White.

The Walter White bit means that entire sentence was a joke, right? It was incredibly obvious the Muto was a threat the second you see the cocoon.

[Zentenk]

I am glad they killed him off early, so we could see at least 15 minutes worth of Godzilla.

[three]

It wouldn't be a problem if the characters weren't so flat and one dimensional, specifically Parker (ford Brody). He just got tedious on screen, though his role didn't call for much it was *just* him. Any other characters, even just one other person with more focus than they got (not even as much as Parker, just more) would have helped. They never bothered to go more in depth with any characters outside of parker despite the fact that you can clearly read the depth of other people on screen.

[Killswitch]

It wouldn't be a problem if the characters weren't so flat and one dimensional, specifically Parker (ford Brody). He just got tedious on screen, though his role didn't call for much it was *just* him. Any other characters, even just one other person with more focus than they got (not even as much as Parker, just more) would have helped. They never bothered to go more in depth with any characters outside of parker despite the fact that you can clearly read the depth of other people on screen.

Cranston was the only one in the film that showed any real emotion. His son, Ford Brody was lame. Thought the acting of the military characters were awful. Never got a real sense that the public was actually scared during the film, thought Edwards did a poor job creating real tension on screen. It needed tension similar to the new "War of the Worlds".

[three]

well we got virtually no extras on screen. how many additional civilians did we get to experience the scenes with outside of the main cast? NONE. like none, actually, because we got a few, but hardly anything to establish the atmosphere in - film. that really annoyed me, along with the lack of cranston. those two things were all i really disliked.