Back in 2010, I was amazed by Gareth Edwards’s first film, the wholly impressive indie creature feature Monsters. Made on the tiniest of budgets, Edwards wrote, directed, did the visual effects for, and partially financed that film with his own savings. Which is why I was both thrilled and worried about the Brit director taking on a big budget studio reboot of Godzilla.

It is universally agreed that the world’s most famous monster needed a bit of a rejuvenation, what with Roland Emmerich’s woeful 1998 movie still lingering putridly in many people’s minds. But will Edwards be overwhelmed by a massive US$160-million (S$200-million) budget or hindered by big studio heft? The answer, thank goodness, is “no”.

As expected, Edwards excels in creating awesome monsters and staging beautifully choreographed smack-downs. Godzilla is certainly back on the right path, with perfectly placed fanboy nods to the original 1954 Gojira, money monster shots, and nary a Matthew Broderick in sight. Even better news? The star himself is looking prodigiously fantastic. Sure, he’s grown chubbier around the neck since his film debut (haven’t we all?) but Godzilla is still the classic, bottom-heavy, radioactive creature we all know and love, stomping and roaring with bells and whistles. So why don’t we get to see more of him?

My biggest problem throughout the bulk of what feels like an overlong two-hour running time is that there just isn’t enough Godzilla. If Hollywood wanted to reboot his franchise 60 years after his big-screen debut, the least they could have done was give this legend the screen time he deserves. After all, it is his name on the poster. Instead, we get not so interesting — or interested, even — human characters to get us through the acts without the monster mash. And that’s when it becomes apparent that this is an average movie under-utilising great actors like Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins with throwaway, one-note performances. Even the usually on-point Aaron Taylor-Johnson makes for a surprisingly wooden lead, giving an emotionless performance that seems to echo the slow pace of the film.

Perhaps my movie companion summed it up perfectly: “Monsters good; humans bad.” He’s right. Edwards gathers all his Apocalypse Now sensibilities to deliver the film’s best bits: Epic monster mash-ups crackling with invention and effect that will no doubt have monster movie fans cheering for more. But this reviewer found herself wanting more. A B-movie tongue-in-cheek nudge-wink performance or two would have helped, or even the humans not taking themselves or the lines so seriously. That would have truly been the Godzilla reboot we’ve all been waiting for.

(PG-13,123min)