DIRECTOR Gareth Edwards' remake of the iconic Japanese monster movie, Godzilla, had two things going for it.

The film's jaw-dropping trailer saw troops making a combat drop with a city in ruins below and just a glancing, teasing view of a screen-filling monster.

It suggested a darker, grittier take on Toho's 'King of the Monsters'.

Godzilla was also marketed as a Bryan Cranston film after his acclaimed turn in TV series, Breaking Bad.

Unfortunately the trailer and Cranston's role in the movie are misleading.

On paper, Edwards, who is currently working on a Star Wars spin-off film, was the perfect fit for a Godzilla remake.

His excellent 2010 film, Monsters, portrayed what it would be like for a society trying to rebuild and survive years after an invasion from unfathomable beasts.

But Edwards seems to have forgot he was making a monster movie on this occasion with Godzilla taking up around 10 minutes of the film's two-hour run time.

Cranston's role in the movie as Joe is fleeting with the real star being his character's son Ford (Kick-Ass's Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

But the film mostly sees him battling transportation issues rather than monsters while the people around him seem to consider Godzilla a casual annoyance than an end-of-the-world terror.

Among the film's strengths is that it maintains Godzilla's Japanese roots and offers an interesting origin story. But it just isn't the movie it was marketed to be. Watch Pacific Rim instead.

DAVID MORGAN