Godzilla (2014)

In 1954, Godzilla, an ancient prehistoric creature, was awakened by a Russian military submarine accident. Throughout the mid-1950s, the United States and Russian militaries attempted to kill Godzilla through the use of nuclear weapons; however, Godzilla survived every attempt, and the operation was covered up under the guise of atomic tests, keeping his existence hidden from the general public. Film footage shows the preparation and detonation of a nuclear bomb at Bikini Atoll.

Years later, in 1999, Dr. Ishiro Serizawa is called to a mining site in the Philippines along with his assistant, Dr. Vivienne Graham. Accompanied by a small team, he finds a colossal fossilized skeleton and two spores in a large underground cave, one of which has already hatched. Upon noticing the spore breach, the team then comes across a nearby tunnel extending up to the surface; at the tunnel's exit, they find a massive trail leading out to the ocean. The other spore, still unhatched, is taken to Mount Yucca in Nevada, United States, where it is stored in a nuclear waste repository. Days later, near Tokyo, Japan, a nuclear power plant located in the city of Janjira starts to experience seismic activity. Nuclear physicist and plant supervisor Joe Brody and his wife, Sandra Brody, make their way to the power plant. Sandra assembles a team to perform a damage check, under Joe's supervision. The power plant is soon breached by an explosion and radiation leak, killing Sandra and her team, leaving a heartbroken Joe and their son Ford alone, and bringing the entire area down to ruins. The event is attributed to a large earthquake, and the Janjira area is evacuated and subsequently quarantined.

In 2014, fifteen years after the incident, Ford is now an explosive disposal officer for the United States Navy, and is living in San Francisco with his wife Elle and son Sam. After returning home, he finds out that Joe was arrested for trespassing in Janjira while looking for an explanation for the catastrophic event years ago. After Ford travels to Japan and bails his father out, Joe convinces him to come with him to another trip to Janjira, for Sandra's sake. They soon discover it is not radioactive (as it was supposedly claimed) and, after recovering Joe's old data and finding their abandoned home in ruins, they notice the power plant in the distance with its lights on, believing that the plant is being rebuilt. They are soon caught and arrested by security and taken to the power plant. The power plant now houses a large laboratory for studying a mysterious and strange chrysalis, similar to the one discovered in the Philippines, thus it is revealed to be the hatchling from the previously-discovered spore. After breaking out of the chrysalis, the creature wreaks havoc on the lab, killing and injuring many of the personnel. During the chaos, Joe receives critically heavy wounds. After the monster flies away, the military takes Serizawa to the USS Saratoga, who requests that Joe and Ford accompany him on the way, wanting to know what they knew about the situation. Joe later dies peacefully in the helicopter while en route to the USS Saratoga.

On the Saratoga, Serizawa and Graham are revealed to be part of a secret scientific organization called Monarch. Serizawa reveals that they knew of the creatures beforehand, and explains to Ford what the beast that attacked the plant, now referred to as a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), is, detailing its ancient origins and that it feeds on radiation and radioactive materials, moving underground and putting itself in a cryptobiotic state when Earth's radiation subsided. Serizawa also explains Godzilla's origins, the numerous failed attempts to kill him with nuclear weaponry, and the subsequent cover-up stories. Ford informs Serizawa of what his father knows, explaining that Joe mentioned tracking a form of echolocation within Janjira, leading the team to think that the MUTO was communicating with something else.

Ford is then taken to Honolulu, Hawaii to eventually return to San Francisco and reunite with his family. In a dense forest in Honolulu, a U.S. Navy Special Forces team finds the wrecked remains of a Russian nuclear submarine that, earlier, reported an attack. While there, the winged MUTO arrives on the island, ripping apart the submarine and feeding on its reactor. After being provoked by the military, it sends out an electromagnetic pulse that shuts down all electronics within miles. Meanwhile, Ford is boarding a train, where he witnesses a young boy named Akio being separated from his parents. Ford, holding Akio, assures his parents that he will return their son. After the EMP caused by the MUTO, the train comes to a standstill for a moment before the power returns. Ford and Akio are attacked and almost killed by the MUTO, which bites into the tracks and causes the train to derail and hang. On a different side of the city, Godzilla's arrival creates a tsunami that floods most of Waikiki. The MUTO's actions start a chain reaction that leads to mass destruction at Honolulu International Airport, where Godzilla arrives and confronts the creature. After a brief fight, the MUTO flies off with Godzilla pursuing it, and the two are no longer a secret as footage of the brawl airs on the news, which Elle and Sam witness.

Serizawa reports that Godzilla appeared because he heard an echolocation signal and is now hunting down the MUTO. They later question why the MUTO would send out a signal, and soon realize that the other spore is still active and later find out that it has already hatched. The resulting hatchling, much larger than the first, is then found to have broken out of the repository and started to rampage through Las Vegas. The team concludes that the larger MUTO is a female, whereas the winged one is a male while that they also plan on nesting in San Francisco. Stenz approves an idea that involves attracting the three monsters to a nuclear warhead and detonating it in the ocean, hoping to wipe out all three monsters. Serizawa disapproves, claiming that Godzilla could be the only monster capable of stopping the MUTOs and restoring peace to the world.

Ford, now on the mainland, journeys on a military train with a group of soldiers to get Elle and Sam out of San Francisco. The train, containing two ICBMs that were hoped to be strong enough to kill the three monsters, is destroyed by the female eight-legged MUTO, who was resting on a nearby cliffside. Ford is found the next morning, left as the sole survivor. One of the warheads is devoured by the creature, while the other warhead is flown by helicopter to San Francisco. The male MUTO arrives shortly after and steals the warhead immediately after it is armed to detonate. At this time, citizens in San Francisco are being evacuated on school buses. Elle leaves Sam with a trusted friend of hers while she stays behind to help around in the hospital. The buses then make their way out of the city through the Golden Gate Bridge, where it is blocked off and is surrounded by the military. Moments later, Godzilla resurfaces near the bridge, where the NAVY, believing him to be a threat, opens fire in an attempt to prevent Godzilla from entering the city, despite the protests of the soldiers on the bridge due to the presence of civilians. The commotion caused by both the military and Godzilla results in the destruction of the bridge as well as many people getting killed and injured, thus only leaving two buses intact. Realizing that Godzilla may be the only thing who can stop the MUTOs, the military allows him to enter the city so he can fight them.

Meanwhile, the MUTOs meet in Chinatown and start building their nest after mating, only for Godzilla to attack the male MUTO, causing another conflict. Ford is ordered to go on a HALO drop with a team to retrieve the warhead from the MUTO nest and turn it off, so it does not detonate in the city's center. After parachuting into the city, they quickly locate the nest where the female MUTO is laying her eggs. Godzilla soon arrives to engage the female in combat, giving Ford's team the perfect time to venture into the nest. Although Godzilla has gained the upper hand by overpowering the female MUTO, the male comes to her aid, prompting both of them to wound and beat Godzilla to near-death. After the team find the warhead and get out of the nest, Ford stays behind and using gasoline from a damaged fuel truck, destroys the nest of eggs before the baby MUTOs could hatch. The explosion attracts the attention of the MUTOs, who abandon their fight with Godzilla and leave him as they rush to their nest. After feeling stricken with grief upon seeing all of her young killed, the female MUTO notices Ford and attempts to kill him in revenge, but Godzilla appears and incapacitates the MUTO with two blasts of his atomic breath, saving Ford and allowing him to escape. Before Godzilla can deliver the final blow, the male MUTO attacks him again, but Godzilla was able to slam the MUTO into the side of a building with a swipe of his tail, impaling the male on rebar and killing him. As Godzilla stops to catch his breath, the impact of his tail swipe had caused the building to collapse, pinning Godzilla underneath a pile of rubble and dust. Falling to the streets, Godzilla suddenly catches a brief glimpse of Ford as he runs to the docks. After briefly locking eyes with Ford and realizing that he saved him from the MUTOs, Godzilla spares his life before disappearing in a cloud of dust.

Ford's team gets to the bay and realizes they cannot disarm the warhead and instead devise a plan to sail it out into the ocean, far enough to not endanger the population. While loading it onto a boat, the female MUTO, having recovered from her injuries, makes her way to the bay and attacks the crew, killing them all except Ford. Ford starts to drive the boat away in an attempt to take the warhead out of the city before it could detonate, but it is disabled by the female's EMP field before he is confronted by the beast. Exhausted, Ford aims his pistol at the MUTO, but stands no chance and is forced to accept his fate as the female recognizes him from earlier and resumes her attempt to kill Ford once more. Suddenly, Godzilla returns and clamps his jaws on the MUTO's neck before pulling her away from Ford, saving his life once again. After a brief struggle, Godzilla pries open the female MUTO's jaws and mustering all his energy, fires his atomic breath down her throat, separating the female's head from her body in the process. After roaring triumphantly, an exhausted Godzilla dumps the MUTO's severed head into the sea and collapses on the city's shoreline, seemingly dead. With the MUTO's EMP ability no longer being in effect, Ford gets the boat working, but was too injured to move. Not long afterward, he is rescued by helicopter before the warhead detonates far away.

The next morning, in the aftermath of the chaos, Ford is finally reunited with Sam and Elle while Serizawa and Graham stare sadly at Godzilla, believing him to be dead. However, Godzilla suddenly opens his eyes and begins to stir. The media acknowledges Godzilla's actions, hailing him as "King of the Monsters" and debating on his role as the city's possible "savior." Now that both of his enemies are defeated and with balance in nature restored, Godzilla unleashes one last victorious roar before diving back into the ocean and disappearing beneath the waves to lay dormant once again, thus allowing humanity to live in peace.