Last week I went back and rewatched 2014's Godzilla. While I
didn't see it as the greatest Godzilla movie,
I also couldn't see why it didn't get more love. The design was pretty
good, the acting was decent enough, the
MUTO were pretty interesting and the action was pretty good as well. Plus I
enjoyed the way Godzilla was teased before us getting the reveal. Did it have its flaws though? Of course. The human side of things wasn’t terribly
interesting, and more of the big guy himself would've been nice.
As it got closer
and closer in time for me to see the movie, I kept seeing negative reviews.
Needless to say, I was worried that this was going to be a step back. I kept my
faith though and made my way to the theater. I can honestly say, within the 1st
15 minutes of the film, I could already tell this would be better. Let me just
say, it most certainly was.
Godzilla: King of the
Monsters takes everything good and bad from the first film and improves them
drastically. Anyone that had any problems with the lack of monster fights in
the first will definitely be happier. There are plenty and they are amazing.
Godzilla: King of
the Monsters revolves around a group of eco terrorists who want to wake up all
of the titans that Monarch has been monitoring. That way the world can be
restored to its natural balance and be saved. This brings them all into the
path of Godzilla who is looking to stop the other monsters and claim his throne
as king of the monsters.
As seen in the trailers, the main monsters in this are Mothra, Rodan,
and King Ghidorah. The first one we get a taste of is Mothra. I enjoyed her
introduction to the film quite a bit and really loved her character. Unfortunately she probably gets the least to
do in this movie, though her arc is very impactful and she stays pretty true to
her Japanese counterpart. They all do
really. Godzilla also actually gets a
pretty cool introduction in this as well. It's a bit of a tease in his first
appearance, but it is effective. Also I am pretty sure that a bit of his
appearance has changed in this one. Nothing
major, just the fins on his back looking
closer to the Japanese one. Rodan is the
last introduced, but probably has the best intro. It is an epic moment and
really helps showcase just how powerful the titans are. His appearance still is very close to his
Japanese counterpart, but maybe a tad more bird like. It looked great.
Now to the main one
of the group, King Ghidorah. They do an
amazing job with him. You get a good idea of all of the titans' powers when
they are introduced and Ghidorah is quickly established as top dog. With a
design ripped straight from the original movies and a size larger than
Godzilla, Ghidorah quickly makes his mark. Godzilla and Ghidorah have an
established rivalry and as the two fight, it is easy to see why.
One thing I really
loved about this movie is that all of the titans have personality. Ghidorah's
heads will kind of bicker with each other, with the center having to hiss at or
bite one of the others to get it to stop doing something. Rodan…Rodan is something
else. Fun fact, I have never cared too much about Rodan. He is fine. A giant Pteranodon.
Nothing really ever drew me into him. Maybe if I went back and watched the old
films now, I would think differently, but yeah never hated nor loved him. This
movie though made me love him. I saw someone compare him to Starscream from
Transformers, and yeah I can see it. There is a time he goes after a plane and
is just smirking the whole time. It is great. For characters that you never
hear talk, they did a great job at conveying emotion and personality just
through expressions and actions of the characters.
The movie has a lot
of easter eggs too. Things that tie back into the many years of Godzilla films,
and also hint as to what the future may hold. I actually am really looking
forward to this coming out on DVD so I can sit down and go through it all. There
were so many times in the theater I wanted to pause it and check every thing on
the screen so I could see what was being referenced. The soundtrack itself also
has a bit of an easter egg, with a take on Godzilla’s old theme. The soundtrack
as a whole is truly amazing. It is a great musical score throughout. There
truly is a lot of love for the series in this film.
If I had to have
any complaints, I wanted more from Mothra. Seemed to be a bit of wasted
potential with her. Also, like before, the weakest element of this was the
human’s story. It was certainly better than in the first film, and was
integrated into the plot really well, but was still not the best. It was
annoying to have this great fight going on, but then it would cut to whatever
everyone was doing. Then you also had a character that I suppose was supposed
to get a bit of redemption and you were supposed to sympathize with them, but
honestly I just didn’t care. That’s not to say this isn't acted well though.
Millie Bobby Brown was great as always. Vera Farmiga and Kyle Chandler did a
good job as playing the two Monarch members that are her parents, and Ken
Watanabe killed it. Just unfortunately while not being necessarily bad, it
wasn’t great either.
Also the humor was a
bit hit or miss. When it was good, it was really funny. Unfortunately some of
the jokes just sort of fell flat. You can kind of get an idea of that from the
trailer. My only other issue I can think of is that I don’t have a Godzilla
prequel movie, and that I have to wait until next year for Godzilla vs King
Kong.
I honestly haven’t
been this happy about a Godzilla movie in a while. While not perfect, it was
certainly more than I could’ve hoped for it to be. Whether a fan of the
original films, or someone new to it all it is worth going to check out. I hope
that they can keep this pace going and continue to improve this franchise as
time goes on. Until then though, go check it out. Hail to the king!
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