Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Released: 2019
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Ken Watanabe, Zhang Ziyi, Charles Dance, Sally Hawkins, Aisha Hinds, Thomas Middleditch, O’Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn
Director: Michael Dougherty
Produced by: Legendary Pictures
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Toho
Rated: PG-13 (UK – 12A)

“Long Live The King”

I finally got up off the couch and headed out to my local theatre for the opening weekend of Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I am a HUGE giant monster fan with the Toho monsters being some of my favorites. I have been excited about this film since it was announced and have seen the other Legendary Godzilla universe films in theaters. So this review of the Godzilla: King of the Monsters will probably be a bit biased, but as always, I will try my best to give you an honest idea of the film before you go see it.

Five years after Godzilla appeared and fought with MUTO, the world hasn’t seen any sign of him. Monarch, however, is not only still in existence, but are now being held responsible for the containment and future of the monsters (called titans in the film, but I will keep calling them monsters). We are introduced to Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga; Nothing But the Truth, The Conjuring), a scientist who works for Monarch, and her daughter, Madison (Millie Brown; Stranger Things) . Emma and her estranged husband Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler; The Day the Earth Stood Still, Game Night) lost their son during the events in the first film and have separated due to the trauma and their resulting coping. She is working on an important experiment to help with the containment of the monsters. When she achieves success in her experiment, she and her daughter are taken by an environmental terrorist. Monarch recruits Mark to try to duplicate her work, track her and Madison down to rescue them, and stop the eco-terrorists before they can do any damage with Emma’s experiment (SPOILER they do a lot).

My biggest complaint about Godzilla was the lack of exposure for Godzilla when he started fighting MUTO. Literally the first time they engage in battle, the film cuts away, moments before first contact, to a woman on the phone. It was ridiculous. There are no worries about that here. The film starts off with a small glimpse of the fight between Godzilla and MUTO from the first movie and there is plenty of monster versus monster action spread throughout. It is all glorious to behold for both fans and new audiences. The fights are beautifully choreographed and visually stunning. There is no shortage of hits, bites, scratches, throws, or energy blasts. If it is a fight you came to see, you will get it in abundance.

Speaking of the look of the fights, the look of the monsters is stunning. Godzilla still looks great from the 2014 film, King Ghidorah is truly intimidating to see, and Mothra is beautiful in all her stages. Rodan is probably the poorest looking monster, but even he looks great. The visual effects team (which was massive from what I saw on the rolling credits) really put everything they could into this movie. Throughout Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the audience is taken through many different environments from Antarctica to a tropical forest, destroyed cities, and deep in the ocean. All the settings are produced very well and really allow the audience to experience the global reach of the film’s events. Everything looks amazing here.

The music of the film mixes the traditional Godzilla movies’ soundtracks and brings them into the modern age. The Godzilla theme still adds excitement and even a bit of terror as it punctuates climatic moments in the film. The new arrangement for Mothra’s music samples the classic theme to really boost the nostalgia factor. Besides the music, the overall sound for the film is great. Explosions, metal and concrete being destroyed, and gunfire all came in loud and clear and really intensified the action and destruction sequences (of which there is plenty). The individual monsters’ roars and energy blasts are the same as the music, updated versions of the originals. With sound playing a key role in the plot, it needs to be awesome and it is.

There is no lack of fan service in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Even though Legendary Pictures is establishing their own world for these creatures, they not forgotten the history behind these characters and why audiences want to see them in the first place. I have already spoken about the movies use of music and sounds to kick up the nostalgia factor, but there are more than a few nods and easter eggs to past Toho films. There are plenty of YouTube videos and articles out there listing these for fans so all I want to say is see the movie first and find them for yourself before you read or watch a list someone else has made.

A not-subtle-at-all theme of the film is humanity’s effect on the environment. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, we get to choose how humanity will move forward on Earth. Does Godzilla to lead the planet into a new era of balance or does King Ghidorah wipe the slate clean. This idea of a force larger than us showing up and in someway correcting the damage we have done to this planet well reflects our own real actions and core beliefs regarding this issue. We sit back and expect governments, benevolent beings, or large corporations to take care of it instead of standing up and taking care of it ourselves. However, the movie’s two options represent two very real futures for us. Either harmonize and coexist with the Earth and it’s lifeforms or be eliminated. In reality, Earth will be here way beyond humanity even if we wipe all life off of it. It does make it hard to think of the villains of this movie as all bad when you think about the damage we have caused here.

I have to give applause to some of the performances by the actors. One of the new leads in Godzilla: King of the Monsters is Kyle Chandler as the depressed and Godzilla hating scientist, Dr. Mark Russell. He does a great job in the role and is one of the top performers in the movie. He was able to talk about science stuff with believability and act totally irrational when it came to his daughter. Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Shizumanu Taiyō) reprised his role as Dr. Ishirō Serizawa benefits the movie with more screen time and a stronger representation of the character. His portrayal and character’s story is one of the reasons to see the film. For her first large film outing, Millie Brown does an exceptional job and I personally can’t wait to see where this girl’s career goes in the future. She stole the scenes she had with her mother.

While I think most of the cast did a great job in their performances, the story did not give them the material to work with. Character relationships were established quickly and explicitly without letting the audience experience them. Unlike the first film where we saw the full development of Bryan Cranston’s character and his son. There was no time to really grow with these characters a bit before we had to empathize with them. Then, when some of the character relationships change (looking at your Mark and Sam), the reasons are all paper thin, if they are there at all. All this is really a detriment to the movie. As with any story, we need to feel some connection to these characters. The only ones I cared about if they were killed or not were from the first movie. When your film centers mostly around new characters, you have to be sure the audiences will connect to them. I don’t think most audiences will do that here.

On the other hand, the audience may not want to go to a giant monster movie for human development to be the central focus. The development of the ecosystem for the monsters is expanded on and tied together from the other films in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. [SPOILER] The Hollow Earth theory is not only confirmed, but actually visited by the cast. [END OF SPOILER] The relationships between the creatures, us, and Earth is all explained and then demonstrated by the monsters. If you want to see more character development for the humans, go back and watch Godzilla, but for the monsters, this is the one that gives them center stage.

I walked into Godzilla: King of the Monsters giddy with excitement to see Godzilla battle other monsters and I walked out humming the Godzilla theme song. I didn’t expect anything deeply intellectual or overly emotional. However, the actors performed well, the monsters looked amazing, and the action was intense. I expected something exciting and over the top and that is what I got. A whole lot of it.