Here's what you need to know; five years after the destruction of San Francisco, the world still reels from the lives lost and the revelation that Monsters exist. But while the governments of the world ponder about what to do with the Titans, a Monarch facility is attacked by a mysterious organisation with plans of ending the world, and with Monarch scientist Emma Russell and her Orca device, they now have the means to do it. But when Monarch's efforts to stop them fail and Ghidorah is freed from his frozen prison, the greatest disaster in history is about to unfold as Godzilla and Ghidorah clash for dominance in a world now crawling with Titans.
So here we are, after years of anticipation and excitement and a mind-blowing marketing campaign, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is finally here. I've said many times before how I feel about this film, but this is easily the most excited for a film that I've ever been in my life; Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a film that I honestly never thought was possible, a big budget, American blockbuster starring not only Godzilla but Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah, how did this even happen? As I'm sure is true for many people, I also payed no attention to the reviews that started rolling in over the week of the opening, I don't care that the film is currently sitting at thirty-nine percent on Rotten Tomatoes, partly because Rotten Tomatoes is completely untrustworthy and out of touch, but mostly because I've seen the film, in IMAX, no less, and can confirm that the critics are wrong, very, very wrong.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters' first few seconds really aren't what I was expecting; paying homage to the 1954 film in an amazing way with the heavy thudding of his footsteps and an ear-shattering roar that sounds a lot like the 1998 Godzilla's roar, which is weird, before giving us an incredibly brief flashback to the finale of the first film, 2014, that is, not 1954. The film doesn't stop being awesome as not even five minutes later, we get Mothra emerging from her egg and silking a few Monarch guys to death, which is awesome, before Emma and Maddison Russell are kidnapped by Tywin Lannister. The film has been getting an absolute pounding from critics with regards to its characters and story, and I was actually prepared to concede before seeing the film, but having watched it, I have no idea what they're talking about. Godzilla: King of the Monsters' characters are completely functional; you have your leads in the Russells, whose shared emotional journey is the backbone of the film's human story. First you have Mark, a former Monarch scientist with an intense hatred for Godzilla, the reasons for which are made very clear in the film's opening few seconds. Then you have Emma, a Monarch scientist and Mark's ex-wife who's building the Orca to let Monarch control the monsters, and you have Maddison, the daughter stuck in the middle of both their broken marriage and their conflicting philosophies. To be honest, this drama isn't the film's strongest aspect, but what I find baffling is how many of the critics seemingly think that this is all that matters to a film, specifically this film.
We'll talk about the critics later, but for now, let's just say that they've got this film a little wrong. Outside of Mark, the standout is still Serizawa, who's still a massive Godzilla fanboy. Dr Graham returns too but pulls a bit of a Bryan Cranston pretty early on, Serizawa on the other hand has his moment of glory in a scene that, for many people, could and probably has broken this film, but for me, I actually found myself a bit too wrapped up in it all to care or see it as a problem. The film's human villain is a first for this series, and while I'm sure that pisses some critics off too, it, among other things, actually gives the film a very old school Godzilla kind of feeling. The film's villain was also a good one, within the confines of a Godzilla film, at least, his plan is insane, but why wouldn't it be, he wants to end the world with giant monsters, good look making that make sense. Then there's Monarch's military arm; the G-team, who are all exactly what you'd expect them to be, Admiral Stenz is back from the first film but he's basically a cameo, then you've got some more Monrach scientists, one of which being possibly the coolest Easter egg in the history of cinema and I so, so badly wish I could tell you why. I don't see why all of the critics seem to think this ruins the film, especially the ones who claim to love Godzilla, because this is pretty standard stock for a Godzilla film, in fact, this is high end for a Godzilla film and that's what this is first and foremost; a Godzilla film. These characters are, as I said earlier, completely functional to the story and that is all they need to be; an arm by which the film can anchor itself to a human perspective, this is no different to the Brodys in the first film, in fact, the only real advantage that film has on this one is Bryan Cranston.
No human character in this film is as compelling as Joe Brody, but just about all of them are more compelling than Ford, so what's the problem here. Is the problem that the film's story doesn't make sense, because that's not really true, is it. Godzilla: King of the Monsters' story is actually very straightforward; bad guys wake up Ghidorah, Ghidorah starts a monster apocalypse and Monarch and Godzilla have to fight back, that's about it, or is the issue they have the whole plan involving the nuke, because, at the risk of spoiling the plan, the first film establishes that the monsters feed on radiation and that Godzilla himself is nuke-proof, with the latter being shown to us in the first two minutes of the film. I think this is entirely down to expectations, because for some reason, a lot of critics seemed to want Godzilla: King of the Monsters to be more sophisticated than it is, where they would have got that expectation from, I don't know, because they sure as shit didn't get it from the trailers. In that regard, the film's trailers didn't lie; Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a story about monsters, the humans are, like I said before, to make the film's story more relatable to us fleshy little bugs, but it shouldn't come as a surprise that the film is about the monsters before anything else. But before I talk about the monsters, there are some more things about the film's human aspect; mainly the use of exposition. That much is true about this film, a lot of its human scenes are very heavy on exposition and the film struggles a bit with showing and telling.
This strikes me as more a product of the film's structure than a fault in its writing, because remember, the monster story is the meat of the film, and that wouldn't be possible if the film's human story was overly long, the human scenes do end up being dense with exposition as a result, but the human story of the film isn't the focus, it's there to support the monster story and to world build, so who cares, apart from snobby critics. There is one issue I have with it though, one thing I can say doesn't work for me as a Godzilla fan, and that's the film's handling of the Oxygen Destroyer. I won't say how it's used in the film, but I will say that it's use feels more like a cheap reference than a translation of what the Oxygen Destroyer actually was in the original film; a recognisable thing that got thrown in without the key ingredients of why it worked in the original. In fact the way it's used in the film completely goes against what it stood for in the original; whereas in the 1954 film, it was an exploration of the ethics of WMD's, a weapon whose inventor is torn apart by his own guilt and hatred for what he's created; a weapon worse than the Atomic bomb, in this film however, it's just another weapon created by the US Army, which is, frankly, a slap in the face to the original film because it completely misses the point. Though I will admit that it looked crazy awesome, and the film didn't skimp on showing just how powerful and horrid that thing is, and since this entire issue I have with its portrayal is something most people won't understand, it will most likely be to you what the film portrays it as, just another superweapon.
But do you know what, it's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and assuming you're not a stuck-up critic hoping to find high art in this Kaiju movie, you're here for one simple reason and it's in the title; you're here for Godzilla and the monsters. In this regard, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is unlike anything I've seen before on the big screen, I don't exaggerate here when I say that this film might be the best experience I've ever had in a cinema. There are just so many boxes this film ticks for me; it has four amazing monsters that I've loved since I was a toddler, it handles them with respect and passion, while also portraying them in a way they've never been portrayed before. Let's start with the big one, Godzilla, who's the same big, beautiful bastard he was five years ago, only now sporting a sexy new set of spines. This film does even more with Godzilla than the first one, and not just because he's in it more, which he is, but this film turns Godzilla into a compelling character. The film explores his history and motivations in a way that I kind of adore; going into his backstory and casting an entirely new light on his reasons for fighting Ghidroah and the MUTOs, but what really shines is what they find in the Hollow Earth, that's all I want to say, but where they go and what they find puts such an awesome spin on the film's monsters that Dougherty's idea of a prequel set in prehistoric times suddenly sounds absolutely amazing to me. Godzilla is the star of the show, obviously, but the bulk of the film's action is between him and the false god, Ghidorah.
I absolutely adore that he is an alien in this film, just as he was an alien in the Showa films, and giving each of his heads their own personalities is nuts; seeing the middle head bully the other two establishes such a well-defined hierarchy with the three heads, it's brilliant. His design is also wonderful, now much leaner and walking around on his wings like Smaug or Game of Thrones' dragons, while still being unmistakeably Ghidorah in his appearance. He also sounds amazing, with roars and shrieks very reminiscent of his sounds in the Heisei and Showa films, and of course, he still has gravity beams, which now glow from inside his body when he fires them, which is awesome. The gravity beams aren't just lightning either, their colour is so unnaturally yellow, and the film gives him a new weapon to play with in the form of barbs on it tails, not to mention his new Deadpool style regenerative abilities that make him practically unkillable. His ability to create a hurricane around himself is rather representative of this take on Ghidorah, he is an apocalypse, one whose size the film displays wonderfully, and whose malice can be seen clear as day on those frighteningly expressive faces of his. Ghidorah would be my favourite monster in this film were it not for another, and he was one aspect of the film I was silently apprehensive about, but thank God they got him right, they got him so, so right. And this film being a story of monsters, the history and relationships he has with the other monsters is fantastic, especially the rest of the big four and particularly Godzilla, who he goes to town on the film's finale.
Not long after they meet, he also mops the floor with Rodan, the monster I was least concerned about because he's the easiest to get right, and they got him right too. As I expected, the scene where Rodan awakens from the volcano is spectacular, but what I didn't expect was the following chase as he pursues the Argo, which was an amazing scene. Rodan is kind of the runt of the big four in this film, being Ghidorah's bitch for the latter half, but even so, I loved every minute that he was on screen, his portrayal in the film differs from the old while still being unmistakable. His design is probably the least altered of any of them; he just looks like Rodan, and like the other two, says so much through body language and facial expressions alone. Regrettably but understandably though, he and the other one take a back seat to Godzilla and Ghidorah, and yet despite this, the other one; Mothra, is the show stealer. Had they fucked up, no monster in the film would be as hurt by that as Mothra, but they didn't fuck up, and Mothra is my favourite monster in this film by far. I kid you not when I say that the scene where Mothra emerges in her adult form had me in tears, it was such a beautiful moment, everything down to the setting to the colours to the imagery to the music was completely perfect, and the film's use of Yuji Koseki's Mothra song was stirring, to put it mildly. That music though, the film uses the Mothra song several times and there isn't a single time that doesn't work beautifully. The standout moments are of course her adult form, Castle Bravo and her arrival in the Battle of Boston, as well as one more I can't mention for spoilers.
Purely from a design standpoint, Mothra was my biggest concern with the film's monsters, since I knew that she would look very different in this film, and while I was right, my fear disappeared when I saw her in the trailer and saw how good she looked. Like Ghidorah and Godzilla, she's different; she looks meaner, but she is still completely Mothra, she's still got those beautiful, dig blue eyes and her wings are an explosion of light and colour that, while now bioluminescent, are still instantly recognisable as the wings of Mothra. So they nailed the look, but they also nailed the sound; like Godzilla, her roar is a beautiful blend of old and new, one that is different from the Toho films but still sounds very much like Mothra, and to make it even better, this Mothra sings, though it is only in one scene. But what really sets Mothra apart from the rest is just how badass she is; she isn't a brawler like the other three, she's a delicate thing and not even close to a match for Ghidorah or even Rodan, but that doesn't matter, she throws down with her much bigger, much scarier opponents, leading to a scene that is so incredibly amazing that I, once again, started to weep, and it's killing me that I can't tell you why, but it cemented Mothra as my favourite monster in the film, she is fucking amazing and my only problem is that there wasn't more of her. She is magical, literally and figuratively, an absolute angel that I couldn't get enough of.
One of the TV spots said there were seventeen monsters in this film, one of which is indeed Kong, though he doesn't appear in the film, and he, Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah are counted in that seventeen, meaning that there are thirteen new monsters in this film, of which we see three. Oh yeah, my prediction that this film would be some Destroy All Monsters type shit turned out not to be the case as we only get good looks at three new monsters, none of which take part in any of the film's battles. On one hand, this is a shame because I did want to see more of these things, but on the other hand, this addresses a concern I had where the new monsters would take some of the limelight away from the big four, which they don't, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah are the stars of the show, as they should be. And when these guys and gal throw down, it is awesome, all the critics saying the fights in this film suck are out of their minds. It seems that in response to criticism that the first film didn't have enough Monster fights, this film goes all the way to the other extreme, which is a problem, apparently. Really though, I get the impression that it's more a problem with the critics than with the film because they can't seem to see the simple stupidity of complaining that a kaiju film has too much monster action in it, that'd be like watching a Marvel film and complaining that there's too much of the superheroes in it, it sounds that absurd to me. And those fights are incredible, Godzilla and Ghidorah do indeed kick the shit out of each other in this film and it is badass.
Like the first film, the fights of this film are brutal; with Godzilla and ghidorah biting and clawing and at each other like animals, Godzilla is also very much an underdog in this battle for dominance, since Ghidorah is such a badass, and the battles are a constant back and forth as Godzilla gets completely battered. This only makes the finale that much better though, especially in how Godzilla inevitably wins, you know he does, but how he does is completely insane, making him breathing fire down the MUTO's throat in the first film look like a mild scrape. Unlike the first film too, this film doesn't cut away for the first round, it also replicates the Atomic breath scene from the first film as his spines light up one by one, each one letting out a deep, energised hum as it lights up, it's fantastic. Do you know what else is fantastic; Burning Godzilla, who is indeed in the film and is so indescribably cool, Godzilla going Thermonuclear is the coolest thing I've seen this year without question, it was unbelievably badass. As a kaiju movie, it might be the best one America has ever produced, but something I cannot praise enough about this film is how Godzilla it is. This film doesn't just look like a Godzilla film, it sounds like one, it feels like one, it is one; if it was Japanese in came out in the 90's, it'd be right at home among the other Godzilla films of the time, which is probably because of the blatant love and respect for Godzilla that bleeds out of every frame of this film. It's painfully clear just how much love there is for Godzilla behind the scenes here, and that makes this film something truly special.
This is, I think, where the critics who hate this film really come from, because the film is so unapologetically Godzilla, it's not a film for people who only take the original and Shin Godzilla seriously, but think that the rest of them are irrelevant trash, it's for the kids who grew up on that trash, it's for the fans, and as a film for the fans, this film is about as good as I think it could have been. I suppose this is my bias talking here, but I was always going to hold this film to a different standard and I never said that I wouldn't, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is everything it needs to be as a Godzilla film, and that is all it needs to be, period. In my Shin Godzilla review I mentioned a YouTuber named Chris Stuckmann, right before calling him a tool, but this is why I called him that; in his review of this film, he says "the people who specifically, only like the Japanese Godzilla films watch the Godzilla movies because of their satire and their political commentary," which sounds absurd to me. That may describe the original Godzilla and Shin Godzilla, the only two Godzilla films that critics even want to take seriously, and films like King Kong vs. Godzilla and Mothra vs. Godzilla, among others do have satirical and political elements, not to mention the 1984 film and its Cold war era interpretation of Godzilla. But this film does not appeal to that side of Godzilla, it appeals to the same side of the series as films like Destroy All Monsters, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah and many other twentieth century Godzilla films, which is why when he also says that the film is like a Dean Devlin script from the nineties, he's not wrong, but I'm willing to bet that it wasn't accidental that it turned out like that. Having seen it, I can say that this film was probably never going to win over critics, because this is a Godzilla film that's more in line with his cheesy, dumb, silly days of the 60's and 70's with a dash of 90's to give it more punch. And that may be a problem if you're a stuck-up critic who can't see Godzilla as anything more than cheap, schlocky shit, but this is a Godzilla film in every sense, and they will never be able to appreciate that.
Long Live The King
Godzilla: king of the Monsters is a big, loud, stupid, dumb movie, but unlike the critics, I'm not going to complain about it for that because it's not trying to be anything more than that, and that's not only fine, it turns this film into something incredible. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a Godzilla film, through and through, one made for Godzilla fans by Godzilla fans, and it captures the spirit of those films better than I ever thought it could, which, frankly, is all it ever needed to do to get it right. I'm not going to bullshit myself and say it's perfect, or that I'll feel the same about it five or ten years from now, but none of the problems are big enough to even dent this film; its characters are simple and it's plot goes to some outlandish places, but this is no different from the Godzilla films of old, and in the place of the rubber suits and model cities of those films is jaw dropping visual effects and some of the most brutal and entertaining battles the western side of Kaiju has ever produced. But more importantly than that, it gets the monsters right, and gives them a life unlike anything any of them have had before, it's incredible and it brings out the child in me like no film I've ever seen does. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a film that needs to be seen, you need to go to the cinema and watch it, and it should be obvious what my recommendation is; Godzilla: King of the Monsters is absolutely a must watch.
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