A Review of “Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)”

 

In anticipation of Godzilla vs Kong, I’ve decided to rewatch all the previous Monsterverse movies. The second Godzilla movie had an amazing trailer with the Clair de Lune orchestral song. It still is one of the best trailers to come out in a long time. The trailer was so good that I decided to watch this movie in the theatre on day one in IMAX. However, I came out of it with a mixed thought towards it. The premise is “Members of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species-thought to be mere myths rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance”. So has my feelings towards the movie changed or do I still have the same mixed thoughts?

The biggest praise I have is that they used Godzilla monsters from Japanese movies. The MUTOs from Godzilla (2014) were fine but not memorable. Here the monsters are all different and unique. Mothra looks beautiful, Rodan looks scary and Ghidorah looks grand. They all have great monster designs that stick in your mind with Ghidorah looking like he could take on the legendary Godzilla. The CGI, visual effects and sound effects are all phenomenal too. Another big problem in Godzilla (2014) was the lack of Godzilla and that has been addressed. Godzilla appears way more and does a lot more fighting this time.

On that note, the action scenes are still exhilarating to watch. It is also better choreographed than the previous Monsterverse movies which mean more exciting titan action. Visually the movie is also gorgeous to look at thanks to the cinematography by “Lawrence Sher”. Some stunning wide shots illustrate the massive nature of these Titans. The director also uses brighter colours, plus a lot of colour blue, compared to Godzilla (2014) which makes a lot of the scenes more visible including the action scenes. I also really loved the score by “Bear McCreary” who incorporates the classic themes in Japanese Godzilla into the movie. It elevates a lot of the scenes and makes them feel grander.

Unfortunately, the story is incredibly stupid and ridiculous. Previous Monsterverse movies had simple plots that just revolve around getting from point A to B with the monster story happening concurrently with the humans. However, here the humans play a central part in what is happening with the monsters causing the focus to be on the humans rather than the titular Godzilla. The main plot shoved in our face is the human family, the ORCA (a magical plot device that affects the Titans), and some eco-terrorist. The human family soap drama is genuinely dumb and the ORCA is constantly used to do whatever BS the plot requires. There are also some eco-terrorist and their plan is evil yet the movie somehow wants to justify their plan when it’s dumb. These stories hog a lot of screen-time and it especially affects the pacing in the second act by spending too long on it that I was getting bored.

It’s made worse by the fact that the characters are no longer just uninteresting but downright hateable. Dr Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) is the main lead who lost his son because of these Titans and hates them including Godzilla. He gets an arc where he likes them more now because the plot needed him to be I guess? Dr Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) is Mark’s ex-wife who believes letting all the Titans wake up is going to be great for the world. Her plan is stupid and because of her a bunch of people died yet the movie still want the audience to feel for her. Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) is Mark and Emma’s daughter who sides with her mum but then changes her mind. None of these 3 main characters sounds remotely interesting but you’re going to spend the most time with all these 3. There are also some other one-dimensional supporting characters including some from the original Godzilla (2014) but they are all incredibly bland as well.

On that note, the tone of this movie is quite comedic and more far-fetched compared to Godzilla (2014). Sadly none of the quips is very funny and it can even clash with the moments which are meant to be serious. For example, there is a scene where the human characters found something astonishing so a natural reaction is “oh my god” but then another character adds “Zilla..” to the end of it and I cringed from the stupidity of that line. There are a couple of other moments that feel like that and it just doesn’t work. Some death scenes occur which the movie attempts to make sad but it doesn’t work as the human characters are forgettable and it then gets overshadowed by jokes or dumb dialogue. Also, the movie is over 2 hours when it really shouldn’t be as it drags a lot.

Overall, Godzilla King of the monsters is very silly and tries to incorporate a serious human story in it but fails miserably. Nevertheless, the visual effects and the monster battles are still great which in the end might be all that people want. In the end I certainly enjoyed seeing these iconic Kaijus do battle. After watching this though, I want a movie with better human characters though because the Monsterverse so far still can’t provide it.