Godzilla is one of the most recognisable movie characters in history. Being a staple in Japanese cinema. However, he hasn't really faired well in Hollywood. There was the first movie adaptation in 1998 directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, 2012) which many fans of the character took a serious disliking too and then there was the reboot in 2014 directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) which fans were nicer too but overall weren't entirely pleased. But that movie was the first in a cinematic Monster Universe that Warner Bros is hoping to continue. With the 2014 Godzilla movie, Kong: Skull Island (2017, Jordan Vogt-Roberts) and with this current follow-up Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019, Michael Dougherty).
Initial Thoughts
This movie is awesome! Sure, it's dumb and loud. But it's a movie about giant monsters fighting each other. It's not meant to be deep and meaningful. It's meant to be crazy and explosive! And it does that very well. So if you're a fan of Kaiju movies then you will definitely love this movie!
Monster Fights
Now, let's be honest, the reason fans love these movies is because of the crazy monster fights, and whilst the first movie didn't really have a lot of fighting in it, this one definitely does! And it is amazing to watch! Each Titan looks incredible and each shine in different parts of the movie, some of them quite literally. This movie does a great job of capturing the scale of what a fight between giant monsters would look like. With huge destruction and carnage! You could definitely see why these creatures would be considered as Gods. It was amazing to watch! So if you're going mainly for the Monster fights then you will not be disappointed!
Madison/Millie Bobby Brown
Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) is always great to watch. She's definitely one of the best child actors working right now. She brings a fair bit of heart to this movie, which at points it needs. My only problem with her in this movie is that she doesn't really get a lot of screentime. Instead, most of the time is focused on her dad (Kyle Chandler) and the organization Monarch. Who are actually kinda boring. So it was annoying that she was just a supporting character even though the promotional material for this movie focuses on Godzilla and her. Madison should have really been the main human character for this movie.
Mark and Emma/Kyle Chandler & Vera Farmiga
I think the movie's biggest mistake was focusing on these two characters. They were both quite dull and boring to watch. They start the movie off as pretty interesting characters. They have a sad backstory, each has their own way of dealing with it, but as the movie goes on they just get boring. And the decisions that they make throughout the movie don't really make much sense. Making it harder to relate to them at all.
Monarch
Most of the slower moments happen with Monarch. Basically, they're there for exposition and not much else. The movie tries to flesh out some of its characters in the Monarch scenes but there are basically too many characters in the Monarch organisation so the audience doesn't feel a close connection with any of them, so even when a few of them die it doesn't really have much of an impact. Although, I will give prompts to Bradley Whitford's character for being a good source of comic relief. And I did like that Monarch was at least diverse. Giving representation to different minorities and also for female characters. Which was good.
Future Movies
It's no secret that the next movie is Godzilla Vs Kong (2020, Adam Wingard) which the film does allude to a couple of times. Not really getting in the way of the main story, which was good to see as many franchises fall into the trap of taking up time to allude to future movies. And if that movie has as many good action scenes as this movie did then I am pumped! One thing that was good about both Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters is that they had great action scenes. So if they can continue with that then I am in! They just need to work on the human characters. Millie Bobby-Brown is back for the next one so hopefully, they give her a bigger role in that movie!
Conclusion
This is a wild, insane movie! Full of action and carnage. It'll satisfy fans of Monster movies and lovers of disaster movies. The monsters in this movie are insane and Godzilla lives up to the title of the king! The human characters kinda slow it down a bit and aren't fleshed out enough for audiences to care. But they don't take away from the awesomeness of watching Godzilla and Ghidorah duking it out on this scale!
So that's my review of Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. What did you think of the movie? Do you agree or disagree with anything that I said? Please leave a comment down below. And, if you liked this review then you can follow this blog for more content. Thank you for reading!
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