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Saucy Cinema- Godzilla: King of the Monsters Review
Dear Questers, this is my last entry before my upcoming Texas BBQ road trip where I promise pics, reviews, testimonials, and of course delicious BBQ. I’m truly excited to show you all what my friend and I discover. But for NOW, let’s get into my review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
For those who have read my previous posts, you know that I’ve been on a kaiju kick since last summer. The first trailer for THIS film actually got me to think “man I remember loving these characters… maybe I should brush up on them!” And so my journey began. Most of you know what happened next. My dog passed away after a week of fighting pancreatitis. I was angry with a lot of things. My dog friendly apartment, my job that I took that moved me away from him for a year, pretty much everything. So I buried myself in these films, and between Godzilla vs. Biollante and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, I pulled myself out. These films got me through a tough time, and my hype for Godzilla: King of the Monsters grew exponentially. Then the reviews came out, and I was a bit deflated. However, I took my dad to see it in IMAX, since he got me into these films as a kid. We sat down and the film started.
Over two hours later, and both of our jaws were still slacked on the floor in amazement. There was truly a sense of awe and spectacle that I hadn’t seen from a film (sans the 10 year culmination films from Marvel) in quite some time. King of the Monsters is a love letter to Godzilla, and the Toho films that he starred in. Each of the four main monsters has a character, a personality (in Ghidorah’s case three different ones). In my entire life, I never thought I’d see something this close to the original Japanese films I love so much with this kind of budget. The monster battles alone are worth the price of admission. This movie NEEDS to be seen on the biggest screen possible, so definitely go see it in the theaters, IMAX if you can still catch it!
And now for the SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!
So the story is an interesting amalgam of the comic, Half Century War, and Destroy All Monsters, with some of the themes/main character arcs of the Heisei era being ever present. In short, there is a device that falls into the wrong hands that is capable of waking up the Titans (the word the shadowy Monarch has chosen to call these giant monsters). The plan is to wake them up, and they will take back the world, restoring balance. All of this goes awry when they wake up Monster Zero, who turns out NOT to be part of our natural order, an alien creature known as Ghidorah. As an alpha, he makes the call to the other Titans around the world who begin a rampage that only Godzilla, along with Mothra can stop. Sprinkled in here is the story of the broken family, the inventors of the device in question, and their daughter. After losing their son to the attack in the first film, the Russells are truly lost, with the dad drinking and the mother deciding that the Titans exist to save the world. This conflict pits two organizations against each other. The first is an eco-terrorist group that seeks to give the world back to monsters. The other is Monarch, the shadowy organization introduced in the 2014 film, and explored a bit more in Kong: Skull Island. Monarch has to contend with the machinations of this group, as well as the world’s attempt to kill the Titans they all fear. The core question of coexistence is the heart of the film.
The story, when compared to other modern blockbusters is definitely a bit silly. But in the pantheon of Godzilla stories, is rather true to many of the plot elements in those films. There are countless entries where humans or more often, aliens, are to blame, and their plans involve the monsters or provoke them into attack. Terrorists have been used in more than one Godzilla flick, and so King of the Monsters really comes off as an adaptation of the past 65 years of films, much like Captain America: Winter Soldier takes plot elements from different comic stories.
Most of the poor reviews I’ve read have focused on the plot and characters as the source of their ire. Again, the plot is rather silly, but it’s easy to follow. For me, the characters and their motivations made perfect sense, and Ken Watanabe’s Serizawa steals the show. The scene of his sacrifice to save Godzilla is truly a moving moment. I was more or less engaged with the broken family, and as a monster fan, I loved seeing the organization that tracks the monsters. Never did I get too annoyed with a specific character, and their story was directly involved in the monster plot. It’s not the best human story we’ve had from a Godzilla film, but I found it fairly engaging as they wrestled with the philosophy of living with these Titans versus killing them to save potential lives. There’s a great mix of civilian and military characters too, allowing us to get some great action scenes with the latter without deviating away from the main characters. To me, it’s a fantastic balance of decent characters, a few chuckles, and fun mythology building on the human side.
On the monster side, the film is almost perfect. Would I have loved to have seen Rodan teaming up with or fighting Godzilla? Yes. I would have loved to have seen more Mothra too, maybe a few more moments with Godzilla. But they all exude personality and character. To say they are simply monsters does a disservice to the team behind this film. They made sure these characters had defining traits. Rodan is basically Starscream, bowing to whichever Alpha can kick his ass. He’s tough though, and mean in a scavenger kind of way. Mothra is majestic, with a connection to Godzilla and the Earth itself. She’s underestimated constantly, and her strength is in her sacrifice/rebirth cycle. Godzilla is the fearless, relentless protector. He will fight for the earth until he dies. But Ghidorah here is the main attraction. He’s sadistic, has three heads with different personalities, and has world domination in mind. When Godzilla shows up, Ghidorah stretches to his full height and width to try and intimidate the Big G. Looking at him in his full glory is something to behold.
That brings me to the designs of the characters. Rodan and Ghidroah are my favorite designs for these characters. Godzilla is easily in my top 5. Mothra’s is the most dramatic change. They really tried to meld a wasp with a moth. Her larva form is fantastic though, with lots of expression. Mothra’s face remains pretty close to her usual design, but on the toy side of everything, her fur and detailed features make her figures the most disappointing. The battles though are gorgeous, with each set piece outdoing the previous one. Almost every frame of monster action could be a poster hanging on my wall.
There are so many easter eggs in this film, some of which are a connection to Toho films of the past, and others are deeper connections to the MonsterVerse. If you aren’t familiar with these franchises yet, don’t worry, they aren’t trying to hit you over the head with them, and you won’t feel lost. But if you are paying attention, this film offers a rich expansion of a current universe while paying homage to the past.
Words cannot express how much this film means to me. Michael Dougherty and his team have crafted a letter of love to Godzilla and his kaiju cast. This isn’t just a general nod to monsters, this is a specific dissection of what makes Godzilla and the Toho monsters so special. It’s not perfect, but I haven’t felt like a kid while watching a movie in quite some time.
Long Live the King.
SCORE- 9.1/10
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