I am a Godzilla fan. Let me restate that. I am a HUGE Godzilla fan. My credentials? I own every Godzilla movie on either DVD or Blu-Ray and I watch them all on a regular basis. I also have various books and magazines about Godzilla. I also collect Godzilla figures. I have a dozen or so Bandai Godzilla figures and I have 37 high end Godzilla figures made by X-Plus.
Just by viewing the trailers I knew I’d love this movie…and I do! However, that doesn’t mean I don’t have some issues with the movie…and I do! First here is some basic background information on the film.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (released as Godzilla II: King of the Monsters in some markets) is a 2019 American monster film directed by Michael Dougherty and co-written by Dougherty and Zach Shields from a story by Max Borenstein, Dougherty, and Shields. A sequel to Godzilla (2014), it is the 35th film in the Godzilla franchise, the third film in Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse, and the third Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio.
The film stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, and Zhang Ziyi. It is dedicated to executive producer Yoshimitsu Banno and original Godzilla suit performer Haruo Nakajima, who both died in 2017. In the film, humans must rely on Godzilla to defeat King Ghidorah, who has awakened other Titans to destroy the world.
I’ve watched and read many reviews online and the consensus of those that gave the movie a negative review is that the human aspect of the story is chaotic, nonsensical and ultimately boring with uninteresting characters. This is where I disagree. I found the main characters very interesting and this increased my overall enjoyment of the movie.
This movie takes place in the aftermath of the 2014 Godzilla attacks and fights against the MUTOS. The fact that giant monsters, called Titans, do exist and both science and the government struggle with what to do with them creates the conflict and tensions that feed both the plot and overall tone of the film. The main characters, Dr. Emma Russell, a paleobiologist who works for the Titan-studying organization Monarch and her daughter Madison, are captured by a group of eco-terrorists, led by Alan Jonah, that suddenly attack the base, slaughtering everyone and kidnaps Emma and Madison. This occurs right after Emma and Madison witness the birth of a larva dubbed Mothra. Emma calms Mothra down with the “Orca”, a device capable of emitting frequencies that can attract or alter Titan behavior. Mothra flees and pupates under a waterfall.
Monarch scientists Dr. Ishirō Serizawa and Dr. Vivienne Graham approach former employee Dr. Mark Russell, Emma’s ex-husband and Madison’s father, to help track them down. Mark is reluctant at first, due to his hatred for Godzilla (whom he blames for the death of Madison’s brother Andrew), but he eventually agrees. The Monarch team follows Godzilla to Antarctica, where Jonah intends to free a three-headed Titan codenamed “Monster Zero”.
Emma frees and awakens Monster Zero, which kills several Monarch members, including Dr. Graham, before battling Godzilla and escaping. The team then learn that Emma was not kidnapped by the terrorists, but is secretly working with them. Emma contacts Monarch and argues that the Titans must be awakened in order to heal the Earth from the damages that humans have caused. Many Titans, such as Rodan are set loose to carry out Emma’s and Jonah’s plan. This leaves Godzilla as the sole weapon to combat the other Titans and defend the earth.
In a nut shell, that is the basic plot. At the heart of the story is a family destroyed by the trauma of a giant monster attack that took the life of their son and how they find a way to make sense of their grief. Stuck in between the warring parents is Madison and it is up to her to decide which parent she will support and that will have a measurable effect on the outcome. Also, Emma’s motivation for releasing the Titans is very similar to the motivation Thanos had in Avengers Endgame. Both antagonist felt that by destroying the majority of humanity they could heal the destruction caused by humanity. In their eyes they aren’t doing evil, but an overall good in the context of the bigger picture.
I actually enjoyed the conflicts with in this family. It led to very good character development. Is very easy to create black and white, good and bad simplistic characters. This movie gave the characters motivations that were complex. Both Emma and her ex-husband, Mark Russell believe that their motives completely justified. Both are wrong and it takes the actions of their daughter (and Godzilla) to prove that. This is why I disagree with the negative reviews. Millie Bobby Brown is particularly outstanding in her big screen debut.
But most people don’t watch Godzilla movies for the human story, we come to see Godzilla movies for their giant monster action, fights and throw downs. This movie has these in abundance and it is extremely satisfying! Much of the monster on monster action takes place in the background with the humans in the foreground. I enjoy this aspect of the action scenes for the most part. It creates a sense of scale that displays the giant size of these monsters in a way rarely seen in Toho’s movies. The only minor quibble about this is that I would have liked to have seen a little more lengthy focus on the monsters themselves and their battles.
The four major Kaiju from Toho’s panoply of monsters, Gozilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghodirah have been all redesigned. Even Godzilla has been updated since the 2014 movie. This incarnation of Godzilla is sporting new dorsal plates that resemble the 1954 original. His eyes are slightly larger, his feet have also been enlarged but his tail is a bit shorter.
This design of King Ghidorah is my favorite ever of this Kaiju. Although I’ve liked the Toho version of the monster I never cared for his wing design. His wings just seemed attached to him and beyond his control and worked independently of him. This design takes care of that issue. His wings are attached with armlike appendages similar to a bat. This way you can see Ghidorah flap and control his wings. Below is some fan art that demonstrates this point.
One of my issues with the movie is the color saturation and pallet. The above pictures scattered through my review demonstrates this issue. With the majority of the Kaiju battles taking place during inclement weather, along with this color saturation, renders the CGI creatures a bit unrealistic or not so lifelike from time to time. This doesn’t happen all the time but enough for me for it to be an issue. I just hope with next years Godzilla vs King Kong they have some Monster scenes in the daytime!
Director Michael Dougherty really did make this movie for the fans. The movie has tons of Easter eggs and nods to the franchise. Some have complained that this constitutes fan service and that it is just there to please the fans without any real relationship to the film. I found only one moment like that and it is the reference to the Oxygen Destroyer. It actually made me cringe! It was definitely there for the fans. They could have named this weapon anything. The problem is that the two times this trope was used (in the 1954 original and the 1995 movie Godzilla vs Destroyer) it was vital and essential to the plot. In this movie it wasn’t that essential, at least the name wasn’t, it just came out of the blue, it didn’t work and was never heard from again. If you’re going to use this iconic symbol of the franchise I think it needs to be used in a manner that is more vital to the plot and not a throwaway reference to please the fans.
All in all this was what I expected from a Godzilla movie. An enjoyable story with great special effects and thrilling monster on monster fights in a tone that is fun and mixed equally with both drama and humor.
Grade: B+
Godzilla Designs 