Godzilla: King of the Monsters: All Hail the King!

I remember the first time I saw Godzilla. I must've been around 5 or 6 years old. My dad was flicking through the channels and I saw a gigantic dinosaur brawling with an ape (in case you couldn't guess it was Godzilla vs. King Kong). My dad explained to me that Godzilla was essentially a giant dinosaur that breathed fire and protected the people of Japan (well that depends on which one you watch). I fell in love, like an sensible person would. What's there not to like? I mean it's a GIANT DINOSAUR THAT BREATHES FIRE. From that day on, Dad would start to rent various movies from the series for me from the local video store. I'll even go on record to say that I like the 1998 one with Matthew Broderick. Yes, they were cheesy as all hell, but they were also awesome. I remember doing a report on the big guy in my sophomore year of high school. The concept of Godzilla is very interesting. He was intended to be a manifestation of the Japanese people's fears after the atomic bomb was dropped. In the first one there were several visuals that represented the atomic bomb's damage. In case you were wondering, I got a B on the project. In 2014, it was announced that America would be releasing a re-imagining of Godzilla. It had been years since I had thought about him. The movie came out and I was a little disappointed. The big G wasn't in the movie all that much. Despite that, I still enjoyed. That movie did respark my interest in Godzilla and I was thrilled when it was announced that a MonsterVerse was being developed (think Marvel Cinematic Universe but with Godzilla). Now that I gave you that history, let's jump into it.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is directed by Michael Dougherty and stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobbie Brown, and Ken Watanbe. It is the sequel to 2014's Godzilla. It has been five years since anyone has seen Godzilla and the crypto-zoological agency Monarch has been dealing with a resurgence of Titans. When Godzilla reawakens, he collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his old nemesis, the mighty King Ghidorah. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!

Going into the movie, I was a bit nervous. I had been excited to see it for a while, but the reviews hadn't been the best. I usually try not to let reviews sway my opinion of a movie, but it was kind of tough for this one. Having seen the film, I'm wondering if I watched the same thing the critics watched because I had a blast with this movie. It's the definition of a summer blockbuster. I had a few major problems with 2014's Godzilla: he wasn't in all that much, whenever an action scene began, it would cut to the humans, and the humans weren't all that interesting. This movie, in ways, fixes that problem. Godzilla is in this movie more than the last one. When he isn't onscreen though, it isn't a bad thing because we get to see Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah tearing things apart. It's glorious to watch. The designs for the monsters are fantastic. I really liked how they were faithful to the original movies, but also were unique in their own ways. Not only are the designs great, but the visuals are fantastic. I felt like I was sitting in the city watching these Titans beat the crap out of each other. The amount of detail that is present in each design is incredible. You could see all of the fuzz on Mothra and you could see all of the scales on Godzilla. It was very impressive. The sound was incredible in this film. The sound designers managed to take the original roars of the monsters and make something new with them. Every time Ghidorah bellowed, it was a thing of beauty. I want to hear all of this on a sound loop. I also really liked the cinematography, too. There were several shots that looked like paintings and I want them framed so I could put them in my room. The fight scenes were awesome. It's very satisfying to watch giant monsters brawl with each other. Every Godzilla used his atomic breath or Ghidorah swatted at Mothra, I was smiling from ear to ear. Another problem people had with the 2014 film was the humans. With the exception of Bryan Cranston's character (who was killed off a half hour into the movie) none of them were very interesting. In this movie, some of the characters were actually pretty interesting. Kyle Chandler (who was also in Peter Jackson's King Kong) plays Mark Russell. After dealing with a tragedy related to Godzilla, he decided to not only leave Monarch, but also his wife, Emma (Farmiga) and Madison (Brown). I really liked his performance here. He's very down on himself and takes the blame for what happened (I don't want to spoil it). The movie gives him a nice ark. The other human character I really liked was Dr. Serizawa (Watanabe), who returns from the previous movie. This time, he is given more to do and we get to see why cares so much about the Titans. He believes that we can co-exist with them and not kill them. I also really liked the score by Bear McCreary. He makes it very unique, but it's also a throwback to the originals. For Godzilla fans, there are a ton of little Easter Eggs that will really make you smile. There are some musical cues that fans are really going to love. There are also some homages to the old movies.

As much as I enjoyed this movie, it does have some problems. I mentioned earlier that some of the characters were pretty interesting. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the rest of them. There was one scene when a soldier got wounded, and the movie wanted the audience to care. The only issue was that we barely knew who this woman was. Yes. she was in a bunch of scenes, but we never got to know her as a character. This became a problem when the scene would change from monsters fighting to the soldiers on the ground. Visually, it was pretty cool, but I just didn't care. The common criticism for this argument is, ¨well, it's a Godzilla movie, you're not supposed to care about the humans.¨ That may be true, but when we are forced to see what the people are doing, at least make them interesting. If not, it's a complete waste of time. This leads to another issue I had with the film: the camera cutting from the monster action to the people. It's true that this movie has some big stars, but the major complaint with the 2014 film was that the movie cuts to a different scene. For example, in the 2014 version, the audience is just seeing Godzilla for the first time (an hour in to the two hour film) and it looks like he's going to fight a monster terrorizing the air-port. He lets out a mighty roar and just when he's about to attack the movie cuts to a different scene. The 2014 film did this three times. King of the Monsters does this, but not as obnoxiously. It would cut away in the middle of a fight and then go back a few moments later. Why can't studios get through their thick skulls that people don't want to see this? While I loved the fights in this movie, I had a little problem with them: MOST OF THEM WERE AT NIGHT AND IN THE RAIN. I hate when movies do this. When I get the movie on Blu-Ray, I know I'm going to have a hell of time trying to figure out what's going on. I wish that monster movies would stop this. The director said in an interview that Godzilla would be in this movie more than the last one and he is, but not by a whole lot. I'm not going to go on a rant about that because, when he's not on the screen, we still have the other awesome monsters to look at. Unlike the 2014 one, I never forgot I was watching a Godzilla movie at times. Fans of certain monsters might be a little disappointed with this movie because certain monsters get more screen-time than others. The good thing, however, is that each monster gets a really cool moment. The last major issue I had with this movie isn't necessarily the film's fault. The commercials and trailers did show quite a bit. If you want to go into this movie not knowing anything, try to not watch a ton of stuff for it. I'll never understand why this is done. It's a Godzilla movie. People are gonna see it.

To wrap everything up, I had a ball with Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I felt like I was five-years-old again and I loved it! The monsters are fantastic, their designs were respectful to the originals and unique in their own ways, the visuals and sound were amazing, the fight scenes were awesome, there were some interesting human characters, the score was well done, and there are a ton of little Easter eggs. Sadly, the other humans aren't all that interesting, Godzilla isn't in it as much as I thought, the movie does cut away from the action sometimes, some monsters don't get a lot of screen-time, and the commercials did show a little too much. For all of its faults, though, I really dug this film and encourage you to go see it so we can get more Godzilla movies. I can't wait to see him face off against King Kong next year! If I were to rate it, I'd give Godzilla: King of the Monsters an 8/10. Also, be sure to stick around after the credits!