Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Film Review)

Okay so, my opinion on Pokémon Detective Pikachu times four.

For better and for worse, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is far more similar to the Godzilla films of the 70s through 2000s than the likes of the 1954 classic, 2016’s Shin Godzilla, and its 2014 predecessor.  2014’s Godzilla aimed to give Godzilla a more plot-centric film.  While it ultimately faltered narratively, there are clear signs that effort was placed into writing its human characters.  Godzilla, nonetheless, succeeded in having an abstract narrative—a poetic cinematic elegance regarding man’s insignificance and things beyond our control.  Godzilla: King of the Monsters (named after the 1956 American re-edit of the franchise’s original film) is quite the opposite approach.  It is one-hundred percent pure action-popcorn creature feature.  There is a clear-cut lack of effort given to the film’s narrative, human cast, logic, and physics.  While the film’s cinematography is an epic array of pizzazz, it lacks completely in any thematic elegance.  King of the Monsters is all style over substance, though it does share a key similarity with its predecessor.  The one aspect it does right, the aspect it needed to get right, is its fantastic portrayal of Godzilla and the other Toho monsters.

King of the Monsters begins sometime after the events of 2014. The MUTOS, or Titans as they're been rebranded here, are now publicly known throughout the world. Governments are conflicted over what exactly to do about these beings.  The U.S. military pushes to destroy the creatures before the creatures destroy humanity, yet the monster hunting organization Monarch—led by the Godzilla-obsessed Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe)—claims some of the Titans are benevolent and useful to humanity.  Monarch itself has discovered, hidden, and/or secured seventeen different Titans across the world—that is until an eco-terrorist group attacks several of their facilities and begins releasing the Titans, using a specialized sonar device call the ORCA to awaken, attract, and/or agitate the creatures.  One such Titan, known as Monster Zero, is discovered to be a foreign resident of Earth—taking control of the weaker Titans to destroy on a worldwide scale, threatening the very extinction of man.  Yet Monster Zero, aka King Ghidorah, has itself an alpha rival in the form of Godzilla, who have been duking it out since the dawn of humanity.  Now it’s up to Godzilla, with the help of humanity and another ally Titan, to stop Ghidorah and prove once and for all who is truly the king of the monsters.

LOOK OUT!  MAJOR SPOILERS BEGIN:

King of the Monsters skyrockets the number of known monsters in its universe with the clear intent of stepping up the Monsterverse to its next cinematic level.  Among its array of monsters are Toho’s most popular Kaiju: Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah.  The film is made and focused around these creatures and does a fantastic job portraying them.  There’s clear-cut respect for the kaijus’s origins yet King of the Monsters isn’t afraid to add its own twists to them.  The big four have each received some design tweaking, with Mothra’s being the most differentiating from her Toho appearance—looking more an amalgamation of insect species than just a giant moth, with sharp mantis claws and a wasp’s stinger (exchanging some elegance for intimidation).  Out of all the changes, Rodan’s molten-singed wings are my favorite.  The design change is simple yet adds a dynamic flair to one of the more previously plain-looking kaiju designs—emphasizing Rodan’s heat resistant body and making the giant pterodactyl all the more badass looking.

Legendary’s kaiju variants are given distinct, expressive personalities and more animalistic qualities than their Toho predecessors.  Take how King Ghidorah’s three heads each have independent personalities and reactions to events around them.  After liquefying a bunch of soldiers with their gravity beams, the left-sided head bends down to lick up the leftover blood—like a cat slurping up milk—only for the middle head, who acts as the “head boss” of the trio (I have no regret for that joke), to box his ears and scold the left head for getting sidetracked.  They’re like the three stooges, with the middle head being Moe.  When King Ghidorah falls under the Orca’s influence, yet is suddenly released, Moe head slaps the other heads as if they were the only ones being influenced.  Moe head’s visuals here practically speak the lines; “What’s da matter with you!? Snap out of it you nitwits!”

It's clear that the monsters (as well as their battles, which I'll get to in a sec) are where all the filmmakers’s efforts went into because the plot is a far cry from what I would consider a well-written story.  King of the Monsters has a ridiculously absurd plot full of clichés, head-scratching logic, and artificial plot contrivances.  Dr. Ishirō Serizawa had a knack in 2014’s Godzilla of always knowing the right thing to do (which always involved Godzilla), to the point where it was as if he had read the film’s script.  Well, this time around, Serizawa seems to have passed his script knowledge to King of the Monster’s new human protagonist Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler)—a man who pulls plot conveniences out of his ass regardless of whether it contradicts his established personality or not.

Russell knows seemingly everything about Godzilla, from his mannerisms to territorial behaviors despite having left Monarch some years prior, directly after Godzilla resurfaced since The 1950s.  He seems to know more about Godzilla than kaiju-obsessed Serizawa himself: a man who eats, sleeps, and breathes Godzilla and has been studying him extensively and in close vicinity since Russell’s departure.  Russell talks about Godzilla as a top-priority threat to humanity that must be destroyed, yet also commands Monarch to open their base’s shields so an approaching Godzilla knows they're not a threat and leaves peacefully (top-priority threat, animal who leaves passive humans alone—same difference).

Russell has either read the script or he’s the luckiest idiot.  There’s a scene where King Ghidorah rises from his underground slumber, causing the very ground to start collapsing around Russell and company.  Now, any normal human would run like hell from the massive forming crater until within a safe distance, yet Russell stops immediately as it ceases, just inches away from the crater’s edge.  Thank goodness Russell seemingly knew the shaky ground wouldn’t end up crumbling just a couple inches further, or that the giant three-headed dragon ascending from the ground would miss, at point blank range, with its gravity beams if he just stood there and stared.

Ken Watanabe is just a delight in the film for all the nonsensically right reasons.  Serizawa’s obsession with Godzilla has risen to absurd levels.  Anytime there is an issue that needs to be solved, Serizawa suggests Godzilla:

Problem: King Ghidorah is attacking a city!

Serizawa: We need Godzilla. Let him fight.

Problem: Tax season is upon us!

Serizawa: I need Godzilla. Let him write.

The guy’s so nuts and disconnected with reality that he has the audacity to straight-faced tell a government board that humanity will be Godzilla’s pet.  A badass line in the trailers, yet in context, it’s complete lunacy from an insane man.  And I love it.  Now they do kill off Serizawa in this film, which is a bummer—I will say, however, that he’s given the only compelling human death in the franchise so far.  The farewell is a generally touching scene between him and his obsession that ends with a bang.

The film is immune to scientific law, as evidenced by its many breaking of the laws of physics.  Certain humans don’t get blasted away by hurricane-strength winds—while less plot-armored fodder do—and can clearly look in the direction of said winds while small debris hits everywhere but their eyes.  King Ghidorah’s gravity beams vaporize bodies and blast through steel yet leave those just a couple feet away completely unharmed.  There's a scene where Godzilla dives underwater right next to a submarine with characters on deck, smacking the water with his tail, and all it does is get them a little wet.  In 2014’s Godzilla the mere underwater surfacing of Godzilla causes a tsunami to strike Hawaii, yet a submerging tail smack to the ocean here, and only a big splash occurs.

The film is constantly on the move and breezes through the nonsensical plot.  It is, in essence, a traditional Godzilla film—with having to sit through a B-plot and stock humans being the price to see Godzilla and the Kaiju cause massive carnage and/or duke it out (in theaters, at least—on home release one can fast-forward to the action scenes).  That said, King of the Monsters is still one of the higher end Godzilla plots—though it doesn't have much competition—with its stock characters making entertaining use of their archetypes and some decent jokes here and there.   There are some very awkward jokes throw in, however, with the film having not one, but two bits involved the Titans mating habits.  One of these bits is an incredibly uncomfortable conversation that goes on for far too long about Mothra and Godzilla being mates (the internet is already full of really weird s***, there's no reason to give them additional fuel).

King of the Monsters is, at it’s best, a magnificent love letter to all the Godzilla films before it and to all the fans that love the series.  There are so many awesome references and nods to the classics and even more modern films within the Godzilla lore, many that I expected to be omitted due to their fantastical/magical nature in a more grounded universe.  Yet King of the Monsters finds a way to keep these aspects tied to the kaiju’s legacy while giving them a more subtle, grounded spin.  King Ghidorah is codenamed Monster Zero and discovered to be a foreign invasive species from another planet.  There’s a massive storm that clouds King Ghidorah, reminiscent to the meteorite that hid Ghidorah in his origin film.  Rodan's molten-singed wings are reminiscent to his Fire Rodan powerup in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.  King Ghidorah is given a regenerating ability like in Rebirth of Mothra III.  The military uses the freaking Oxygen Destroyer to “kill” Godzilla.  Godzilla turning into a less-world threatening version of Burning Godzilla from Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.  They even got a nod in at the fairy twins that usually accompany Mothra.  The cherry on top is a badass, epic remix of Blue Öyster Cult’s song Godzilla.

2014’s Godzilla has clearly set a president for the MonsterVerse to contain epic, breathtaking cinematography, and while King of the Monsters does not capture the same haunting elegance of its predecessor’s imagery, the film still manages to get in some epic, awesome looking shots.  It was worth it to see the film in IMAX with its immersive sound and massive screen amplifying the cinematography’s larger-than-life tone.  There’s a cool underwater shot of Godzilla swimming towards Monarch’s base, evoking the appearance of a massive Mosasaurus, its back spikes flickering blue as an intimidation warning towards the group (the scene also leads to a fun, unexpected jump scare).  How about the awesome shot of Rodan and King Ghidorah about the clash in a hurricane, or the shot of Godzilla victoriously roaring as all the other Titans bow around him.  There’s a lot of symbolism as well such as Mothra angelically coming down out from the clouds as light shines around her (she’s Godzilla’s angel) or King Ghidorah on top a volcanic throne—a horned devil overseeing fire, destruction, and suffering.

The film had me initially worried about the action when Godzilla and King Ghidorah’s first clash used a lot of shaky-cam and blurriness to the point of being mildly nauseous.  Fortunately, this was just a style choice for that distinct battle, with the remaining fights being pure, awesome spectacle.  First and foremost, the element I desired most from King of the Monsters was over-the-top kaiju battles, and the film gave me just that.  There were many spectacular moments where I became giddy with childlike laughter, and now if you’ll excuse me, I going to let my inner ten-year-old self describe some of these moments. 

HOLY S***!  WASN’T IT TOTALLY AWESOME WHEN GODZILLA STARTS DUNKING KING GHIDORAH UNDERWATER!?  OR WHEN MOTHRA COMES FLYING IN LIKE ZOOOSH AND SHOOTS KING GHIDORAH WITH HER WEBBING AND HE GETS STUCK TO THE SKYSCAPER, BUT THEN HE BREAKS FREE BUT YOU SEE GODZILLA’S REFLECTION IN THE SKYSCRAPER AND KING GHIDORAH HAS THIS “OH S***” MOMENT AS GODZILLA CRASHES INTO HIM RIGHT THROUGH THE SKYSCRAPER!!??  OR WHEN KING GHIDORAH BITES A POWERPLANT AND SUPERCHARGING HIMSELF AND ELECTRICITY JUST STARTS SHOOTING OUT OF HIS WINGS EVERYWHERE LIKE BBBBZZZZ AND ALL THE FIGHTER JETS ARE BLOWN UP!?  AND THEN MOTHRA TOTALLY SACRIFICES HERSELF (LIKE I TOTALLY EXPECTED) AND GODZILLA GETS PISSED OFF AND BECOMES BURNING GODZILLA AND STARTS MELTING EVERYTHING!!??  AND THEN HE GOES MORTAL KOMBAT AND VAPORIZES GHIDORAH’S HEAD WITHIN HIS MOUTH!!!???  IT WAS TOTALLY THE BEST, MOST AWESOME THING EVAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Thank you inner ten-year-old me.

IT LOOKS LIKE THE MAJOR SPOILERS HAVE LEFT...FOR NOW

As with Godzilla, I went to see King of the Monsters with my brother and wife.  Their responses were interesting.  My brother, a veteran to the Godzilla franchise, thought the film was “meh”, noting the film’s lack in characterization and evocative cinematography—the latter he missed from the 2014 film.  My wife, whose only previous Godzilla experience was the 2014 version, thoroughly enjoyed the film.  Not only did she enjoy the monsters and action, but my wife grew quite fond of the human characters and appreciated their storylines.

As for me, 2014’s Godzilla is superior in narrative (in that it actually tries to have a compelling, human story with themes that weren’t quickly strung together after the writers saw InfinityWar) and in crafting a more poetic cinematic experience.  King of the Monsters, however, makes me feel like a kid again (which 2014’s Godzilla had moments of, but was more focused on telling a mature story) and sparked my interest in revisiting the past Godzilla films.  Godzilla: King of the Monsters could have had better written, more thought-out characters and story, yet it’s passionate tribute and respect towards Godzilla and the other Toho Kaiju, nonetheless, left me incredibly content.  If you are a Godzilla fan, particularly the more cheesy, battle-focused films, or just a fan of mindlessly entertaining popcorn extravaganzas, then it is your duty to go see Godzilla: King of the Monsters (I’d recommend IMAX) less you miss out on a really fun time.