Godzilla-King of the Monsters .2019

Excited about seeing Godzilla - King of the Monsters and while the reviews I've browsed so far are uneven, they usually are for this genre. The movies can't really win - there's either too much focus on the human characters (at the expense of the monsters) or not enough (assuming we're all just there for the monsters). One of the drawbacks of 2014's Godzilla was there not being enough Godzilla - and just it looked like the movie was about to deliver the goods...we cut to CNN or duck into a subway tunnel.

Like most of the genre's fans, I'm there for the Kaiju porn - the hot monster-on-monster action. Like actual porn, only a nominal set up is required before getting on with the action ("Did you order a pizza, Mrs. Jones?"). What Kong: Skull Island got right was not holding back on the Kong - the movie delivers on being nearly wall-to-wall Kong and other creepy creatures - and having the good sense to pack the cast full of world class ham actors (Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, John C. O'Reilly) to chew up the scenery when the monsters aren't on screen.

So bring on the Godzilla. It's his world, after all...we're just lucky to live in it. Or are we...?

 

I give Warners credit for trying younger directors but so far its only halfway paid off with Godzilla 2014 (good story and concept, good set up, a few riveting sequences but poor characterization, not enough GZ and the little there was obscured by darkess and dust) and not at all with Skull Island (the only good scenes in the trailer, dumb story, hammy actors out hamming each other, and the lead - Tom Hiddleston - given almost nothing to do). I'd still like to see a Godzilla movie directed by Scorcese, or Tarantino or Bong Joon Ho (The Host may be the best Godzilla movie made, with another monster pinch hitting for GZ). Here's hoping for 'King of Monsters" but it sounds like it might be another (slight) disapointment

 

We'll see, I decided I am in a Go-Go-Godzilla mood. Going to see the 4:00 PM show this afternoon.

 

Got my tickets for Saturday morning

 

Ok, my impression. This is the Godzilla movie. No over developing a plot, where there really isn't one. The movie doesn't spend time on character development, it spends time on monsters.

These are the titans, these are the monster's that kill people and utterly destroy things, anything and everything in their paths.

I won't talk about the movie specific's, so I will cover a few other aspects of the movie.

Out of all movies that I have seen with SFX soundtracks, this is by far the best surround sound that I have heard in a movie theater.

So many movies have superfluous sound effects and loud noises, just because and they always seem to insist doing it all through the movie, just to make the point that they can, which I find completely annoying.

In this movie when things are quiet, they are quiet, when the monsters are raging, the sound is raging along with them.

When you feel the need for impact, you really have impact.

This is a monster action movie, all the way through. Those wanting a story should look elsewhere.

 

So, my thoughts (no spoilers)...

First, it was not boring by any stretch. I didn't lose interest or just sit there waiting for the monsters to kick each other's asses. There isn't a ton of character development but there's enough for the "main" characters, played by Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, and Millie Bobbie Brown...then again, I don't even remember their character's names. The rest of the human cast don't have a ton of dialogue but they all help give the true main character, Godzilla, more story and depth. My wife found the plot (the main motivation of the human antagonists) to be stupid, and I don't disagree. But an antagonist's motivations are their own and I can certainly see someone feeling like they do...however misguided it may be.

The movie was directed well enough. As I said, you're not yawning through the human scenes just waiting for monsters to show up. The CGI was very good and the lighting was fine. It was nowhere near as dark as the 2014 Godzilla was...at least on Blu-ray. Everything was visible but it was a disappointment that there were no fight scenes in broad daylight (though there's a plot-related reason for that). Actually, when some of the unnamed monsters are seen alone in the daylight, the CGI isn't as good so maybe it's for the best.

My biggest disappointment is how much of the fight scenes are in the trailers. Of course they're not the whole scenes in the trailers, but I wish I hadn't watched them as much as I did.

I felt the pacing was good, the fight scenes were very good, and the story was passable, Overall it was a pretty good movie. There were plenty of Akira Ifukube musical cues (including the Godzilla March) as well as the Mothra theme. Honestly I can't think of much I'd have done differently. The tone was definitely a serious take on Godzilla (like the 2014 film) but there were a few funny lines thrown into the script (which isn't going to win any Oscars but was far from cringe-inducing, as I feared it might have been).

Using my usual 5 star rating, I'm going to give it a peculiar (as only half stars should be used), and unqualified, 3 - 3/4 stars. 3.5 seemed a bit low while 4 seemed a bit too generous. Of course this is equivalent to 3 out of 4 stars so I could've just said that...but I like making things difficult apparently.

If you're a Godzilla fan in particular, I think you'll like it. If you're not, you still might like it.

 

Saw it this afternoon. It was as dumb as a bag of hammers, and wasn't really very compelling action - nothing particularly thrilling at any point.

 

You, sir, have just saved me five pounds sterling and a precious afternoon off work today which can now be devoted to playing music and CD hunting.

I salute you.

I love Godzilla movies, but really need a good reason to venture out into a cinema as opposed to catching up with a film on-line on amazon or whatever, or seeing on Blu-ray.

I have very limited capacity to absorb and shrug off cinema disappointment these days.

 

I disagree. It's no masterpiece but it's as good as most of the schlock in the theaters these days. And if you're a Godzilla fan, it's worth it.

 

You love Godzilla movies but you read one person's opinion and run with it to justify a decision you obviously already made. Makes sense.

 

It was one of four films my wife and I saw yesterday. Unlike you, we need no reason at all to go out to the movies. We have a very inexpensive theater available to us that charges $5 for tickets to first run movies on an excellent screen.

My problem with Godzilla: King of Monsters were mostly to do with the human beings with poorly thought out motivations for their actions. For instance Charles Dance is an "eco-terrorist" who wants to set the "titans" free to destroy the Earth to somehow save the Earth. And a suitcase-sized MacGuffin that can control monsters literally on the other side of the planet at one point, yet needs to be tied into baseball stadium sound system to control one a mile away at another point.

We also saw John Wick 3: Parabellum. It existed in an alternate universe where there are thousands of hit men in New York City but no policemen...yet it had internally consistent logic. And even though the mayhem was almost all on a one-on-one scale (or a whole bunch on one) the action was a lot more compelling than seeing Godzilla or one of his cohort stomp yet another city.

 

I have no problem with schlock. But it has to be compelling schlock. For instance, I loved Colossal. That director managed to give us a new take on the genre.



Also, if you think Godzilla: King of Monsters is somehow "as good as" most of what is in the theaters these days, you really have no idea what is in the theaters these days. I've seen almost everything playing in the theaters today, and it was the worst film I've seen out of a dozen this week.

 

I don't remember their names either. Isn't that great. Who cares what their names are.

That is the great thing about Godzilla, it doesn't waste time on some contrived story where we are supposed to care about and have empathy for the humans, like they insist on doing on the lame story plot lines of the Jurassic Park sequel's.

This is like a Wizard of Oz, where the wicked witch's flying monkey's rip the Munchkin's apart.

After Godzilla, further Jurassic Park sequel's are going to seem silly (not that they aren't already).

With Godzilla, the earth is the theme park and there are no fences, only kick a** monster's who kill people and destroy everything in their path.

 

Disney's next blockbuster move: The Flying Monkeys Of Oz Storm Munchkinland (Rated PG-13)

(Guest appearance by the Good Witch of The North)

 

Well, I was referencing the generic schlock that comes out of Hollywood most of the time.not all the time

Yes, I agree, there was a certain understated stupidity to thinking that freeing the titans would help the earth. But, if you're problem with the world lies with the over population of earth by people and the decimating of its resources, how far fetched is their idea of a solution? Just because it makes no sense to us doesn't mean it makes no sense to them...or others. That's like saying a suicide-bomber on some religious jihad is an idiot. Sure, we know that but he thinks it's worthwhile. So I have no problem with the plot concept of an eco-terrorist doing what he thinks will "help" the earth...regardless of how stupid it seems to me. On a conceptual level, their reasoning (and the explanation given by Vera Farmiga's character) made "sense" in that what they were saying would achieve their goals...in their minds...and it did (to a certain extent) if you read the newspaper headlines that ran during the credits. I didn't get the kid buying into her mother's nonsense though...that seemed a bit much.

The whole Orca thing wasn't very well thought out, I'll admit. I was the one nudging my wife asking how the hell King Ghidorah knew it was in the jeep with Vera Farmiga if it wasn't being blasted through speakers. But other than that, most stuff made sense within the context of the MonsterVerse's logic...which is quite broad, obviously.

Btw, I also can't stand Kyle Chandler as an actor so I'm surprised he didn't grate on me more. Most of the dialogue among the periphery characters was filler but it wasn't cringeworthy...like just about every other action flick.

 

I disagree that Hollywood produces schlock most of the time. Every week there are excellent, enjoyable movies but they don't cost hundreds of millions to make and aren't advertised widely. My wife Vickie has seen more than 250 films in the theater so far this year. Do you think that would be possible if most of the films being released were schlock? Instead, she sees films that get released, play for a week and disappear. Meanwhile a piece of genuine schlock like this Godzilla film plays at thousands of theaters.

 

This is really a monster's eat and kill people type of movie. Not so much one suited to deconstructing what little script and plot there is.

Think of it along the same lines as a movie where we send out messages to alien's, telling them where our world is and welcoming them here.

Talk about something that would be really dumb, maybe too dumb for a movie plot?

Of course, since we did this for real, so welcoming monster's is not that big of reach for me anymore.

 

We get it that you and your wife are movie connoisseurs.
While this may not be to your expectations or standards, those of us who only see a couple movies per year, and are Godzilla fans since early childhood look at such a movie with much different eyes. I could never watch some of the movies you probably see. I would be bored and have other things to do with my time. But I am not criticizing or judging you in any way. You enjoy them and that is great. Just as a master chef or food critic would enjoy fancy foods and restaurants and loathe eating at a franchise restaurant, so it may be with movie watching. (And by the way, I ate at a fancy and extremely expensive French restaurant once, and the food was terrible to this uncultured palate.)

 

We're not! We're just people who see a LOT of movies, who are aware of every film that is out in theaters, and thus are aware that there are a lot more movies out there than the heavily advertised ones.

Again, we're not snobs. We love Marvel movies, but we can also love tiny little films like Brigsby Bear.

Hell, my wife Vickie was one of the people who did the 59 hour Marvel Movie Marathon, watching all 22 Marvel movies in a row at Chicago's River East 21. And if I had been home in Chicago at the time, I would have joined her.

 

I think of Godzilla as sort of a John Wick IV.

Only that having monsters kill everything in sight makes more sense to me somehow that having people do the same thing for an entire movie.

Besides, Godzilla has sound effects that have relevance to the movie and not some Honk Kong martial arts type of movie from the 70's.

In JW3, every punch, kick, knife stick is accompanied by idiotic sounds that only a lover of low budget martial arts movies could appreciate.

In Godzilla, is is quiet except when monster's are destroying everything, then the theater is shaking.

It's the difference is sound effects done right vs. sound effects done wrong, which is just for the sake of doing it.

John Wick 3 doesn't offer much in the way of a plot, story line or empathy for people.

Godzilla doesn't offer much in the way of a plot, story line or empathy for people.

JW3 kills a lot of people, Godzilla kills even more people.

Didn't we have enough of Neo fighting multiple assassin's back in The Matrix Reloaded back in 2003? Which was a pretty awful movie also.

 

A rental thats about it..

 

The plot of this sounds incredibly stupid.

 

Many of my favorite films are either small-scale Criterion Collection films or things like all the early Zhang Yimou and Kurosawa films so I'm not exactly a blockbuster only film watcher.

I never said this film was great but I don't think it's nearly the schlock you're making it out to be. Incidentally, I think most smaller scale films coming out of Europe and Asia trounce most of Hollywood's attempts at quality film...though that is not meant as a blanket statement.

 

Exactly. That's like saying Jaws sucks because Quint didn't get a bigger boat when he had a chance...or that oxygen tanks won't blow up a shark with a rifle shot...not that I'm comparing Jaws to Godzilla: KOTM, mind you.

 

It is very, very stupid.

It is one of those films that has to make all of its money in its first weekend because everyone will figure it out how stupid it is by the second.