David Pierdomenico
As Warner Brothers struggles with their superhero cinematic universe, the other two involving the paranormal and monsters seem to be going strong. 2014’s Godzilla did a great job of rebooting the franchise in a fresh and modern way. And while it was criticized by some for not containing much of the titular titan, it laid the groundwork for this unexpected cinematic universe. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a fun and exciting follow-up that gives fans exactly what they’ve been craving: monsters fighting!
A New Approach
The first film in the series did a great job of portraying a bleak, gritty, and almost realistic tone to the Godzilla mythos. The emphasis was more on the human characters and how they dealt with the imminent threat of the MUTOs, as well as Godzilla. It did have a spectacular monster battle at the end, but that was never really the focus. This film however, takes an almost campy tone, as opposed to its predecessor’s gritty realism. But it works for this story and plot.
We begin with Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown) at a Monarch station in China, built around the dormant titan Mothra. As they’re attempting to test a device which can emit a frequency that communicates with titans, the facility is ambushed by eco-terrorists led by Jonah Alan (Charles Dance). They kill all the researchers, and take Emma and Madison hostage, as they further their goal of unleashing the titans upon the world.
Meanwhile, we see familiar faces in Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr. Graham (Sally Hawkins), as they testify before Congress in order to notnexterminate the titans, emphasizing that Godzilla is on their side. When they hear of the eco-terrorists actions, and plans to awaken all the titans, they recruit Emma’s ex-husband and Madison’s father Mark (Kyle Chandler) to help find them before it’s too late. As previously mentioned, the first film took a very gritty and realistic (as much as it could) approach to the material. This sequel takes itself far less seriously, and isn’t afraid to get cartoonish here and there.
Wasting its Brilliant Actors
There’s no shortage of brilliantly talented actors here, but the biggest issue the film has is that it fails to utilize its immense talent efficiently. We’ve see just how well Charles Dance can play an imposing and intimidating figure on Game of Thrones, but here he’s really underused. And the few scenes we get of him just make him seem like a generic “bad guy”. As if the filmmakers loved his performance as Tywin Lannister and thought he would bring the same gravitas to their film, but somehow forget that quality writing is required for this as well. Dance is supposed to be an idealistic eco-terrorist, but we barely get a sense that he really has any strong opinions on anything. He’s just there being intimidating for the sake of doing so.
They also make some questionable choices with Vera Farmiga’s character. There’s not much to say about it without giving away spoilers. It’s just that they give her a character a strange motivation, and it seems like Farmiga herself is struggling (but doing the best she can) to try and work with the material. Millie Bobby Brown shows her talent, and has some great emotional moments, but her character really doesn’t seem integral to the final plot. To be fair, not all of the character moments are wasted. Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Serizawa is the one of the most endearing characters (which is why he was one of the few brought back from the first film). He gets a really cool, almost beautiful moment to shine.
The Iconic Showdown
However, it would be lie to say that most fans are coming to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters for the character moments. What they want is to see Godzilla fight with other iconic monsters, and in that regard, the film doesn’t disappoint! As King Ghidorah rises, and calls the other titans to his command, it’s up to Godzilla and Mothra, the unofficial king and queen of the monsters, to stop this imminent threat!
The monster fights are visually stunning and make the film worth seeing on the big screen. We also get an appearance from Rodan, as well as a few other titans. In the first film, Godzilla successfully decimated the MUTOs, but here, we see him challenged against a much more powerful and worthy adversary in Ghidorah. The stakes are also much higher here, as the titans threaten the entire world and human race as a whole, as opposed to just one city like before.
Of course, this film will ultimately be a lead up to next year’s Godzilla vs. Kong. And while Kong is certainly a more famous and iconic rival than Ghidorah, it’s a bit strange that he didn’t fight Kong first. This film has such world-threatening stakes, that anything that follows won’t feel as important. The very fate of the human race hung in the balance of their fight, so when Godzilla fights Kong, it will be difficult to have any real stakes. That said, it will probably be still be fun to see two famous creatures fighting.
Overall, Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivers on what most fans want to see. One of the primary criticisms of the first film was how the monsters got such little screen time, and they definitely remedy that here. Sure, the character development is weak, but that was never really the point of this film to begin with. It would be better to see it succeed at both. But ultimately, we go see Godzilla films to watch him fight other monsters, and that’s exactly what we get here!
David Pierdomenico is a former History/English Teacher, and a current HR Professional. His dorky passion is an absolute love of film, especially horror and comic book. He is also the author of horror novels Kushtaka and Veritas, and the founder of Halloween Year-Round.
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