Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, check your radioactivity levels and discuss Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which premiered in the United States on Friday, May 31, 2019.
Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily a review. After all, while we are all individuals, even mutual love of something (or hate) can come from different places: you may find everything from critique to fangirling to maybe even hate-watching.
Now, join Erica Hildebrand and J.L. Gribble as they talk about Godzilla: King of the Monsters! [Note: Spoilers beneath the big red warning!]
J.L.: I can’t say it any better than my spouse: “I signed up for monsters fighting, and that’s what we got.”
And to be honest, the fighting monsters were pretty spectacular. Gorgeous visuals, plenty of property destruction, and full-on apocalyptic cityscapes. All of the big names were there, to accompany our title character of Godzilla. Ghidora, Rodan, and even the adorable Mothra (who can and will stab the hell out of you if you don’t respect her).
Oh yeah, and a cast of humans were scattered in there to provide some plot. They were some pretty big names in pop culture, too. Coach Taylor to be the cranky hero dragged into this mess. Tywin Lannister as the mustache-twirling bad guy. Josh Lyman has had a serious fall from grace from his White House position to conspiracy theorist scientist. Eleven, of course, steals the show from all of the adult cast, and Ken Watanabe is, well, Ken Watanabe.
I’d use their characters’ names in the movie, but what’s the point? They were fun, and charismatic, but ultimately, they were set dressing to the real point of the movie. Literally all humans did was provide the very human hubris that launched the series of events to cause the monsters to fight, and honestly, I’m getting a little tired of the recycled “Humans are the real bad guys” plot (even if it is often true).
Due to the constraints of storytelling in film, the events in this movie are a snapshot of a moment in a greater world. This movie does a great job of subtle world building, in how the Monarch organization has been around for decades. This movie exists in a universe that not only pays homage to the original Godzilla properties, but incorporates it into the narrative.
In conclusion:
- Giant monsters fighting.
- Fantastic actors doing their thing.
What more do you need out of a summer blockbuster? Go enjoy it.
~SPOILERS BELOW~
Erica: Ahhhhh! I’M SCREAMING. It was so good! I saw it twice!
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is third in a series, so I recommend refreshing with the 2014 Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and, if you only have time for one classic, Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster. Go in with the mythos fresh in your head, because while I hope all moviegoers find enjoyment herein, this movie is also one giant love letter to the fans.
First of all, the new kaiju (or Titans, if you prefer) look absolutely fantastic. Monster Zero/Ghidorah is terrifying, surrounded by a perpetual hurricane effect. He feels like a harbinger of the end-times. Mothra is radiantly beautiful; I might have started crying when she emerged from her waterfall cocoon.
The soundtrack is amazing. Godzilla gets reunited with his original theme music! So does Rodan! And Mothra! And it sounds SO GOOD! And, of importance to me, they delved into the “relationship” between Godzilla and the benevolent Mothra, even using her title: Queen of the Monsters. In case I haven’t mentioned it, Mothra is my favorite.
(SPOILER) Do you know how deep the lore references go? They included the Oxygen Destroyer: the kaiju-killing thanatos device from the original 1954 Godzilla. They also managed to eke in a reference I didn’t imagine them being able to do (hint: Infant Island).
Even though the trailer mentioned that there are at least 17 known kaiju, we see fewer than ten, and the rest appear to be unique to this world, including another Muto. Kong’s presence is the dangled carrot, but (SPOILER) we don’t see him yet. Kong: Skull Island alluded to the fact that he was still a juvenile back in 1973 when that film took place. So I’m expecting a bigger, beefier Kong when he is finally revealed for the fourth movie (Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020).
The one letdown is the underdeveloped human story, which felt thin and expository. In 2014 Godzilla, we have great focus on the Brody family, on the tragic loss of Ford’s mom, and the fallout between Ford and his dad as a result. We feel that family tragedy echo as Ford struggles to reunite with his wife and son. Godzilla: King of the Monsters centers on the Russell family: daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) and parents Emma (Vera Farmiga) and Mark (Kyle Chandler), the latter of whom are on opposite sides of Monarch, the agency in charge of studying and protecting kaiju.
Like the Brodys, a family death is at the root of the Russells’ strained relations and is driving Emma’s choices. But we never really feel this loss, and so using it as a lynch pin for everything that comes after it falls flat. Also, I didn’t like Mark as a character. He is brought to Monarch as a consultant and runs around inexplicably directing the rest of the cast (scientists, executives, military leaders) with his loud “Captain Obvious”-ness, and for some reason everybody just does what he says, and it’s annoying. After seeing the movie with a friend, she suggested that the human plot would have been stronger if Mark wasn’t in it at all, giving room for the tension between Madison and Emma to develop naturally without Mark’s clumsy barking getting in the way, and I think that would have been an improvement. There were plenty of other characters around to pick up his pithy one-liners.
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