Written by: Kevin Berge
It was a good design choice to have Godzilla light up blue. Otherwise, how would anyone ever see me in the constant darkness fog? (Image Courtesy of: forbes.com)
Quick Take: Godzilla: King of the Monsters obscures its monster fights in shades of black and has limited character arcs, but the overall product is a satisfying ride. With a central human and monster story that pushes the action forward, it stands above many of the recent field of monster films.
***This review will not contain spoilers beyond the basic set-up of the story, so you can read ahead without worry if you have not seen the film yet.***
So far, the MonsterVerse has hardly impressed me. It has been a fairly shallow franchise with impressive effects but lifeless attempts at story arcs for human characters fans have not come to see. With more monsters promise in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the hope was that this one could finally break through.
While it has many faults, it mostly succeeds on that front. With so much action focused on the various Titans awakening around the world, this is a movie that is allowed to limit its human characters are still succeed. This is still mostly a human story given screentime and focus, but the balance is far better.
In this sequel to Godzilla (2014), human beings are now aware that Titans exist and have the power to wipe out humanity. While a program called Monarch attempts to contain the 17 known monsters, forces out of their control bring rise to an ancient battle for dominance between Godzilla and his greatest foe.
The debate over what matters in a Godzilla movie is fairly simplistic. Godzilla is never actually the protagonist of his own films. He can be the antagonist but never the entire focus of the movie because no movie would dare focus entirely on a character who cannot speak.
Therefore, the human stories always matter. They are the bulk of the film. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, while everyone came to see Godzilla rip apart some monsters, the dramatic heart of this film is the Russell family.
Emma (Vera Farmiga) and Mark (Kyle Chandler) are divorced parents trying to make sense of a world that took away their son Andrew while protecting their daughter Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown), who struggles to decide who is in the right.
Thanks to the talent involved, this family drama works. In particular, Millie Bobbie Brown (Stranger Things) is the heart of the film and keeps it moving despite more than a few contrived characters. The human antagonists of this film are particularly lifeless in their motivations.
So far, the MonsterVerse has hardly impressed me. It has been a fairly shallow franchise with impressive effects but lifeless attempts at story arcs for human characters fans have not come to see. With more monsters promise in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the hope was that this one could finally break through.
While it has many faults, it mostly succeeds on that front. With so much action focused on the various Titans awakening around the world, this is a movie that is allowed to limit its human characters are still succeed. This is still mostly a human story given screentime and focus, but the balance is far better.
In this sequel to Godzilla (2014), human beings are now aware that Titans exist and have the power to wipe out humanity. While a program called Monarch attempts to contain the 17 known monsters, forces out of their control bring rise to an ancient battle for dominance between Godzilla and his greatest foe.
The debate over what matters in a Godzilla movie is fairly simplistic. Godzilla is never actually the protagonist of his own films. He can be the antagonist but never the entire focus of the movie because no movie would dare focus entirely on a character who cannot speak.
Therefore, the human stories always matter. They are the bulk of the film. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, while everyone came to see Godzilla rip apart some monsters, the dramatic heart of this film is the Russell family.
Emma (Vera Farmiga) and Mark (Kyle Chandler) are divorced parents trying to make sense of a world that took away their son Andrew while protecting their daughter Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown), who struggles to decide who is in the right.
Thanks to the talent involved, this family drama works. In particular, Millie Bobbie Brown (Stranger Things) is the heart of the film and keeps it moving despite more than a few contrived characters. The human antagonists of this film are particularly lifeless in their motivations.
Can you see the symbolism? It's pretty subtle. (Image Courtesy of: bloody-disgusting.com)
The action is what people came to see though, and it mostly does not disappoint. The main threat of the film is absolutely frightening with some gorgeous shots of the monsters shrouded in darkness, lit only by the electricity that powers it.
However, that darkness does have its drawbacks. Even on a giant screen, it can be difficult to pick out pieces of the fights. While some monsters are brilliantly lit, most are shades of black on black, which can obscure the best moments of the action.
It doesn't take away from the entertainment, but it does make it less effective than it should be. The set pieces are best shaded in red, which gives the best view of the impressive design of Godzilla. One scene, the best in the franchise to date, with Ken Wantanabe's Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (The Last Samurai) is gorgeously lit.
Personally, I don't have any great connection to the Godzilla mythos. Hollywood has tried far too hard to take a Japanese icon and morph into an American monsters with middling results, but this time it worked for me.
I don't know that I would return to this film any time soon especially given it may be even more difficult to follow on a small screen, but I was entertained from the beginning to the end with great actors putting in the work to balance some of the most well orchestrated CGI action I have seen.
Director and co-screenwriter Michael Dougherty (X2) does enough to make this the most honestly effective Hollywood Godzilla film to date, and it sets the stage nicely for what could be a powerful climax in Godzilla vs. Kong or an overblown mess.
You won't find any meaty themes to latch onto in this latest appropriation of Godzilla, but you will find an emotional core on top of pure intense action that might just prove that the Monsterverse can work.
However, that darkness does have its drawbacks. Even on a giant screen, it can be difficult to pick out pieces of the fights. While some monsters are brilliantly lit, most are shades of black on black, which can obscure the best moments of the action.
It doesn't take away from the entertainment, but it does make it less effective than it should be. The set pieces are best shaded in red, which gives the best view of the impressive design of Godzilla. One scene, the best in the franchise to date, with Ken Wantanabe's Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (The Last Samurai) is gorgeously lit.
Personally, I don't have any great connection to the Godzilla mythos. Hollywood has tried far too hard to take a Japanese icon and morph into an American monsters with middling results, but this time it worked for me.
I don't know that I would return to this film any time soon especially given it may be even more difficult to follow on a small screen, but I was entertained from the beginning to the end with great actors putting in the work to balance some of the most well orchestrated CGI action I have seen.
Director and co-screenwriter Michael Dougherty (X2) does enough to make this the most honestly effective Hollywood Godzilla film to date, and it sets the stage nicely for what could be a powerful climax in Godzilla vs. Kong or an overblown mess.
You won't find any meaty themes to latch onto in this latest appropriation of Godzilla, but you will find an emotional core on top of pure intense action that might just prove that the Monsterverse can work.
