In 1954 the giant lizard known as Godzilla was unleashed
upon the cinematic world. Made in Japan as GOJIRA it was brought to the US,
some scenes added and became a hit. That was followed by a ton of sequels
pitting the titular creature against numerous opponents. After that he
disappeared for a while. Then in 1998 he was resurrected in a new film starring
Matthew Broderick that fans hated and felt would kill off the character. Until
2014 when a new Godzilla appeared that actually was one of the best of the
series. Now comes the inevitable sequel.
GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS takes the old story line from
the past and pits Godzilla against not just one but several other giant
monsters as well as providing him a tag team partner. Does it work?
Surprisingly yes. Is it as good as the previous film? That would depend on the
viewer.
Only a few of the original cast members return but the main
story revolves around a new family. Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) lives with
her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) and works for Monarch, the company
responsible for unearthing Godzilla in the first film that is now trying to
resurrect more of the creatures they have found. Emma has created a device that
allows her to calm the monsters, called Titans, to communicate with them at the
basest level. As tests begin on the latest creature, a giant caterpillar, a
group of terrorists break in, kill everyone but Emma and her daughter and
kidnap her along with the device.
The members of Monarch are concerned about this kidnapping
and realize that something is amiss. They contact Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler),
Emma’s estranged husband whose been dealing with the death of their son Andrew.
He blames Godzilla for the boy’s death and wants nothing to do with this
research any longer. When he learns his daughter has been abducted he agrees to
help.
The terrorists are using the device as well as the locations
around the globe controlled by Monarch to unleash the Titans upon the world.
Semi-spoiler alert: it turns out that Emma is working with them. Her belief is
that man has tarnished the earth long enough. Between pollution,
overpopulation, war and more, man is responsible for killing the planet and
will eventually kill himself. Her theory is that the Titans will clear the
population and co-exist with man, allowing a sustainable number of people to
continue living.
But the first Titan they choose to release, a three headed
flying dragon they call Monster Zero has other plans. Able to control the rest
of the Titans that have been released he is wreaking havoc across the world
with no intention of co-existing with anyone except the Titans.
In an effort to stop this from happening Mark, Dr. Ishirō
Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) from the first film and their team have come up with a
plan. Serizawa believes that Godzilla was sent to help mankind and wants to
recruit him. They attempt to seek out Godzilla but before they can do so he
arrives to battle Monster Zero on his own. Will he save the day? Or will the
terrorists carry on with their plan and release more Titans including Rodan?
The fact that I named one of these creatures should give you your answer.
So what about this movie. Is it good? Bad? Mediocre? I’d
have to categorize it in the good category. Perhaps not as good as the first
film but a solid sequel none the less. The effects are magnificent and Godzilla
and all of the monsters were born to be conveyed on screen by CGI as oppose to
the previous efforts often called “man in suit”. Effects have developed so much
that they make these creatures more believable than ever before.
But at the same time the ability to do so makes a movie like
this far too dependent on those effects. In spite of the family breakup
involved here with the Russell family it feels like it short shrifts the heart
in the story to focus only on the effects. We see plenty of buildings explode,
creatures flying and walking and fighting but the story of the family feels
more like an afterthought. Even with the scenes of cities being destroyed along
with people no time is allowed to build up any humanity with those scenes.
The fact that the film is so overloaded with effects means
that the acting on hand here allows little for the actors to actually do short
of moving the story forward without emoting. And the emotional scenes are far
too short to let them convey much. Then again the original films never allowed
much for story either so perhaps I’m being too hard on the film.
For a popcorn movie with plenty of action this is worth
watching. For depth of story not quite. For effects it’s amazing. For acting
not so much. But if you’re a fan then you need to watch this one. If not for
this movie alone then to prepare for the scheduled but not in production yet
GODZILLA VERSUS KING KONG. Yes they are supposedly tying Kong from KONG: SKULL
ISLAND into this franchise. Scenes of him even appear here. So get ready for
the knock down drag out battle that’s coming by watching this and getting
ready.
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