Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

[baumer]

Do it

[Brainbug]

The best American Kaiju movie by far and probably my new favourite movie of all time.

 

Its everything i hoped for. Godzilla gets tons of screentime and hes AWESOME. King Ghidorah gets tons of screentime and hes AWESOME. Mothra and Rodan get a bit less screentime, but they're also AWESOME.

 

The music is godlike, especially the variations of the classic themes. The action and effects are spectacular and even though most of it is rainy and at night, you can still see everything. Its dark, but not the kind of G14 or DH2 kind of dark.

 

The humans are very much finde. The drama is servicable and typical for a Kaiju/Monster film. I was actually invested in those characters, they werent bland at all. The actors do a fine job and seem to be having a hamm blast with this.

 

All in all: Fucking awesome, best movie ever, the critics are wrong.

[Avatree]

The action is quite dull but there are a few good moments especially earlier on. most of the last act is a right bore. it's the same lazy darkly lit action scenes as every other film out there. the previous film had a real spectacle to it, this is really lacking. the monsters seem small when they're fighting unlike in the previous one. all the ways the first film used to raise tension and keep you intrigued are gone.

 

the family drama I couldn't care less about, but I was engaged enough by the other characters most of the time. the tomb raider style stuff I thought was neat.

 

what a wasted opportunity and quite a bore-fest.

 

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Avatree

[ddddeeee]

Deathly boring.

[Ezen Baklattan]

What if giant monsters but thematically and visually an lifeless, repetitive, and somewhat incoherent blur?

 

D+

[Cap]

Running Internal Commentary Through My IMAX Screening:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

Spoiler

 

• YAY GODZILLA. MONSTER FIGHTS.
• Yeah, Godzilla in the first five minutes.  Already off to a better start than 2014.
• Should I eat all my popcorn now or save some for later?
• IS THAT TONY STARK'S LAKE HOUSE? OGMOGM THAT'S TONY STARK'S LAKE HOOOOOUSE.
• Oh, cool, Vera isn't a villain? Was that a fake spoiler -- Nope.  No, it wasn't.
• Hey Papa Lannister!  Hey Josh Lyman!  Hey OMG LAURENS/PHILLIP!!  I'm so glad that Anthony Ramos' getting work!  Hey it's you!  And you!  You're in this too?
• Who are you?  I know you.  Why can't I place you? (It's O'Shea Jackson Jr and I apparently I was just having HOLY SHIT YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR DAD feelings.)
• This is a really great cast saying some god awful dialogue, but I'm digging it.  Feels very 1990s catastrophe movie.  
• HEY MOTHRA!
• YOU SO PRETTY!
• Okay, had enough of the humans.  Fight Fight Fight.
• Oh, Okay, so we're just gonna ignore all logic, thanks to plot armor, and have everyone live?  Good to know.  I can handle that.
• YAY!  FIGHT!
• NO!  Why is everything so dark and ugly?  Also do Godzilla and Ghidorah have the same face?
• Bring back Mothra!
• Okay, okay, blah blah, go back to the monsters.
• Wait.
• What.
• Are you just gonna Nuke the Carribean and kill the entire ecosystem? Everyone is cool with that?  Yeah, no, really, BRING BACK THE MONSTERS.
• MOOOOOTHRA!!!!!!
• Wait.
• What?
• She's like Godzilla's Girlfriend?
• Ugh.
• YEAH, more Monster fights!  That I still CAN NOT SEE because of #Choices.  It's a monster movie where you're totally defying all logic -- yet we're gonna still subscribe to "Let's Light it Dark and Blue Cause there's no sun and natural light, despite the fact it just looks like a mess of goop on the screen?"
  
• AWWW DAMN, he ripped a HEAD OFF.
• The Saying is: Cut off One Head and Two More Should Take It's Place.  Where's my Fourth Head?
• AW YEAH, Cool Shot on the Mountain.
• AWWW MORE MONSTERS.  Let me see them.  Go back to them!  Some of them look so CUTE!
• LOL Aliens.
• Um. I've spent the past month watching HBO Chernobyl.  Radiation doesn't work that way.
• No really.  Radiation doesn't work that way.
• I tried, I so tried, I can't excuse it anymore.  This makes no sense.  Did you not see the melting faces on that HBO Limited Series? I can't unsee them.  Radiation doesn't work that way.
• YEAH, as someone from Maine, who loves New York City, YEAH, Fuck up Boston.  Good stuff.
• Radiation still doesn't work that way.
• How is everyone not dead?
• DAMN that's one awesome monster fight!  But where are the others!  Where is Godzilla throwing rocks at Ghidorah's head?
• OH... THAT's A TWIST.
• MOOOOTHRA
• Did you bitches just fridge Mothra?
• NOOOO.
• Whatever.  I'm done.
• Boo on this.
• Oh.
• Wait
• KONG TAG.
• GODZILLA V KONG.
• GIMMMEEE NOOOOOW

 

 

I'm sure diehard fans of Godzilla will be thrilled.  It delivers on the Big Monsters, and the Big Monster fight scenes.  And there's a bunch of Easter Eggs and nods to the other movies that are very nice.  Problem is it feels like Zack Snyder and Bradford Young's work on Solo had a monster baby.  Everything I aesthetically hate wrapped up into a neat little bow.  So that really soured the whole experience. 

 

C+

[The Panda]

The human characters and plot are serviceable enough to keep you awake and invested enough for when the monsters come.  They also ham it up enough to keep it relatively entertaining.  It wasn’t really any worse than the human drama of the other monster films.

 

That may sound boring, but when shit goes down it goes spectacularly.  The monster fights are gorgeous and wildly entertaining.  There’s so many cool visual shots in this, and the final shot of the film is wonderful.  

 

Has me pumped to see Kong vs Godzilla.

 

From an objective standpoint the film is a mixed bag, with excellently framed and edited action, and a wildly fun score.  However I can’t help but think they kind of wasted the talented cast by giving them bland roles to play, but it’s not like you see a monster movie for the human drama.

 

A solid B or B+

[75Live]

loved the film, but I will admit I am a big Godzilla fan so I probably like some scenes and references than some other people.

 

The humans were even better this time and  I like they kept the idea of keeping balance for nature/the plane.t

 

So many awesome looking scenes even the "fake out" near the end where you saw another Ghidorah head show up but it was just in Godzilla's mouth

 

yes I will say the buzz word here, the SCALE was amazing, of course.

 

I'd give it an A- for just pure fun and spectacle 

[Jim Shorts]

Watched this in Dolby last night and the experience alone is worth the price of a ticket.

 

But then I fell asleep from the time they resurrected God....zillaaaahh all the way to the very last part of final fight. 

 

Wtf did I miss? 

 

Until i I figure it out...5/10

[Kravetz]

I liked this, and look forward to the already-announced Godzilla VS King Kong due next summer. It was mentioned in the film, along with plenty of easter eggs for upcoming storylines. I thought the facial expressions were very good for the monsters. They were up close and personal. I liked that Mortha was not a wimpy butterfly like in the first film, I liked the explanation of this monster universe for us viewers so we understand what is going on and who each character / monster is. The first film didn't really give us that. This film is a marked improvement over the predecessor and an upgrade from the first in this universe.  

 

I did not like the fact that each time a monster is chasing a person, either in a chopper, a car, or on foot; the person can always win. They turn to one direction and it works, then GZ saves them. And they seem to survive when all heck is going on around them. Old school filming so it looks bad seeing them run for their lives against a screen of action behind them, and their luck in never getting hurt is convenient bad film making. Just like they can fly across the globe as bad guys easily shoot in to an armed base, and good guys easily arrive and thwart plans. The whole mom from hell to do such a thing is unexpected but wasn't enough to replace the absence of aliens to go with Monster 0. We hinted at the mini asians that worship Morthra and got no news of the alien threat, only eco terrorists. They all seem to get along and won't hurt one another despite betrayals. That made little sense. But hey the whole human conflict was way too much and thus many of the monsters never got their action sequence. This left me ultimately unimpressed. 

And that one black box of a communication tool is just amazingly easy, unbreakable, and perfect. impressive. 

 

 

 

Overall, I like where the universe is set up and going, but I didn't like this as a stand alone film. 

[kaijukurt]

A pulpy, globe-trotting adventure that really feels like a Toho film/Godzilla comic through Hollywood lenses. 

 

I honestly enjoyed the human aspect of the film! Reading the critic reviews, I braced for the worst...but even without keeping my expectations low going in, they were genuinely fun to watch for me. The acting definitely played a big part behind that!! Plus the central drama is well-handled especially for a Godzilla flick. Dialogue was cheesy and of the fun, summer blockbuster kind. 

 

As for the monsters...Ill admit I was bit underwhelmed with the fight scenes (guess that was an effect of my going over leaks and every released clip imaginable ) Gotta say though the sprinkling of monsters throughout was very very fun and I adored how the plot was nearly always centered about them & their effects on the characters and plot. Wouldnt have minded more monster shots though 

 

The Big 4 each had their moments and were definitely full of life!!!! What a job by Dougherty & co. 

 

The only scene I was annoyed with was when they had to rescue the last Monarch aircraft in Mexico while cutting in the Rodan/Ghidorah encounter. Its not the idea of cutting away that annoyed me, its just that the whole scene killed the momentum and felt too contrived IMO. 

 

Overall, as a whole I found KOTM to be easily a good film..but thinking about the G14 & KSI, I cant help but think they managed to better execute and stage their big moments & setpieces (like the big G14 Hawaii reveal or the quieter Kong/Mire Squid scene). Did things in KOTM feel a bit more...rushed? I cant really define it rn.

 

Cant end without saying this: theres a clear love for the franchise on display here and that was incredible to see on the big screen.

 

I cant see my score being lower than a very solid B+ for this, and I can easily imagine that score going up. 

Edited June 1, 2019 by kaijukurt

[ScoobyDoo21]

The action between the monsters is what nearly saves this movie. The monsters could have a bit more weight to them, but all the action is great.

 

The problem is everything else. I really wanted to like this movie, but wow alot of the movie outside of the monsters is just filled with stupidity, and scenes where it is hard to know what is going on. The lab where Mothra is is a perfect example. Monarch sure got a low lighting budget. And there was some laughably bad dialogue where the woman science just goes crazy and goes into a ranting speech that makes Alex Jones look sane. 

 

C-

Edited June 1, 2019 by ScoobyDoo21

[That One Girl]

Just barely qualifies as a movie.

 

D-

Edited June 2, 2019 by That One Guy

[filmlover]

Overblown and bombastic to the point where it's not so much a movie but a demo reel for visual effects and movie theater surround sound. It's like the filmmakers and the studio decided "fine, you want relentless Godzilla vs. monster action, you got it" after the rather blah response to the more slow-burn approach of Godzilla '14. The monster sequences are well-crafted enough that there's some entertainment value to them, but the whole thing feels like an overload and can't compensate for the poor script at hand that often feels like a cheesy Z-grade Syfy channel film that somehow lured in such an overwhelmingly prestigious cast, leading to an exhausting 131 minutes. Hopefully Godzilla vs. Kong will be better, but I'm not holding my breath. C

Edited June 2, 2019 by filmlover

[CoolioD1]

Mothra. What a babe.

[Reddroast]

The plot is absolutely bonkers and should not work. But somehow it (mostly) does. Mothra and Gidoriah looks dope. Kina subverted some typical disaster movie tropes. Fights were  very good. A 

I think Mecha Gidoriah will show up in G vs. K 

[EarlyDeadlinePredictions]

Pretty much a visual spectacle with giant monster fights. All the main monsters looked great and their intro sequences were well done especially Mothra hatching from the cacoon. The Rodan chase sequence had some great shots as well. The final fight between Godzilla and Ghidorah was very entertaining although it kept cutting away to the human plot way too much which is an overall problem in this film. Another positive aspect is that the great CGI and soundtrack really helped the monster showdowns feel more epic.

 

The human characters range from serviceable/forgettable to bad. Vera Farmiga's speech about her plan was hilariously awful and MBB was alright but didn't have much to do. Watanabe was the standout I suppose as he was the only character that connected with Godzilla in any way. The family plot didn't ruin the film for me but still messed with the pacing and dragged the run-time longer than it needed to be. 

 

Overall a fun monster mash in IMAX. High 7s/10 B+

[baumer]

An absurdly boring movie where the human characters do ridiculous things for no particular reason and have logic that makes as much sense as having a toddler with nuclear launch codes.

 

This movie needed to director like Michael Bay to spice it up.

 

2/10

[Avatree]

1 minute ago, baumer said:

An absurdly boring movie where the human characters do ridiculous things for no particular reason and have logic that makes as much sense as having a toddler with nuclear launch codes.

 

This movie needed to director like Michael Bay to spice it up.

 

2/10

 

currently do have a toddler with nuclear launch codes though.

[baumer]

3 hours ago, Avatree said:

 

currently do have a toddler with nuclear launch codes though.

Exactly and that makes no sense either.