Godzilla: King of the Monsters

About five and a half years ago now, we received that first, utterly fantastic trailer for the first Godzilla movie. 

It was so eerie, surprising, intense, and well-orchestrated that it's still one of the best trailers I've ever seen. As the HALO jumpers, with red smoke trails and all, dive into the chaos below, we - as the audience - were left wondering "Wow! This is incredible. I wonder what movie this is?". It turned out to be Godzilla, the start of a new "MonsterVerse" and I found it to be a fantastic movie (that has aged well).

Next, in 2017, we received Kong: Skull Island. At first, nothing truly special seemed to be going on here other than a stellar cast and a gargantuan Kong. Low and behold, it was a surprise treat with its visuals and awesome action. It proved that this "MonsterVerse" concept might just work and it was off to a strong start.

Now, in 2019, we've got "Step 3" with Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It features the long-awaited return of Godzilla from 2014's film and introduces a slew of new monsters across the globe. It seems like the next logical step for this franchise. 

So then why does it all feel so hollow, especially compared to its highly-entertaining predecessors? 

Godzilla: King of the Monsters isn't a bad movie - and it has some entertaining parts - but I couldn't help by be disappointed with how generic it all played out and how a significant portion of the film feels like a slog. It's a shocking step downwards in quality for what I imagine is supposed to be a pretty important film in the logistics of WB's plan here (Godzilla vs. Kong arrives next year, BTW). 

When thinking about what didn't work for me with King of the Monsters, I think it really comes down to the fact that there's nothing truly special or standout about it and that distinctly differentiates itself from Skull Island and Godzilla. The original Godzilla built the anticipation [some would argue too much] to a fever pitch and then released our Kaiju defender in awesome ways at the end. It also had a grand sense of scale and visual splendor (see: red smoke HALO jumpers) that made it something special, as long as you were a patient viewer. Kong on the other hand had a special cast, some good/great cinematography, and some really inventive & entertaining action sequences (Tom Hiddleston wearing a gas mask and "sword fighting" anyone?) to go with it. For King of the Monsters, it felt like we've seen all this before whether it be familiarity with Pacific Rim or some other franchise with lots of destruction (Transformers comes to mind). 

"Uhhh that's gonna be a no from me dawg."

Stranger Things:
Wow This is a Much Bigger Monster

Don't get me wrong, there are awesome segments within King of the Monsters, but they feel short-lived between generic moments of monster punching and tackling. Where I was wowed in the scale and epicness of the battle in the first film, I was fairly consistently checking my watch with these ones. As I've alluded to previously, I think only a portion of that reason is the fight choreography with a much larger reason going to a certain lack of visual flair or approach. In a sentence, this Godzilla: King of the Monsters is much less cinematic than it's predecessor. 

What's more obvious, but still rough to stomach, is just how preposterous the story is. I get that with monsters flying around and a gigantic prehistoric lizard protecting us that we have to suspend belief a bit, but King of the Monsters story is wack-a-do; basically a means to an end to get all the monsters out in the open. In particular, Vera Farmiga's Dr. Emma makes some wild decisions that either seem to be dumb, come out of left field, or both. Farmiga does fine because she's talented (as does Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler), but the plot of this one plays generically and, again, feels like a step down from the more "realistic" approach taken from the first. 

Not all is average though. The special effects and sound effects are astounding, loud, and I imagine they're pretty overwhelming (in a good way) in IMAX - I saw it at a normal theater. The Titans all have great design with our super thicc Godzilla still looking intimidating and Ghidorah, lightning effects and all, being quite menacing and threatening. There are some moments of awesome visualization and cinematography - often when the film decides to slow down and showcase the monsters - that approach what magic/epicness the first film was able to achieve.

Gurrrl you done glown up!

Godzilla: King of the Monsters doesn't kill this franchise or universe, it's just so shockingly average and it feels uninspired. In a way, it feels like its going through the motions and perhaps it is. Perhaps in a decade from now with a few more MonsterVerse films we'll appreciate it as a film that had to happen to get us to where we were. Perhaps we'll see that, despite all its value-added elements of many monsters, that it played a larger role in world building. In the meantime though, it stands as the dumber, less exciting, and less entertaining option of the three MonsterVerse films we've been given.

CONS

• Nonsense plot with some whack character motivations. Feels like a [rather poor] means to an end to wake up all the monsters
• Lacks that special "sauce" to make it truly special/memorable
• A lot of the action is SMASH SMASH! with a lack of visual flair
• Rare humor and when it does come, it lands with a...."meh"

PROS

• Strong cast and although their characters are one note, they all do fine. Fun to see some returning faces
• Fun nods to Kong without him actually being in it and seeing many of the other monsters is a treat
• Visually impressive with awesome special effects and moments of really strong cinematography
• Sound effects are equally as impressive and LOUD
• Has moments of greatness within its action. Some awesomely brutal moments
• Godzilla's character design is still so damn cool and menacing. Ghidorah's was equally as impressive

Rath's Review Score | 6/10