Oh no, they say he’s got to go…
Last time, I discussed the original 1954 Ishiro Honda Godzilla and why it’s still considered the best of the entire franchise to this
day. I’ve also discussed that time Hollywood tried to reboot it in the only way
they could in the nineties—by doing whatever the hell they wanted. And that
brings us to 2014, sixty years after Toho had their radioactive reptile emerge
from Tokyo bay, when Gareth Edwards, under Legendary Pictures, had his own go
at it.
The result was flawed, but sincere—on one hand, the
characters were mostly forgettable (though not actively annoying, as in the
Emmerich version), with the exceptions of Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe. On
the other, the film had some very nice cinematography, with the monsters being well
shot in a naturalistic manner that made it feel more real…but it also had a
climax with way too much night-time murkiness. It had some pretty tense and
suitably ominous scenes like a reactor melting down or a monster wakening…but
it also cut away from the actual kaiju clashes too often. However, most
importantly, Edwards actually tried to emulate the apocalyptic, doomy feel of the 1954 film, automatically
elevating it miles above Emmerich’s nonsense, which did its own thing and not
particularly impressively either.
Regular audiences who may not have been too aware of the
franchise history were understandably more mixed, perhaps expecting an
extravaganza like Pacific Rim. Either way, Legendary’s new Monsterverse took on
a more crowdpleasing stint with Kong: Skull Island a few years later, which while
having a slow middle act and some hyperactive editing, was still a fun ride.
Every modern shot style was employed and it delivered on having a big ol’
monkey punching big ol’ critters—a decent upscaled B-flick.
And that brings us to Godzilla’s return after five years,
for another anniversary—and this time, bringing along several of his classic
allies and adversaries, with lots more monsters promised, lots more action a la
Kong, with sombre tones giving way to monster brawling madness. I must admit, I
was pretty excited—but having seen it, how does it turn out?
Suffice it to say…there’s a lot of ‘it depends’. You don’t
have to worry about waiting a while to see the monsters in this one—ten minutes
in, and you get immediate money shots. In general, the pace is much faster, with
the movie having the feel of a manic sugar rush—some might like that, but there
are times where I wished it would hold back to linger on some of the admittedly
spectacular scenery we get.
The story is absolute bananas—it’s definitely more in the
vein of the silly and over-the-top Godzilla films of the sixties, than the
serious and horrific undertones of the original. Running around between it all
is a new cast, which is more memorable than the 2014 film, but also more
uneven. Kyle Chandler is definitely a stronger lead in acting, but don’t expect
original and stellar writing for his character beyond typical Hollywood
estranged father stuff. Vera Farmiga plays his wife who let’s just say has a
very different attitude to the kaiju mayhem, but you might not find her as
sympathetic as the movie wants you to. There’s also Millie Bobby Brown as their
daughter, whose part isn’t that big as the trailers have it, but she does her
job fine enough—even if she doesn’t use psychic powers to commune with Mothra.
Charles Dance, aka Benedict from Last Action Hero, plays a human baddie, but he
doesn’t have a lot of screentime.
Watanabe on the other hand is solid, returning as Doctor
Serizawa (a very different character than the one in the 1954 film), delivering
cheesy lines with upmost sincerity. There’s a larger secondary cast in the form
of soldiers and scientists, who the script tries to give all their moments and
one-liners, which range from fine and well to annoying. All in all, the
characterization isn’t anything great, but I suppose it tries harder than last
time to make them stand out.
Now, the monsters—what everyone actually paid for! Godzilla
himself looks great, with amazing CG animation that gives him all sorts of
expression, and his look is subtly changed—he glows with radiation under his
skin, creating cool-looking highlights. Mothra, who is, well, a big moth no
doubt capable of devouring entire clothing departments, has even greater light
shows that lead to some gorgeous shots, even if she doesn’t do that much at the
end. And then there’s Rodan, a huge flaming pterosaur, whose introduction scene
is probably one of the best sequences of the film, leading to a really tense
and well-shot chase with jet fighters.
The menace here is King Ghidorah, an enormous three-headed
dragon who destroys anything and everything in his path—there’s some nice
touches of each head having a different personality, and he causes some
impressive destruction—though I wish the film slowed its breakneck pace to show
us more of it. There’s a nice shot of Washington DC being flooded that barely
lasts a moment, and Ghidorah’s rampage at the end is cut up too much for my
liking.
And the monster fights? Those are very nice…when it’s not
panning down to the silly humans running around. Often, my running reaction would
go from “HOLY HELL THIS IS AWESOME” to “NO, GO BACK UP DANGIT!”. The final part
of the climax makes up for this, however, where we see a proper nuclear-powered
beatdown in full, and it looks absolutely gorgeous, giving me a huge grin on my
face through it all. A lot will depend on how invested you are in the human
story, and while it’s not as teasing as the 2014 often was, some might find it
slightly frustrating.
Another plus, however, is the score—we get amazing remixes
of classic monster themes, like Godzilla’s march which sends chills up the
spines of fans like myself, and throughout we have lots of chanting and
percussion that lends a primal, ancient feel to the monsters. Little touches
like that do elevate things, and there are lots of touches that fans will get
but will fly over the heads of most audiences unfortunately—though there’s one
fanservice nod I found more aggravating than anything else. The end credits, however,
set to a truly epic remix of that famous Blue Oyster Cult song, are the perfect
thing to leave off on.
All in all, there’s a fair amount I enjoyed in King of the
Monsters, but some things did frustrate me—with some tighter editing and
pacing, it would’ve been truly great. As it is, some audiences will love it,
some won’t—I say, if you enjoyed Skull Island and both Pacific Rims, you should
like this, with some caveats. I do still look forward to Godzilla vs Kong, which
has already been shot and will go ahead regardless of how well this film does—worst
case scenario, we end up with a neat Godzilla trilogy from Legendary, still a
better result than Hollywood’s last attempt. This time, history won’t have to
show again and again how nature points out the folly of maaaan….
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