

The production's saving grace is the many allusions and homages to the classic Toho series, starting with the title as a reference to the 1956 sequel which initially introduced moviegoers to Godzilla. Bradley Whitford and Thomas Middleditch are usually good for a laugh or two, but here, the jokes fall flat and make their performances more irritating than charming. The attempts at humor, likewise, are horrendously bad. Sure, I am giddy with joy at this happening next year, but the filmmakers ineptly shove it into this story to the point of near annoyance. Admittedly, Godzilla: King of the Monsters comes with some issues that keep it from reigning supreme, such as the forced set-up for a showdown between two iconic giant monsters: a titanic gorilla versus a prehistoric amphibious reptile. It's ridiculously simple and straightforward, to be sure, but we don't want complicated in a high-concept, mindless popcorn feature about giant monsters fighting and wreaking havoc around the globe. However, as the relatable hero of this fanciful tale, Mark's motives are more honorable: saving his daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown). Along with a host of characters, they make every attempt to stop eco-terrorist Alan Jonah (Charles Dance) from completing his deluded plans of saving the planet and restoring the natural order, à la the Thanos method. Mark Russell (an always satisfying Kyle Chandler) joining with Monarch scientist Dr. To give the story a bit of gravitas, we follow Dr. Needless to say, I watched the initial battle between Godzilla and Ghidorah wide-eyed and with a massive smile imprinted across my face, my ears tingling as their distinctive roars blasted through the sound system.
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Emma Russell graciously becomes the catalyst for the planet's annihilation when her "Orca" device is used to control the behavior of the Titans, such as Mothra, and more specifically, to awaken the most ferocious of the monsters: Ghidorah.įrankly, seeing these superstars of classic creature-features brought to life on the silver screen took me back to my childhood, that giddy little boy sitting in front of his tube TV Saturday afternoons and relishing the weird Japanese horror movies of the 1960s and 70s. The plot is only in the service of the catastrophic visuals. Still, Dougherty and his team summarize these story points hastily and rather efficiently because they know we're only here the kaiju mayhem. Governments are still working on adjusting to the knowledge that mountain-size monsters exist, which have been fittingly dubbed "Titans" - a hearing scene that is good at situating the Monarch organization at the center of what's to ensue but also a ham-fisted, eye-rolling attempt for establishing the MonsterVerse with the mention of King Kong. The story, which was co-written by director Michael Dougherty ( Trick 'r Treat, Krampus), picks up five years after the events of its predecessor and quickly recaps a world still reeling in the aftermath. To be fair, the American reboot is an enjoyable disaster popcorn flick, but this direct follow-up better captures the spirit of Toho's original series. All the while, it surprisingly feels more like a traditional Godzilla entry than Gareth Edwards's 2014 take on the franchise. But audiences keep returning to these movies knowingly expecting to be wowed by the sight of colossal monsters duking it out, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivers precisely that to satisfying effect.

Granted, there is a well-known and much-discussed allegorical element to Honda's film.

Starting with Ishiro Honda's 1954 classic, the massive franchise numbering thirty-five movies in total has always been an unabashed spectacle of fantastical curiosities, an imaginative parade of outlandish creatures and a visual extravaganza of the complete, utter destruction of cities.
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Nobody walks into a Godzilla movie expecting cinematic genius, the sort of high-quality, artsy-fartsy caliber only shown in small arthouse theaters.
