Godzilla King of the Monsters

[Dienekes]

I rather enjoyed it. It definitely was not as smart as it pretended it was. But neither was Shin Godzilla so I won’t hold that against it. Visually it was pretty fantastic. I do wish they spent less time on the humans during the big fights. But when they did focus on the monsters it was pretty good.

They also gave my old favorite monster a decent role though

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my boy, Rodan shoulda kicked Mothra’s butt.

[Lleban]

I thought it was alright, they probably should've cut the ecoterrorist stuff all together and kept the focus on the monarch members in relationship with the monsters.

Also they did my boi Rhodan dirty.

[Toastkart]

Saw it this afternoon and I enjoyed it. I loved the monster designs. I loved the score. The Godzilla theme (which as far as I can tell was missing from G 2014) really accentuated several of the scenes where it was used.

Criticisms of the dialogue and trying a little too hard to get us to care about the family are well founded, but they're certainly not as egregious as previous entries in the series (I'm looking at you Godzilla vs. Mothra). There were also slightly too many times when the action was cut away from to look at humans running away. That was something I criticized G 2014 for. Maybe I'm just resigned to it now.

Spoiler: story spoilers

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Maybe it's just because of the actress, or maybe the opening scene with Mothra got me thinking, but I kept expecting Madison to develop psychic powers. The twins were a nice touch, but I feel like they should have done more with them. Like a 'we work for this monster hunting organization but we really know more than they do' kind of thing.

Mark should have clocked Emma at least once. I really feel like she didn't earn her ending and they tried to make it more heroic than it actually was.

I thought it was interesting that a Muto showed up again. One other thing that struck me was Godzilla's atomic breath looked much more like the heisei era in this outing than in G 2014. I really liked the gaseous look from the previous film.

They left enough material lying around for for future installments to pick up. Hopefully Godzilla vs Kong will actually do something with the 'alpha' or 'king' business that's actually explained. or at least expounded on.

[Devonix]

I thought it was alright, they probably should've cut the ecoterrorist stuff all together and kept the focus on the monarch members in relationship with the monsters.

Also they did my boi Rhodan dirty.

To me what was really bad about the Ecoterrorist plot

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is that not only does the film come down on the side of them being right. It also had them just them just leave the film during the third act so that they could be in the sequel.

[Bartmanhomer]

Spoiler: Power Level

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This is my opinion on how powerful that the four Kaiju really is:

Godzilla: Godzilla is very powerful but not as powerful as the Godzilla Final Wars version. He can take hits and have a very thick hide and healing ability. He can survive in a fall and stand standing. He have an atomic and radioactive blast which he obligated King Ghidorah. He's very powerful and not to be trifle with.

Power Level: ***** 5 stars

King Ghidorah: King Ghidorah is also very powerful. He can used lighting bolts which electricity his entire body. He's very quick and he isn't intimidated by any powerful Kaiju. He can fly at high speed and he's fierce. He's powerful and he not a force to be messing with.

Power Level: ***** 5 stars

Mothra: She powerful but only in an above-average wing. She can put up a fight. She killed Rodan. She only use her claws in battle. She's weak against very powerful kaiju. But she can put up a fight in a short run.

Power Level: **** 4 stars

Rodan: He powerful but also in about-average range. He can fight in aerial attacks. He can use sonic booms. His weakness that his hide isn't that tough. He got kill by Mothra claws.

Power Level: **** 4 stars

[Rater202]

To me what was really bad about the Ecoterrorist plot

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is that not only does the film come down on the side of them being right. It also had them just them just leave the film during the third act so that they could be in the sequel.

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The Ecoterrorists were explicitly wrong.

They released King Ghidorah to give the eArth back to the Titans... But Ghidorah is explicitly an alien who doesn't give a crap about the Earth and simply wants to tear it apart and build up something closer to his home planet in it's the place.

He has less of a claim to the Earth than the humans do.

Meanwhile, the Titans are revitalizing the Earth... Without harming humans. Godzilla is actively keeping the other Titans from needlessly harming human cities according to the end, meaning that humans and the giant Monsters can coexist peacefully.

[No brains]

Spoiler: Intense NERD radiation; keep sealed. Also actual spoiler.

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The oxygen destroyer missile actually has me deeply conflicted, of course for very nerdy reasons.

In the original, the Dr. Serizawa sacrifices himself so to pay the price for his own evil weapon of mass destruction. On emotional and thematic levels, it makes perfect sense and makes a touching moment. From a scientific perspective, his sacrifice is pretty futile. Science doesn't work that way. If humans know that oxygen destroyers can be made, it's only going to take someone with a reasonably similar knowledge of physics/ chemistry to make another. He's bought his world maybe a couple years and taken from it a knowing figure who could speak out about how bad this device really is.

This makes the SURPRISE! Oxygen Destroyer Missile a difficult thing for me to process: On one hand, it's sweeping away a major part of the original Godzilla's emotional climax. On the other hand, I was right: somebody else can just make this device even with no Serizawa. This has me torn. Do I deserve to be right at the cost of disrespecting core Zilla lore?

In a way, this gives us something to work with in terms of the movie's themes. Something regarded as hideous and world-changing 65 years ago is used by the humans in this movie with zero consideration. We're being monsters in our own way by swinging our destructive techno dongs around. What's more, us doing so doesn't actually do anything to help us. This blasphemy against the original Godzilla may be intended to show that these humans are blasphemous against their world. It's sorta fridge-clever (if I'm using that phrase right).

It's also funny how the use of the oxygen destroyer in a frivolous way invites the new Serizawa to use a nuke in a meaningful way that mirrors the original use of the oxygen destroyer. Serizawa goes beneath the sea with this terrible weapon to have a last intimate moment with Godzilla, only now his sacrifice is to save the monster. It's some hardcore nihilist imagery to have a Serizawa turn around on his previous philosophy. By nuking himself with Godzilla, he may be saying that for our continued use of terrible weapons, maybe humanity deserves to die after all. Harsh, dude.

And this in turn justifies all the stupid dialogue and decisions by the characters. In this Zillaverse, the humans really are reckless idiots who will go extinct, not only evidenced by their use of nukes and oxygen destroyers, but reinforced by their circular logic and dumb lines regarding 'For the planet' and 'For my family'. Everything is stupid and blasphemous on purpose! These humans ARE the problem!

But it wasn't done in an immediately satisfying and understandable way, so it isn't being good cinema.

As I said, this is complicated for me.

In the end, I liked the monster action. Go see it if you like giant monster action.

[Devonix]

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The Ecoterrorists were explicitly wrong.

They released King Ghidorah to give the eArth back to the Titans... But Ghidorah is explicitly an alien who doesn't give a crap about the Earth and simply wants to tear it apart and build up something closer to his home planet in it's the place.

He has less of a claim to the Earth than the humans do.

Meanwhile, the Titans are revitalizing the Earth... Without harming humans. Godzilla is actively keeping the other Titans from needlessly harming human cities according to the end, meaning that humans and the giant Monsters can coexist peacefully.

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Godzilla keeping the other titans in check after all the monsters were released was part of their plan. The only wrinkle was that they didn't know the stuff about Ghidorah. But if the military hadn't Used the Oxygen destroyer on Godzilla he would have beaten Ghidora in their second encounter.

The terrorists were right in releasing all of the titans. The military and government, and even our heroes were wrong in trying to contain them.

[Friv]

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Godzilla keeping the other titans in check after all the monsters were released was part of their plan. The only wrinkle was that they didn't know the stuff about Ghidorah. But if the military hadn't Used the Oxygen destroyer on Godzilla he would have beaten Ghidora in their second encounter.

The terrorists were right in releasing all of the titans. The military and government, and even our heroes were wrong in trying to contain them.

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MONARCH wanted to release the Titans, too. They just wanted to do it after they'd had a chance to study them, learn about them, and find ways to release them that wouldn't result in the deaths of millions of people. That's why they were hiding the locations of the Titans that they found, including Godzilla, and trying to explain (not very competently, mind you, but they were trying) to the Congressional hearing that the Titans could save the world. If they'd been allowed to continue, they would have communicated with and calmed Mothra, led her to Godzilla, and had a way to start releasing Titans into uninhabited areas to learn to gradually co-exist with humans, with minimal loss of life. Presumably there would have been some, because humans are idiots, but cities would have been safe.

The eco-terrorists basically fall into two camps. Emma was busy panicking because she thought MONARCH had failed. She had decided that the government was going to shut them down and start killing titans, so she gave up on the "figuring things out" stage and tried to move straight to "let them loose". She knew that this was likely to kill millions or even billions of people, but thought it would be worth it because in her mind, all those people were dead anyway, it was just going to happen a bit faster her way. When Ghidorah started trashing the planet, though, she changed sides because aaaaaaah.

Meanwhile, Charles Dance had decided that humanity was inherently the problem, and wanted to wipe out just about everyone and rule over the remnants. To him, Ghidorah is thus a boon, not a flaw.

[Cikomyr]

Someone above mentioned that there was no thematic or moral core to the movie, but I think what is effectively the movie's central message is:

"Don't mess with what you don't understand"

Every failure or wrongful actions, by any party, is made by people who think they can afford to meddle because they don't care about not understand the situation; they just want their instant gratification.

The eco terrorists, the military. Individual peoples.

Monarch is depicted as the good guys because they are shown to be thoughtful and careful in the actions they take.

[Foeofthelance]

Which reminds me. During the waterfall scene. When the did the revel scene of that one girl. Who was she? I mean I get that she was the daughter of the twins. I just don't get the feeling of keeping her a mystery until her revel. When it showed her face.. I felt like Lex Luthor when he discovered The Flashs identity.

She was the twin sister of the woman on the Argos. That's why she was so happy to be at Mothra's molting and likely why that was the one camp of Monarch scientists NOT panicking about the titan they were monitoring busting loose.

[Fearan]

Spoiler: Power Level

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Mothra: She powerful but only in an above-average wing. She can put up a fight. She killed Rodan. She only use her claws in battle. She's weak against very powerful kaiju. But she can put up a fight in a short run.

Power Level: **** 4 stars

Spoiler: Re: Power Level

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Actually even with the SURPRISE STINGER SNEAK ATTACK, Mothra didn't kill Rodan - we see him bowing before Godzilla in the final scene, while licking the wound from Mothra's stinger.
Honestly, I feel like Mothra is weakest of the main 4 kaiju in the film. No decent offence, no energy weapons, squishy as hell. Nothing more, then a waifu material, unfortunately. Sad for cute butterfly.

[Bartmanhomer]

Spoiler: Re: Power Level

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Actually even with the SURPRISE STINGER SNEAK ATTACK, Mothra didn't kill Rodan - we see him bowing before Godzilla in the final scene, while licking the wound from Mothra's stinger.
Honestly, I feel like Mothra is weakest of the main 4 kaiju in the film. No decent offence, no energy weapons, squishy as hell. Nothing more, then a waifu material, unfortunately. Sad for cute butterfly.

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Actually I saw it differently. She did beat Rodan so she ain't weak.

[ElFi]

Saw it over the weekend. I liked it somewhat more than the previous movie on the basis that Godzilla is, like, actually present in the film for more than a few minutes, compared to the original. The plot doesn't make a lick of sense if you think about it for more than a couple seconds, but that was always true for the Toho films too anyway.

Spoiler: Spoiler-Filled Pros and Cons

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PROS

• All the monsters look gorgeous in modern CGI, Rodan and Adult!Mothra especially. It's a shame the studio could only get the rights to the Big 4 of Godzilla's roster, though I appreciated the nods to minor kaiju like Kumonga, Mecha-Ghidorah, and Manda.
• The visuals in general were really great throughout. Ghidora's awakening, Mothra's appearance at the Monarch base, and the battle for Washington were some of the highlights for me.
• I loved all of the little references and parallels to previous movies in the series canon, though others might not feel the same way. The Mothra twins, Serizawa's sacrifice, the Oxygen Destroyer... I had fun picking out all of the things I recognized, just like in Endgame.
• Millie Brown continues to be one of my favorite up-and-coming actresses, even if Maddy doesn't have much to do in the film until the climax.

CONS

• With the debatable exceptions of Maddy and Dr. Serizawa, none of the human characters were very developed or interesting, and I kept getting distracted trying to figure out who had appeared in previous films and who didn't.
• The climactic battle had enough nice moments overall, but (as others have said) it's hamstrung by way too many cutaways to the human conflict, and Rodan and Mothra have way too little to do. It's also very choppily shot in places, as if the cinematographers were worried we'd get tired of the monsters if we saw them for too long.
• None of the kaiju sound like themselves except for Godzilla. This isn't a huge deal, but the way these monsters sound are nearly as iconic as their appearances. Ghidorah's staccato cackle and Mothra's chirps and squeals are just as recognizable for me as the Big G's roar.

[warty goblin]

Saw this this afternoon. It was pretty fun, and very loud. I really wish at this point that we could have a giant creature movie that didn't even pretend to have sympathetic or engaging humans in them at all, because this one certainly doesn't. They're just a distraction from the real point of the thing: letting out your inner eight year old boy to watch stuff get wrecked good by a giant radioactive dinosaur. Eight year olds imagining stuff getting wrecked by giant radioactive dinosaurs do not, in my experience, bother with C grade stories about family problems. I propose that the next one just be Godzilla and King Kong Flatten Everything Else, just like the only proper form of Jurassic Park movie at this point is T-Rex and Velociraptor Kill Stuff

(Except for Charles Dance. He's allowed to be in there to call everyone else an idiot in tones of extreme scorn and sophistication. )

Speaking of eight year old boys, my seat was next to a pair of them. And listening to them was quite as fun as the actual movie; it's like an entirely non-ironic, totally enthused riff track.

[deuterio12]

Saw this this afternoon. It was pretty fun, and very loud. I really wish at this point that we could have a giant creature movie that didn't even pretend to have sympathetic or engaging humans in them at all, because this one certainly doesn't. They're just a distraction from the real point of the thing: letting out your inner eight year old boy to watch stuff get wrecked good by a giant radioactive dinosaur. Eight year olds imagining stuff getting wrecked by giant radioactive dinosaurs do not, in my experience, bother with C grade stories about family problems. I propose that the next one just be Godzilla and King Kong Flatten Everything Else, just like the only proper form of Jurassic Park movie at this point is T-Rex and Velociraptor Kill Stuff

Considering how this movie's plot was "giant monsters fighting over who gets to be king", I propose they next make Godzilla of Thrones: a Song of Radioactive Fire where the kaiju king has to oversee his unruly monster lords and ladies that are scheming against each other.

For five minutes before they just start flattening everything.

Starring Drogon! (and his blue eyes wight dragon little brother returned).

Speaking of eight year old boys, my seat was next to a pair of them. And listening to them was quite as fun as the actual movie; it's like an entirely non-ironic, totally enthused riff track.

I was sitting near an 8 year old chinese boy and although I didn't understand much of his mandarin, he certainly sounded pretty excited and indeed enhanced the experience.

[Callos_DeTerran]

I've seen the movie twice now in theaters and loved it to bits. Its a very different beast from the first movie, Godzilla 2014 is more directly related to the original Godzilla in tone while Godzilla KotM is much more akin to what the Godzilla franchise largely became after that..which is big, spectacular monster bash.

That said, I only have a few minor nitpick. Unlike 2014 we've got lively and invested performances from the majority of the cast but...okay, this one isn't so minor a nitpick but you'll understand why I consider this a 'good' problem.

They're too interesting. Not enough that they steal the show from the monsters, which are super emotive and fun, but they are interesting enough that I wouldn't mind seeing more of their stories....except there is wayyyyyy too many cast members. If you broke the human plots down to smaller conflicts, we could have had a stronger human side to go with the monster side.

Focus on the Monarch story trying not to get shut down and their opposing philosophies about what to do with the Titans with the military.

Focus on the Russell family drama and flesh out the eco-terrorists a bit more in the process.

Focus on the impact the Titans have had on individual people aka Russel Dad and Godzilla, Serizawa's adoration of big G, the family line with Mothra, and the abject fear of primitive people of Ghidorah.

Any of those, or others!, would have been enough on their own! As is, the just-interesting-enough humans are competing with each other for a very small limelight which is no good.

[RossN]

While Serizawa was one of the most interesting characters I do wish the film had taken a more ambigous on his absolute, uncritical adoration of the Titans (something shared by Monarch generally.)

It seems like there is a middle stance between 'kill 'em all' and 'we humans are idiots and should feel grateful the Titans even let us exist on their planet.'

[JNAProductions]

I liked it. Good, but not great.

[Friv]

While Serizawa was one of the most interesting characters I do wish the film had taken a more ambigous on his absolute, uncritical adoration of the Titans (something shared by Monarch generally.)

It seems like there is a middle stance between 'kill 'em all' and 'we humans are idiots and should feel grateful the Titans even let us exist on their planet.'

I mean, there would be in the real world, but based on the general creativity, intellect, and basic pattern recognition demonstrated by the humans in this movie, I can honestly see it.

[Delicious Taffy]

I saw it last night, and I have Thoughts.

First off, more please. Second, Mothra had the biggest set of stones in the entire movie. She was an absolute baller.

Third, I got a lot of vibes from this movie like the ones I get from Power Rangers (2017) . Something about this movie was constantly reminding me of that one, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Rodan coming out of the volcano had me in laughing fits, because all I could think about was Kimberly yelling "Pterodactyl Firebird Thunderzord Power!". They even had a prominent Dunkin Donuts billboard during the fight at the baseball stadium.

Fourth, and I promise I'm not driving at anything here. Did any named characters die who weren't women, Japanese, or Titans? I was racking my brain on the walk home and couldn't think of any. Did the moustache twirling ecoterrorist die? I feel like he sort of ollied out of the whole movie after What's-Her-Face stole his Hummer. He wasn't very interesting in the first place, so I may have just stopped noticing him.

Fifth, am I alone in thinking the little girl was only in the movie to do things that would get other characters killed? It's like they knew they could have her do anything and the audience would expect her to survive. After all, they wouldn't kill the kid, right? The biggest scene that sticks out for me is when she uses the Orca to lure Ghidora to the stadium. He shows up, sees her, and immediately starts puking lightning at her. A nameless mook would have been instantly vaporised, but she manages to get out of the room, run downstairs, and make it onto the field in the span of a few cuts, all while Ghidora continues to focus on the top rows. This also isn't necessarily a complaint. I kinda feel like the creators were smart to do it that way.

[Legato Endless]

Fourth, and I promise I'm not driving at anything here. Did any named characters die who weren't women, Japanese, or Titans? I was racking my brain on the walk home and couldn't think of any. Did the moustache twirling ecoterrorist die? I feel like he sort of ollied out of the whole movie after What's-Her-Face stole his Hummer. He wasn't very interesting in the first place, so I may have just stopped noticing him.

Uh, the Russell's son died in a flashback. Does that count? I can't remember his name but I know he had one. I honestly can't remember any of the Russell names. Terrorist Mom, Insufferable Dad and Milly Bobby Brown.

Ecoterrorist made it to the stinger with a maybe sequel hook.

[Delicious Taffy]

Uh, the Russell's son died in a flashback. Does that count? I can't remember his name but I know he had one. I honestly can't remember any of the Russell names. Terrorist Mom, Insufferable Dad and Milly Bobby Brown.

Ecoterrorist made it to the stinger with a maybe sequel hook.

Personally, I never count a character who dies before the movie actually starts.

[Chromascope3D]

Spoiler: Re: Power Level

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Actually even with the SURPRISE STINGER SNEAK ATTACK, Mothra didn't kill Rodan - we see him bowing before Godzilla in the final scene, while licking the wound from Mothra's stinger.
Honestly, I feel like Mothra is weakest of the main 4 kaiju in the film. No decent offence, no energy weapons, squishy as hell. Nothing more, then a waifu material, unfortunately. Sad for cute butterfly.

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That's because she's a support-class.

No but really, I'm pretty sure she stole Rodan's fire powers and gave it to Godzilla.

On a slightly related note, I enjoyed the sassy face she made while impaling Rodan.

Also, my absolute favorite scene was where Godzilla emerges from the sea and stares directly into the camera, dramatic chipmunk-style. Has anyone seen this gif'd anywhere yet.