The4thDave Reviews: “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”

(I couldn’t find any “official” social media promotion photos, Legendary Pictures, so please don’t sue me.)

“History shows again and again / How nature points out the folly of man…”

Godzilla: King of the Monsters stomped into theaters 2 weeks ago. (Goodness, how many reviews start with *that* cliche?) If you listen to the legacy media and “professional” movie critics, the film was a disappointment and deserving of reproach. To which I say:

…It’s a Godzilla movie. You want high art? The “Fathom Events” broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera is two screens over.

G:KOTM picks up 5 years after Legendary Pictures’ 2014 reboot of the franchise. The story begins with the Russell family, who were devastated when their son was killed during the events depicted in the previous film. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) is now working with the Monarch Corporation, tasked with locating and containing the “Titans” *cough*kaiju*cough* that are buried deep in the earth, all around the world. Her estranged husband, Mark (played by Coach Taylor–I mean, Kyle Chandler) is off studying the pack-behavior of wolves (conveniently!) and apparently staying in Tony Stark’s post-Snap cabin (?). Their tech-savvy teenaged daughter (Eleven from Stranger Things) is living with Emma but concerned about her.

But, blah blah blah, who cares because we FINALLY get to the monsters! And BOY HOWDY, do we get to the monsters.

AAAAAAAAAAND that’s where I’m going to stop and put up the spoiler warning. Because pretty much anything beyond this point is dipping into spoiler territory.

Unspoilery Review: Okay, I have to admit, I’m a mark for a good Godzilla movie–but I also know the difference between a good Godzilla movie (Godzilla: Final Wars or Shin Godzilla) and a bad one (the one from 1998 that we don’t speak of, EVER). That said: Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a really good Godzilla movie, y’all. The special effects are pretty good on the whole. The human cast is decent to good (some much more than others). The story is convoluted but why wouldn’t it be? And the studio has set itself for more monster-smashing action. (Not a spoiler, but Godzilla Vs. Kong is already in production, and I’m here for it.)

So yes, if you have any inclination to see a movie like this, go see it. You’ll have a good time. I’ll even say, go see it while it’s still in the theater. You need to experience it on the big screen.

Okay, spoilery observations commencing now…

Onto the radioactive hail of bullets!!!

• I love the Easter eggs and references to the Toho Pictures Gojira filmography–stuff like the “oxygen-destroying bomb” or the 4 generations of twins in Dr. Chen’s family. (Were her grandmother/great-aunt the actresses from the original Mothra movie? Because that would be money.)
• The villain seemed right out of central casting (hailing from the Thanos school of Malthusian ecoterrorism). It’s interesting to me how many movies in the last 20+ years feature ecoterrorism–almost like it’s a reaction to the ecology movement of the nineties. Obviously, the idea of human ecological destruction is nothing new to the Godzilla franchise.
• That said, I thought Vera Farmiga and Charles Dance (the human villain) gave the weakest performances of the main cast. Dance was a bit too mustache twirly without be fun to watch. Farmiga seemed to be sleep-walking through the role, to be honest. Her first turn, I could buy. The second turn and “redemption arc” was a much harder sell for me, though I figured out as soon as her daughter ran off that she would sacrifice herself to save her daughter.
• The other actors were good. Chandler is always great, I don’t care what material you give him. Ken Watanabe was great as usual. Bradley Whitford’s comic relief character was fine; I would have dialed some of the humor back just a bit, because it was hit or miss there in the middle. Sally Hawkins and the rest of the main cast were serviceable but not notable. To the filmmaker’s credit, G:KOTM does a good job balancing the monster destruction with the human toll that such destruction is having. That’s something that was always missing from many of the old films (due to technological limitations, obviously). The 2014 film did it well, and I think this one did too.
• One more critique: The visuals were pretty muddy throughout. Granted, I was on the second-row corner of an IMAX screening, so it wasn’t the greatest view, but others have confirmed this. Small quibble, but still.
• The spiritual references throughout the film were intriguing, but having only seen it once, I couldn’t quite tell if there was a cohesive theme or if the director was just throwing in visual and dialogue references without more to it than that. Some interesting juxtapositions: the idea that dragons are considered divine in Eastern myth but that this one was feared; the shot of Ghidorah on the mountain with the church steeple/cross in the foreground (twice, I believe); the fact that the dragon was not of this world but fell to earth and then tried to rule before being thrown down; the dragon’s head being struck, crushed, and eventually removed. I don’t know, y’all; there seems to be a lot of Christian imagery that doesn’t seem accidental.
• So, is Monarch an evil corporation, or just ridiculously naive? Are we talking Umbrella Corporation here, or just a really clumsy version of SHIELD?
• I liked the contrasting themes of self-sacrifice for the greater good vs. faceless murder of millions for the greater good. (Would it be inappropriate to make a joke about communism here? Yeah? Okay, I’ll leave it alone.)
• Hooray for leaving the ending open, and setting up the potential for many films. Let’s keep supporting them, y’all. I want to see more of these!
• Does Godzilla live in Atlantis, y’all? That looked like Atlantis.
• Something else to ponder regarding both the plot of the film and the actual making of it: Man’s natural tendency to worship, and our inherent desire to feel awe at something greater than ourselves. If I were writing a thinkpiece for C&PC or TGC, that would probably be my theme. “Searching for God in Godzilla.” “King of the Monsters, or King of Kings?” Something like that.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!