Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Thomas Tull is a unifying figure for Pacific Rim, Godzilla '14, and Skull Island. I don't want to say his absence is the soul reason the films since haven't been as good (it takes a village to make a film), but it's certainly a factor to consider!

A unifying, guiding hand to steer these big behemoths is HUGE benefit - so long as said skipper knows, understands & respects the source material and is willing to flex when certain aspects of said material must be tweaked to translate better on screen vs. comics. The fact that the Universal & Toho collectives from years past actually work 'cohesively' is a willingness on the part of fans to just loosely accept and/or blindly ignore - as required. Certainly neither of these decades-long multi-film juggernauts were intended to be franchises. It just... sorta happened. The work behind the scenes on these modern cinematic universes is a daunting task and, frankly, it's nothing short of miraculous that Feige has been able to steer a mostly straight and successful course for such a long period of time with out much in the way of flops - slight disappointments yes, but no outright stinkbombs. (IMHO/YMMV)

I thought & hoped, based on the teasers & trailers from KotM that Dougherty could be that person for the MonsterVerse. After seeing the film a couple of times it is clear - in my mind at least - that he needs more experience and a LOT more tempered self-control. More is not always better and doing something because you can or always wanted to does not always translate into flawless awesomeness up on the big screen. Toho had some measure of control - or at least guidelines - but I doubt they had much say about what we got beyond their own concerns for their properties. If there are future entries beyond GvK then they will need a Feige of their own ...or they run the risk of crashing & burning. In that respect it might be a better course to steer clear of Godzilla & friends and either shoot for lesser known/cherished characters like 2nd and 3rd string Toho product such as War of the Gargantuas-type stuff, or go after Gamera (though even that could be a hot potato), or just invent forgo adaptions and just let Legendary create their own, new stuff. That final option likely wouldn't give them steam for long though. Studios are understandably nervous about throwing giant piles of cash at something that isn't a well-known/time-honored/beloved IP.

So where does that leave us... ??

I haven't seen this movie nor plan too but is King Kong in this? I heard he made multiple appearances in the film.

He is referred to a couple of times, and clips from Skull Island are shown as *archival footage* in the background. But nothing new. The end Credits do heavily play on the next film basically again showing cave drawings of Kong and Godzilla in battle, and articles stating the titans are all converging on Skull island. In fact I was just watching this video, which provides the novels exposition of Kong during the events of KotM:

With all of this talk about the Monsterverse and the MCU, one has to remember that the Monsterverse is only three movies so far. At three movies in, the MCU was still not the giant that we know it today. It had one hit with "Iron Man". That was followed closely with "The Incredible Hulk", a movie which I enjoyed, but vastly underperformed. And that was eventually followed by "Iron Man II" which, while it made money, many fans believe it to be the low point of of the entire series. It was not really until the first "Avengers" movie came out, did the MCU become the monster that is talked about in many circles.

Will "Godzilla vs. Kong" be The Avengers of the Monsterverse? We shall see.

I just realized there were FOUR Ghidorah heads in the movie! We all saw Godzilla completely obliterate Ghidorah and vaporizing the last head. How did the fishermen get another head when Ghidorah was completely destroyed!?! Then someone pointed out that the head Godzilla ripped off in the middle of the movie wasn't vaporized! That was the head that the fishermen found!

Just saw the movie a third time, and enjoyed it much more. Seeing at that opening weekend with all the expectations behind it and being underwhelmed and then seeing it a second time to get a handle on just what I didn't like about it... I got all that out of my system and went in this time with a mindset just to enjoy it, and I did. It's not going to be one of my favorites, but like Tokyo SOS and Final Wars I can see it hovering somewhere below the middle portion of my personal 'favorite to least favorite' list.

Also, I sat in the back this time, which made the readability of the monster scenes much better.

^ I found that the effects sequences were much easier to follow with the screen shrunken down somewhat.

Watched the film again...
it went down easier, not as much a “disappointment”... noticed a few more details.. the “big” issues remain

-a proper monster on rampage scene is missing
-Rodan deserved better
-Not enough Ghidorah
-Mothra was there just to be there (as was Rodan).. Mothras sacrifice didnt have the desired effect cause it was rushed... if anything she should have enveloped Godzilla.. eaten a couple of blasts then flown in and gotten disintegrated.
-Ending still feels rushed, Godzilla goes Spicy Cheetoh then pulses to victory..

Chandlers character carries the human side well... not as visually or audio impressive as G14

I think all these reads into the metaphors of KOTM fall terribly flat when the director and writers, upon being confronted with questions about the themes and messages of the movie and its problematic take on the nuclear themes of Godzilla have shrugged and said, "The movie is ultimately about not bringing your personal baggage to work."

Oh. Okay. So, you didn't actually give a singular f*** about the nuclear aspect. Got it.

Guys, how did this "Kevin" thing get started with regards to the Ghidrah severed head? That concept seems to be the darling of social media. If I recall correctly, Bradley Whitford referred to Ghidrah as Larry, Moe & Curly. If anything, that severed head should rightly be called "Curly"!