Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Mechanical Titan? Monarch creating Titans?

^
If Monarch is building a Mechagodzilla on Skull Island they are verifiably the stupidest batch of super scientists that have ever existed in this genre. The Monarch motto is "we want bad things to happen."

Interesting to note that they've also tried to create organic Titans in the past. I wonder if that's a reference to Biollante.

Now that I knew not to expect any daytime fight scenes, I enjoyed this movie a lot more consistently on the second viewing. Also, I agree with Gwangi that Kyle Chandler really pulled his weight. He's probably the highlight among the human cast. I love that moment when Godzilla has just been reborn and the two of them look at each other; you really get a sense that his enmity for Godzilla is finally resolved, and it's all done with a look. While some character moments could have done with more breathing room, on the whole the story-telling feels economical rather than clipped.

EDIT: I just realised something. The Monsterverse has a recurring theme of absent fathers trying to get back to their families. After 14 months stationed away from his family, learning to put them first and struggling to save them is Ford Brody's main character arc in G2014. Hank Marlow struggled for years to get off Skull Island and return to his family before the death of his friend made him give up hope. After disappearing into a bottle for years, Mark Russell literally goes to the ends of the Earth to get his family back.

I doubt this is an intentional theme for the Monsterverse as a whole, but it would be interesting if it is. I remember reading in David Kalat's critique of All Monsters Attack that father and son relationships were a theme of particular interest to Ishiro Honda.

Haven't posted my thoughts here but I really enjoyed it, even more during the second time around (i.e. the bits and bobs I've seen of it when I'm on break at the theater).

I still have my problems, namely the mishandling of the Oxygen Destroyer and the film's general pace and run time which I felt was too fast and too short respectively.

The monster scenes were, obviously, fantastic. The kaiju oozed personality whenever they were on screen, especially Ghidorah and Rodan. While they're not my favorite cinematic portrayals of either character, they're definitely up there.

I actually didn't mind the human cast. I thought they were pretty solid for the most part. Maybe a bit overcrowded but nobody there I really wanted to see removed.

The music by Bear McCreary is fantastic. It's so amazing to hear Ifukube's themes booming out of theater speakers. I liked the new cover of BOC's Godzilla too.

All in all, not perfect but not bad either. If I were to give it a rating out of five, it would be a 3.75.

Anyone else think that the lack of a core character, or characters, being in each film has hurt audience interest? Sure, we had Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins return from Godzilla, but now, with both of them gone, we have no one in the cast left. I think this hurts the whole representation of Monarch and continuity across all of the films as a whole. Hell, they could have brought John Goodman back, just claim that he is the son of the original character from Skull Island who joined/took over Monarch to continue his dad's work. Just a thought that I had. I'd be curious to hear what you all think...

Had a chance to view this for the third time, and this time on ScreenX (we have two of them in the greater LA area).



Regarding ScreenX, I had assumed that there would be three screens and would be viewing this as if it was a Cinerama experience. However, there was in fact one screen. The right and left side are just walls, however there are projectors placed on top of either side, thus completing that 270-degree image. I have to admit, that at first I was wowed when it was first introduced; it certainly did feel like I was surrounded by the movie.

However, that 270 degree image is not constant. During the slower parts of the movie, the image is only playing in that center screen! Only when the action starts to pick up, do the walls light up again. And that is basically how it was during the entire movie. I still say the best possible viewing experience is on IMAX.

Despite all of this ScreenX gimmick, I still very much enjoyed the movie and of course, catch things I missed in the first two go rounds, such as Ghidrah saber-rattling his tail when he is awakened, and an image of Behemoth can be seen right there in the very beginning of the opening credits.

Using Leonard Maltin's ratings guide, G:KOTM still garners a solid *** stars, while the ScreenX experience receives **1/2 stars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FY9NhEhgkM&t=1m13s

The mountain kaiju if anyones curious what it looks like.

I honestly dont know which film i would pick as a favorite from Monsterverse..

there are so many amazing sequences in Godzilla (great scenes, ambience, music).. but Kong is a “better” paced/executed story... KOTM is by default last (they did Rodan so wrong), plus there are no moments of “amazing” as in the other films

This movie was a huge disappointment.

Edit: Typed up some thoughts in a Facebook group and I'm just gonna share them here.

To quote another Warner Brothers Godzilla movie: "This is bad. This IS bad."

* The monster stuff sucked. Very hard to follow and not at all involving. They bump into each other and shoot colorful lasers that obscure the frame and every once in a while they'll exhibit some creative ability that isn't explained or commented on. It's very Kawakita-esque but at least you could figure out what he was trying to achieve in his FX direction.

However, the lack of good monster content could be forgivable if the movie's other elements came together. But...

* Did anyone else think this movie was trying very hard to be "edgy" and "cool" and not at all "childish"? A lot of ""OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!""s and even an F-bomb, plus all manner of perverted juvenile references and jokes. (No one in the theater today laughed at *any* of the comic relief. Seriously.) I was embarrassed by most of these jokes, it was top-tier secondhand cringe.

I also have to wonder why they made so many jokes at the expense of the characters' themselves. Like "King Gonorrhea" or Godzilla and Mothra's "fling," or whatever. If you're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to license these properties and want your audience to enjoy the excessive, bloated crapfest you're making, why not try to show a little respect for those characters? I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't have fun with these characters and their names, just don't act like the material is below you when you do it.

* Killing off recurring characters is shortsighted when there's already such little continuity from the 2014 film, especially for casual fans. It's kind of like killing Cranston's character in the previous film except his death carried purpose and emotional weight. I didn't even realize Sally Hawkins' character was killed until they showed the display of her personnel file, that's how awkwardly shot and edited that sequence was. Serizawa's death was pitiful, too. This is the character that basically speaks for the audience ("we like Godzilla, yes he causes mayhem, but he's doing it for a purpose and he's not our enemy") and after his death there were maybe a few awkward shots of other cast members "mourning" and a few mentions of "do it for Serizawa!" It was very hollow.

* I hated the fan service and nods and winks and all that to the fans. The worst of these was the stupid Oxygen Destroyer, stripped of all its importance and carelessly shoved into the story to set up the next act. They could have used literally any other powerful weapon, conventional or fictitious. This one made me groan.

There were a lot of allusions to other Godzilla movies and honestly it just made me wish I was watching one of them instead.

Ultimately I think they tried to do way too much with this movie. This is a huge problem with tentpole Hollywood bullshit today, because everyone wants to mimic the Marvel formula but no one has the patience to do it right. You can't shoehorn in all of these fantastic elements and expect the audience to buy in. I'm a hardcore Godzilla fan and even I couldn't be lured by what they offered. It was just way too much in too little time and with not enough exposition or thought to make any of it work. Oh for the simplicity of something like Gamera vs. Gyaos.

I won't see this again until it's affordably available on video, and I don't want to form a hasty opinion on it after having seen it only once a few hours ago, but I think this will settle with G98 as one of my all time least favorite Godzilla movies. It's certainly the most unnecessary. Nearly everything done competently in this film was already done more to my liking in most of the 29 live action Japanese Godzilla movies. I think I'd even prefer to watch Final Wars.