Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters *SPOILER* Thread

[lhb412]

Thought we could use a new thread since the movie drops worldwide in a few hours and the trilogy spoiler thread is for, well, the trilogy as a whole and thus will encompass the further installments before we'll be able to see them as well as any leaks and whathaveyou. This one is just from this first movie.

Sadly, I do know like 50% of what happens in this movie, but I did avoid reading an outright synopsis.

Big deal! First Godzilla anime movie! Gonzo sci-fi premise! Worldwide streaming deal! Lots of firsts! See y'all in a few hours.

[O.Supreme]

So is that according to time zone? Then I guess about 1/2 the world has it by now, if they add it exactly after 12:01 AM. I've tested this before, at least where I live in CA USA. Something (I cant recall) a while back was not added exactly as 12:01, but showed up sometime in the course of the night, but when the new MST3K was added, it was there exactly at 12:01. --I'm not going to stay up because 1) I'm still recovering form being sick & 2) I have to work tomorrow, but I am definitely looking forward to watching it tomorrow night.

[lhb412]

^I don't think MST3K showed up until midnight Pacific Time (2:00 am for me)?

I'm gonna attempt to get up early to watch the film before work instead of staying up.

[Benjamin Haines]

I live in the Eastern time zone and Netflix usually adds new content at 3am for me. I'll watch this tomorrow night.

[Dai]

By a stroke of luck, I happen to be on leave this week, so I was able to watch Planet of the Monsters this morning. My impression after a first viewing is that this was a somewhat better movie than I expected from Polygon Pictures, but the writing wasn't quite up to Gen Urobuchi's normal standards. I suspect that latter point is down to the project having been hastily adapted into a movie trilogy instead of the TV series that was apparently planned, and also because we've only seen a third of the story so far. It's not compromised on a basic level or anything, so don't worry about that. The plot is fine and the opening scenes, in particular, do a great job of establishing the desperate situation of the human fleet. Some interesting sub-plot threads are established concerning the motivations of the two humanoid alien races, though these don't come to fruition in the first movie. The problem is that the movie's 90-minute runtime doesn't allow enough breathing room for characterisation. Only the protagonist and one of the religious aliens get any attention in this department, and only the latter is at all interesting. The protagonist is a one-note angry revenge guy throughout the first movie. Hopefully there's scope for him to develop after he had his ass handed to him by the real Godzilla, and especially with the interesting little twist after the end credits. As for the rest of the characters, the sole female character is embarrasingly under-developed, and many of the other soldiers look and act so similarly that they just blend together, especially when they have helmets on.

The animation was pretty decent by Polygon standards. I think it's the first time I haven't been distracted by the jerky low framerate of their animation, so they must have toned it down. Ship and vehicle designs were especially good. Characters were expressive, but all looked too similar. Action scenes were dynamic, but lacked tension because the characters in peril haven't been developed enough for the viewer to care about them. Godzilla looks pretty good, especially the full-size one that shows up at the end. The biggest letdown was the servum. Their models look half-finished and don't integrate well with the rest of the scenes they're in. It's also disappointing that there's only one type of them. The razor-sharp plants and fungus-encrusted husks of buildings were a nice touch, but I was hoping for a more varied and aggressive eco-system. Maybe in the next movie?

Music was a mixed bag. It's better than I expected from that composer in the first half, with some atmospheric pieces. It falls apart in the action cues though, with a dissonant, screechy riff on an old Ifukube track that's distractingly bad.

And that's the overall feeling the movie left me with: for every good thing, there's another that's lacking. Some more attention paid to characterisation could have really elevated it, but it's in too much of a hurry to get to its confrontation against Godzilla. Hopefully the other two movies will flesh it out. Planet of the Monsters is an entertaining 3/5 that falls just short of its potential.

[lhb412]

I enjoyed it, but it certainly is a 'first episode' and I can't really make too much of a judgement until seeing more than the first third of the story.

I was worried our main character would be a vengeful cliché that'd be laborious to watch, but I felt they pulled back from moments where they could have gone too far with him. He has certain goals and plans to achieve them, but you always understand his reasoning and his strategies.

Godzilla was cool, but I sadly didn't think the battle really utilized him in a cool way as we just spend a lot of time with the small aircraft buzzing him while he occasional takes out bogies with his atomic breath. I don't think the Godzilla battle got interesting until near the end when they trapped him (shades of GRA) and then when Papa Godzilla showed up with his cool beard.

The single most interesting thing is the two alien species and the fact that they ended up abandoning (question mark?) their competing plans to take over Earth to join the Earth refugees (they're refugees themselves). This, coupled with main alien priest dude's seeming Godzilla worship at the end could end up some place real cool. Oh, and I was surprised to realize the other alien species are based off the Black Hole Aliens! How neat!

[O.Supreme]

Well I was sick yesterday and was awake at midnight, and yes it was there. I watched the first 10 minuets or so, but didn't want to get too far in, I want to watch it later today with a fresh mind. But...on the surface, it did not seem like a Godzilla film at all, it seems more like an anime sci-fi space opera. I may enjoy it mor eon that level if I don't expect too much, but I guess we'll see.

[jellydonut25]

This was bad. Plotless, character-bereft, devoid of any real action, the whole thing feels utterly pointless, even as a “first episode” or whatever. Honestly, even if I like the second one, I don’t see the need to ever revisit this again. Pretty much nothing happens. Then it ends. The trailer doesn’t so much “give away” the plot as much as it just IS the plot. This whole movie could be a ten minute prologue to an actual movie with actual characters and agency.

I imagine a lot of people will think me too harsh because it’s a basically “harmless” little movie, but it’s nothing more than a concept, and it’s a failure as a story, whether standalone or part 1 of 3. It doesn’t move anything along enough to justify its existence.

[Psycho Soldier]

This movie is a world-building exercise someone decided to turn into a movie. It didn't appeal to me much at all. It's not outright terrible like SpaceGodzilla or Megaguirus, but until the last 20 minutes, it's largely bereft of entertainment value. I'd give it a 5.5/10. I might elaborate on my score later.

[lhb412]

As far as references go, I gotta commend the deep cut with that line about the lotus seed.

[jellydonut25]

What a waste of a medium choice too. You do something wholly animated where you can do ANYTHING with it and you throw down a Godzilla less animated (so to speak) than any previous incarnation EVER. This Godzilla sucks. Bad.

[Mexigojira]

Well, it'as finally here, going to watch it with the spanish dub. Hope the dubbers have done a good job.

[lhb412]

[DannyBeane]

Well I know what I'll be watching when I need to fall asleep. It's 85 minutes of people spewing technobabble, arguing, and brooding, and about 8 minutes of terrible cgi followed by 3-5 minutes of actual cool stuff.

[Psycho Soldier]

I guess I'll get into my opinions a little more. These are random observations, not a coherent review, but at least I can say what I liked and disliked.

Outside of the rickety character animation, the animation and art design are pretty well done. I have to give the movie credit: colour-wise, even when the skies are perpetually grey during the Earth scenes, the movie's easy on the eyes.

I did like the scenes of people admiring the view of Earth, and Haruo getting emotional over the flowers growing. Imagine if such human sensitivity had worked its way into the rest of the film.

I appreciated seeing some old favourites on screen during the intro exposition, even if only in still shots. We're supposed to assume the humans and aliens wiped them all out, though, right? The characters focus on Godzilla as if he is the last kaiju standing. I read that there's a reference during the introduction to Hedorah being killed, but I think I missed it. Anyway, the first 10 minutes could've made for a more captivating film than the one we've been given. Imagine the horror and drama of throwing everything under the sun at Godzilla, even with assistance from aliens, but failing so miserably that humankind has to flee the planet. That's a friggin' trilogy, bleak as it would be.

I was eager to enjoy Hattori's score for the film, but other than the ominous choir near the start and end (which is excellent), it wasn't as great as it could have been. It might still work as a standalone experience, but it's not on par with the scores for SpaceGodzilla or G2K.

The characters were just as dull as I'd feared. Haruo is a flatter Eren Jaeger without the supporting cast to prop him up. The alien priest seems interesting, but no one is developed to any great extent. They really just exist for exposition and to drive the action scenes forward; it never feels like they have lives beyond the story. (Not that you'd have much of a life in a space shuttle, but still...) I guess the sole woman in the scouting regiment had a grandpa who died. Nice of her to tell us that in the middle of an action scene, where it could make an impact and not at all be overshadowed by Hoverbikes and Mecha vs. Servum and Godzilla.

Speaking of Godzilla, POTM makes even him boring. I get it, the one we primarily see is a juvenile, but he's still just a 50-meter-tall obstacle whose abilities are over-explained in advance of the action (and thus robbed of their dramatic potential).

The jargon was mind-numbing and poorly explained. Whenever the Central Council came up, I had flashbacks to the worthless nuclear power subplot in Megaguirus. I expect that story thread to prove just as superfluous in Parts 2 and 3.
My complaint here sort of ties into a larger point: POTM wastes far too much time talking about calculations, battle plans, new tech and organizations, etc., and spends too little of that time getting us emotionally invested in them.

One final thought: if POTM had been as good as its last 5 minutes, it could've easily been a 7 or 8 out of 10. That sequence has tough competition between G'14 and Shin, but it's one of the best Godzilla scenes of this generation.

[O.Supreme]

[GFan]

I'll have to watch it a second time to gather my thoughts, but overall I enjoyed it. I didn't have super high expectations, just as long as Godzilla was portrayed as a force to be reckoned with (which he was!!) I was going to be satisfied. Between Legendary's bringing back 70's savior Godzilla and the breath of fresh air that was Shin Godzilla, I felt like this anime was almost an afterthought. A side dish to the live-action series.

While the characters weren't anything to write home about, I love that they at least got Godzilla right. The idea of him being hit by 150 warheads at the same time begs for an epic flashback (or, as some have said, should have been the first movie of this trilogy). I loved the twist at the end. That saved the film for me.

Not excited for more Mechagodzilla in the sequel, but MG makes more sense in this film than in the Heisei series or the Kiryu films respective universes.

[klen7]

[Specium Ray]

I like to say "I never met a Godzilla movie I didn't like. I've even stepped up for films that fans loathe, like 98 and GFW. I couldn't finish this last night. I will finish it later (I hope) but the animation is pitiful. The story was pretty interesting and the dub acting was fine but the dialogue was very stiff. Not a good first impression.

[Dr Kain]

Move over Space Godzilla, the title of shitiest Godzilla movie thus far has been taken over by a new king!

[aphvend]

didn't like it. thought it was boring. animation reminded me of an old tv show "Clutch Cargo".

[DannyBeane]

The first movie should have covered the opening flashback/montage and then ended with humans fleeing earth.

[Henry88]

so another godzilla with a personality of a wood stump eh

[Benjamin Haines]

I thought Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters was really cool. I liked this movie a lot.

This take on Godzilla is convincingly massive and impressively powerful, especially the 300-meter original Godzilla at the end. He doesn’t show much personality but it fits his role as an ominous force of nature. He’s like a combination of the 2014 and 2016 versions of Godzilla. His overall appearance is very similar to G’14, which I think is great, while he acts a lot like G’16 and his genetic manifestation into the planet’s biosphere seems like an expansion on the ideas hinted at in Shin Godzilla. I approve.

Haruo is an interesting lead character to watch. In the beginning he seems to be driven by altruism, like he really cares about his fellow people and that’s why he resents Godzilla so much, for driving them into the emptiness of deep space to the point where they’re shedding the values that define them and turning on each other. As the story goes on, however, and Haruo ascends to commander and eventually faces Godzilla head-on, it becomes clear that he’s driven only by vengeance. He doesn’t care if he or anyone else dies in the course of his mission, unless it’s Yuko apparently.

It's always a bold choice to have Godzilla die and I like how this movie handled it. It's basically a revised version of what happens in GMK, the concept of drilling through Godzilla's hide by extraordinary means and causing his internal energy to rip through his body the next time he uses his atomic breath. Haruo actually gets to fulfill his lifelong quest for revenge, staring this 50-meter Godzilla in the face when his plan finally works, only to have the rug pulled out from under him once again by the original Godzilla. I like the idea of a Showa-like universe in which the first appearance of Godzilla precedes the appearance of a second, different Godzilla, only this time it's the second Godzilla that humanity manages to destroy before realizing that the first Godzilla is still alive and has just kept growing for nearly 20,000 years.

The Exif are one of the more intriguing alien species in the Godzilla series. They introduce themselves when Earth is already under siege by Godzilla and they offer humanity religion. Metphies recalls seeing other worlds destroyed by monsters like Godzilla, which makes me wonder if he encountered kaiju like King Ghidorah or Gigan in the past, and if he and the Exif had anything to do with monsters appearing in the first place. They definitely seem to enjoy pulling strings.

When the Bilusaludo introduced themselves and mentioned that their home planet was the third in their binary system and it got swallowed by a black hole, it hit me that these guys are an updated take on the aliens from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and sure enough we get a glimpse of their MG during the opening montage. I really like the premise behind this Mechagodzilla, being created by aliens in a seemingly benevolent bid to help humanity get rid of Godzilla, only for them to be unable to activate it and forced to flee the planet with the human refugees. I think this has the potential to be a really unique take on MG, and I won’t be surprised if the Bilusaludo end up having very different faces beneath their humanlike exteriors.

Speaking of the opening credits montage, I love the classic kaiju cameos! It's similar to Final Wars only here the cameos aren't done via stock footage. I do think that Dogora graphic is a classic piece of art that was made for the '64 flick but it's not actual footage from that movie, so it's new to the screen here! Dogora and Dagahra are part of the Godzilla series now and both Orga and Kamacuras got to make brief reappearances, although I'll have to keep my eyes peeled next time because I didn't see Hedorah during that shot where the news chyron reads "Operation Hedorah." I also didn't see Anguirus or Rodan during the opening montage so I wonder if they'll show up later.

The post-credits stinger adds a new layer of intrigue to the proceedings, as it looks like there’s still a population of people on Earth after 20,000 years. I hope we get to see the next two animated films before this year is over because I am digging this.

[lhb412]