Some more rambling takeaway thoughts...
I dearly wish that modern sound designers would learn that less is more. There is so much noise in this movie that it hurts. The monster cries are so overprocessed that you can't really get a singular voice for any of them, outside of Godzilla. The three pretty much had just generic roars that were loud but woefully indistinct. Maybe if I had heard them without the deafening soundscape of storms roaring planes gunfire shouting people, etc. As is, it's hard to even remember what they sounded like.
As I griped about before, pacing is nonexistent. Dougherty said that to compare the two MonsterVerse films: G'14 is ALIEN while his is ALIENS. I'd modify that and say his is more ALIENS played on fast forward. LOL. I complain only in that there are so few personal moments here, and exchanges with any emotional gravity lose 90% of their impact when they're blown through so quickly with essentially zero time to give them any weight whatsoever. That's one thing I really appreciated about ENDGAME; it gave the characters sufficient on-screen time to reflect and/or feel the gravity of what had happened, or might happen. KotM defines the phrase 'breakneck' 110%. Also, there are so many sacrifices that it sucked the importance out of them. It was like "well... who's gonna die/sacrifice themselves now?" I felt that Emma should have been killed by Ghidorah, intently or by collateral damage. The sacrifice from her felt obligatory and touched zero emotional cords with me. After what she'd done I was glad she took herself out. Hardly the tone they were probably going for though, huh?
So I was simultaneously intrigued and rolled my eyes at the home base / temple of Godzilla. I instantly thought "Atlantis?" Then... "no, this is a Toho-ey movie, so Seatopia?" (Forgot all about Mu
) I also found the 'bow to the king' scene at the end stupid. Not kitschy or wacky, just stupid. I was glad to see that Rodan survived and thought the end headline scrawls interesting. Like someone else here wrote, it was like that was the start of another, far more interesting film, but sadly it was just a few seconds' of wrap up. I hope they expand on those tantalizing tidbits in GvK. Also, I got the feeling now that in this universe Skull Island will become Monster Island, which makes sense in a way I suppose. Wondering too if the Oxygen Destroyer detonation won't give us a Destroyah for G & K to battle?? I doubt it, but who knows? I still feel it'd be cool if they threw everyone a curveball and leapfrogged MechaGodzilla and went right to MechaniKong. LOL. Given that Dougherty threw all 'real world' convention out the widow in this film it's more likely (or at least possible) than I'd ever previously have imagined. Oh yes, thought that post-credits scene was kinda silly. So... a genetically reconstituted Ghidorah? MechaGhidorah? Throwaway scene with no meaning? More ??? than !!! for me.
Still hate that they shrouded most all of the fights in rain and darkness. In this day and age it isn't a stylistic choice - it's a practical cheat to hide rushed or crap CGI, I don't care what they tell you. Skull Island was such a breath of fresh air in this respect. At last, terrific fights and all in broad daylight! YES! Now we get yet another murky monster mash. Ugh. At least when this comes out on Blu-ray I'll be able to cheat at home by dialing up the brightness and fiddling with the contrast a bit so that I can more clearly see what the heck's going on.
Human aspect so flat. The awful writing amplified it, but what a waste. I kept waiting for Dance to yell at Emma "Well, that's another project you've bungled!!" Egad. Had they kept everything else in the film the exact same but had better, sharper writing and left the 3rd grade humor at home I would've loved this movie so much more. Still would've been stunned by it's relentless pace yes but really loved it - at least worlds more than what we ended up getting. For me this film is squarely in the middle to bottom third of G's filmography. I'd honestly rather watch most of the old stuff than this, even with the beauty & dazzle of modern F/X, it's just too much of a mess. Too much FINAL WARS and not enough golden Showa-ness. IMHO/YMMV.
I'd already bought tickets to take my cousin and his wife & son to the film tomorrow (Sunday) before I had watched this the 1st time, so perhaps a 2nd viewing will temper my feelings a tad