GODZILLA: KING OF MONSTERS (3/22/19) 2 2

[Bosco685]

This is the complete opposite of the Godzilla 2014 film...without question the best of the modern bunch. Overall, 9.0/10 and this is a ticket worth buying.

[Bosco685]

The mind-blowing new monster action fans were waiting for. Overall, a 8.5/10.0 and 9.0/10.0 between them.

[Bosco685]

Can't wait to see it again! This is the Godzilla you need to watch. This is the film you have been waiting for.

[sagii]

1 hour ago, Bosco685 said:

I'm getting the sense critics disliked the film, but movie-goers are loving the Big Monsters focus.

...and for geek culture films, that's usually a good sign 

[Bosco685]

Quote

About two-thirds of the way through the 1964 movie Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, a larval Mothra convinces a bickering Godzilla and Rodan to help her to face the movie’s titular dragon. It’s a moment fans of Toho’s giant monster movies long waited for. That it exists in a movie where a princess is possessed by the spirit of a Venusian emissary and is the target of Yakuza attacks makes the monster team-up almost secondary. In contrast, Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters will never once let you forget the reason you’re in the theater. Heeding the words of Dr. Serizawa, he let them fight.

 

One of the major complaints of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla from 2014 is how little Godzilla himself is actually on screen. By this point, the moviegoing audience wants all the monsters. Kong: Skull Island, the second in the MonsterVerse, gave us plenty in that department, but even with its infamous giant ape, there’s nothing quite as iconic as Godzilla squaring off with other well known Toho titans. If you’ve seen any of the previous 35 films with the big lizard, you know the joy comes in total destruction. And to Dougherty’s credit, he makes the apocalypse at once catastrophic and revitalizing.

 

These are, at their heart, disaster movies, and I certainly understand the desire on the filmmakers’ part not to dwell too much on the reality of any city-wide leveling. It’s supposed to be a fun time at the movies first and foremost. Still, I wish there had been a bit more about the actual human toll these huge fights take. So much of the original 1954 Godzilla‘s gravitas came from using an atomic monster as an allegory for Japan’s losses from the atomic bomb. Eventually the movies became people running without seeing the aftermath. But, we get some of that in King of the Monsters, and we’re left feeling the world of the movie is forever changed hereafter, whether we see the collateral damage or not.

 

This is the Godzilla movie I think most of us were hoping to get. It doesn’t try for cutesy winks or tongue-in-cheek irony, nor does it pretend like it’s self-important. This is a giant monster movie in the tradition of Toho’s finest. At the end of the day, we don’t need much else.

 

3.5 out of 5

Nice review! 

[Bosco685]

You get a lot of cool monster fights, and the visuals are spectacular. But the humans will bore you to tears. Overall, C-.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I kinda hate the human aspects to the monster movie films. I get that they want us to connect with a character, but we're there to see monsters fight, not usually anything else. I'm hoping I can get tickets for Sunday or something. Have to wait until payday on Friday, though.

[october]

Was absolutely, definitely looking forward to this, but multiple reviews have mentioned how the battles take place in the dark, or in the rain, or underwater and feature confusing editing. The Battle of Winterfell all over again?

I don't understand this trend. Is it bad to want to see what's happening? I don't want see the giant monsters obscured by a bunch of s**t. I want to see the giant monsters. 

Edited May 29, 2019 by october

[theCapraAegagrus]

10 minutes ago, october said:

Was absolutely, definitely looking forward to this, but multiple reviews have mentioned how the battles take place in the dark, or in the rain, or underwater and feature confusing editing. The Battle of Winterfell all over again?

I don't understand this trend. Is it bad to want to see what's happening? I don't want see the giant monsters obscured by a bunch of s**t. I want to see the giant monsters. 

It's a method of 'cheating'. An obscured image is easier to generate. That's why the Thanos, and more recently Professor Hulk, imagery is phenomenal. They look real without being obscured. Add Ebony Maw to that list, too. Their "clothes" help a lot, though. Shirtless Hulk is more difficult to synthesize.

They did similar stuff in 2014's Godzilla, but I like that movie a lot. Even in the trailers it appears like the titular Godzilla vs Ghidorah battle was gonna happen in the evening during a storm.

I'll wait to judge myself. I know that generating 17+ monsters isn't gonna be easy. I'll give them as much flak as I can. 2014's Godzilla has a lot of good, non-obscured visuals of him and the MUTO. If you spend the appropriate amount of time and resources, though, you could make more realistic and bright imagery.

Edited May 29, 2019 by TwoPiece

[october]

1 hour ago, TwoPiece said:

It's a method of 'cheating'. An obscured image is easier to generate. That's why the Thanos, and more recently Professor Hulk, imagery is phenomenal. They look real without being obscured. Add Ebony Maw to that list, too. Their "clothes" help a lot, though. Shirtless Hulk is more difficult to synthesize.

They did similar stuff in 2014's Godzilla, but I like that movie a lot. Even in the trailers it appears like the titular Godzilla vs Ghidorah battle was gonna happen in the evening during a storm.

I'll wait to judge myself. I know that generating 17+ monsters isn't gonna be easy. I'll give them as much flak as I can. 2014's Godzilla has a lot of good, non-obscured visuals of him and the MUTO. If you spend the appropriate amount of time and resources, though, you could make more realistic and bright imagery.

Yeah, I suspect it's just easier to do. 

I will still see it, just starting to temper my expectations. 

[Bosco685]

32 minutes ago, october said:

Yeah, I suspect it's just easier to do. 

I will still see it, just starting to temper my expectations. 

Don't lose faith. From the MANY social media messages coming out from those that attended the film as fans, the common theme is the Big Monsters scenes are massively entertaining.

I'll be seeing it soon.

[Bosco685]

At least Alex Ross is still excited.

[Bosco685]

Quote

Legendary builds out of its Japanese-classic beasts inspired franchise with its third installment Godzilla: King of the Monsters in which the green, continually irate reptile encounters more large animal enemies like himself, i.e. Mothra, Rodan, and the three-headed King Ghidorah without any concern for the greater Earth, its environment or population.

 

This production, which we hear cost $170M before P&A, will be completely dependent on overseas should it emerge into the black, and all in Godzilla and friends should see an estimated worldwide opening of $230M-235M, which by the way, stomps on Aladdin‘s $213.5M global take-off last weekend, and the global beginnings of Legendary’s 2014 redux Godzilla ($196M unadjusted for inflation and currency exchange rates) and 2017’s Kong: Skull Island ($146.1M).

 

Godzilla: King of the Monsters will look for B.O. crowns in 75 offshore markets (sans Spain) including Japan and China for an overseas opening of $180M. How low or high that numbers goes is contingent on the amount of fire coming out of China.

 

[paperheart]

shocked, actually perplexed how anyone could have seen the trailer and not known this was going to be terribly reviewed

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters?ref=hp

[RedRaven]

I'll probably watch this. Hell, I made it through Godzilla 2014 and as poor an offering as that was, I still enjoyed the spectacle. The seven year old kid in me still enjoys his Godzilla fix.

Second best Christmas ever was the year I was gifted ...

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

15 hours ago, october said:

Yeah, I suspect it's just easier to do. 

I will still see it, just starting to temper my expectations. 

It's difficult not to get hyped for this one, though.

Like I said, I like (actually love) the 2014 Godzilla movie a lot. I have a weird affection for Godzilla, despite the 1999/2000 movie.

[sagii]

....if terms like 'big', 'loud' and 'silly' are meant to be detractors in a review about a movie featuring a giant lizard with atomic breath , a giant Moth, and a three headed dragon wrecking havoc on modern day civilization,  I've got only one thing to say to those critics:

 

I'm in all the way!!!! 

[october]

6 hours ago, TwoPiece said:

It's difficult not to get hyped for this one, though.

Like I said, I like (actually love) the 2014 Godzilla movie a lot. I have a weird affection for Godzilla, despite the 1999/2000 movie.

I enjoyed the 2014 movie and have watched it multiple times. I think it's quite good, though the "Godzilla isn't on screen enough" criticism is valid. 

[Bosco685]

57 minutes ago, october said:

I enjoyed the 2014 movie and have watched it multiple times. I think it's quite good, though the "Godzilla isn't on screen enough" criticism is valid. 

Supposedly Godzilla (2014) was 9:56 minutes total of screen time. So on the lower end of film appearances. I still watch it from time to time.

[fantastic_four]

19 hours ago, RedRaven said:

I'll probably watch this. Hell, I made it through Godzilla 2014 and as poor an offering as that was, I still enjoyed the spectacle. The seven year old kid in me still enjoys his Godzilla fix.

Second best Christmas ever was the year I was gifted ...

 

I had that too, completely forgot about it until now.  But I'll never forget the little flame effect that you could move in and out of his mouth with a lever.