Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the sequel to the North American Godzilla movie that came out in 2014. After the events of that movie, the Titans have returned, with all of the classic monsters coming into the mix. The agency Monarch has one opportunity to stop them; Godzilla. Will they be able to bring Godzilla to fight the new threats? Is there a reason as to why all of the Titans are appearing? Will Godzilla be able to save the day?
I feel like I'm one of the few people that thoroughly enjoyed the 2014 Godzilla. Sure, it wasn't perfect, as it definitely dragged in the second act, but I thought the film had a wonderful visual and auditory presentation, along with some great performances and exciting monster battles. I was looking forward to seeing what this sequel would do, especially now that even more monsters have been brought into the fold.
But before I get into the movie itself, I have to talk about what I would consider to be one of the WORST theater experiences I have ever had. My dad and I were going to a late night showing of the movie, and only one time worked for us at this one particular theater which shall be nameless. We go to the theater, I buy the tickets, and we realize that the theater room we will be walking into is the 4D screening. Initially, we thought that would be cool. Being able to be a part of the action in that way sounded exciting. Plus, we assumed that the picture quality would be even better than the normal screen. How wrong we were.
For starters, the picture quality was terrible. Everything was blurry, the colors were dulled, and the screen wasn't much larger than the average movie screen. The sound was even worse, with all of the audio sounding like it was coming through TV speakers. But then, you might be wondering, how was the 4D? It was really cool... for the first 5 minutes. Then the rest of the 2 hours and 7 minutes happened. By that time, I was sick of it, and I was begging for the movie to end. The seats were so jerky, the flashing lights were headache-inducing, and the whole event made me feel nauseous by the end of it. All of those gimmicks only distracted from the movie instead of enhancing it. Both my dad and I hated the 4D aspect. This is a mistake we will never make again.
With all that said, how was the movie? As a critic, and someone who loves movies, I should separate my feelings of the movie and the theater experience from each other. I don't want my experience in the theater to influence my opinion on this movie, and I want to be as fair as possible. So, how was Godzilla: King of the Monsters? Honestly, it was not very good. I've seen a lot worse, but it doesn't do anything that I found that exciting or interesting. This is a dull, safe, predictable, and cliche monster movie.
I will say that the monster battles were really cool. Seeing two giant creatures duke it out, destroying cities at every swing, is pretty entertaining. It excites the little kid in me. However, everything around those scenes were boring. The characters were all uninteresting, with no one having a distinct personality. And I know what you're thinking. This is a dumb monster movie, and all we should pay attention to are the monster scenes. Sure, but I like to pay attention to all aspects of movies, and boring human drama isn't excused because of some cool monsters. Plus, this movie doesn't have the self awareness to make it a guilty pleasure. The characters are all very bland, and I don't remember anything about them. Not even their names.
The performances were surprisingly weak. I know, this is a Godzilla movie, and I'm not expecting Oscar level performances. That being said, it seemed like most of the cast wasn't even trying. Kyle Chandler was phoning it in, Vera Farmiga read all of her lines with little to no emotion, Thomas Middleditch was wasted as a comedic talent, and Ken Wantanabe plays the same role as all of his other modern action-oriented roles. In fact, the only actor that actually seemed to commit and give a great performance was Millie Bobby Brown, and she's 15. Every single actor is out-performed by a child, which I will admit, is pretty impressive. But still, besides her, no one was convincing or interesting to watch onscreen.
The worst part of this movie is the writing. It utilizes every single action movie cliche you can possibly think of, and it does nothing with them. You have the "protagonist is sympathetic because he/she has a family" cliche, the "scientific mumbo-jumbo" cliche, the "I'll do it" cliche (if you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about), the "villain uses the monster for selfish/monetary gain" cliche, the "awkward, business-type nerd who is only there for a few quips" cliche, the "specific character/entity is the savior of all mankind" cliche... the list goes on and on. Plus, the dialogue is full of exposition. I swear, exposition takes up 90% of the dialogue in this film. It was very dumb.
I think what was the most depressing thing about this film was its visual presentation. The cinematography looked so bland, especially compared to the previous Godzilla. Gareth Edward's Godzilla had some beautiful scenery, and the way certain scenes used color looked gorgeous. In this film, everything looks very plain. That's not to say that there are some shots that look great compositionally, particularly with the monsters. There are certain shots that are visually pleasing because of how they are organized. And the monsters themselves look fantastic. Each one is immaculately designed, and the CGI used to bring them to life is amazing. It's a shame that the cinematography didn't match the majesty of the monsters.
I think that's a great way of describing Godzilla: King of the Monsters- it didn't match the majesty of the monsters. There are great moments, almost always involving the monsters, and there can be some enjoyment in that aspect. In my opinion, the movie was heavily bogged down due to the writing and the characters. I will say that even though the 4D did cloud my judgement a bit, separating the experience from the movie, the film isn't that bad. Sure, it's dull and stupid, but it's not awful. I'd much rather watch this than Independence Day: Resurgence or Pacific Rim: Uprising. With that being said, this was a missed opportunity. If you were hoping for exciting monster battles, then you won't be disappointed. If you wanted a story that matches the thrills and intrigue of the monsters, then I'd suggest looking elsewhere.
Final Score: 4/10 (Mediocre)
4D Final Score: 0/10 (Torture)
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