Review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) by Davrosdaleks1 — 30 May 2019

If you're looking for a jamboree of giant monsters fighting giant monsters then Godzilla, King of the Monsters is exactly what you're lookin gor.

Not to insult the quality of previous Godzilla movies, but the budget and modern CGI allow this film to reach a level never seen before. These are some pretty epic fights.

Director Michael Dougherty started off in animation and his previous films Trick 'r Treat and Krampus have already demonstrated his excellent visual eye, and he's still got the touch here. In comparison to the previous film, we get flying monsters, and the sky as a setting is used to great effect, including some neat storm and cloud shots. Nice use of underwater scenes, too. Some of the night or subterranean scenes are too darkly shot, but I do give Dougherty credit for excellently contrasting the darkness with bright lighting effects such as monster fire or spotlights.

Of the three American films, this feels the closest to the structure of a traditional Japanese Godzilla movie. If you weren't the biggest fan of our nation's previous attempts, either because of the lack of the big lizard's screentime in the last film or for many, many reasons for the 90's version, this may be what you're looking for.

Dougherty also seems to be a fan of the original films and there seems to be respect for the handling of the monster (no drastic deviations) and includes some franchise easter eggs. The music includes some impressive takes on such classic musical bits as Godzilla's and Mothra's themes. We get the three biggest Toho kaiju other than the big freen guy, Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidora. The first two are redesigned and I felt it worked. There were no real betrayals of the character. Ghidora on the other hand isn't really altered. They didn't really need to. He's so distinctive already: a three-headed/two-footed/two-tailed, golden dragon.

Ghidora, is Godzilla's most prominent adversary and the film made sure to hold him to that title. This is as much his film as the title character's. He's just so impressive and ferocious. hen you see a close-up of his heads, it is the only time when the CGI doesn't quite gel, but WI didn't think it was that much of an issue.

I've heard a lot of complaints about the human characters. I partially agree and disagree with these feelings. Running at 2 hr., 11min., some of their time could've been cut near the middle when they're just discussing and discussing and DISCUSSING! how to handle the monsters. I also felt the backstory of the lead played by Kyle Chandler was explained a little too quickly.

Still, I liked the cast and characters. Ken Watanabe continues to really sell his performance as the scientist in awe of Godzilla. Chandler's likable and sells his moments of anger. The movie takes some notes from Kong: Skull Island and adds a little comedy to the proceedings in the form of en Middleditch and Bradley Whitford who have some humorous lines. The eco-terrorist human villains are refreshing in that they don't feel broad like these type of movie villains often are.

Overall this movie runs too long and perhaps the human scenes aren't quite as enthralling as the monster parts. But the action, oh boy is it something to see.