Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
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- Release Date: May 31, 2019
- Directed by: Michael Dougherty
- Written by: Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields
- Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes
- Series: Godzilla & MonsterVerse
While I really enjoyed the 2014 Godzilla film, I'd be lying if I said it was a perfect Godzilla movie. I really enjoyed its dark, ominous tone, and I liked the sense of spectacle and fear that it showed humanity feeling as it dealt with this new emerging monster. However, as I'm sure most people know by now, the movie put way too much emphasis on uninteresting human characters and completely sidelined its titular monster. Most Godzilla films have human-centered storylines with occasional monster / special effects scenes to give the audience what they paid for. In fact, Godzilla's screen time in the film is comparable to some entries in even the Showa-era entries. The problem was that 2014's Godzilla featured a human protagonist that was as interesting as a piece of cardboard, and on top of that, the other monsters that Godzilla faced were nowhere near as iconic as his classic roster of characters. It was a solid American effort for the time, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. With the later release of Kong: Skull Island and a promised Godzilla sequel approaching, I was so hoping that the filmmakers would learn from their mistakes the first time around and finally give fans the monster blockbuster they were hoping for. Did they? Abso-fucking-lutely they did!
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is an improvement in every single way from the 2014 film. For starters, the movie is way more balanced when it comes to juggling its human plot and monster action. While the characters are only a little more interesting than the 2014 film, their organization of Monarch that studies the monsters is placed in focus here. We follow a team of scientists as they track Godzilla as well as the emerging threats of Rodan and King Ghidorah. Instead of one massive human plot that only teases the monster encounters until the end, here the plot is frequently interspersed with monster scenes that push the plot along. Even when the creatures aren't fighting, their presence is causing havoc that is a constant threat to our protagonists. It's feels like a much faster-moving movie, and you actually get engaged in seeing if our heroes will make it through this alive, instead of simply checking your watch and waiting for the monsters to finally show up.
While the first film's MUTOs were an ok enemy monster, they were way too derivative of the creature from Cloverfield, and didn't match the icon status of Godzilla. Here, the classic monsters of Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah are given the same level of love that Godzilla himself got when it comes to design and spectacle. Each creature gets their moment to shine, whether it's Rodan emerging from a volcano and destroying jets, King Ghidorah bringing a literal storm of destruction to a city, or Mothra swooping out of the sky with her claws out to save the day. Godzilla himself also has plenty of applause-worthy moments that would make any fan grin from ear to ear, such as him emerging from the ocean and blasting his breath into the sky, or slamming Ghidorah through an entire skyscraper. The color pallet of this movie is also much brighter than the 2014 film, coloring its battles with a lot of blues and reds, and that gives the film a much more interesting look. The director of this movie was a lifelong Godzilla fan, and you can really tell. It's a lot like a little kid who loved playing pretend with his Godzilla action figures grew up and decided to do the same thing on the big screen.
Finally, the icing on the cake here is the incredible score by Bear McCreary. Whereas the 2014 film didn't include any of the iconic Godzilla music cues, here they're used all over the place. Not only is the classic Godzilla theme used, but so is Mothra's Song, as well as an amazing cover of Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla. The soundtrack includes a lot of chanting vocals that compliments the action so perfectly, and it sort of makes you feel like you're watching an arena battle. There's also vocalizations for Rodan and King Ghidorah's music that sounds so ominous and threatening. It's easily the best soundtrack in the entire MonsterVerse series, and I can't believe that more entries haven't incorporated the themes and cues like this one did.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is an outstanding kaiju film, and one of the best entries in the MonsterVerse. It astounds me that this is somehow the lowest-grossing film in the franchise, and I seriously can't understand why that is. The scale, battles, designs, music, and storyline are all some of the best that this series has to offer. Some may label this movie as pure fan service, and to that I say: exactly! Give me more of this, please!