this thing was awful. Im a fan of the 2014 movie and skull island as well but wow, fell asleep multiple times on this stinker.

no relatable characters, no plot, no real emotion to the fights.

honestly felt like I was watching another bay tf movie or a match of current wwe wrestling...spectacle with no substance sums it up quite well. huge disappointment to follow up skull island, in my opinion anyway.

 

I highly enjoyed it, but I can see exactly why the critics hate it. This movie was made strictly for Godzilla fans and not the average movie goer. Therefore, if you don't know every Godzilla movie in and out, a lot of it is not going to make sense.

 

The plot is silly but that can be explained.

Spoiler

Apparently the radiation caused by the monsters causes plant life to regrow (and it shows what's happened to Las Vegas and San Francisco since the last movie), so the idea is to get them to rampage around for a while to reset the damage that humans have done to the Planet. The problem comes when it turns out that King Ghidorah is an alien and not one of the Titans, so he's just destroying the planet without it being remade... but they weren't aware of that when they woke him up.

As a plot twist, she's the one who has actually enlisted the help of the eco-terrorists rather than it being the other way around.

I mean, it's all very shallow but there you go.

 

My review:

 

And that's exactly why I said critics have no business seeing this movie & dragging it down. You don't go to see movies that you know you're not going to like & weren't made for you. Critics need to be genre specific. I can't imagine going to see pretty much every movie released & then giving an honest review. I think everybody forgets that the critics are BURNT OUT on movies. There is no way in hell anybody can watch so many movies as a job & not get sick & tired of them. Over doing anything will burn you out & turn love to hate real fast.

I worked as a caregiver for a while & every weekend I worked Friday Saturday & Sunday nights, 12 hour shifts. There was NOTHING to do for 12 hours straight. All we did was watch DVD after DVD. They were my DVD's, movies that I loved & that still turned me off from movies. I never regained my love for movies after that. I used to be obsessed with movies & now I hardly watch them anymore. With the exception of a few, watching movies is a chore for me now. So just imagine what it's like for the critics. I can totally understand if they're sick to death of watching movies.

 

Just got my tickets! Can’t wait to watch it with my kids!

As long as the kaijus take centre stage and some basic semblance of a plot, I’m good!

 

Move on. Your obsession with the critics is consuming any actual discussion of the film.

 

I’m the kind of Godzilla fan who understood when

Spoiler

Burning Godzilla happened, when the US Military suddenly busted out an Oxygen Destroyer, and why they kept calling Ghidorah Monster Zero, and was somewhat perturbed when they gave Godzilla the Heisei Gamera’s backstory

This movie is the exact one I had in my head when I was nine years old. And as it turns out actually seeing it was boring and loud

 

Alright, review time. This is basically the same feelings that I posted over on TohoKingdom, and it’s very long so I’m putting everything in spoilers to save space for ya’ll.

Spoiler

So, this is a film where I personally believe that one shouldn’t allow for any critic to subvert their expectations on what this is, and what it’s trying to be. King of the Monsters for me, and this isn’t hyperbole, was the most fun that I’ve had watching a movie in years. It wasn’t perfect, but the problems that I had with it were severely outweighed by the sheer amount of good qualities and enjoyment that I had watching what was essentially a massively budgeted Showa era film, with aspects of the other two sprinkled in for good measure.

If someone still somehow needed convincing in regards to Dougherty and his knowledge and love for the Godzilla franchise, then the things that are all throughout this movie will convince you and then some. I mean bloody hell, the amount of callbacks, references, winks and Easter eggs are insane and will require multiple viewings to catch them all. King of the Monsters really does feel like this giant love letter that oozes with passion and respect for the entire franchise, whispering sweet nothings to it as giant God beasts show mankind that we still have a long way to go as far as construction and building durability is concerned. It’s akin to the most expensive Godzilla fan fiction that one could possibly get, and I do not mean that in a bad way, at all.

As far as the humans and plot goes, the reviews online honestly make these two aspects seem significantly more mundane and critical than they truly are in reality. Though, I do understand that such will really depend on the individual and what they’re personally looking for. The plot was incredibly basic and straightforward without question nor falter, to such a degree that even a child could have an idea of what was going on. That’s not a slight against the movie by any means; it’s just how the story was presented, and is by no means the first time that a Godzilla movie has had a plot similar to this. It’s there to serve as a means to get the audience from one monster scene to the next, with very little time of levity in between, and I’ll admit, sometimes that did get to me a bit. What I mean by that is by the time I had caught my breath from the insanity of one action scene, we were either setting up for another one or already in another one. Fast, intense as hell, epic and relentless we’re the names of the game here.

The humans themselves were fine, honestly, with some truly bright spots and other dim ones. For the most part, everyone played their roles quite well and I never felt as though there was one just horribly acted moment anywhere, just some duller ones here and there. The characters were ultimately pretty basic but likable, and never ever dipped into the realm of shit that is, aside from ‘07 and Bumblebee, the Transfomers human cast. No, a lot more respect and care was given here. They honestly felt how most other humans do in a good third of the other Godzilla VS films: there to spout some stuff, maybe get into the action a bit, say some expository bits, but generally stay out of the way of whatever the monsters themselves are doing.

Now, onto the Kaiju, or in this case, Titans themselves. Holy shit.

King freaking Ghidorah- I’ll say this to you right now, do you remember how Avengers Infinity War was described as being Thanos’s movie? Yes? Well, King of the Monsters is Ghidorah’s movie. What I mean is that King Ghidorah is the absolute showstopper of this film and everyone knows it too. Whenever he’s onscreen, he is the one that you’re ultimately paying the most attention to, but not necessarily rooting for him. This version of Ghidorah is without question, the best incarnation that we have ever gotten, period. He absolutely usurps the likes of Showa and Rebirth 3 KG in every respect.

For anyone that knows me well enough on here, knows that I had been vouching and dreaming of a truly world ending, demonic hellhound King Ghidorah for years leading up to this film. And, I can say with absolute certainty that Monsterverse Ghiddy is just that. When you watch him do the things that he does, there is no question that this bastard is the very definition of world destroyer and civilization reaper. He’s vile, cruel, sadistic to the tenth degree, and a bloody lunatic to top it all off.

The cherry on top the golden sundae is just how expressive Ghidorah is in the film. The distinct personalities of all three heads are apparent the moment he emerges, and the various expressions, ticks and quirks that he has are freaking fantastic. Absolutely amazing character that future draconian beings will have a very tough time living up to.

Godzilla- The King. The title character. The star. The 65 year old legendary icon... Has never looked better. You know, it’s funny, I haven’t teared up nor cried for Godzilla in a very long time, really since Destroyah. But, Godzilla in this movie genuinely made me tear up at different moments. He and nearly every other Kaiju in his expansive universe have always been actual characters, and not just mindless beasts. However, they took that philosophy and bloody RAN with it for King of the Monsters. Godzilla just oozes with personality and character, even more so than in 2014 and by an enormous margin. He has the perfect blend of Showa’s noble heroism, late Heisei’s calm indifference, and Millennium’s animalistic ferocity. This is the most expressive and dynamic that Godzilla has ever been by far.

Not to mention, Godzilla is, and excuse my French, a fucking beast in this movie. He fights like an absolute maniac and pulls no punches this time around. He’s efficient, brutal and merciless. Gone are the days where Godzilla would take his time to kill something, no, Monsterverse Godzilla goes straight for the jugular right away and aims to end the fight right away. The kind of Dadbod but still ripped thing he had going on in ‘14 is replaced entirely by just straight up ripped, roided out dense muscle that makes Godzilla look as though he’d been working out with Dwayne Johnson and the Hulk for five years.

While Monsterverse Godzilla still isn’t my absolute, undisputed favorite incarnation, he is most certainly in my top 3.

Mothra- Mothra, uuugghhh, she’s such a matriarch in this. Like, it truly felt as though I was in the presence of a motherly figure whenever Mothra was onscreen. Very nurturing, comforting and warm aura about her. I was really reminded of GMK Mothra with her Monsterverse self, just more docile and sweet. But, to douchebags like Ghidorah and Rodan, Mothra didn’t take any shit and was incredibly fierce and deadly.

The addition of longer and more lethal limbs allowed for her to have some pretty badass moments, and Mothra wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty with the boys. I would quite honestly love to see a solo film for her in the future, should the Monsterverse continue to that point, which I’m sure it will.

Rodan- Everyone’s favorite dickhead is back and badder than ever. When Dougherty stated that Rodan was a personal favorite of his, he bloody well meant it because Rodan easily has some of the coolest moments in the entire movie. His design is absolutely spectacular and now knocks ‘56 down to a solid number 2 spot for me. And, the, “flying A-bomb”, description is very much apt. Rodan is an utter force in here and has such an uncaring and dickish attitude towards literally everything and everyone.

I’ve seen others compare him to Starscream, and while I can definitely understand the comparison, I personally wouldn’t say so. Rodan isn’t necessarily cowardly, but is instead so ballsy that it ultimately got in him a lot of trouble throughout the film. His angriness bit him in the ass quite a few times. Though, I can say definitively that Rodan here is now my favorite version; everything about him is so traditional yet new and fresh too, and it all just works.

Now, as far as the action itself goes, it’s utterly insane and epic to a tee. The fighting in King of the Monsters honestly makes something like Endgame’s final battle look tame in comparison. There is so much destruction and utter chaos, that after its over, you almost feel like you have to breathe in order to dissipate all the built up adrenaline.

It gets to a point where the destruction caused in San Francisco looks like a stone was thrown at it. Godzilla and co. feel like genuine gods of ancient times rising up to do battle, and that it would behoove anything and everything else to stay the hell out of the way.

I will say that sometimes the Titans did feel a bit too light, but those were only like two moments and everything else felt properly weighted, and they all felt as gargantuan and heavy as their stats stated they were.

In conclusion, whilst King of the Monsters has its flaws and isn’t a perfect film (no film is), it is honestly something that we should all applaud. If someone had told me back in 2014 that we’d be seeing the likes of Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah onscreen with Godzilla for the first time ever in a major Hollywood production... I wouldn’t have laughed in that person’s face, but I definitely would’ve be skeptical. Regardless of what you ultimately think about this movie, you have to give credit to where credit is due. What Dougherty and his team, Legendary and WB, and Toho managed to achieve here is absolutely incredible. This has never been done before in all of Godzilla’s history, and he has been around for 65 years! I honestly still can’t believe that I’m alive to see a moment like this, and even better still, it isn’t over. Godzilla vs Kong is only a year away. One. Single. Year.

King of the Monsters definitely won’t be for everybody, certain Godzilla fans included. However, for both myself, my casual fan of a wife, and the packed auditorium of people whom we saw it with... It was absolutely spectacular, and I’m most definitely seeing it again today and a third time next week. I won’t give a rating because I personally believe and will always believe that ratings for movies and entertainment are stupid, feel as though good/decent reviews should speak for themselves without some tacked on number tarnishing it. But, I will say that this is peak Godzilla insanity right here, and you will not get the level nor magnitude of monster battles and respect to the source material anywhere else, with any other property.


Hail to the King.

 

Still, what’s your point? Godzilla should’ve just gone up and blasted him? And risk waking him up in the process???

 

Omg fucking loved it. Nearly perfect Godzilla movie and I hated the last one.

Nice

 

Why is RT even payed attention to any more?

 

Saw it really liked it had everything I wanted from the last one.

The fights are awesome but they still do cutaways but this time it is more like bayformers cutaways instead of just skipping the whole fight we still see the fights but they also show what the humans are doing.

The only humans I liked are Ken Wannabe and Charles Dance. Ken because he actually had character, Charles because he was entertaining nothing about his character made sense to me but he was fun to watch.

If you are curious the fight scense are not hard to see at least to me that aren't hard to see they do take place at dark places but it isn't like Aliens vs Predator 2. I can actually see what is going on during the fights.

That being said don't take my word for it people say the bayformers and the first Pacific Rim fight scenes are hard to see but I see those just fine as well.

In terms of recent giant monsters, movies here is my ranking

Godzilla King Of The Monsters
Pacific Rim
Godzilla
Kong Skull Island
Rampage
Meg
Colossal
Pacific Rim Uprising

 

I could see fights in both those movies just fine, so this should be no problem.

 

My biggest complaint about the 1st film was that most of the monster stuff took place at night.

 

Yeah I don't about that one, chief. By that logic, the Wrinkle in Time and Nutcracker movies should have gotten great scores but critics trashed them. Dumbo and Aladdin got extremely mixed scores and Captain Marvel and Solo (correct me if I'm wrong) got mediocre/disappointing scores. I want to believe that, but it doesn't seem that way at all. I do strongly agree with a disconnect between the tastes of Critics and fans, though; Venom, King of the Monsters, Superman Returns, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull being prime examples.

Apparently, reactions from critics seem to imply that a lot of the fight scenes in THIS film take place during the rain.

 

But isn't that why they are the "professional" critics and people like me are nothing but a YouTuber?  

Speaking only for myself, I use RT to determine if a movie I am unsure of is worth spending money on. Take Aladdin, for example. I have very little interest and the RT score tells me to wait until my local library gets the DVD/BD instock.

 

Because!! It's... trendy! ...Social Media!... it's.. hip?

But I do agree, it's a toxic website/brand that only gets abused. Moreover it's pointless when you see scores for movies that HAVEN'T come out yet, and the comments there blasting the film and the negative scores because it's just users posting their commentary even without seeing it.... They need to do something like eVerify to prevent flooded scores. Force these "critics" to snap a picture of their movie ticket and upload it as proof before they validate that amended score and remarks.

 

I loved it. I haven't had to just gush about a movie in years but this movie has me doing just that

Yes, it is very much a movie that exists to give giant monster fight scenes, but it delivers in spades