It’s hard to make a Godzilla
movie. Toho makes it seem easy, having produced over 30, more of them good than
bad. It’s so strange to think there have only been three American-produced Godzilla movies since the monster was first
introduced in 1954. The east has had considerably more success than the west. The
first American one, from 1998, was so unworthy of the name, the 2014 reboot
bore minimal resemblance to it, but that one was worthy of the title Godzilla.
Now, five years later, we finally get the follow-up, which
makes it more explicitly clear that this is a shared universe of films,
referencing Kong: Skull Island and
teasing next year’s title bout, Godzilla
vs. Kong. Even though 2014’s Godzilla
was generally well-received and successful, fans and casual movie-goers
alike had some issues with it. The slow burn was admirable, the focus on the human
drama was welcome, and the restraint and mystery surrounding the monsters was
intriguing. But, people wanted more Godzilla. And less boring humans. And more
action. And more monsters. Those criticism were heard, and have been addressed.
Godzilla: King of the
Monsters is very different from the previous Godzilla—tonally, visually, and structurally. The conservative Jaws-esque approach used before is
completely abandoned. This is a sequel that leans into the sci-fi roots of Toho
giant monster movies, feeling more akin to Pacific
Rim than its predecessor at times. It really should have been called Godzilla: Rise of the Titans, but
instead they just copied the title from the 1956 American re-edit of Gojira, because that’s just what studios
want to do these days, apparently (other title-copying examples: The Predator, Halloween). From here on out, I’m just calling it Godzilla 2.
As a seasoned Godzilla fan, I’ve come to expect anything
from this franchise, from the stone-cold serious to the campy, cheesy extravaganzas.
Godzilla 2 tries to mix the
seriousness and realism established before with the over-the-top sci-fi action
the franchise has become so well known for. In a way, it’s almost another
reboot. It maintains continuity with the events from 2014, but follows a new
cast of main characters, with only three supporting characters returning from
before, and has a total expansion on the lore of the monsters and the way this
fictional world works.
There seems to be a duality to how Godzilla 2 is being received. As a fan who has seen every single Godzilla movie ever made, I found a ton
in this one to enjoy. For those who are not fans of the Toho Godzilla, and perhaps have only seen the
2014 version, it is not coming off well. So far, it’s had a fairly
mixed-to-negative response from critics and audiences, but I will say this. If
you don’t like Godzilla as a concept,
this one isn’t going to win you over. If you love anything and everything to do with Godzilla, this will satisfy
in numerous ways. If you want just a good old summer blockbuster action movie
and don’t really care about Godzilla, it should suffice. And if you want a
super clever plot and well-written human characters over monster action, I
guarantee you’ll be disappointed.
Emma invents a device called the Orca, which emits a
frequency that only titans can hear. This little device, which is something of
a deus ex machina, is the whole
reason the entire movie happens. She is captured (or so it seems) by eco-terrorist
Alan Jonah (Charles Dance, Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones) and forced to use the device to awaken the titans.
They first go to Antarctica, where “Monster Zero” is frozen in ice. Monster
Zero (also known as Ghidorah, the three-headed flying hydra) is Godzilla’s mortal
enemy, and with all the titans now active, it’s a fight for supremacy, to see
which one will be king of the monsters!
Spoiler: it’s Godzilla, he’s king.
I will have a separate spoiler section, but first my
spoiler-free thoughts. On the whole, I was very entertained by Godzilla 2. It packed in plenty of
monster action, most of which looked pretty impressive, even though a lot of it
took place in the dark or in stormy weather. Godzilla himself, once again, plays
second fiddle throughout much of the movie to the other monsters, but less so
than the previous movie.
The human characters are halfway decent. I found them more
entertaining and memorable than those of the previous film, largely due to the
better cast. One of the problems I had with Godzilla
2014 was Ken Watanabe’s character Dr. Serizawa had nothing to do except look on
into the distance in awe and say the famous line “Let them fight.” This time,
though, he has a much more significant role in the story, and more memorable
scenes. I wish Millie Bobby Brown had more to do throughout, and I wish the
character Dr. Stanton (Bradley Whitford, the dad in Get Out) had less to do, because by the end of the second act, he’s
exhausted his purpose as comic relief to the point of being annoying. I also
had an issue with Vera Farmiga’s character, but I’ll save that for the spoiler
section.
What I found most impressive of all was how Godzilla 2 came up with new things I had
never seen before in a Godzilla
movie. Monsters who have never fought before battle it out, new monsters are
shown (though only glimpses), and there are effective moments of interaction
between the humans and monsters. The visual effects were mostly good, though
still with some unfortunately poor cgi shots throughout. In terms of references
and easter eggs, there were so many, I probably missed a decent portion, but
the ones I did pick up on were all delightful, with the exception of two blatant
references to Aliens. I found those
references too on-the-nose, but that was probably just me, as I’ve seen Aliens so many times and am such a big
fan of it, I detected the references immediately.
What I found to be the two big negatives about the movie
that aren’t spoilers are the pacing and dialogue. Though there’s quite a bit of
action throughout the whole movie, it kind of comes in hills and valleys. It
goes from very exciting to slower without a decent flow, and this is most noticeable
in the second act, which meanders to the point of actually making the movie
feel long—and this is coming from someone who still enjoyed it. The dialogue is
often corny and there are some failed attempts at humour. While I did find some
of it funny, it’s mostly a laugh-less two hours, and there are multiple
instances of characters simply stating what is already apparent through
visuals, which was an unfortunate similarity to the Godzilla movie of which we do not speak (the 1998 one).
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Now on to the spoilers.
Unfortunately, the trailers showed a lot of the big moments, but actually kept
enough of the plot unrevealed that I was still surprised by a few things. Some
surprises were good, others were a letdown. First, the good. I was actually a
bit sad to see Ken Watanabe’s character Dr. Serizawa die, but they did it in a fitting
way, paying homage to the 1954 original in a reversal of sorts. The Serizawa
character in the original killed Godzilla, but also killed himself in the
process. Now, Serizawa kills himself with the very weapon that awakened
Godzilla in the first place (not to mention the weapon that killed his own
father in Hiroshima), in order to let Godzilla live. Good stuff.
I didn’t expect Ghidorah and Godzilla to fight it out in
Antarctica immediately after Ghidorah is set free. After all this incredible
monster action had happened, I realized we hadn’t even been introduced to Rodan
yet, which took me by surprise. By the halfway mark, I was already satisfied
with the monster stuff, but there was so much more to come. There was an appropriate
escalation of action, too, with Godzilla returning for his final battle with
Ghidorah in a super-charged nuclear state—again, something I’ve never seen
before—making for a great finale, and the conclusion was satisfying enough,
while leaving me really eager for next year’s Godzilla vs. Kong (which will, likely, include many more giant
monsters, too).
Getting into the monsters themselves, the big standouts were
Rodan and King Ghidorah. Rodan has never been cooler in any movie than this
one. His aerial combat with the jets alone was amazing, but then his battle
with Mothra—a battle I had imagined as a kid but had never before been done—was
even better. Ghidorah receives the most screen time of all the new monsters,
and his depiction is also perhaps the best I’ve seen, though I can’t say that
with as much confidence as with Rodan. Ghidorah literally being a storm was a
new take that I really liked, and his regenerating head was another new
addition to the character that was a simple but brilliant change. 
Two of the big surprises involved the true motivations of
Vera Farmiga’s character Emma, and the use of a secret military weapon. First, the
secret weapon. When Godzilla and Ghidorah begin round two of their battle in
the ocean, plunging beneath the waves, Admiral Stenz (the guy who sent everyone
on the HALO jump in the previous movie) comes on a screen and informs us the
military have been working on something called the oxygen destroyer. Instantly,
I’m intrigued, because as any good Godzilla
fan knows, this is the name of the weapon that killed the original Godzilla
(though it was originally invented by Serizawa). They drop it in the ocean, it
makes an awesome explosion, and then…Ghidorah flies away, Godzilla sinks,
seemingly dies, then a little while later, they find out he’s alive, but weak,
and recovering in an undersea temple. Using the oxygen destroyer this way kind
of bothered me. It was simply a bit of fan service, and didn’t amount to
anything. They could have just had a proper monster fight and Ghidorah beats
Godzilla badly enough that he has to retreat to recover. Having the oxygen
destroyer not only come out of nowhere, but also ultimately be ineffective,
kind of came off as weird to me. Of course, this little detail likely didn’t
even trip up anyone who wasn’t a huge fan.
And as for Emma’s true intentions, it makes the movie more
convoluted than necessary. She is seemingly forced by the bad guys to use her
Orca technology to awaken the titans, but, why? Well actually, she wants to do it, because she thinks like
Thanos: if the world is destroyed by monsters, it will actually thrive better,
because overpopulation and pollution and environmental damage and all that will
come to a halt, and evidence indicates the areas the titans wrecked are doing
better now and the radiation is helping (?), so in the words of Thanos, it’s a
small price for salvation. Of course, after this reveal, her daughter calls her
a monster, which is about right. This whole expository reasoning just felt
really jammed into the movie, and either could have been removed entirely, or
worked in with more finesse, instead of being awkwardly plunked into the movie
as it is then never explored much more after that.
Well, this review has gone on long enough. Godzilla 2 was nearly everything I hoped
it would be. Seeing the monsters I’ve watched since I was a kid return to the
big screen in an all-new, loud, visually-exciting adventure was enjoyable on a
level I don’t think many general movie-goers will also be able to enjoy, but
hopefully the respect and care that went into crafting this loving tribute to
the king of the monsters (and all associated monsters) will be recognized by
fans and casual viewers alike.
