dex14

**SPOILERS WITHIN**

Please continue pre-release discussion here.

Movie:
"Godzilla: King of the Monsters"
(Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance,Thomas Middleditch, David Strathairn, O'Shea Jackson Jr.)

Release Date:
5/31/19 - US Official Date

Rating:
PG-13 (for sequences of monster action violence and destruction, and for some language)

Running Time:
131 min. (2h. 11m.)

Budget:
$200 Million (estimated)

IMDb Synopsis:


IMDb Info:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3741700

Rotten Tomatoes:
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/god..._monsters_2019

Metacritic:
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/god...f-the-monsters

Trailer:

<iframe width="676" height="380" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QFxN2oDKk0E" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Poster Art:

dex14

It looks like there are early 4pm screenings this afternoon in IMAX. I think I will be going to that.

csant

Yeah, I am trying to see if I can leave early from work as well. My 1pm meeting will have to be a short one. lol

TomOpus

Thanks for starting the review thread. Guess someone was too high or busy stealing movies.

Gonna try to catch it at 4. Not positive which theater, probably Alamo Drafthouse. The pre-movie show should entertaining.

candyrocket786

I'm seeing it in IMAX at 7pm today(which is almost sold out)

K&AJones

We have reserved seats...dead center...at the 5Pm first showing in 3D at Imax here in Nashville today. We have 8-10 people who already can't wait to hear what we have to say....but no spoilers....

dex14

It was fine. Yea, the human stuff was a bit lame, but servicable. Way better than the last one, IMO. Some great visuals.

I went to see it in "IMAX", but the aspect ratio didn't change at all for any scene. Did anyone else experience this? Or is that because it wasn't shot with IMAX cameras?

Also, I remember reading that a character from Kong was supposed to be in this (I know it was rumored that Dance was playing and older Hiddleston, not true). Was there any connection / character?

csant

I like it and the human stuff wasn't as bad as they say.... it moved the movie along.

mattysemo247

My kids and I saw this tonight and it was alright. I think the best comparison I felt it was close to was Pacific Rim Uprising. Maybe it was because I went in with pretty high expectations and that didn't help. The action sequences felt jarring and disjointed at times, cutting back and forth and switching point of views which didn't help in my eyes. Also a lot of the scenes took place in bad weather or dark, which I'm guessing was to help hide some of the budget. I think most Godzilla fans are really going to like the last 15 minutes or so where he really shines. Other than that the plot was kinda dumb and I wasn't really rooting for any of the actors. I came out liking 2014 Godzilla and Skull Island more

Oh, and there is a small stinger at the end, but if you ask me it's really not worth staying around for

SmackDaddy

Enjoyed it quite a bit. Loved some of the throwback stuff (oxygen destroyer!!) and the expanding of Godzilla's mythology. Lot's of set up in the credits (the first part of the credits) for Kong v Godzilla. I do wonder how the after credits scene will tie into the next movie.

Perkinsun Dzees

I thought this was a perfectly enjoyable Kaiju flick, much better than the 2014 snoozefest. Sure, the human drama was contrived and not very deep, but then this is a Godzilla movie, not Shawshank Redemption.

I actually felt that the filmmakers at least tried to make the human side of the movie a little more interesting than usual. I mean, Vera Farmiga's character was like a successor to Thanos in how she wanted to restore balance to the planet by wiping out most of the population. Serizawa's demise was handled well and kind of reminded me of Shindo's death in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. On the other hand, Zhang Ziyi's character wasn't really necessary to the plot as she was only around to provide exposition.

The monster fights were a little choppy and although it was great to see Rodan and Mothra, I would have liked to see more additional famous monsters from the Godzilla catalog rather than the generic ones they threw in there at the end. I also wanted to see Godzilla kick their asses, instead of having them bow down to him.

boredsilly

I've been doing a lot of harping on this movie in the other thread, so allow me some time to gush a bit.

Whenever Godzilla was on screen I was a happy camper. I think the movie actually had its best fight early on when King Ghidorah first reveals himself (itself?). I LOVED that scene. I also found the scene with Godzilla revealing himself to the people in that sub-aquatic base to be really striking. Seeing Godzilla at that scale in that perspective was just super neat. The Rodan fight against the fighter jets!!?!?!? WHAT!!!!?!?! That had me all the way gassed up in my seat. It was super dumb, but the good kind of dumb, having the other monsters essentially pledge fealty to Gidorah and then at the end Godzilla, but I was there for it. That's the kind of dumb I signed up for. And while I was a bit annoyed that they kept cutting away during the last battle, they did show enough to satisfy there. I do wish they waited to play Godzilla's theme when he was lava Godzilla, as to me that is the "oh you fucked up now" music.

While I have pointed out the weak characters in the other thread, I feel like a lot could be forgiven if they just wrote out Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown's characters. I love Vera as an actress, but this character was just the pits. I was amused when they try and give her a redemption at the end. No, you don't get to be redeemed after playing a hand in the death of millions of people. Fuck outta here. I think this same structure, with Kyle Chandler (who is decent here -- and always likable) and that crew chasing the eco terrorists lead by Charles Dance around gets us to the same place, with maybe 20 minutes less of worthless human time.

I really didn't mind the rain and stuff hiding the characters a bit. They weren't as bold as Kong Skull Island, which didn't obscure Kong at all, but they showed more than enough of all the creatures to please me (they also had way more to design and show, and in more complex environments).

The stinger at the end is really skippable, but I guess that group is going to fabricate a kaiju now?

boredsilly

I'm not super well versed in the Godzilla movies, so I assumed maybe those were some of the lesser known baddies. I do wonder where they go after Gidorah and Kong. I feel like Destoroyah would feel like Gidorah part 2. Maybe the stinger for this movie is nodding its head to a MechaGidorah, which may make way for a MechaGodzilla? Then there is Space Godzilla.

Paul_SD

Yes. I've always found films that try to pull that kind of shit to be nauseatingly lame.

boredsilly

Yeah, I would hold the same for Vader. He can feel remorse for what he did, characters can forgive him if they choose, he can even do a good thing. Hell, I can even begin to feel sorry for him, but I'm still like fuck outta here.

That isn't to say people aren't above being redeemed in fiction, or in real life for that matter, but it takes more than a turn in the very tail end of the third act to just make everything cool when you've committed mass atrocities.

Also, regarding Vader, you don't grow a conscious when Palpatine is going buck wild, but it breaks through when he's about to kill your kid? So none of those other kids Palpatine surely killed matter, but your kid is special?!?! Self-centered. Selfish.

(I can absolutely enjoy a movie with this sorta redemption, but like a lot of things flimsy redemption arcs in better movies are easier to forgive in ones that aren't. Everything is easier to forgive in better movies, that might stick out like a sore thumb in a worse one)

Why So Blu?

Likewise. No, it was not shot in IMAX, so it would not have changed ratios. My AMC had Rocketman in Atmos, which is why we fell back to this IMAX showing instead of regular 2-D.

Why So Blu?

Just got back from it and it was fine. The effects were top-notch. I really liked that gigantic stealth version of a B-2 bomber - that was a great looking aircraft. The humans were not as irritating as I thought they were going to be. They actually ended up cutting out the stupid "It's Godzilla's world, we're just living in it" line. They kept the female soldier's "damn right" response but it was responding to something else.

Too bad it didn't play in Atmos, so I will hopefully be ready for the 4K/Atmos home video release.

Red Hood

I believe her characters (as in plural, since she played 2 of them in the film) are the key to Mothra's return, playing off this part of the Godzilla mythology

Red Hood

By the way, I loved the film but wish we would have gotten a better King Kong cameo to set up for the next film. Something along the lines of Kong not destroying Skull Island and instead fighting one of the other 17 monsters in rebellion to the new alpha, Gidorah.

Was Godzilla's kingdom under the sea supposed to be Atlantis?

Orbi-Wan Techno

From my review page ORBI-WAN GOES TO THE MOVIES:

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS - (PG-13) The all-out Kaiju-on-Kaiju action far outshines the clunky human element and family drama in this new installment of the Monsterverse.

As you’ve probably gathered over the past week, I am a pretty big fan of Godzilla, and Kaiju in general. At least a third of my tee shirts have some kind of Godzilla logo, and I have shelves full of Godzilla figures from minifigs, cake-toppers, Funko Pops, and several different NECA articulated figures. A poster of Godzilla 1954 adorns my home theater room, I own several Dark Horse comics - I could go on and on.

So I knew I already had a certain bias going into the new movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Fortunately, my lovely bride of 38 years agreed to see this latest film incarnation with me, to help provide a balance, so to speak, as she knows nothing more about the big fella other than her husband is a bit obsessed with the big lizard.

Despite the not-great Rotten Tomatoes scores (ugh), I am happy to report, not only did I get my money’s worth out of this monster fest, even Mrs. Orbi-Wan says she was entertained for what it was - a movie about giant critters duking it out for superiority, while poor little humans basically try to help the “good guy.”

(Some minor spoilers ahead) It’s been five years since Godzilla defeated the insect-like MUTOs in a battle that leveled much of San Francisco. The world is still reeling from the fact that giant creatures live among us. Monarch (represented by Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and Thomas Middleditch) is at odds with a government that wants to use the military to destroy these “monsters” rather that trying to accept them as part of the natural order of life.

The story focuses on a family still dealing with the loss of a son during the San Francisco event. The father, Mark (Kyle Chandler) is estranged from his family, and wants to see Godzilla and his ilk hunted and destroyed with prejudice. The mother, Emma (Vera Farminga), has developed a new sonic technology, the Orca, for Monarch in an attempt to control the newly classified “Titans”, many of which are monitored containment facilities around the world. The smartest of the bunch, daughter Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown), just wants to see her family reunited, and basically travels around the globe with her mother.

After a successful test of the Orca on the massive larva Mothra (perhaps the most beautiful and benevolent of the giant foursome we spend time with), the sonic device is stolen, and Emma and Madison are kidnapped by eco-terrorist Jonah Allen (Charles Dance), who wants to hasten the release of the Titans on the world to restore balance to nature through the extinction of man. He uses the device to release “Monster Zero”, later named Ghidorah, from a containment facility in Antarctica, and this “Apex Alpha” draws the attention of Godzilla, who has been unseen for the better part of the last five years.

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is an exercise in fan-service highs, some genuine and forced humor, clunky dialogue at times, but overall a great time at the movies. The first appearances of the three new central monsters are all spectacular. Ghidorah is truly terrifying. Rodan is destruction personified, and Mothra is sleeker that her previous versions, and her presence is essential to the story. The human element basically exists to provide the necessary exposition, and to put themselves in situations where Godzilla has to save their hides. Also, Bradley Whitford is present in a role that seems to be related to his character in “Cabin In The Woods”. He provides most of the humor that leavens a lot of the deadpan dialogue throughout the film. Mrs. Orbi-Wan told me he just said what the audience was thinking at the moment LOL.

I’ve heard the complaints about the “dark” fight scenes. Mrs. Orbi-Wan and I saw it in our local fake IMAX theater, and given the plot and progression of the story, the environments surrounding the monster fights made perfect sense to us. Also, if you are any kind of fan of the ENTIRE Godzilla series, from 1954 through Shin Godzilla, you will have to seen this one multiple times to catch all the Easter eggs that are hidden or blatantly in your face. The music gets a special shout-out from me, as composer Bear McCreary incorporates classic Japanese kaiju themes into the film score in a way that had me grinning from ear-to-ear.

All this being said, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” definitely had some big clawprints to fill, and it filled them admirably, despite some dialogue and plot issues and a primary character’s confusing motivations for their actions and decisions during the film. The monster action was top-notch, and that’s why we go to a Godzilla movie after all, isn’t it? I am giving “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” 4 out of 5 lightsabers, and that’s not just the fanboy in me speaking. Honest.

NOTES FOR PARENTS (Mild Spoilers): Godzilla: King of the Monsters is rated PG-13 for monster fights and mayhem on a massive scale, disaster-style destruction, brief language and certain thematic elements. The “F” bomb is dropped once. S**t and G**d*** are spoken a few times, as well as b***h and othe milder profanities. While we see plenty of people shot, stepped on, blasted with rays, etc., there is little to no blood and no gore shown. There are at least three jump scares. During the final battle, both younger and sensitive viewers may become concerned about Godzilla and Mothra. Family loss, grief, and choices made while dealing with them are running themes.

MID- AND AFTER-CREDIT SCENE: There is no mid-credit scene, although pay close attention as the credits begin to roll, as there are headlines and articles that speak to the aftermath of the Titans’ continued presence. There is an after-credit scene that potentially sets the stage for further sequels beyond Godzilla vs. Kong (coming in 2020).

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Orbi-Wan Techno

There a bit in the first part of the credits that goes by quickly with a headline that said something like "Will Kong Challenge Godzilla For King".

Orbi-Wan Techno

I kept thinking that this branch of Monarch was similar to Agents of SHIELD, and that craft was The Bus.

candyrocket786

Really enjoyed the hell out of it and IMAX was pure sensory overload. I do plan to see it again.

I didn't care for Eleven in her particular role and figured they could've easily cast another actress. I just found her distracting, especially because of her creepy friendship with Drake and how that prick is all over the NBA Finals.

Why So Blu?

Exactly. There's a scene where she shows a picture of her family, all of the women, I think they were all twins, etc. They were all part of Monarch since the 1960's.

Giantrobo

Speaking of STAR WARS and Darth Vader...

I see lotsa LUKEwarm reviews up in this mutchahfuckah!!