Godzilla: King of the Monsters review

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

The third movie in Legendary's 'Monsterverse'. Five years after the MUTO attack on San Francisco, a new crisis arises. While studying a newly hatched 'Titan', a Monarch scientist and her daughter are abducted by ecoterrorists. But there is certainly more to this than that. Then her estranged husband is brought into the situation by Monarch. This set-up is certainly interesting. It certainly adds additional human conflict to the story. But there is more. Monarch vs. the United States Military. See Below.

Of course, one doesn't go to a movie about kaiju just because of the human characters. The kaiju themselves and their battles are the main drawcard. There is certainly more of Godzilla than in the 2014 film. And a lot is also seen of Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah. That Godzilla helps to keep the kaiju ecosystem in check was established in the 2014 film, but this aspect of kaiju interactions is expanded upon. Ghidorah being an alien interloper, that sends the system out of balance is definitely an interesting development.

Of course these two very different elements cause problems. Mainly in the editing. Scenes keep switching from the kaiju fighting, back to what the people are doing. Often many times in a minute, or less. Focus on one thing! I would say. But this is a minor quibble. But more on those below. The story is mainly about conflict. Conflict between the human characters (especially when it comes to the Russells and their struggles), conflict between the kaiju (of course), and the conflicts between humans and kaiju.

The plot of Monarch and their struggle against the ecoterrorists (while searching for Emma and Madison) was interesting. It shows how grief (for their son, Andrew, who was killed in the San Francisco incident) can send people down dark paths, to make decisions they otherwise wouldn't make. In this case to cooperate with a terrorist group to bring about apocalyptic conditions. Most of the Monarch characters as they struggle to deal with the 'Titans' getting loose, were depicted well, especially Dr. Serizawa, but more on that below.

But the main stars are the kaiju, especially Godzilla. But also Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah. (Other kaiju are seen, but aren't the focus. Godzilla going into action to protect Earth (or rather the biosphere) against threats, is an interesting scenario, and the way this was depicted was good. Mothra is slowly developed through the film, from her birth at he beginning, through to her helping Godzilla against King Ghidorah in Boston (more on that below). Rodan emerging from the volcano and going to fight against Ghidorah was a good scene (albiet with the above caveats).

The reveal of Ghidorah in Antarctica was good also. However what Monarch, the ecoterrorists or individual humans do, have an impact on the outcome. Dr. Serizawa sacrificing himself to recharge Godzilla is something I was uncertain of, but the storyline works (as it is reflected by Mothra doing the same later). The concept of the ORCA is interesting, but is mainly a (literal) plot device to get the kaiju to do what the humans want them to do. But Madison running off with it to the stadium was an important contributor to the final sequence.

Overall the film was as much of a mess as Boston was at the end of the climatic fight, but still rather enjoyable. 8.2/10.