Godzilla - King of the Monsters
Director– Michael Dougherty
Starring – Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown
Country of Origin- U.S.
Distributor - Warner Brothers
Number of Discs - 2
Reviewed by - David Steigman
Date- 09/17/2019
It’s not often a sequel to an inital film is an improvement. Movies like The Fly II, Halloween II, The Naked Gun 2 ˝ and countless others never achieved the greatness of the first film. The latest installment of the Godzilla series Godzilla: King of the Monsters from Legendary Entertainment, a direct sequel to the first film, Godzilla from 2014 is considered by many a vast improvement. For one thing, Godzilla does more than just make an extended cameo appearance on this go-around, and alone makes the sequel an improvement. Add some other classic Kaiju plus a few new ones and you’ve got something realy special in the works.
In this Kaiju epic, Godzilla faces his long-time nemesis and arch-rival King Ghidorah. His former monster island buddies, Rodan and Mothra are also there for the ride. In this film, the monsters are referred to as “Titans” and are allegedly here to balance humanity and nature, and also to co-exist with humans on Earth. Somehow the idea of monsters co-existing with humans doesn’t seem all that feasible.
The main characters for Godzilla: King of the Monsters are the Russell family, Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler, Mulholland Falls) Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga, The Conjuring), and their daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown, NCIS). Emma works at Monarch which studies the “Titans “along with returning character Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe, Tampopo). A device called Orca has been made to control the behavior of the monsters under various frequencies. Emma is later revealed to be working for terrorists led by Alan Jonah(Charles Dance, The Golden Child) with a plan set to free all the Titans in order for them heal the Earth from all the damages we as humans as done. She frees King Ghidorah from its long sleep as part of that plan. Unfortunately, that plan backfires as King Ghidorah immediately starts killing people at Monarch and causing destruction. Ghidorah itself summons other Titans with the intent to make the human race extinct by having the monsters roam around the Earth, destroying humanity in the process. Only Godzilla can defeat Ghidorah, but does he have the strength to do defeat the ultra-powerful Ghidorah?
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is an excellent monster romp, with plenty of “Titans”. There are enough monster battles to satisfy those who crave that in a monster movie, particularly when it revolves around Godzilla. The battles between Godzilla and King Ghidorah (referred to at first as Monster Zero, a reference to the Showa Era’s Godzilla vs. Monster Zero aka Invasion of Astro Monster) are well done and will keep you at the edge of your seat.
As expected the origins and characteristics of Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah have been slightly tweaked to how they were introduced yesteryear. King Ghidorah, who was slightly altered, looks as imposing as ever; Godzilla’s physical appearance has also been enhanced, with the dorsal fins looking more like the Godzilla we know and love. Rodan also looks more menacing than any other incarnation of it, although I wish they kept his original roar and screams. Mothra also looked acceptable in its new incarnation, abandoning the fuzzy moth we are used to seeing and going with a slicker bug-like design. The special effects are superb, and while the CGI effects may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the monsters do look excellent. I’d still love to see some rubber suited monsters in these Kaiju films.
Some may disagree about the film being ‘good’, arguing that there are too many scenes involving the human characters, especially Emma Russell and her estranged daughter. They do chew up a lot of screen time and get lost in subplots in order to have the film eclipse over the 2 hour mark, which in a Godzilla movie is a bit much. That being said, it is very much worth mentioning that the human element in Kaiju films has been around since 1954, with the very first Godzilla movie. Every single Godzilla movie has a human element. Whether it’s the tormented Dr. Serizawa over his oxygen destroyer machine from the original Gojira movie, Glenn (Nick Adams) and his romantic subplot with Miss Namikawa (Kumi Mizuno) from Godzilla vs. Monster Zero or Megumi Odaka as the Godzilla psychic Miki Saegusa that appears throughout the Heisei Godzilla series, there is a key human character. Perhaps the Russell’s aren’t as charming or even silly as the characters in the Japanese Godzilla movies; maybe we really didn’t need to have family drama involved in this movie. It’s the monsters we are interested in seeing! And the other new monsters besides the big four I would have loved more than just have cameos for. Speaking of Dr. Serizawa from the original Gojira, the oxygen destroyer returns in this film; even more homage to the Showa and Heisei era!
As for the actors, the cast does a fine job overall, not just with the spoken dialog, but when making appropriate facial expressions when they get up close and personal to the monsters. Again, we are more interested in the monsters than the characters, but the actors hand in good performances. Lawrence Sher’s cinematography is just brilliant, capturing fantastic visuals. The music for the film by Bear McCreary will bring back memories and give you goosebumps, particularly when his scores are sincere nods to the greatest Godzilla composer of them all, Akira Ifukube. You most definitely should sit through the end credits to catch more of his musical scores that incorporate a few previous Godzilla and other Kaiju films. During the end credits, you will also see references to the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong movie, and an extra scene after the credits are over with. Something tells me we will be seeing Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah again in the next Godzilla movie.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner brothers and it’s a superior release. The picture quality as one would expect from newer films is just breathtaking with vivid, rich colors. The visuals are spectacular. The color palette tends to be on the cooler side with blues being more dominant. Daylight scenes, be it sunny or even when there’s stormy weather with gray clouds when King Ghidorah is attacking are exceptionally clear. Black levels are balanced during moments when the film takes place during the evening or just dark skies above. Skin tones look natural, interiors have excellent detail, with deep textures; everything about the look of the film was as good as it gets on Blu-ray.
There are various audio options for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 are the two channels to choose from with English, Spanish, French and Portuguese language tracks being available. The 7.1 audio track was the stronger of the two, offering a much stronger, richer audio experience. The dialog, monster roars, music and explosions come in aggressively. English, Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles are offered
There are a ‘monstrous’ amount of extras for Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
To begin with there is a full length audio commentary with director Michael Dougherty, producer Zack Shields, and actor O'Shea Jackson, Jr. The commentary track covers just about everything you’d like to know about the movie, from the cinematography, the monster effects, the cast the crew and so on. Michael Dougherty is clearly a Godzilla junkie like the rest of us.
Monsters 101 is a multi-part featurette focuses on four of the main titans including Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah, the specs, what the cast and crew think of them. It’s a quick overview of them, with each segment about the monsters barely running over a minute.
Evolution of the Titans is another multi-part piece that covers the visual effects used for the same four main monsters; it runs much longer than Monsters 101 and is more complete and thorough. There are clips of interviews with the cast and crew as well.
Monarch in Action is a five-part segment takes a closer look at the five major settings from the film. The settings include the Yunnan Temple, Castle Bravo, the Antarctic base, the Isla de Maro volcano, and Godzilla's undersea lair. In this featurette, you will see storyboards, pre-visualization clips, concept art, behind the scenes clips, cast and crew comments, all of which overall is a highly detailed presentation.
Millie Bobby Brown: Force of Nature is a short behind the scenes interview with the 13 year old actress and her working with director Michael Doherty.
Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the Fight is a five minute piece about the military technology used in the film.
Monsters Are Real is a feature that discusses the mythology “reel” life monsters and relating it to real life.
Welcome to the Monsterverse is a closer look at both Godzilla 2014 and Kong: Skull Island
Deleted and Extended Scenes is a look at a few scenes which that, as the featurette is titled, are ‘deleted’ or ‘extended’. These are always worth a look.
Theatrical Trailers titled "Life", "Supremacy", "Over the Rainbow", and "Wonder Rumble" round out the immense supplemental package.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters brings back the iconic Godzilla and three of the most marketable, recognizable Kaiju in Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah in a big way. I can’t imagine Godzilla fans not picking this one up, and while it may not be like the older, more charming Japanese monster movies, this film rises on its own merits. The Blu-ray package from Warner is superb and very thorough, making this a highly recommended release!
