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grunklebongrip · 3 months ago

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Kaiju x Gravity Falls AU

(Godzilla Falls AU?)

Okay so my fiancé made a joke about a crossover between these two universes the other day and then last night we both popped off so let me try to be as cohesive as I can about this.

In a world where monsters of old roam the world once more, two camps reside:

Protect the creatures, and treat them as part of nature. Their only crime is that they’re too big, but we could learn from them, and perhaps live in harmony

These creatures are dangerous and a threat to humanity. They are unpredictable, and their sheer mass alone leaves us vulnerable, not to mention the additional fallout, strengths, and efforts to rebuild after each attack

Stanford Pines definitely belongs to the former, and in fact is enmeshed far beyond his own curiosities and professional inclinations. Rather, he is one of a pair destined to protect, nurture, and call upon the Queen of the Monsters herself: Mothra. (Yes, Stan and Ford are the Shobijin, the twin “fairies”, I’ll have to flesh this part more out later but Ford having to convince Stan to join him is a major part of this story)

Fiddleford McGucket, his lover, lab partner and confidant, had come to join Stanford in his quest to study and understand the Kaiju, especially when it came to finding and monitoring Mothra. However, throughout their time together, he witnesses firsthand the terrors these beasts are capable of, and he fears for the safety of humanity with them running rampant.

“Destroy it before it destroys us all!”

He tries to tell Stanford how he fears Mothra even in her larval state, and he insists they join together in the fight to kill all monsters. But Stanford can’t. And he especially cannot harm Mothra, informing him she especially is no threat to humanity, but rather a keeper. A protector, as well, in fact one of the few creatures capable of aiding, taming, and persuading Godzilla to fight on their behalf. He understands her, he hears her, he knows what she can do, and he believes firmly in the capability to coexist. He is set to continue his studies.

Fiddleford, however, cannot. They breakup. He submits designs for a MechaGodzilla, which he believes will have the capability to destroy these monsters, and he quickly becomes one of the most prominent names in the fight against Kaiju.

Over the years, both teams are called upon for various reasons. Sometimes a Kaiju leaves seriously injured, sometimes another mech is destroyed—and sometimes the only hope available in the face of these creatures is the alliance of Godzilla and Mothra. Fiddleford and Stanford see each other in passing, see each other’s name and accomplishments in the paper, still angry the other won’t see their side.

But then, decades after their fight, decades after breakup, decades after they insisted their mentalities could never co-exist—a new threat presents itself. And this time, it’s far beyond the world they know.

A team of intergalactic space terrorists lead by the insidious Bill Cipher have garnered the power of a beast long prophesied: King Ghidorah

The two factions must unite, and Fiddleford and Stanford must work together again, mech and monster, to save the world, ALL its inhabitants, from a threat unprecedented.

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dovahkiin796 · 10 months ago

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Sonic X Godzilla

Ok, hear me out. We had Super Sonic vs Titans.

But what about Super Sonic vs... THESE Titans?

It's no secret Sonic IDW will be getting a crossover soon, but we just don't know what franchise the comic will be crossing over with. People want it to be Dragon Ball however I doubt that. There has to be a super contrived explanation as to why Sonic won't get killed by Goku from a single punch. No matter how much Goku is holding back. The point of these crossovers is to have the heroes fight each other over a misunderstanding and Sonic is NOWHERE near Goku's level.

I think IDW will try a crossover with an IP they already have the license to, or one they know they can get without much effort. Godzilla would be the easiest IP I think they can crossover with as DC had done it recently and even IDW had done a Godzilla crossover with the Power Rangers in the past.

I know the image above is the Legendary versions of Godzilla, Kong, Mecha Godzilla, and King Ghidorah. But I think Legendary won't be that stubborn for IDW to acquire the license for their versions of the giant monsters. At best they could get Godzilla and Kong. IDW will probably also have to reach out to Toho as Legendary is basically renting the King of the Monsters.

But if anything, I think IDW would most likely use a different era of Godzilla to fight Sonic. But imagine it for a second.

Super Sonic fighting against Legendary-Godzilla would be the coolest thing ever. For this to work I think Sonic and maybe Tails, would find themselves in the Monsterverse with Sonic probably already in this Super form. Godzilla, who tries to maintain balance of the Earth, would sense Super Sonic's presence and awake from his slumber to deal with this disturbance in nature.

Whatever city the two Mobians found themselves in, Godzilla would arrive and cause classic city destruction in order to kill Sonic and restore balance. Godzilla wouldn't go down so easily, and Super Sonic can't be hurt. It's basically a stalemate match till the eventual de-transformation of Super Sonic.

Sonic, knowing he can't fight Godzilla like this, would run away with Tails in tow. This is also done to minizine the destruction of the city. It would then turn into the classic "Gather all the Chaos Emeralds" kind of adventure. But no matter where they go Godzilla is always right behind them. As Godzilla would be using the portals that connect both the surface and Hollow Earth to get to wherever Sonic currently is. Much to their surprise as to them the giant lizard should always be hundreds of miles behind.

I'm sure eventually the pair would learn about Hollow Earth and with Tails' Miles Electric would detect the last Chaos Emerald is down there. Though the biggest question is would Sonic and Tails sneak into a Monarch base to steal one of their H.E.A.V.s to get there without getting crushed by the gravity? Or would they reveal themselves to Monarch?

Regardless they find themselves in Hollow Earth and I can picture Sonic loving it down there. Virtually all the room he wants to run at high speeds and dodging the giant wildlife. Tails would also love it because he would want to know how such an ecosystem can exist below the Earth's crust.

Eventually they would run into Kong himself. The giant ape would definitely be curious about these two strange creatures he has never seen before. And to make it even more interesting, unbeknownst to Kong the last Chaos Emerald embedded itself into his axe. Next would come the obligatory Godzilla vs Kong fight.

Kong would use his axe and to his surprise when he goes for a swing and misses Godzilla. A slash of energy shoots out of it. That's when Sonic and Tails realize where the last emerald is.

Now during this whole thing, I never mentioned a villain. Obviously, there would be an original Titan made for this crossover. And of course, we need Dr. Eggman and since he can't help himself. He would release this Titan from its slumber or imprisonment to use it against Sonic and then use it to conquer his world.

And like how it always happens, Eggman loses control of the Titan and Super Sonic, Godzilla, and Kong team up to defeat it.

That's basically my idea for a crossover with this version of Godzilla. It's not perfect and probably won't happen. But I can still dream. Whatever the franchise they choose to crossover with. I'll still be surprised by it.

#sonic the hedgehog #Sonic vs Godzilla vs Kong #Godzilla x Kong #sonic crossover #sonic idw #Sonic x Godzilla #my thoughts #monsterverse #Titans

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plasticnightmaredoll · 4 years ago

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Hey, hey, heeeey! I just finished "Godzilla vs. Kong," and, wanted to give a quick, spoiler-free review before posting a more in-depth one in the next day or so.

So, this movie was kind of a disappointment for me 😬

The fight scenes were great, and we were blessed with a lot of daytime scenes so we could actually see the action.

Mechagodzilla's design and behavior in this movie were both excellent, and he's my favorite variation of the character so far. I mean, he looks like a kaiju Terminator: a giant robotic skeleton that is just creepy as hell to look at.

The movie ended in the best way possible, both Kong and Godzilla getting fair treatment, I'd say. The approach this movie took was what I had been hoping for since I heard about this film several years ago.

Slightly spoiler-ish but we do get a team-up in this film, which was sadly not in 2019's "King of the Monsters." I had hoped that KotM would have had Rodan and Mothra join Godzilla in defeating Ghidorah, which would be a callback to the 1964 Toho film, "Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster." Alas, we didn't get that, but at least "Godzilla vs. Kong" gave us something worthwhile in this regard.

CGI was very impressive although, I think maybe Godzilla moved a little too quickly for his size in this movie. I thought he lumbered more in the 2014 and 2019 movies, which made sense because he's so bulky. But I guess this isn't a major problem. Just a minor pet peeve.

There was a lot of potential in the story, but I felt like it was too rushed. The villains were extremely one-dimensional, mostly due to a lack of meaning behind their motivations. I couldn't relate to them at all, found them very dull and even confusing.

One "villain" (not sure he was one but we'll label him like that for now) character perplexed me because he seemed to have no real purpose in the story and could have easily been replaced by anyone else. I got an idea of what he wanted to accomplish but it was more vaguely implied than anything else.

As much as I believe the eco-terrorist subplot in KotM was an annoying weak point of that movie, I thought G vs. K's villain subplot was even less interesting. G vs. K's villain subplot literally was there to connect the fight scenes so the movie wasn't just kaiju action, and Mechagodzilla had to come from somewhere so...here are some bland villains behind his creation!

There is lore but it's glossed over heavily. I mean, I understood what the history was behind Godzilla and Kong's rivalry, among a few other things, but I thought so much was left out, leaving too many questions. It was a fascinating backstory but sadly, it was a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of thing.

There are some things about Mechagodzilla that did disappoint me, but I will have to talk about them in the longer review I'll post in a day or so. Let me try and put it like this: I think certain aspects of him could have been handled better, more fleshed out.

I didn't care for the human characters, even the deaf girl. None of them stood out to me, and some were just....there, with very basic and boring backstories. Again, wasted potential to make this movie's story much better.

Overall, "Godzilla vs. Kong" is a fun movie as it gives you what you were probably hoping for: Kaiju action. However, the story needed to be longer with better characters and some more details for backstory elements. I know the potential is there, and maybe there will be a director's cut with extra scenes that could enhance the story. Something tells me that won't happen, though, which is disappointing.

For reference, this is how I have rated each entry in the Monsterverse so far:

Godzilla (2014) 4/5 (good)

Kong: Skull Island (2017) 3.5/5 (above average)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) 4.5/5 (very good)

Godzilla vs Kong (2021) 2.5/5 (below average)

Keep an eye out for my spoiler-filled, in-depth review, which will cover ALL the things.

#godzilla #king kong #godzilla vs kong #legendary pictures #kaiju #toho #monsterverse #gojira #skull island #mechagodzilla #giant monsters #action movies #sci fi movies #spoiler free

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Godzilla Singular Point: The Weird History of Jet Jaguar

https://ift.tt/3jvPBwC

The latest take on Toho’s iconic, building-crushing lizard comes in the form of Godzilla Singular Point, an anime series now available in dubbed form on Netflix. Taking place in the not-too-distant future, this reimagining of the King of Monsters involves a group of human characters becoming aware – through rather bizarre ways – of a coming apocalyptic event. Now the only thing that can save them is a behemoth out to punch monsters and look out for the little guy.

No, not Godzilla. He’s actually the apocalyptic event. No, our hero is none other than Jet Jaguar.

Yes, it’s finally time for Jet Jaguar to get his due.

A concept nearly 50 years old at this point, Jet Jaguar is one of those characters who was initially doomed to fail, but lives on due to nostalgia and the golden notion of, “I realize most people hated that thing from my childhood, but I bet I could make it good!” At best, he was a rad addition to the Godzilla mythos. At worst, he was a dumb idea from a dumb movie. For the most part, he’s remembered as something goofy that gets laughed at, despite having some genuine earnestness.

Jet Jaguar was created from both a fan contest and a corporate game of telephone. Back in 1972, to jump on the bandwagon of tokusatsu giant superhero/robot shows, Toho asked fans to design their own superhero design. The winner was a half-man/half-bird robot with a lengthy neck resembling a stack of rings named Red Alone. The concept was turned into a full-on rubber costume, but they changed the color scheme, which upset the young winner. They later decided to just scrap the whole thing, keep the color scheme, and make their own new design. And so, Jet Jaguar was born.

The superhero made an entire one movie appearance in 1973’s Godzilla vs. Megalon. As the urban legend goes, this was initially intended to be a standalone Jet Jaguar movie that the studio just didn’t have faith in towards the end and they hastily threw in Godzilla and recurring Godzilla villain Gigan. While the claim is dubious and unproven, it certainly is easy to understand where the allegations come from.

Everything about the movie feels rushed. As the last-minute replacement for another Godzilla film that didn’t pan out, filming took several weeks and production was a mere six months. Even the Godzilla costume was whipped up in record time. As for the story, outside of the intro, the preexisting elements (Godzilla and Gigan) aren’t thrown in until about 2/3 into the movie. Up until that point, it feels like a Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon movie with the production team hitting the panic button.

The plot of Godzilla vs. Megalon is that a scientist Goro Ibuki is working on a robot called Jet Jaguar, along with his little brother Rokuro and his best friend Hiroshi. They get wrapped up in a plot involving a group of beings from Atlantis-But-Not-Really, who are annoyed at all the nuclear bomb tests going on in their neck of the woods. They steal Jet Jaguar and use him to guide their insect god Megalon to different cities for the sake of smashing them up and punishing humanity.

Goro and friends get their hands on Jet Jaguar’s controls and use him to lead Godzilla to where Megalon is. Then the Seatopians call some alien friends for a solid and have them send in Gigan. Jet Jaguar is able to break away from all control and becomes fully sentient, as well as revealing the ability to turn into a giant. It becomes a big tag team battle, mostly remembered for Godzilla doing the silliest dropkick you’ve ever seen, followed by a second one for good measure.

The villains escape, Jet Jaguar and Godzilla shake hands, they go their separate ways, and Jet Jaguar reunites with the humans heroes after shrinking back down. He gets his own snazzy theme song to close things out.

In Japan, the movie wasn’t all that successful. As the thirteenth title in the Godzilla series, it brought in the worst returns yet. Between public burnout and the movie’s lack of quality, it just wasn’t grabbing people. That said, it came out at just the right time in the United States. Released in 1976, it came out months before the anticipated King Kong remake. The American movie poster for the movie even bit on the King Kong poster by featuring Godzilla and Megalon duking it out while each standing on a different Twin Tower, even though the movie at no point took place in the States.

A year later, the movie would be cut down into 48 minutes so they could broadcast it on NBC in prime time, across an hour with commercials. The only reason I mention this at all is because it was hosted by John Belushi wearing a Godzilla costume, which is sadly somewhere in the abyss of golden lost media.

Getting back to Jet Jaguar – the topic of this article – I feel the need to bring up Germany’s handling of the movie’s translation. Rather than call him “Jet Jaguar,” they referred to him as “King Kong.” I mean…sure, why not. Even weirder, when the next two movies introduced fellow giant robot MechaGodzilla, Germany once again referred to the robot as “King Kong.” Guys, I know what you’re going for here, but it doesn’t work that way.

Anyway, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla and Terror of MechaGodzilla followed Godzilla vs. Megalon and closed off the classic Showa Era of Godzilla movies. Not only did Japan need to rest Godzilla as a concept for nearly a decade, but this also meant that whenever Godzilla would come back, it was going to be some kind of reboot or new “only the first movie counts” installment. Jet Jaguar was never high on the list to be brought back, especially since MechaGodzilla completely overshadowed him.

He would at least get a little more exposure in 1991 when Godzilla vs. Megalon was featured in the second season of Mystery Science Theater 3000. While much of the episode is spent making fun of one of the Seatopians for looking like Oscar Wilde, they toss plenty of jokes at Jet Jaguar. Most memorably, they “translate” Jet Jaguar’s ending theme, which notes that his mother never loved him and he looks a lot like Jack Nicholson.

Due to rights issues, Godzilla vs. Megalon is one of the few MST3K episodes that is no longer legally available for viewing. This does make the original MST3K Collection Volume 10 box set (which included Godzilla vs. Megalon as one of the four movies) a collector’s item, as it was later discontinued and rereleased with The Giant Gila Monster taking its spot.

A stranger use of Jet Jaguar comes in the form of Certain Distant Suns’ music video for “Bitter” in 1995. While there’s not much of a narrative outside of the band playing, footage of Godzilla vs. Megalon being shown, and a few shots of guys walking around in Megalon and Jet Jaguar costumes, I really insist you give the video a look due to the ending. It certainly goes in a direction I wasn’t expecting.

In 1997, Jet Jaguar made his next official appearance in another frankly bizarre spectacle. In Japan, a series called Godzilla Island appeared on TV in three-minute increments. While it only lasted a year, there were a whopping 256 episodes, meaning almost 13 hours of footage. If you’ve never heard of Godzilla Island, you might be thinking, “Wow, almost 13 hours of Godzilla stuff? Why isn’t this more well known?”

Well, it probably has a lot to do with the fact that instead of using guys in rubber suits, the kaiju action was done with action figures. Yikes.

Not only did Jet Jaguar show up during these adventures, but they gave him the 90s superhero action figure treatment. Much like how they released as many figures of Batman as possible for different crime-fighting scenarios, Godzilla Island gave us Silver Jet Jaguar, Medical Jet Jaguar, and even Fireman Jet Jaguar. Collect them all!

Movies

Godzilla vs. Kong Writer Talks About Spending 8 Years in the MonsterVerse

By Don Kaye

Movies

Godzilla vs. Kong Director and Writer Talk Future of The MonsterVerse

By Don Kaye

In the early 2000s, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee was released for the GameCube and Xbox under the Atari brand. It was a fighting game featuring various characters from Godzilla lore and though Atari wanted to include Jet Jaguar, Toho refused. Still, at least Megalon was included in the game. There would be two sequels in the form of Godzilla: Save the Earth and Godzilla: Unleashed. FINALLY, Jet Jaguar was playable, because if there’s anything you can count on, it’s scraping the bottom of the barrel when you’re working on multiple installments of a nostalgic who’s who project.

He’d also return in 2014’s Godzilla game for PlayStation 3 and 4. The producer of the game didn’t even plan on putting him in there, but he saw that the programmers already were working on him and just shrugged it off. There was a special trick to summoning Jet Jaguar as a boss character. By ending up in three different Godzilla vs. Jet Jaguar scenarios and winning all three times, you would then unlock a special cutscene of the two shaking hands while a confused military woman would wonder about their history.

Around the mid-2010s, IDW Publishing was all about releasing a bunch of comics with the Godzilla license. Their mainline series was Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth, which went on for 25 issues. Early on, Jet Jaguar appeared out of nowhere during a fight between Godzilla and the team of Gigan and Orga. In human size, Jet Jaguar flew into Orga’s mouth, then expanded into giant size, causing the beast to explode. Especially awesome was that it came with the cliffhanger text, “Next: PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH!” a reference to Jet Jaguar’s theme song from the movie.

Jet Jaguar showed up regularly in the series, coming off as Godzilla’s designated driver friend and handler. What I mean is that he seemed to be out to protect Godzilla, but that meant having to keep his violent ally on task (ie. pointing out that Gigan was nearby to stop Godzilla from attacking Jet Jaguar) and throwing punches when the situation absolutely called for it.

This continuity played up Jet Jaguar as more enigmatic than anything, as although he was mechanical, the only human character who knew his origins was killed off before it could be explained. Even one of the invading alien villains saw him on a screen and basically went, “Oh crap. It’s THIS guy!” Regardless, he still came off as a total badass, winning fights against Godzilla, Gigan (the chainsaw-hand version), and Destroyah.

Then again, at one point he needed to be saved by the 1998 American Godzilla, which at least proved as a reminder to the robot hero that there are Toho characters far more hated than him.

Toho started using Jet Jaguar again, albeit in sillier ways. In 2019, as an April Fool’s Day prank, they put up a teaser on YouTube for a Jet Jaguar movie. They also had him appear a few times on Godziban, a Godzilla web series for kids that, once again, used dolls and action figures to tell its stories.

Now Jet Jaguar is a major part of Godzilla Singular Point. To get into specifics on the plot would be like explaining advanced calculus, but to keep on-topic, Jet Jaguar is the creation of Goro Otaki as both a way to ward off monstrous threats and as a company mascot. Considering King Kong’s role in King Kong vs. Godzilla was “kidnapped to be a company mascot,” maybe the Germans were onto something with the rename.

Anyway, this version of Jet Jaguar is more mechanical in appearance instead of having to rely on making him look like a human in a costume. Jet Jaguar is there to protect the heroes from the endless supply of monsters, usually taking some extensive damage. Still, the robot gets rebuilt stronger and stronger and becomes advanced enough to become self-aware and speak in…well, the voice of a teenage girl.

I don’t know, I guess I just figured he’d sound like Astro Guy from King of the Monsters.

There’s a big hard-to-explain twist, but the main thing to know is that Jet Jaguar becomes a full-on badass by the end of the series, turns out to be a huge key to the plot, and has a completely kickass showdown with Godzilla. In a way, Jet Jaguar’s journey in Singular Point is a lot like in real life, going from a lame idea that appealed to kids and gradually being understood as a respected part of the Godzilla mythos. Something initially representative of the worst of the franchise, proven to be something genuinely cool in the right hands.

Now it’s time for America to return the favor. Once again, timing is on Jet Jaguar’s side. The Monsterverse was on its way to the graveyard after the box office intake of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but Godzilla vs. Kong came out at just the right time in the tail end of the pandemic to be a big success and keep the series going a little bit longer. There aren’t too many names in the toybox left to pull out, but at this point, Gigan and Jet Jaguar have to be high on the list.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Make it happen, Hollywood!

Godzilla Singular Point is available to stream on Netflix now.

The post Godzilla Singular Point: The Weird History of Jet Jaguar appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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andrehm22 · 4 years ago

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My thoughts about Godzilla vs. Kong (a bit spoiler so be warned)

Ever since I have a memory, I’ve been a fan of the giant monster or mecha genre. Maybe it was because of shows like Power Rangers, Ultraman, Mazinger Z, Gundam, the Red Baron, Voltron or the movies such as Godzilla, Mothra, Pacific Rim and Cloverfield (the first one).

One of my fav movies of course, was King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962. It was silly, yes but the hype of that time made it a very memorable movie and plus, it was the very first time we saw these two in full color. The ending of the movie was very debatable of course, considering who was the winner depending on the theatrical release. One would say it was a draw, other people would say Kong won but in the end, the movie did their objective: Entretain.

With the recent Monsterverse from Legendary Studios, we got a fresh new start with Gareth Edward’s “Godzilla” that re-introduced the iconic giant lizard in the western market, althought the film itself focused more in the human side, it appeared a few scenes here and there. This of course was a praise from the critics for the drama but became a bit of dissapointment towards the fans who wanted more monster fights.

After that, we got Vogt-Roberts “Kong: Skull Island” that became a new adaptation of the RKO Pictures monster that became such an interesting character. The last of his species, a literal child, ruler of the island faces the invasion of humans while also dealing with a deadly race of monsters while also connecting the dots with Godzilla.

My fav movie of this whole saga then appeared: “Godzilla King of the Monsters”, which was directed by Michael Dougherty and presented new human characters but also 3 more iconic monsters from Toho: Mothra, Rodan and the big bad yellow dragon, King Ghidorah. Tons of action and fighting but also, giving us some uninteresting characters and humor. This is a very good movie to introduce someone to this genre.

But it all comes down to this movie. After almost 59 years we see these two iconic movie monsters beating each other once again in a new story that probably was in the making for a long time. According to the director, Adam Wingard, we are going to see truly a winner and a loser but who it is? I’m not gonna say it YET, but he was true to his word.

The movie fulfills it’s objective which is, once again, entretain. It’s not a perfect movie worthy of an Oscar, that’s for sure. But they want to put a good example of crossover unlike a certain superhero movie (Batman v Superman) and tend to focus in the action, the fights scenes and the designs while trying to keep the plot relevant. It’s worthy to mention that also gives references to the previous movies and even to the original movie.

As I always do, I’m now going to mention the good and bad things of this movie:

The Good:

- Fights: It’s no suprise that these were the stronger points and the base of the movie We have 4 fights overall (even though one more but its like super short) that have great shots and sequences. My fav overall was the Hong Kong fight with lot of colors and lights even if it was during the night!

- Jia: She was a really adorable character that had a special connection to Kong. I loved how she represents the concept of hope in the movie by always believing in his giant fluffy friend but also looking upon her family and wanting the best to all.

- Kong: We all can agree that he is the main monster in this movie. We see him more and he has such a long journey and character development from being at first, the last of his species and ruler of the Skull Island to trying to discover more about his race and becoming someone worthy.

- Godzilla: Even though we don’t see much of the King of the Monsters, he still imposes power and destruction but also balance. Wants to be the top of the food chain and will fight anyone who tries to pose a threat not only to himself but to the planet.

- MechaGodzilla: Would this be considered a spoiler even if we saw the final trailer that show it? As per tradition to the source material, this Mecha is basically the antagonist of the movie and imposes a big threat to everyone not only to the Titans. Dangerous and powerful, the design was also very menacing and I loved it.

- More into the lore: The concept of the Hollow Earth started in Godzilla King of the Monster but wasn’t fully explored. This movie decides to help it by showing us more of it while also explaining us whatever happened to the other Titans and the Skull Island status.

- A statement of who is the strongest: As I mentioned, the director made sure that there was a clear winner and it shows us that was, in fact, Godzilla. Even though the match was balanced with Kong getting his weapon, the big lizard had one more suprise. In the end both Titans got each other’s respect but clearly considering Godzilla as the winner.

The Bad:

- Unnecesary characters: This applies to some of the humans in the story like Josh that, in my opinion, did not contribute anything to the story but lame comedy. If you skip his scenes, the movie just goes on like nothing happened. In the case of Maia Simmons, she had a lot of potential for a future movie and I loved the actress doing a good job as a douchy boss yet sadly her story becomes short and wasted.

- Lacking of plot: This is something that bothered me a lot and was that some characters or part of the plot lacked explanation. Example: We don’t truly know why Ren Serizawa allies himself with the antagonists. Does he have a grude against Godzilla? Does he believe humankind must be the superior race? Nothing. Also what happened to the other Titans? We just see in the intro that Godzilla simply “defeated” them. We don’t see Rodan or know anything about the Mothra egg. They just simply disseapared.

#Godzilla vs Kong #Godzilla #Kong #King Kong #Gojira #Monsterverse #Movie #films #Kaiju #review #King Kong vs. Godzilla #Titans

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theozilla · 4 years ago

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Godzilla vs. Kong thoughts

All right, I just finished watching Godzilla vs. Kong a couple of days ago. Had a lot of fun watching it, glad that Godzilla won their fight, but also glad that the film was able to have Kong lose to Godzilla but still give him his narrative “awards”/achievements so to say. I think the human characters were better than King the Monsters (I will go into more detailing discussing the comparative qualities of the four MonsterVerse films later) but I really think the movie had a missed opportunity in incorporating Serizawa’s son as a character, really felt like there was potential to use him for some good pathos that got ignored.

Anyways, I typically don’t like doing linear ranking (in regard to the totality of a work/piece of media, I can rank/organize elements of a thing much easier), but if someone was to put a gun to my head, I guess my current MonsterVerse ranking would look like this at the moment (meaning I might feel differently in the future):

1. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2. Kong: Skull Island

3. Godzilla vs. Kong

4. Godzilla 2014

However, that ranking really doesn’t express my comparative thoughts on the films very well, so I am going to break down my ranking of the different elements of the films and some of my thoughts on them.

As a preface, this is how I am defining/using terms and elements like narrative, plot, and story.

MonsterVerse films by best narrative:

1. Kong: Skull Island

2. Godzilla 2014

3-4. tie Godzilla vs. Kong—Godzilla: King of the Monsters

(I think how Godzilla 2014 structured its story was well done, but what makes up said story after its first third isn’t very good)

MonsterVerse films by best story

1. Kong: Skull Island

2-4. three-way tie Godzilla 2014—Godzilla: King of the Monsters—Godzilla vs. Kong

(basically, how much fun/engagement I have sitting through the movies, and generally how rewatchable I find them to be)

MonsterVerse films by best plot

1. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2. Godzilla vs. Kong

3. Kong: Skull Island

4. Godzilla 2014

(basically, I think sum of events/“stuff” in KotM are extremely fun, but it’s not told as well, I guess)

MonsterVerse films by best human characters

1. Kong: Skull Island

2. Godzilla vs. Kong

3. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

4. Godzilla 2014

(though the first third with Bryan Cranston by itself would easily make it at least number 2)

MonsterVerse films by best scripting/dialogue

1. Kong: Skull Island

2. Godzilla 2014

3. Godzilla vs. Kong

4. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

MonsterVerse films by best style/cinematic flourishes

1. Kong: Skull Island

2. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

3. Godzilla 2014

4. Godzilla vs. Kong

MonsterVerse films by best monster characterization/role

1. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2. Godzilla vs. Kong

3. Godzilla 2014

4. Kong: Skull Island

(Kong wasn’t poorly characterized in his first film by any means, but feel like the strength of his character came in relation to his interactions with the human characters, rather than personality originating straight from him, while with the 2014 film I’d say the MUTOs and the “reveal” of what they are trying to do, helped them stand out as memorable monsters)

MonsterVerse films by best music and tracks

1. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2-3. tie Kong: Skull Island—Godzilla 2014

4. Godzilla vs. Kong

(KotM has just amazing music of classic Toho tracks, Skull Island and 2014 are doing very different things with their scores, but they both achieve them well)

MonsterVerse films by best cinematography/editing

1. Godzilla 2014

2. Kong: Skull Island

3. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

4. Godzilla vs. Kong

(Godzilla 2014 I think really is one of the top Godzilla films in which one feels the size of the monsters and how small one would feel in comparison to them, in large part thanks to its cinematography)

MonsterVerse films by best action/monster fights/rampages

1. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2. Godzilla vs. Kong

3. Godzilla 2014

4. Kong: Skull Island

(none of the films had bad action by any means, and while the cutaways/teasing of the of the 2014 film could get frustrating I think the “naturalistic” fighting of the 2014 film gave it a unique flavor, like it was how real animals might fight each other, also the first atomic blast was just perfect in its build up)

I hope this goes to show how much my thoughts and feelings of all four films are all over the place, and even then probably just being able to gab in person would be able express my thoughts on them better.

#Godzilla #Theozilla blurbs #Godzilla vs. Kong #King Kong #kaiju #films #MonsterVerse

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smokeybrandreviews · 5 years ago

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Smokey brand Select: Heavy is the Head

There is a criminal lacking amount of material about Godzilla on this blog. I feel ashamed that i have so haphazardly neglected the Big G. I've spoken about this before, but Godzilla means a great deal to me. I didn’t have the warmest of experiences during my childhood so i cherished the ones that weren’t horrifying. I’m melancholy for a reason and a lot of that can be traced back to my unkind environments as a kid. Godzilla is tied to many of those good memories i was able to glean off the darker circumstance of my halcyon days. I’ve seen every movie and own about half of them. It occurs to me that there are, like thirty of these things and, with the release of the what might be the final Monsterverse movie on the horizon, Godzilla vs. Kong, i wanted to take a look at the entire catalog. I wanted to revisit the films and choose what i believe to be the best in the franchise.

10. The Return of Godzilla

This was probably the first Godzilla movie i ever saw in my entire life. The second is actually on this list a ways down but this one left a massive impression on me. It was gorgeous, lavishly produced, and completely different than the film i had just watched. Not in the sense of tone, they both are on the darker side of the Goji spectrum, but this is the first time i witnessed the “death” of a Godzilla and it f*cked me right up. I remember weeping about that for days. Imagine my surprise, years later, when i found out that Godzilla 1985 was the start of an entire era of Goji films. This thing is actually a direct sequel to the 1954 Gojira film, ignoring everything in the Showa era. As such, it takes a ton of cues from that film, not only the tone, but visually as well. This Goji is like an updated version of that Goji and it really shows. I initially saw this film in the re-cut, Americanized, version Godzilla 1985. It was fine. I was a kid so i didn’t even know about the way the US butchers foreign film yet. As an adult, i made it a point to watch the original Japanese version and i can say, hands down, that version is the superior watch. I’d say check both out, Godzilla 1985 and Return of Godzilla if you’re a Goji fan but Return is definitely the better of the two.

9. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

This is the first appearance of Kiryu, the third Mechagodzilla. You’ll notice that Mechagoji makes a ton of appearances on this list. That’s because it’s films are some of the best in the entire franchise, hands down. Plus, it’s my all-time favorite Goji villain. This particular version was our introduction into the loose continuity of the entire Millennium era. This saw Goji in a ton of one-shot type and experimental narratives. The only two story lines actually connected were this film and it’s direct sequel, Tokyo S.O.S. I chose this one over it’s follow-up because of the raw emotion i felt seeing the best design of Mechagoji ever captured on film, for the first time. Kiryu is a masterpiece and i loved every second it was onscreen. The narrative is an interesting one, too. It’s not top-tier but, for the Millennium series, it’s pretty ambitious. Objectively, Tokyo S.O.S might be the better film, but this one made a great first impression. If you see one, you have to see the other. They’re kind of a set.

8. Godzilla: Final Wars

Oh, Final Wars. Your ambition is only matched by your absurdity. Look, final Wars is Endgame before other was an Endgame. It’s the cap to the entire Godzilla franchise to that point, kind of like how Destroy All Monsters was supposed to close out the Showa era. We saw how well that worked, just like this “conclusion.” This thing is unapologetic fan service, rife with the campiest of performances. I mean, the Xilliens in this are a direct reference to the original, would-be world conquerors from Planet X, first introduced in 1965. I love that sh*t! It’s chock full of Aliens, Mutants, Monsters, and more! Almost every Goji villain gets a cameo, including the first US attempt at a Goji adaption, Zilla. Gigan got an updated design that was just gorgeous, King Ghidorah gets a promotion to Kaiser, and Monster X is introduced as it’s own thing. That initial design was absolutely filthy and immediately made my top five Goji villain designs. Speaking of designs, Final Wars Goji is my favorite version of the King, Slim, mean, and breathtakingly regal in statue, it was dope seeing this suit in action, even if it was the only time.

7. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

I’m a huge fan of the new Monsterverse being woven together by Legendary over here in the States. So far, I’ve enjoyed every release, even Kong: Skull Island. I don’t like King Kong. Never have. It’s a rather offensive allegory when you think about but that’ a discussion for another day. This is about the latest release of Legendary’s universe; King of the Monsters. Like Final Wars and Destroy All Monsters before it, this film is kind of a celebration of the Goji franchise as a whole but with a Yankee twist. For the first time, we get to see what classic Toho monster look like, filtered through a modern Hollywood lens and, let me tell you, it is a sight to behold. I was already on board for the Godzilla reveal a few years before but Mothra and Rodan killed it. Those designs were amazing, particularly Mothra. She seemed like a proper threat and not some mascot. I loved it. That said, and this might be blasphemy among the fandom, but the Monsterverse version of King Ghidorah is the best goddamn version of the monster ever captured on film. This motherf*cker is smarmy, conceited, arrogant, and just plain awesome. The design, the personalities, the cruelty; It’s everything a challenger to the Throne had to have and Legendary nailed it. The movie, itself, is kind of weak in the narrative department, mostly as a knee-jerk reaction to the heavily human story of the initial Godzilla release, but the monster action is premium.

6. Godzilla vs. Biollante

Among the fandom, this is considered the very best Godzilla movie in the entire franchise. I wouldn’t go that far but i can’t deny the objective quality saturating this film. It gets right what so many of these movies get wrong; The human story line. That aspect of the story, rather than feeling like something tacked on for perspective, is integral to the overall narrative. It’s rare for that to occur and this film was the first time experienced it, myself. This is easily the best film in the Showa era but it took some time for it to be seen as such by the entire fandom. Initially, people hated this movie. They hated Biollante and wanted to see old monster with new tech. They got their wish and those films are kind of bogus. Heisei closed out strong with Space Godzilla and Destroyah, but that was after a series of mediocre retreads. Toho should have followed their instincts and moved forward with the new look they pushed with Biollante. She was dope and deserved better initially. and, yes, Biollante is female. That’s part of that integral human story i spoke of before.

5. Terror of Mechagodzilla

The second appearance of Mechagodzilla was one for the history books. The bionic monster was just a ferocious, just as menacing, as his initial outing but even moreso here. Terror is less heavy that the first time we saw Mechagoji, but it’s still got a ton of blood on it’s hands. This thing skews closer to the darker Showa outing but never really gives you pause like those other films do. No, it;s true to the narrative established a year before and tends to be an exercise in violence the whole way through. I really like this film and it has one of the best stories in the Showa era. It's not as tight as it’s predecessor, which is on this list, but it does a spectacular job with what it has.

4. Godzilla

So this is the first of several adaptions of the the initial Godzilla encounter. This particular one, is the first appearance of the Big G in the Monsterverse. The 2014 Godzilla film is derided for having next to no Godzilla in it, but that didn’t bother me too much. Of course you want all Goji, all the time but that makes for a lousy film. King of the Monsters did that and it is vastly inferior, narrative wise, to this flick. This film, while Godzilla-starved, does accomplish that rare thing Biollante was able to pull off and so few others in the franchise seem to do; Make the human narrative relevant. This sh*t does that exceptionally, even if they kill off the best character in the entire goddamn movie, almost immediately. Still, after Bryan Cranston bites the dust, i was still on board. A lot of this movie feels like a test run for what comes later but what a Beta it turned out to be. As a film, Godzilla is amazing. I loved the narrative, the characters, and even the monster action, what little there was initial. I really hate the MUTO. They’re kind of corny looking, a little generic, but the best designed of all the US Titans. All of the US Titans are gross looking. All of them. Great movie though!

3. Gojira

The first appearance of Godzilla and the most harrowing tale in the entire franchise. The name Godzilla is actually a misnomer. Goji’s original name was Gojira, which basically means “whale ape’ but this was mispronounced by Americans as Godzilla, thus the moniker we use today. Gojira is the correct, Japanese name, for the King of Monsters but people, worldwide, recognize Godzilla more so it’s been accepted as the proper name. Now that that little tidbit is out of the way, let’s get into the many, MANY, different cuts of this film. Similarly to Return of Godzilla, this one was recut, had scenes added with a well known US actor, dubbed, and released under the title Godzilla: King of Monsters! I’ve seen both versions and there each have their merits but the aggressive bleak tone and tragic narrative of Gojira make for a truly emotional viewing experience. Godzilla isn’t a monster in this movie, he’s literally the physical personification of that devastation inflicted upon Japan, by the atomic bomb. This film is Japan mourning the death of their great country. This is Japan reflecting on their sins. It’s an incredibly raw, violently bleak, take on such content, easily held in the same vein as Schindler’s List. That’s not hyperbole either, this film hits the same as that one. The US cut is good as a film but lacks a lot of that genuine Japanese energy. Gojira does not and of the tow, this one is far superior. both version are absolutely required viewing if you’re trying to get into Godzilla.

2. Shin Godzilla

I love Shin Godzilla. I was mad hyped when Toho announced they were going to release a proper Goji film after some years and even more on board when i heard that Hideaki Anno was going to be in charge of it. Dude is the principal architect of my all-time favorite anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion, so i knew there was going to be a brilliance to this flick not seen in the entire franchise. The take on Godzilla being a manifestation of how crippling bureaucracy and tradition clot the Japanese culture was not lost on me. This is another one of the Goji flicks that puts precedence on the human story and it does that so goddamn well, i was stunned. Look, i loved film and, as a film, this thing is outstanding. I get that it can come across as plodding and slow paced, but you have to understand, it’s showing you, real time, what it’s like to move through the Japanese government. All of that red tape, all of that inaction, is a noose around Japan’s neck and you get a real understanding of that. Not only does this thing have great direction and exceptional performances for a Japanese product, that Shin Goji design is absolutely horrifying. It’s wholly original, brilliantly executed, and easily my second favorite in the entire franchise. I love this movie and everything it represents. Shin Godzilla is absolutely required viewing for the Goji fan.

1. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

I alluded to this before, but Mechagoji is my favorite Godzilla villain of all-time. This film is why. Terror was the second Godzilla movie i had ever seen. It was the first VHS i ever bought with my own money. I remember, vividly, the emotions i felt watching this mechanical monstrosity decimate both King Shiisa and Godzilla. Mechagodzilla was a legitimate powerhouse and it demonstrated that with every assault on Tokyo. I mean, he shows up, and damn near rips Anguirus’ face right the hell off! We saw blood, so much blood, spew from Goji’s best friend and it was truly heartbreaking. Angie just scuttled away in defeat, inflicting almost no damage to the violent impostor and, from there, it was just a massive show of power. Unlimited power. Narrative wise, it’s actually one of the best, most coherent stories in the entire franchise. In my opinion, it could give Biollante a run for it’s money but most would place is a step behind. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is my favorite Goji film and required viewing for any fan of the series.

Honorable Mentions: Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs Gigan, Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Destroyah, Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out attack, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S, Godzilla Raids Again

#Smokey brand Select #Godzilla #Gojira

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smokeybrand · 5 years ago

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Smokey brand Select: Heavy is the Head

10. The Return of Godzilla

9. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla

8. Godzilla: Final Wars

7. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

6. Godzilla vs. Biollante

5. Terror of Mechagodzilla

4. Godzilla

3. Gojira

2. Shin Godzilla

1. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

#Smokey brand Select #Godzilla

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comicbookuniversity · 6 years ago

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Lessons for the MonsterVerse

by Bunnypwn Gold

I have always been a big fan of Godzilla. I’ve been watching the movies since I was a kid. Now that they’re making new movies again, there’s a lot to be excited about and look forward to. Recently, I re-watched the newest one from the American MonsterVerse, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as well as the last film from the Millennium era, Godzilla: Final Wars. Both films are big, ambitious, and include some major flaws, one of which they have in common, or at least they have flaws with overlap. While the MonsterVerse, so far, is great and is on track to continue that trend, Final Wars suffered greatest from this shared flaw, and so I am here to set out what the MonsterVerse needs to do to avoid self-destruction: take itself seriously.

Briefly, I want to provide a review and synopsis of King of the Monsters. So spoilers, it’s really good. Five years after Godzilla made landfall in San Francisco and fought against the parasitic MUTOs, Monarch is struggling to figure out what it wants to do with the Titans, as the monsters are now known, while the government and military are pressuring Monarch to kill them all. At the same time, one of their own scientists, Emma Russell, betrays them to assist ecoterrorist Alan Jonah in awakening the Titans with a bioacoustics device called the ORCA so that the Titans can spur regrowth in the environment and undo anthropogenic climate change. They revive Ghidorah in Antarctica, who then awakens all the other Titans still sleeping around the world at once, thus precipitating a conflict with Monarch and Godzilla for the crown. The film sets out to cover a lot of narrative ground while introducing several important elements to the series, and all the while it held together some solid character work for its main cast. Based on the new, expansive mythos that this film lays out—with the many new Titans and the abandoned Hollow Earth society discovered in vast underground caverns which used to live in harmony with the Titans—it looks like things will only get more exciting, and the future of the MonsterVerse is set out effectively and in grand style.

Godzilla: Final Wars is also about a large amount of monsters fighting for control of the Earth, feature monsters trapped in Antarctic ice, and ends with Godzilla fighting Ghidorah, but that’s where the similarities end. Final Wars was released in 2004 as the commemorative 50th anniversary film for the franchise. In it, the Earth has been defended from monsters for decades by the Earth Defense Force, who managed to trap Godzilla in ice in Antarctica years prior. All the other monsters around the world attack at once in the present, and the EDF was unable to keep up until the Xiliens arrived from space, removing the monsters and promising to make a peaceful alliance with humanity. In reality, the Xiliens were invading the Earth in order to herd humans like cattle because they need to eat human mitochondria to survive, and they were secretly controlling the monsters. So the heroes free Godzilla so he can help them fight the aliens and their army of brainwashed monsters. The plot also involved mutant humans and a fake rogue planet that was also somehow an actual asteroid that Godzilla later blows up. It’s a mess of a movie. That aside, it’s clear the film is trying to borrow elements from the three previous eras of Godzilla movies. It took an edgier look from the majority of the Millennium movies (from 1999-2004). The use of serious, formidable super vehicles is like the various super planes from the Heisei era films (1984-1995). However, the element borrowed from the Showa era films (1954-1975) is where it falters: campiness. The difference in this film compared to the Showa films being that they purposefully made Final Wars campy, despite the opportunity they had and despite the tone of the Showa era movies.

The original film, Gojira, is a very serious and tonally heavy film depicting the horrors of the modern era, with rapid industrialization in post-war Japan, the advent of the Cold War arms race, and the reason for that arms race, nuclear weapons, with the one man capable of killing Godzilla horrified by the devastation such an ability would grant. This movie and its first sequel were the only Godzilla films made in black and white, which impacts the way they look and how their special effects come across. After a several year hiatus, Godzilla returned to the screen to fight King Kong, this time in color. Seeing those monster suits and the limited special effects capabilities in 1960 of a B-list sci-fi flick in color really emphasizes how phony it all looked at the time. Throughout the Showa era, Godzilla shifted from an entirely villainous character to an erstwhile hero, and though the movies never stopped being presented as dramatic, they were made with an acknowledgement of how they look despite the drama and seriousness the creators otherwise wanted them to have.

Over time, of course, special effects improved. Starting with the Heisei era of films, Toho was able to produce much better suits and visual effects, and so they resumed making their movies with the kind of drama and seriousness that they had wanted all along. The Millennium era began in response to the 1998 American Godzilla, which depicted the titular monster with CGI, in contrast to the Toho tradition of using suits. The Millennium era was the last hurrah to suitmation effects, and these films, overall, looked great, probably the best that a giant monster movie can look with people in suits. Accordingly, they also hold up the more dramatic tone of the Heisei era while allowing each creative team the freedom to make the standalone Godzilla movie they wanted to make. The exception to this is Final Wars, which, as previously said, was not serious at all. Despite the successes of making serious, dramatic monster movies since 1984 and the ambitions of the Showa era’s large and imaginative canon, Final Wars decided to celebrate five decades of filmmaking by using cheesy comedy, camera work that screams “we had to edit heavily to make our actors look like action stars,” and what may very well be the least convincing acting of the entire series. The only person on set who seemed to understand any of this is alien commander X, who looked like he was being goofy on purpose, instead of on accident like the rest of the cast. Final Wars had the same opportunity as the rest of the Millennium era had to present a serious, dramatic battle for the fate of the Earth, and wasted it with aliens that seem completely unqualified to invade another planet and cramming most of their monsters into throwaway fights with Godzilla that lasted on average less than a minute.

This purposeful camp and goofiness of Final Wars is presumably meant to provide a lightness and humor to the film. This is where it overlaps with King of the Monsters, which ventured into the modern era of ironic, self-aware humor to provide levity. Borrowing from the MCU, King of the Monsters cracks wise during dramatic moments relatively often, in an attempt to lighten them up. Unfortunately, the jokes they go with are the weakest material in the film, and they do more to undermine the dramatic tension than enhance the film or provide levity. It’s like the scene in Thor: Ragnarok when Korg says they can rebuild Asgard, and then it blows up more, so never mind; or Hawkeye explaining how ridiculous his fighting robots with a bow and arrow is to Scarlet Witch in Age of Ultron. Maybe those are funny jokes, but they do more to undermine the dramatic tension than they add in humor, and both have the capacity to turn parts of the audience off by poking holes in the premise. It’s rather insecure and shows a lack of confidence in the work to stand on its own merits despite critics or easy jokes from the peanut gallery. This brand of humor gave us moments in King of the Monsters like Sam Coleman mishearing Ilene Chen saying “Ghidorah” as “gonorrhea.” It’s really not that funny, it wasn’t a moment that needed lightening up, and there’s no reason he would have misheard her since he was standing within ten feet. It ultimately undermines a moment in the film for an Asian woman to demonstrate her expertise by locating vital information about the threat at hand. But yes, Sam, I guess monsters sometimes have slightly silly-sounding names, like Ghidorah, which is based on the Japanese pronunciation of hydra, a very popular and well-respected mythical dragon.

The 2014 Godzilla film that started the MonsterVerse was enjoyable, but didn’t quite live up to its potential. That’s part of the reason I delayed seeing Kong: Skull Island far longer than I should have. When I did see it, I was amazed. I expected it to be good, and I heard great things about it, but it was far better than anything I could have imagined it to be. It was a truly great movie. After seeing it, my hopes and expectations for the MonsterVerse skyrocketed. I don’t think these expectations have been let down yet, and I expect them to be satisfied moving forward. However, the one thing I wanted most going into King of the Monsters was for them to lean into the tone and style of Skull Island more. In certain respects, I think they did, and the ambitious mythos being built here is far more substantial than anything in the Godzilla franchise so far, which usually has stuck to “monsters keep showing up and fighting.” The dramatically absurd tone, though, was what they lost by using the ridiculousness of what’s happening to make quick, weak, sometimes self-aware jokes instead of to highlight the intensity of the drama experienced by the characters. In Skull Island, when the squad had to fly their planes through a permanent thunderstorm, Sam Jackson’s character started quoting a speech about how the righteous men will win by not backing down and so inherit the Earth. The speech makes the whole thing feel even more ridiculous than a permanent thunderstorm already is, and in doing so amps up the drama and tension. This ultimately makes the arrival of a giant gorilla, which the audience is expecting to see, much more impressive and intense. That’s what I wanted for King of the Monsters. Yes, there are ridiculous aspects to giant monster movies, but the characters are living it, not watching it and thinking, “This crazy.”

Having this more serious tone is also important in really hitting the audience with the larger thematic power of the film. In Skull Island, the way Sam Jackson didn’t want to back down from killing Kong, even after seeing that it’s pointless and even detrimental to the troop, is reminiscent of the way America is currently stuck in multiple seemingly never-ending wars. At least part of the reason people don’t want to leave Iraq and Afghanistan is because they don’t want to create another Vietnam, the war that this film centers around on purpose. Having that tension of a dedicated army colonel who was just forced to “abandon” his war amplifies the drama of the other characters wanting to understand the problems of the natives and come to a real solution to their problems, and it all works because of how it resonates in the current political climate. The Godzilla side of the MonsterVerse so far is focusing on climate change, which, while abstract for far too many, is also a very real and pressing concern for a lot of people, paralyzing at times. Seeing the dramatic steps needed to fix the problem almost makes Alan and Emma’s plan in King of the Monsters feel heroic. The film is filled with images of crumbling, flooded American cities, and Ghidorah, an alien creating imbalance in nature a la humanity thinking itself separate from nature, is literally a living hurricane. There’s a lot of strong, serious, intense potential to make such a movie really meaningful. If they had taken themselves more seriously, it would have had this level of impact. It really is sad that they squandered this potential on silly jokes and a story arc for their generic, useless white man hero, Mark Russell. Like I said at the beginning, it’s still a good movie, but I can so clearly see how much better it could have been, too.

To me, dramatic movies making fun of themselves in important scenes always comes across as insecure, like filmmakers can’t simply make their movie first, they also have to preempt the internet to protect their egos. As the MonsterVerse moves forward, my biggest piece of advice is to do what Skull Island did and take itself seriously. We live in a time when a lot of previously niche franchises and genres are getting more spotlight due to the demands of studios wanting more high-action, effects heavy movies to sell huge on the international market. As these genres, once mired in cultural neglect and seen as silly and childish, come into the limelight, they both prove they always were to be taken seriously and poke fun at themselves to prove they know they shouldn’t be. I get the appeal of ironic, self-aware humor and wanting to be silly at dramatic high points, because it can be very fun and, when used properly, be incredibly funny; look to Thor: Ragnarok for an overall great example. But besides issues of improper use, this kind of humor is arguably at saturation at this point. It’s being misused and overused to the detriment of otherwise good movies in an attempt to compete with Marvel, who remains the poster child on this. So MonsterVerse, let Marvel, Disney, and all those imitators try to outdo each other by proving they can make more fun of themselves before Honest Trailers get to them. Just have fun making movies about giant monsters with the kind of drama and seriousness only modern special effect can give them, and use the ridiculousness of it all to amp up that drama instead of undermine it. Get over people calling you a nerd and just do your thing. As they say, being cool is all about confidence.

#Godzilla #king of the monsters #kong #skull island #titans #ghidorah #final wars #movies #monsters #giant monsters #marvel

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wits-writing · 6 years ago

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Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Movie Review)

Legendary Studio’s Monsterverse series in its two previous entries, Godzilla 2014 and Kong Skull Island, have set two very different tones for the franchise. The first a deliberate slow-burn monster movie that left a lot of people cold and the other a dense and visceral thrill-ride adventure. Director Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, with a screenplay by Dougherty and Zach Shields, errs more toward the latter approach. KOTM runs with the narrative model of the classic Toho movies, with the human narrative serving as a way for the audience to get a front row seat for the monster mayhem as this movie pits Godzilla against his greatest enemy, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, as they battle for the right to be King.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

The three members of the Russell family, Drs. Mark (Kyle Chandler) and Emma (Vera Farmiga) with their daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), center the human narrative of KOTM. Their stories tie closely in with the movie’s main MacGuffin, Monarch and the eco-terrorists means there’s always an audience viewpoint character with a reason to be around the monster action. They never just happen to stumble across Godzilla and the other Titans but make deliberate moves to bear witness to the devastating majesty of KOTM’s various set pieces. Maddie operates as the common denominator between parallel stories her parents are going through. She’s a child of divorce caught in the middle of conflicting loyalties exasperated by the extreme circumstances of the monster drama at the center of the movie. Taking in the seismic events around her and making up her own mind about how to deal with it gives her proactive choices to make that end up driving the movie towards its climax.

Her parents are set against each other as the human story of the movie focuses on two factions with differing ideas on what the relationship between the Titans (the new name for the kaiju of the Monsterverse) and humanity should be going forward. I’ll give KOTM credit for not taking the easy route of making one of these sides want to “Destroy All Monsters.” In fact, that’s something both sides want to stand against but to vastly different ends. Monarch, the organization studying the Titans that’s served as the Monsterverse’s connective tissue, starts the movie under government question for why they didn’t do more to prevent the events of Godzilla 2014 if they knew these monsters were out there.

Their team of scientists, led again by Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), argue on behalf of a possible coexistence with the colossal creatures. It’s a stance that requires the people their arguing towards to reconsider humanity’s place in nature as they know it. Mark, a former Monarch scientist alongside Emma, begins the movie from a similar viewpoint of the US senators questioning the organization. He’s in favor of wiping the Titans out after the events in 2014 put his family through a personal tragedy, leaving Monarch behind only to get dragged back in as the story of this movie begins. He’s set on a path back towards his wife and daughter, as well as Godzilla, that ends up giving him a new perspective on the monsters. He and the scientists of Monarch follow Godzilla through the conflict with Ghidorah, which ends with Mark getting a new idea of his place with his family and humanity’s place in the world.

Opposing Monarch is a group of eco-terrorists led by Alan Jonah (Charles Dance), whose view of humanity’s place relative to the Titans is less generous than Monarch’s. Jonah’s plan to set the Titans loose on the world has one goal in mind, taking humanity down a peg. He views the Titans taking their place as the dominant force on Earth no matter what damage they cause in their wake is the way things ought to be. From his perspective, if the Titans are going to rise again eventually anyway to set the world on the “right” path, his group may as well be the ones triggering it with Emma there to provide them the trigger. Her allegiance to Jonah’s mercenaries gets revealed towards the end of the first act of the movie. She views the Titans as the one path to a better world and invented a sonar device to manipulate the monsters’ behavior that gets used throughout the movie to facilitate where and when the next Titan brawl happens.

Those set pieces represent the best the monsters of this 35-movie franchise have ever looked in action. Redesigns are present in both minor and major ways for the four major Titans at the center of the movie’s action. The most major redesign is probably the bioluminescent Queen of the Monsters, Mothra. She’s been given a narrower face than usual and extended front legs to help in combat. Rodan’s introduced in the movie after hibernating in a volcano and it shows in the flying Titan’s form with parts of his skin given the look of hardened lava and a flame-like glow going across the edges of his wings. Godzilla and Ghidorah are the most on-model from their classic designs, because KOTM is a movie fully aware of what it means to have these ancient enemies battling on-screen. Every time Ghidorah’s on-screen the movie works to emphasize his demonic nature and throws in an attitude that shown a certain delight in pursuing the targets of his wrath. Godzilla’s time on screen is spent showing him earn the title “King of the Monsters”, giving as good as he gets in every fight. The movie culminates in a massive tag-team showdown in the middle of Boston with Godzilla and Mothra vs Ghidorah and Rodan, pushing the magnitude of what these monsters can do to each other to its limit and pushing past it.

What’s almost crazier than some of the action beats is how much of the classic Godzilla world-building has been officially integrated into the Monsterverse along with some crazy new additions. From brief mentions of Infant Island in connection to Mothra to Ghidorah being explicitly called an alien, there’s a level of commitment in portraying the kaiju that belies an absolute love of these creatures on the part of the filmmakers. KOTM leans hard into the monsters as figures of myth, presenting relics of lost civilizations that saw the Titans as exactly that, being worth of worship predating any other human mythology or religion.

I’ve gone this far and barely scratched the surface of the ways this movie homages every iteration of the Godzilla series in its six decades of history. Though the absolute winner in those terms comes down to Bear McCreary’s score. Even beyond the new orchestrations for the classic themes of Godzilla and Mothra, the instrumentations accompanying every shot gives each one the added touch to take it from thrilling to properly epic. It’s the perfect compliment to the visual work being done by Dougherty and cinematographer Lawrence Sher. Godzilla: King of the Monsters ends up standing as a thrilling version of exactly what it sets out to be, a modern blockbuster version of the monster brawls that have set fire to the imaginations of the world for decades.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

#Godzilla #Godzilla King of the Monsters #Michael Dougherty #Wit's Writing #Movie Review #Mothra #Rodan #King Ghidorah #kaiju #monster movie #Ken Watanabe #Millie Bobby Brown #Kyle Chandler #Vera Farmiga #Charles Dance

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pkmatrix · 6 years ago

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What Lessons Will Be Learned from Godzilla: King of the Monsters?

Having had some time to really sit and consider things, I think I’ve narrowed down a few lessons I think Legendary will end up learning, for good or bad. Now these aren’t the lessons I necessarily want Legendary, Warner Brothers, and Toho to learn from KOTM, but they’re the lessons I suspect they will learn:

No more "true fanboy" directors. I suspect Dougherty is out of contention for Godzilla 3, while Jordan Vogt-Roberts or Brad Peyton are probably being considered instead (assuming G3 is happening, which personally I still believe is regardless of KOTM).

Less monsters, more humans. G'14 and K:SI have less monster action minute-for-minute than KOTM but both were received far more warmly by critics and drew bigger audiences, so I suspect a general downsizing in scale compared to KOTM. This will be doubly true if Godzilla vs. Kong already is a smaller scale movie, as many of us suspect, and performs better than KOTM.

Needing more and bigger named stars. Of the three MonsterVerse films, KOTM is the one with the fewest big names attached. While it's a good cast that people will recognize, the most well-known actors in it are Ken Watanabe, Charles Dance, and Millie Bobby Brown - and the latter two aren't exactly primary characters in the story. Compare this with Bryan Cranston in G'14 (who basically is the main character for the first third) or the slew of well-known actors in K:SI (Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Samuel L. Jackson, and John C. Reilly).

Smaller scale movies overall. I think we'll see Warner Brothers, in particular, pushing for the MonsterVerse to look more toward Rampage (which made $428M on a $120M budget) or The Meg ($530M on a $120M budget) - doing more with far less, much smaller budgets, much smaller scales. I assume Godzilla 3 and Kong 2 will have budgets in the $120M to $140M range rather than the $160M to $190M that they've been in so far. Which, honestly, probably isn't a bad idea. If KOTM had been made on The Meg's budget or Rampage's budget, this would've been seen as a great opening weekend for it.

A lot of this is now contingent on Godzilla vs. Kong, though. How is GvK received? Is it a smaller scale film, more like K:SI or G’14, or another super-sized epic like KOTM? Is the story and acting more to the critics’ and general audiences’ liking? Further, what exactly has the plan been for the MonsterVerse post-GvK? I’ve never believed GvK would be the end of it, if only because I presume, no matter what, Legendary will produce a Kong 2 and will do their best to lure Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, and John C. Reilly back to reprise their roles. They’ve kept the cards very close to the vest so far, at what point do they plan on revealing what’s next?

#godzilla: king of the monsters #thoughts #legendary pictures #warner brothers #toho studios #monsterverse

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Godzilla vs. Kong: Comparing the 1962 and 2021 Versions

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he following article contains Godzilla vs. Kong spoilers.

After three movies of build-up, the battle lines are drawn. The mighty Godzilla goes toe-to-toe with the titan gorilla King Kong over who is the alpha of the MonsterVerse. While the movie doesn’t have the epic, apocalyptic feel which came with its predecessor Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong does deliver on the crazy fight scenes and makes good on a rivalry that has long had its foot in pop culture—if only because of an incredibly silly film from 1962.

The original King Kong vs. Godzilla is not a movie that’s aged well, but there’s something so fitting about seeing a giant ape trade punches with a giant lizard, then and now. It’s surprising it took this long to get a real rematch, but at least now we don’t have to deal with the heresy of seeing Kong depicted as a guy in a rubber costume.

Now that we have our second chance at this titanic showdown, let’s see how the two incarnations compare.

Place in the Kaiju Series

King Kong vs. Godzilla, despite its marquee crossover title, was actually very early in the line-ups for its respective franchises. Well, sort of. King Kong and its sequel Son of Kong both came out in 1933. The King Kong series wasn’t all that prolific, so there wasn’t another installment until the versus movie, nearly 30 years later.

The idea of King Kong being part of Toho’s kaiju continuity would also continue with one sequel in 1967’s King Kong Escapes, this time introducing Mechani-Kong, the robot double of the iconic ape. Interestingly enough, King Kong beat Godzilla to the punch with that gimmick as Mechagodzilla wouldn’t be introduced for another few years, in part inspired by Mechani-Kong.

After that movie, King Kong was pulled away from Toho’s hands and nothing was done with the franchise until nine years later, when the original was remade by Dino De Laurentiis.

As for Godzilla, he had yet to really find his footing before stepping into the ring with Kong. Oh sure, the original Godzilla film is a stone cold classic, and the sequel Godzilla Raids Again was decent enough, mixing the original’s atomic terror with the introduction of giant monster vs. giant monster action. But that was all the beast had going for him around that time—and in each of these previous appearances he was still the heavy. All those ridiculous battles with Mothra, Rodan, Gigan, and the like would happen after 1962. Thus King Kong vs. Godzilla was not the culmination, but the event to kickstart decades of “Godzilla vs.” films.

As for Godzilla vs. Kong, the film marked the (first?) climax of Warner Brothers’ latest attempt to mimic the shared universe model which has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe so successful. And even with only four movies under its belt, the MonsterVerse is shockingly one of the more successful and coherent attempts to pull off one of these in Hollywood in the last decade. (See the Dark Universe for when it goes disastrously wrong.)

At the very least, the lead-up is perfectly done. 2014 gave us the initial Godzilla film; 2017 brought Kong: Skull Island, which took place decades earlier but was connected due to including the monster-studying organization Monarch; and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters built on the 2014 film by adding more recognizable kaiju, throwing in a couple Kong cameos, and even loosely setting up the confrontation in the end credits.

While King of the Monsters didn’t do great financially, Warner Bros. was already too deep in the creation of Godzilla vs. Kong to stop. So they lucked out in getting at least one more chapter out of the pile.

The Folly of Men

I was going to compare the human characters from the two movies, but… I barely recall anything from King Kong vs. Godzilla and I just rewatched it.

But whatever. These elements are just padding that we have to power through. The stuff in the new movie about Millie Bobby Brown and the husky kid from Deadpool 2 sneaking around for the sake of exposition isn’t worth talking about. Instead let’s consider how each movie deals with man’s hubris.

Godzilla vs. Kong has Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir) as the big villain, playing a cross between Lex Luthor and the Most Interesting Man in the World. The idea that Godzilla exists to protect mankind is an insult to him. He feels that it belittles the human race. Hence the creation of Mechagodzilla. By building that robot, Simmons feels that man will once again be the apex predator and ruler of its own destiny. This foolish point-of-view not only pushes the destructive plot that winds up killing countless people, but his supposed control over Mechegodzilla turns out to be his undoing.

Back in the 1960s, King Kong vs. Godzilla plays with a more comedic version of hubris that still feels relevant. Mr. Tako, the head of a pharmaceutical company, decides he wants to capture King Kong. Why? Because he’d make great publicity for his product in commercials. What does King Kong have to do with medication? Who cares! It’s sensationalism, baby!

In the end, this titanic clash happens in part because a CEO wanted to sponsor it. Mr. Tako doesn’t meet a fate as dark as Simmons, but that’s mostly because he’s too much of a goofy dork for us to really want to see him get murdered by a giant beast.

Introducing Godzilla

One of the most amusing things about King Kong vs. Godzilla is the differences in storytelling between the American and Japanese versions released in 1962. In both versions, an American submarine gets stuck in an iceberg and when it gets loose, it accidentally unleashes a pissed off Godzilla. Being that this is only Godzilla’s third movie (well, this Godzilla’s second if we’re being technical), it would be pretty easy to just say that Godzilla was buried in an avalanche in Godzilla Raids Again and now he’s free. However, the dubbing in the American version suggests Godzilla’s been there since prehistoric times.

Since Godzilla had yet to befriend any benevolent, squealing moth larvae, Godzilla was all about being a giant, destructive asshole at this time. The iceberg probably didn’t help. To paraphrase Dennis Leary: imagine taking a cold shower and multiplying that by fifteen million times. That’s how pissed off the Zilla’s gonna be. So in either edit of the film, King Kong vs. Godzilla’s lizard is the villain.

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The Legendary Pictures Godzilla of the MonsterVerse is also pissed off in his first appearance in Godzilla vs. Kong, but that’s considered an actual surprise. Filmmakers had just spent two movies establishing Godzilla as some kind of noble protector of humanity. Having him show up and wreck everything is considered out of character. While Godzilla isn’t the most developed character in this film, he at least comes with a sense of intriguing mystery at the start.

Introducing King Kong

Just like in the original King Kong, Kong’s deal in the 1962 movie is that he’s just chilling on his own island when foreigners have to come over, disturb him, and drag him off for their own entertainment. Actually that’s him in both of his Godzilla movies, although it’s a bit more complicated in Godzilla vs. Kong.

In the new movie, his original home of Skull Island is toast, so they put him in his own version of The Truman Show and create a fake habitat. Kong hates this, but it’s for his own good, as leaving will certainly annoy the hell out of the already-irritated Godzilla, and outside the habitat is a perpetual typhoon.

So moving Kong in this movie is a tale of necessity. In the original, it was a decision made out of greed. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of a neat touch that in King Kong vs. Godzilla, it was the Japanese who unleashed the American creation while the Americans unleashed the Japanese creation in Godzilla vs. Kong.

Round One

The main thing both first fights have in common between the two movies is that Kong gets absolutely wrecked. In the new movie, Kong is drugged and taken away on a ship, something that also happens to him in the Toho original (and the original, original from 1933 for that matter). But this time, Godzilla comes for him and goes for an immediate throwdown. Even if Kong wasn’t already the underdog on paper, he is also bound by metal chains, drugged, and in the water. Godzilla is seaworthy. Kong is not (and likely smells really, really bad when wet). Kong’s very survival is a miracle.

As for the original showdown, their first meeting in 1962 is very brief. Godzilla has the high ground and Kong tries throwing rocks at him. After getting a chest-full of radioactive fire breath, Kong decides to step away and consider his options. He’s smart enough to nope on out of there.

Bulking Up for the Rematch

Taking a break from the fisticuffs, both incarnations of Godzilla continue to just wreck shit. Good for them.

The two versions of Kong go on their own diverging adventures, however. The 1962 Kong kidnaps another woman and climbs up a tower, only to get captured again again. Consider it a slightly more humanitarian version of the 1933 movie’s ending. The 2021 Kong goes on a Legend of Zelda quest to the center of the Earth, discovering the catacombs of his ancestors and getting equipped with a rocking axe ready to chop up Godzilla.

Just… remember to go for the head. Trust me, it can make half a universe of difference.

Round Two

Give credit to the folks from the original, they are actually able to set up the kaiju brawl in an area that is relatively lacking in human casualties. Using electric cables to guide Godzilla and a collection of balloons to carry a drugged King Kong (sort of recreated in the new movie at one point), the big fight occurs near Mount Fuji.

Initially, Kong tries to make up for his lack of fire breath by just throwing rocks over and over again. Godzilla is able to knock one of them back with his tail, but Kong persists. He also starts using his superior agility, which turns out to be his undoing. Kong rolls circles around Godzilla until slamming his own head into a boulder. That spells the end for the gorilla, as Godzilla stomps an absolute mudhole into his hide.

Kong has a far better second round in the remake, using his axe to absolutely ruin Godzilla’s night in the bright lights of Hong Kong. Despite Godzilla’s breath being treated like a level three Street Fighter super, Kong is able to evade it and prove that he was absolutely on Godzilla’s level after all.

After putting Godzilla through a building and dazing him for a bit, one of the boring human protagonists refers to Kong as the winner of round two. Then again, Godzilla isn’t finished by a long shot.

Final Battle

Funny thing about King Kong vs. Godzilla. Originally, it was meant to be Kong fighting a kaiju version of Frankenstein’s Monster. Although they switched it up, the writing of the fight was only slightly finagled. That’s why when King Kong looked to be ready for a dirt nap, he was revitalized by suddenly being zapped by a bunch of random lightning. Supposedly, King Kong getting strength through electricity was just an unused idea from the original movie concept.

Electric Kong went full Hulk Hogan on Godzilla, throwing him around like a rag doll and powering through his offense. It would have been more awesome if it didn’t look so damn silly, to the point that they briefly depicted the fight with puppets.

In the end, King Kong and Godzilla tumbled into the sea. In this continuity, Kong was able to overcome any watery advantage Godzilla would have had and rose up victorious. Then years later, that stupid, orange Godzilla book from my elementary school library claimed the Japanese version had Godzilla win and–due to it being a pre-internet age–so many of us believed the lie.

Those of you who know, know.

Godzilla v Kong has Godzilla spring back up from taking his lumps so he can absolutely demolish Kong. It’s like he’s insulted that Kong got some licks in and makes Kong’s final run in the old movie look weak. Eventually, Godzilla almost mortally wounds Kong with some stomps to the chest and walks off while Kong can only defiantly roar back at him.

Here’s where things get similar, but different. In a plot device reminiscent of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Mechagodzilla shows up in the third act. It’s a fairly clever take on another previous incarnation of the robot duplicate. In the Toho Godzilla continuity of the 2000s, Mechagodzilla was built atop the original 1950s Godzilla’s bones, which caused the first Godzilla’s ghost to gradually take over. This time around, Mechagodzilla is possessed by the mind/ghost of King Ghidorah from King of the Monsters. That’s why Godzilla has been in a mood. He senses the return of his old nemesis and it’s driven him into a frenzy.

Kong, meanwhile, is once again revived by being electrocuted back to health. This time it’s by the human characters and not random lightning, but the reference is definitely deliberate. Kong and Godzilla beat up the metal pretender, growl at each other, and go their separate ways. Maybe they’ll meet again if we get some kind of modern adaptation of Destroy All Monsters.

Who’s the Winner?

In the end, we’re left with two very different stories, even if the newer movie tries to reference the former a few times over. In the ‘60s, we received a wacky movie featuring Godzilla getting an overall 2-1, but losing in the third and most important battle. The modern one is silly in its own way and also gives us 2-1 in Godzilla’s favor, but it’s pretty apparent that Godzilla absolutely owns this matchup. It isn’t a victory for Kong to so much win a fight as it is for him to stand up and prove that he’s able to draw blood against the best.

It’s not a better version of the story, but a better version of the idea. Having these two behemoths duke it out is such a rich concept that’s only really been done well in unofficial video games like Rampage, Primal Rage, and King of the Monsters. King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962 was merely okay, and charitably good enough. Now we get a real cinematic crossover brawl that makes good on what we really want?

Let’s see Legendary remake Frankenstein Conquers the World. Seriously.

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smokeybrand · 4 years ago

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: The Air That I Breathe

Today is the day! Finally, I get to see Goji x Monke and I am so goddamn hype! If you've been around these parts long enough, I am a massive Goji shill. That franchise is a pillar in the trinity of my childhood and I hold those films truly dear. When Legendary dropped their version of Godzilla seven years ago, I was dumb impressed. Hell, I even liked Skull Island and I kind of hate Kong. Even the overly long King of the Monster was a good time for me so I was definitely looking forward to this one. And then f*cking Wuha happened and we all lost a year of our lives here in the States to abject stupidity. It's absurd that it's been a whole f*cking year and we're still seeing spikes in cases, man. Half the world has got this sh*t under control enough to actually see this thing in a theater but the US, the richest, most powerful country in the world, is still on restriction because idiots are idiots. I would have loved to see this in a theater but I couldn't. Had to settle for my home theater. Even so, this was a f*cking great time.

The Good

Goji x Monke is f*cking gorgeous to look at, man. Like, desperately, effortlessly, beautiful. It’s been almost a decade since us Yanks have had our go at the Goji mythos and this is, by far, is the best looking one. It is f*cking stunning. And a lot of it is in the daylight. Like, you can SEE the stunning without having it mired in swampy atmosphere to hide some of the “fake” CG.

This cast smacks the hardest! The caliber of talent in this film has no right to be this good. Like, none. Rebecca Hall, Alexander Skarsgard, Eiza Gonzalez, Shun Oguri, Kyle Chandler, and Lance f*cking Reddick, are all massive gets for this flick, even if the overall star power pales in comparison to the first two forms in this franchise. Kind of hard to beat Sam Jackson, John Goodman, Brie larson, Tom Hiddleston, John C. Reilly, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche and Ken Watanabe. I don’t care what you say, those casts, between two films, is going to be dumb hard to top, especially considering the nature of this franchise. That said, there are standouts.

Brian Tyree Henry is the best thing about this movie, outside of the decadent effects. His paranoid conspiracy theorist, Bernie Hayes, is a true delight and an incredible pivot from the usually stoic, classically heroic, protagonists we’ve had so far in the franchise. I can’t say he’s a “main character” but he gives the best performance like he should be one. I’m glad dude is getting so much work lately. He’s an excellent actor and deserves all of the shine. If you haven’t seen it, definitely check him out in Atlanta. That’s probably the best performance you’ll ever see him give.

Millie Bobby Brown returns as Madison Russel and, once again, i genuinely enjoyed her character in this, just like i did in KotM. Brown is never intrusive but it’s kind of weird that she gets to find all of the stuff. I imagine that was installed in her contract or whatever but it's not like she cant handle it. Brown is dope in this role and i kind of hope they give her that third shot in a few years with Henry and Dennison in tow. Their chemistry together is so goddamn tasty, it has to be fattening.

Julian Dennison was a surprise. I don’t generally like the “kid sidekick” characters in these flicks but his Josh Valentine was pretty okay. I just mentioned this but it needs to be repeated; I really liked the chemistry he had with Henry and Brown. Dude fit that whole Goonies dynamic they had going, taking up the straight man role while still being kind of hilarious in his own right. Kind of hope that, if this franchise gets another sequel, we can have a bit more of these characters together. Give them their own goddamn movie!

The pacing in this is TIGHT! Like, you get right into it and sh*t never let’s up. This is probably the best, most even, showing of Kaiju content in all four films and I'm kind of in love. It’s weird to say because Goji x Monke has the lowest run-time among all the films, but it gets you to where you need to be with no fat, whatsoever. One could say they trimmed a little too much off but that's what Extended and Director's cuts are for.

The direction in this movie is on point. You can tell that, the guy behind the camera, guiding this narrative, is a real life fan of Goji. Adam Wingard has always said his movie would be a love letter to Goji and Kong, in every interview, every appearance, and he wasn’t lying. This movie feels like it fits right in with those old Showa Goji showings but stands perfectly in the modern blockbuster age. Wingard poured all of that passion and enthusiasm he has for Gigantis, the Fire Lizard into this movie. Goji x Monke is a labor of love and you acutely feel it.

The homages and easter eggs littered within this thing are a Godzilla fan's wet dream. From Goji destroying that APEX plant in the beginning, calling back to MechaGoji destroying that refinery in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, to the way they transported Kong to the Hollow Earth entrance mimicking the balloon drop from King Kong versus Godzilla, or that high ass, modulated hiss from Apex MechaGoji; As a Godzilla fan, this is my paradise and i am LOVING all of it. I was crying from happiness this entire movie. If this is truly the swan song for the MonsterVerse, it’s a damn high note for a curtain call. Bro, they even have kind of a Super X fleet and i can’t even!

Legendary’s original Kaiju have all been kind of whack. Like, the Skullcrawlers are garbage. Straight up fodder for Monke and the MUTOs were completely uninspired. The others who showed up in KotM were a joke, too. None of them fit the Toho Kaiju at all and I'd hate to see a movie starring any of them. But the few introduced here? I like these. They make sense. They feel organic to the world. They feel threatening. They feel like proper antagonists and not just sacrifices to main Kaiju development.

This is the most we’ve seen of Legendary’s Goji and the clearest look yet. Like, this Godzilla is arguably one of the best designs so finally getting a real, proper, gander at all of it’s atomic powered glory has been dope as f*ck. Again, you can tell Wingard has a favorite of the two and it ain’t Kong. Monke definitely gets more screen time, but what little we get of Goji is jam-packed with aggression and Atomic Breath and it kind of sh*t all over the Monke scenes.

MechaGoji is my all-time favorite Kaiju. I was a little worried that Legendary blew their load too soon with Ghidorah but nope! MechaG is every bit as threatening, arguably more so. Like, this giant, robot, asshole is not to be f*cked wit. Dude is a problem and it makes that known immediately. Now, this MechaGoji isn’t the the autonomous robot of old. Legendary decided to go the piloted route we’ve seen since Heisei. I’m not mad, Kiryu is my second favorite version of the Big MechaG, but the twist feels real Godzilla x Mechagodzilla and Tokyo SOS. Again, not mad, but kind of hoped for a little space ridiculousness, you know. Maybe later? Hopefully later? Please let there be a later...

I even like Kong in this. I f*cking hate Kong, man. Of all his films, I've only like two; Skull Island and the Peter Jackson remake. The latter more so because you can tell Jackson loves Kong and his movie is a legit labor of love, much like Wingard and this one. These guys made Kong compelling. They made him more than a White Fear allegory and i kind of dig it. A lot of my love for Skull Island can be accredited to Sam Jackson, John C. Reilly, and John Goodman, but I legit left the theater thinking Kong's flick was a good time.

Goji over Monke, two to one. Like i said. There’s no way Monke steals the crown, not from this version of Godzilla. Scrap was f*cking epic, though. Like, outside of MechaG just throttling the both of them, Monke was the closest to snaking that crown. Closer even than f*cking Ghidorah and i don’t really know how i feel about that. That said...

That tag team against MechaG is the best Kaiju scrap in the entire goddamn franchise so far. Sh*t is f*cking brutal, grandiose as f*ck, and takes place in the daylight so you can actually f*cking SEE it. F*CK!!

The Bad

The writing is real weak in this. It’s arguably the worst thing about this movie. I actually wrote a whole essay about how you can’t judge these films like you’d judge a proper, emotionally stimulating, thought provoking, exercise in cinema but even brain-dead Kaiju fights should have some semblance of plot to string them together. Goji 2014, Skull Island, and King of the Monsters, all had a decent narrative to string together the necessary conflicts presented in their films but Goji x Monke is easily the worst of these films in that department. It isn’t as bad as Michael Bay or as pedestrian as Zack Snyder but the writing just smacks of Roland Emmerich. This is a movie that he would have definitely made in his Nineties heyday of excess and spectacle.

The plot contrivances are kind of corny. I’m not going to point all of them out but i will say this; Mark Russel starts this movie in the exact same place he started KotM and it’s ridiculous. They need Russel back at his skeptical self as a way to sideline him from this narrative as he's now the man in the big chair over at Monarch so he kind of sidesteps his daughter’s very real observation. All because the plot demands it of his character. It’s a boner and i hate it. I hate the many, many, others, too.

Look, i love Rebecca Hall. I’ve been a fan of hers for years. She’s in a ton of sh*t that i genuinely love. Same thing with Alexander Skarsgard. I had t let that be known because their characters in this are f*cking useless. Like, they’re the main characters and they have less agency that the Goonies trio in this thing. It’s f*cking dumb. You couldn’t work more plot relevance into the characters that we are clearly supposed to spend the most time with? They’re supposed to be the emotional anchor for this flick and i found myself attached to the supporting crew. What a way to waste great actors.

The Verdict

Godzilla vs. Kong is a fun ass ride. This is the Avengers of Legendary’s MonsterVerse and it pulls out all of the stops. Goji x Monke is lousy with fan service and easter eggs, but sprinkled in restraint throughout, giving fans of the Big G tons of sh*t to get us in tizzy. Like, there is SO much here for a fan to latch on to but, even if you’re not, this flick has a ton of worth aside from that. The direction is on point, you really feel like this is a Goji film, and the action is the absolute best in the franchise. There is weight and realism to how these massive creatures move, the effects doing overtime conveying what a giant, radioactive, lizard and a skyscraper sized ape can really do. In broad daylight. Without looking fake or corny. You can tell that the director, Adam Wingard, knew his sh*t and really loved making this movie. Goji x Monke is easily the best looking in the entire goddamn franchise, hands down. i cannot stress that enough.

Also, as kind of a bonus but not really, this movie has some of the strongest human characters in the entire franchise. Millie Bobby Brown does her thing, as always, and newcomer Julian Dennison does his thing, but Brian Tyree Henry is the absolute standout. I can see this being a star-turning performance for him if it had hit theaters properly but we’ll see. This thing did gangbusters in China with Henry taking a principal position in the narrative and China hates the Darkies so that’s saying a lot. Of course, there are the usual issues with these types of films; pedestrian writing, superfluous human conflict, tons of plot conveniences but those are basically tropes of this genre. It’s hard to have a Kaiju story without them. You just have to suspend your disbelief and let some of this sh*t rude, you know? If you can do that, i promise you that you’ll have a fantastic time. I can’t say it’s my favorite, that title still rests with Goji 2014, but Godzilla vs. Kong is definitely a contender for second best. If you have HBO max, it’s definitely worth a watch. If you’re willing to brave a pandemic theater, it is definitely better on the big screen.

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