Godzilla: King of the Monsters Review

Jun 6, 2019
5 min read

Directed by Michael Dougherty

Written by Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields and Max Borenstein

"Long live the king"

As a huge fan of the 2014 American reboot of Godzilla, I have been relentlessly excited to see this version of the King of Monsters face off against new interpretations of classic Toho kaiju. In fact, I have been waiting for years now but the day has finally come for us to see big American productions of Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah in an all-out battle for supremacy and the spectacle is something that all Godzilla and kaiju fans need to witness but King of the Monsters is not without its shortcomings.

Looking at the story from the perspective of the kaiju, it's pretty decent. They build on the titan lore already established and add interesting mythos to new and old titans of earth. Some of the lore they include is a little bold but nothing established Godzilla fans can't swallow. The real issue comes from the main plot of the story. Eco-terrorists unleash dormant titans so they can start the world anew because humans are a disease and their reign must come to an end. Sound familiar? That's probably because villains justifying their actions of rebooting the earth by blaming humans is as about Hollywood typical as you can get. Not only that but much of the heart of the movie is simply explained to us with exposition and it's hard to connect to the characters. Another issue is the comedy. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but forced comedy in serious movies is a Hollywood obsession that needs to die. A lot of the big story beats here have been seen many times before and the same goes for all of the human drama.

Essentially we have a daughter caught in between estranged parents and if it wasn't for the calibre of acting, the human drama would be much more of an issue. I'm not huge on Kyle Chandler's character, he's a fine actor but the dude walks into a well funded, high-level organization filled with experts and starts telling them all how to their jobs because he spends time with wolves. This is expected from Hollywood protagonists but that doesn't make it any less nauseating. I don't have much to say about the characters of Emma and Madison just because they've all been done before but the emotional performances coming from the always great Millie Bobby Brown and Vera Farmiga helps ease the headache that is this Godzilla script, including the most predictable jokes and overused dialogue around. Fortunately, we're not here for the human aspect, we're here for the big scary monsters beating the pulp out of each other.

King of the Monsters features a healthy amount of kaiju on kaiju action and for Godzilla fans, it's something special. Every kaiju scene is wildly entertaining and some certainly more than others. Rodan actually takes center stage in one of the best scenes in the movie and obviously, anything involving Godzilla and King Ghidorah is something to behold. Mothra gets her moments but I feel myself wanting more from her. The action is grand but doesn't quite have that same grounded sense of scale that Gareth Edwards' 2014 Godzilla movie had. Speaking of Gareth Edwards, I have to say there's clearly a love of the Godzilla series from director Michael Dougherty here. King of the monsters is packed with references and Easter eggs for fans of the series from calling Ghidorah "Monster Zero" to the sound cues they use when the kaiju appear. Godzilla's theme and even Mothra's amazing theme has been updated to fit into King of the Monsters. I have to say my favourite musical surprise comes for the inclusion of 'Army March' from the original Gojira, a personal favourite of mine. For Godzilla fanatics, King of the Monsters is brimming with content.

Simply having a visionary director on board can have a great effect on these kinds of movies. It's what stopped Pacific Rim from just being a big cartoon, it's what made Godzilla 2014 so realistic and it's what makes King of the Monsters so epic. I wouldn't say Michael Dougherty's vision has made King of the Monsters more distinct than Godzilla 2014 but it's responsible for making King of the Monsters as powerful as it is. I would have loved the more grounded shots and slower monsters but I can't deny how beautiful and iconic some of the kaiju scenes here are and how exciting the action can be. On top of all of this, the CGI is top notch. Not every monster is as convincing as the other but your eyes won't care much when one of them is punching the other in the face.

Taking a moment to talk about each monster is important when it comes to these kinds of movies. Godzilla doesn't quite have the same animistic tendencies that he did in 2014 and it doesn't make him as lovable. I still adore him and there's nothing wrong with making a giant monster less cute but his slightly more aggressive design just isn't as appealing to me. Watching him get hurt is still upsetting and King of the Monsters involves another iconic state of Godzilla that I don't want to ruin too much of but I think it's probably the most realistic way to apply this form to this version of Godzilla but it simply isn't as iconic and could have looked grander. Ghidorah is looking great, if not a little too much like the dragons from Game of Thrones or Smaug from the Hobbit. We've never seen Ghidorah in this quality CGI and it helps create some of the coolest shots in the movie. He's threatening and devastating and everything the king needs to be. I appreciate how realistic they went with Mothra and she's a real beauty. She's one of the more important kaiju to do justice for and I think they did apart from not showing enough of her powers. Rodan has a lot of personality in his design and I love the grizzled gargoyle look. He takes up some of the best action and plays a fun part, I was definitely taken by surprise and he might be the MVP of the movie.

King of the monsters features everything a kaiju enthusiast could want and even more for long time Godzilla fans with wonderful references and fantastic kaiju beat downs. Unfortunately the plot we follow is as basic and unoriginal as Hollywood gets only saved by some strong performances. Considering the response to the 2014 Godzilla, King of the Monsters is exactly the direction we should have expected and I was surprised to see as many references to 2014 as we got.

Rating: ****

Better than > Invasion of Astro-Monster Worse than > Godzilla (2014)

Main pros -Awesome kaiju -Satisfying fights -Fan service -Pure spectacle -Strong effects