Godzilla: King of the Monsters – Mr T’s take
Godzilla: King of the Monsters – A muddled mess of a movie, that promises silly fun, but fails to deliver on any level. This Godzilla: King of the Monsters review is brought to you by AboutFlick’s Mr T.
Director: Michael Dougherty
One of the biggest complaints critics had about the 2014 Godzilla movie was that it failed to give its titular character much screen time. So, what we have here is a sequel to the pretty pointless film which nobody really cared about.
Seems like every movie is a part of a franchise these days. This one is no different and marks the third instalment in the so-called MonsterVerse, with the fourth already in the making. The story presented here is unoriginal at best and laughable at worst. The brief rundown is we have a shadowy organization called Monarch that’ll remind you of SHIELD, a Thanos-esque mad scientist who considers the monsters her Infinity Stones and an eco-terrorist who exists just to move the plot forward.
Vera Farmiga seems uninterested in this role and Millie Bobby Brown retains none of her Stranger Things charm and appears as an extremely annoying kid. The rest of the cast including Kyle Chandler, Sally Hawkins and Charles Dance are pretty much wasted barring Bradley Whitford who packs dollops of sarcasm in a dour situation. Despite the poor writing, Ken Watanabe also does the best he can as the scientist who has inexplicable faith in Godzilla.
But you all knew this was never a move about human characters, it’s all about the epic fights between crazy big monsters. And does the film deliver? Yes and no. King Ghidorah, with his regenerating heads and electricity-based powers, is quite terrifying. Mothra, a stunning giant moth with an allegiance to Godzilla is awesome as well and the introduction to the winged Rodan doesn’t disappoint. It’s the fight scenes between the Titans that are a hit or miss. It reeks of poor editing and bad choreography. The audio effects are pretty larger-than-life though and the sound designers deserve credit for keeping you engaged.
Much like Fredo broke Michael Corleone’s heart, Michael Dougherty breaks mine with this movie. Because a Godzilla movie should be fun. And monsters having epic showdowns and levelling cities should be reason enough to go on a movie date and grab some popcorn and soda. And maybe the MonsterVerse will redeem itself in 2020 with Godzilla vs. Kong. But for now, I can’t recommend this movie. Go watch John Wick: Chapter 3 instead for some action-packed fun.
Rating: My rating for Godzilla: King of the Monsters is 1.5 out of 5.
Who is this film for: Only die-hard Godzilla fans will enjoy this movie. Also check out Godzilla (2014), Cloverfield (2008), Colossal (2016) and The Mist (2007).