Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

[BetterButter]

Quote

The crypto-zoological agency Monarch faces off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.

[SimoneS]

These Godzilla movies never end up being very good so fingers crossed for this one.

[MarkHB]

Here's the first trailer from last summer in San Diego:

[AimingforYoko]

This movie was made to be seen in IMAX.

[tinaw]

Cant wait to see it

[benteen]

The trailer looked good and it's got Charles Dance in it.  That's a pretty good endorsement right there.

[BetterButter]

[frogzapper]

I liked the 2014 Godzilla movie a lot, so I'm really looking forward to this one and I can't wait to see the other Titans!

I went to WonderCon in Anaheim, CA over the weekend and they had a Warner Bros. preview panel - one of the movies they featured was "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" with director/writer Michael Dougherty and producer Zach Shields. They showed an extended trailer for the movie and the scenes featuring Godzilla and King Ghidorah looked spectacular! 

During the audience Q&A portion of the panel someone asked Dougherty if Godzilla is a "good" guy or a "bad" guy. I liked Dougherty's answer - he said that people really shouldn't think of Godzilla in those terms. He said that "Godzilla is a force of Nature" and that the real question is, "are we [humans] good or bad?" and that the answer to that question determines how Godzilla reacts to us.

Earlier in the day there was another Godzilla panel for "Godzilla: Aftershock" that's supposed to be a graphic novel tie-in prequel to "Godzilla: King of the Monsters." The graphics in it looked beautiful. I've never really been a comic/graphic novel reader, but I may have to pick up a copy of this one when it comes out next month!

[xaxat]

Not sure I can accept a Mothra without the fairies.

They used Somewhere over the Rainbow for two trailers. Once might work in an ironic sense, but I don't get it as a theme.

I really want this to be entertaining. The last big screen kaiju movie, Pacific Rim: Uprising, sucked.

[starri]

Is that...Gamera?  Friend to all children?

[SimoneS]

I really like this trailer. I hope it is good.

[Gobi]

16 hours ago, xaxat said:

Not sure I can accept a Mothra without the fairies.

They used Somewhere over the Rainbow for two trailers. Once might work in an ironic sense, but I don't get it as a theme.

I really want this to be entertaining. The last big screen kaiju movie, Pacific Rim: Uprising, sucked.

At a Comic Con panel the director said there was a strong possibility that the twin fairies would make an appearance.

[raven]

3 hours ago, Gobi said:

a strong possibility that the twin fairies would make an appearance

Ugh, I always hated them.

Still going to see this though!

[xaxat]

Given the tone of the movie, my guess is that it will be a long post-mortem reference (eg a cave painting).

[MarkHB]

On 4/24/2019 at 7:27 AM, starri said:

Is that...Gamera?  Friend to all children?

I doubt it; his rights belong to a different studio (although I swear I remember Gamera taking on Rodan back in the Creature Double Feature days).

[Gobi]

1 hour ago, MarkHB said:

I doubt it; his rights belong to a different studio (although I swear I remember Gamera taking on Rodan back in the Creature Double Feature days).

Gamera fought a kaiju named Gyaos, that was similar to Rodan.

[Robert Lynch]

How did this movie do so far?

[starri]

It's just now opening, but it's also gotten fairly poor reviews.  I'm interested to see what happens.

[VCRTracking]

[starri]

[Robert Lynch]

On 5/31/2019 at 2:20 PM, starri said:

It's just now opening, but it's also gotten fairly poor reviews.  I'm interested to see what happens.

I am reading the reviews, too. Doesn't seem too promising.

[shrewd.buddha]

It wasn't exactly bad .. but it was't great, either. It was a bit  too much of everything - like a literal assault on your senses. 
It was as if you said you liked ice cream and at first you get ice cream, then even more ice cream - and then they just start throwing ice cream at you like snowballs. 

Here are some takeaways: 

• I'm tired of the trope of estranged family members who have to deal with their drama in the middle of a crisis.
• Constant bad weather (rain, snow, etc) ... maybe to make it easier to hide the CGI? 
• Godzilla is dead? Oh, no!! Please come back, Godzilla! Does Godzilla take a 'death' time-out in every movie?
• Lots and lots (and lots) of people die during the massive destruction(s) ... supposedly. The filmmakers keep all the bodies and unpleasantness discretely under the rubble. 
• This is another one of those  movies that takes place during 'the longest day ever':  the action starts after a seemingly normal breakfast scene - and after that, there is not a coffee break or bathroom break or change of clothes until the end. And during that time we, and Godzilla, go from China to Antarctica to undersea trenches and to Boston without stopping.

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, shrewd.buddha said:

Godzilla is dead? Oh, no!! Please come back, Godzilla! Does Godzilla take a 'death' time-out in every movie?

You gotta admit though, that was the best 'adrenaline shot' ever.

[Gobi]

On 6/2/2019 at 10:54 AM, Robert Lynch said:

I am reading the reviews, too. Doesn't seem too promising.

Don't go by the reviews. If you like Godzilla, you will like this.

[Robert Lynch]

How was Millie Bobby Brown?

[raven]

4 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

How was Millie Bobby Brown?

She was fine; she didn't have a lot to do.

I liked this; it's a good monster movie. The people are just kind of there (tho they're more engaging than in the first) & Charles Dance evils it up just fine.  At one point out heroes have to get more radiation to Godzilla & all I could think of was what I've learned watching Chernobyl.

The stars are the creatures & they don't disappoint. I like the idea of a shared monster universe and creatures running around.   The scenes over the credits are fun; pay attention to the headlines & there's an after credit scene too.

[frogzapper]

13 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

Here are some takeaways: 

• I'm tired of the trope of estranged family members who have to deal with their drama in the middle of a crisis.

Agree! I just really didn't care much about the new human characters in this one, and I love Vera Farmiga too, but even she couldn't make me really care about her character and her mission. I also found some of the human drama to be a little too drawn out and overly dramatic, especially when they resorted to slo-mo, ugh. 

13 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

• Constant bad weather (rain, snow, etc) ... maybe to make it easier to hide the CGI? 

Yes, this bugged me so much! Every monster fight scene was in a torrential downpour bathed in that dim blue lighting that made it hard for me to really see the monsters! And it also annoyed me that they had a lot of close up shots and quick cuts during the fight scenes just like a lot of movies do with human fight scenes when they want to disguise poor execution. I just wanted to clearly see the monsters in action.

13 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

• Godzilla is dead? Oh, no!! Please come back, Godzilla! Does Godzilla take a 'death' time-out in every movie?

Heehee, this made me laugh - I had forgotten about his near-death scene in the first movie! Speaking of death (or fake out death) scenes, I thought the scene with Rodan when he was fighting Mothra was just cringe-worthy. I'm talking about when Mothra impales Rodan and Rodan freezes for a second before falling back like a human actor doing a big death scene in acting class 101. I think the filmmakers must have been going for laughs with that, but it was just too cheesy for me!

5 hours ago, raven said:

The scenes over the credits are fun; pay attention to the headlines & there's an after credit scene too.

I did get a chuckle out of the headlines shown during the end credits :).

As someone who really liked the 2014 Godzilla movie, I had high hopes and expectations for this one and I was just kind of disappointed because I thought this movie, as a whole, could've been so much better. That said, I did think there were a couple of memorable fight scenes and the monsters, when I could see them in full, really looked great. I especially thought the fight scene near the end when Godzilla was radiating heat and fire was really spectacular. And I will continue to look forward to new Godzilla movies - I really hope they come up with a more compelling story and characters in "Godzilla vs. Kong."

Edited June 4, 2019 by frogzapper
just to add another comment

[benteen]

I saw this movie and it was terrible.  I would strongly recommend against seeing it.  The plot was dumb, the action was pedestrian and it was very humorless.  I felt bad for the cast and I really wish someone would give Charles Dance a script that would get him nominated for an Oscar.  He deserves better than this crap.

I don't know why those involved in this film didn't learn from Kong King of Skull Island.  That was a very entertaining film that utilized its cast well, have a lot of good action scenes and humor. 

[blugirlami21]

I was underwhelmed to say the least. It was just very by the numbers but not in an especially interesting way. 

There were some twists and turns I wasn't expecting but too many that I did.

I found the family storyline more annoying than anything else. The writing for the dad was really abrasive and on the nose.

There was also a lot of standing around when action was needed.

And Kong never showed up. Which didn't even make sense for the storyline they created.

[Jediknight]

I liked it.

Mothra's no doubt going to have a bigger fanbase thanks to this movie, as she should.  Every time Mothra spread her wings, with the light was just fantastic.

[tennisgurl]

I walked into this movie wanting giant monsters, and I got giant monsters. Thats really all I needed from this movie. The plot was kind of nonsense and the characters, while not unlikable or uninteresting and badly acted, were all pretty thinly sketched, but the monsters looked amazing! Honestly when I watch a movie like this, I dont usually want a bunch of focus on the human drama, I want enough human stuff to at least care if people get squashed or not, but mostly I want to focus on the actual star, Godzilla. And it did that, do I was happy in this movie. It could have certainly been better written, but I enjoyed it as a fun popcorn movie with tons of cool creature battles.

Mothra in particular looked amazing! Those wings!

Edited June 10, 2019 by tennisgurl

[scarynikki12]

I saw it last night with my brother and we enjoyed it. The human stuff wasn't bad but the monsters were the point and they delivered.

That one monster that looks like a spider mated with Cthulhu better not be featured in any of the upcoming movies because I don't like it when my nightmares come true.

[MrsR]

Poor Boston.

Maybe Boston isn't dead.

Maybe it's just a time out.

[Macbeth]

I did like this movie and found it entertaing. 

I loved the ideas of all these Titans, but I wanted to know who the other Titans were other than the main four. I really wanted to know which Titan was the Stone Mountain, GA one. 

Filmakers - you can actually google Bosto's skyline to get an accurate visual to go by.  I have lived in the Boston area all of my life and didn't know Maddison was in Boston until I saw the sign for Fenway Park.  

When I rewatched Maddison coming  through the forest (which is  should be Cambridge - problem #1) to look down on Beacon Hill (which is the tallest hill in the immediate area -problem 2) - I did recognize a few of the buildings like the State House and the Hancock building (but no view of its sister skyscraper The Prudential - problem #3)  it all looked out of place.  

And Fenway Park without the Citgo sign is a no go.

I guess it's time for Boston to be destroyed in a disaster movie. I am sure this is not the first. A lot of hate out there due to the Patriots. 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Macbeth

[xaxat]

On 8/18/2019 at 11:32 AM, Macbeth said:

I guess it's time for Boston to be destroyed in a disaster movie. I am sure this is not the first. A lot of hate out there due to the Patriots. 

You should take that as a badge of honor! Typically scenes of sci fi mass destruction are located in cities with internationally iconic skylines. (Manhattan, DC, Paris, etc.) Your city is in the sci fi big leagues now.

As for the Citgo sign, there was a sign in the background with a triangle logo. I wonder if the didn't get the rights to use the real name/logo. 

I thought the movie was OK. I enjoyed the monsters, but the plot armor surrounding Madison was really annoying. My favorite part was when Bear McCreary used the score from the original Godzilla in the scenes leading up to the final fight.

On 8/18/2019 at 11:32 AM, Macbeth said:

I really wanted to know which Titan was the Stone Mountain, GA one. 

A giant version of the General Lee.

[BetterButter]