DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
I'm so torn...I really really would prefer to see this in theaters. But the panny is still a think and I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to them just yet.
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Bloods EndBlade of TyshallePunch dimensionRegistered Userregular
Reviews in general have been a lot better across the board than I would have expected.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
I'm so torn...I really really would prefer to see this in theaters. But the panny is still a think and I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to them just yet.
I think and hope this will be the movie that brings theaters back.
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Bloods EndBlade of TyshallePunch dimensionRegistered Userregular
I love the rainy 90s New York atmosphere of 1998 Godzilla. Whenever it’s on tv I enjoy leaving it on in the background. Also I had a massive crush on the female lead back in the day
Prohass on
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
You had a crush on Zilla?
Oh brilliant
+4
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
I'm so torn...I really really would prefer to see this in theaters. But the panny is still a think and I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to them just yet.
Same. I kind of wish this was pushed back till this summer so I'd have a shot at a vaccine. Right now, I'll have to hope for a re-run or something.
EDIT: Might check online towards the end of the run. I saw Endgame a month or so late and there were only 3 or 4 folks in the giant theater.
Trajan45 on
Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
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The GeekOh-Two Crew, OmeganautRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Watched King of Monsters last night.
It was very 'splodey.
BLM - ACAB
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Bloods EndBlade of TyshallePunch dimensionRegistered Userregular
Alright nerds, show me the best GvK toys that are out there so the next time my mother asks me where her grandchildren are I can show them to her and say "these are my babies"
Alright nerds, show me the best GvK toys that are out there so the next time my mother asks me where her grandchildren are I can show them to her and say "these are my babies"
NECA was my go to for Monsterverse figures, and they haven't got squat for Godzilla vs Kong.
Having seen this movie it’s crazy to me that they aren’t pushing toys and accessories for it. I have a nephew who loved it and there’s basically nothing I can get him that’s reasonably priced
I got up to watch Godzilla vs Kong at 4 AM EST this morning (I wanted to wake up at 3:10, but I needed to get at least 5 hours of sleep).
Non-spoiler impressions: I really liked it a lot! My only major complaint is that I wish it had been a little longer, in fact.
Now to get more into detail:
Things I Liked
Godzilla wins! "Looks like round two goes to Kong", spoken minutes before Kong needs what is effectively a giant defibrillator to save him.
Speaking of the defibrillator, was this a subtle nod to King Kong vs Godzilla, where King Kong was strengthened by electricity?
Making Kong effectively the protagonist was an interesting choice. While I'm glad Godzilla was the clear winner with two victories over Kong, one of which could have easily ended with Kong's death, this iteration of Kong put up a great fight and was an agile, weapon-using fighter, making him unique among Godzilla's opponents throughout the franchise. It was cool to see them team-up to defeat MechaGodzilla. It made me care more about Kong than I have before, and giving him essentially a magic weapon (+3 to attack and damage rolls against MechaGodzillas) was fun.
Speaking of MechaGodzilla, interesting that they went the cyborg route like they did in the 2000's with MechaGodzilla Kiryu, but changed it from being derived from Godzilla's to having a brain derived from King Ghidorah. I am curious if MechaGodzilla effectively had one of King Ghidorah's minds, or if it was it's own unique entity despite the source material.
MechaGodzilla preparing to fire a beam down Godzilla's throat was a fun callback to how Godzilla himself finished off the female M.U.T.O. (I wish they'd retcon a better name for those two...). I would say it was also a callback to when Godzilla fired a beam through King Ghidorah's throat, but that time the beam was shot up through the throat and out a severed-yet-still-alive head (STILL SO FUCKING COOL).
The Hollow Earth sequences were very cool, and for a franchise as full of weird stuff and nods to fringe pseudoscience as the Godzilla series is it fits right in. Plus it provides a useful explanation for where the monsters in Godzilla movies go when they aren't attacking cities and where they get their food from.
I need to go back and look at all the stuff Bernie had, I'm 100% certain there are easter eggs. I managed to make out "Mothra: Pregnant?", which implies that not only has Mothra come back to life and reached maturity but is already preparing the egg for her next incarnation.
I'm continuously amused that the "grounded" take on Godzilla in Godzilla 2014 has fully given way to high-tech super-science straight out of the Heisei era of the Japanese Godzilla movies.
Things I Thought Could Have Been Better Explained
Were the other Titans killed offscreen? At the end of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it seemed like they were all subservient to Godzilla and actively beneficial to the world, but apparently Godzilla defeated at least a portion of them (although I guess, as we see with Kong, "defeated" doesn't mean "dead".
Was the intended pilot for MechaGodzilla Dr. Serizawa's son, or at least a relative? I think that could have used a bit more build-up. I was wondering if we'd see him again after MechaGodzilla went out-of-control, but nope.
How exactly does this mystery power source work? I thought Apex would need a large sample to power MechaGodzilla, but apparently just scanning a small sample and transferring the data works somehow. Is it dangerously radioactive, or is it somehow safe to be around? Does it somehow promote plant growth? Is this what Godzilla actually runs on in the Monsterverse, with nuclear energy just being a substitute? To put it another way, was this the movie's attempt to make Godzilla still powered by "radiation", but a strange variety that isn't dangerous for the human characters to be around?
I've just learned that there are upcoming prequel novels set between Godzilla vs Kong: Godzilla Dominion and Kingdom Kong. Maybe some of these questions will be answered in those books (which I'm definitely going to get my hands on, along with the artbook).
Minor Nitpicks
I found it amusing that getting Kong to the Hollow Earth entrance, and then from there to Kong's species' stronghold in the Hollow Earth took most of the movie, but then Godzilla blasted a hole with his breath all the way down to where Kong was (which was conveniently just below Hong Kong), allowing Kong and everyone else to quickly make it to where MechaGodzilla was being held. I honestly thought Godzilla was blasting down to where MechaGodzilla was held at first. Did Apex build that facility because they knew what they were looking for was below them and previously wanted to try and drill down? This in particular strained by suspension of disbelief, but it got us quickly to the third act, so I'll forgive it.
How come there was this weird vortex thing when everybody entered the Hollow Earth but not when they left? I assumed that it was a phenomenon that just manifested whenever a certain depth was reached, but I guess not?
Random Thoughts
I feel like I remember seeing someone claim that Emma Russell enacted her plan in Godzilla: King of the Monsters due to telepathic manipulation by King Ghidorah (or at least that it was a scrapped concept), but I couldn't find a source last time I looked so I figured maybe I was misremembering someone's suggestion that the movie should have done that. However, this movie establishes that King Ghidorah did have telepathy, so maybe I remembered correctly?
It's interesting that the Monsterverse Godzilla movies have become more faithful to the "traditional" Japanese Godzilla than any of the entries that have come out of Japan in the last decade. Shin Godzilla, Netflix's Godzilla movie trilogy, and now the anime series Godzilla: Singular Point are all pretty big departures from the Godzilla formula.
Seeing as this could potentially be the last MonsterVerse movie (or at least the last one with Godzilla), I wish there had been a little more fanfare to Godzilla's departure.
Am I crazy, or did the flying creatures in the Kong stronghold look like baby Rodans?
Final Thoughts
To be completely, 100% honest, despite acknowledging its flaws, I still like Godzilla: King of the Monsters best out of all of these movies. I really like Godzilla vs Kong, but as a lifelong Godzilla fan KotM was chockful of nearly everything I ever wanted in a big budget Godzilla movie. King Ghidorah had more personality and posed more of a credible threat than ever, Rodan looked extremely cool and also had more personality, Mothra was amazing (as always), we got to see Godzilla's undersea temple (before it got blown up), the Burning Godzilla form appeared in its coolest iteration ever, and Bear McCreary's soundtrack for the movie was absolutely phenomenal. It was honestly very disappointing to see the movie get savaged critically and underperform (although I blame the former on critics perhaps being subconsciously disappointed by the lack of Bryan Cranston and the latter on stiff competition from other major Hollywood releases).
However, I still really enjoyed Godzilla vs Kong. It was a long overdue rematch for the two monsters, it was executed very well, it made me care about Kong more than I did before, it gave us a fantastic journey through the Hollow Earth, and the final battles between Godzilla and Kong and the former two versus MechaGodzilla were a grand spectacle.
Critics are being much more fair to this movie than they were the previous film, and unlike Godzilla: King of the Monsters it doesn't have to compete against multiple high profile movies, so here's hoping it does very well at the box office, too.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
I need to go back and watch King of the Monsters I initially put it off because of the critics and some of the criticisms onhere but at the least it seems like a decent way to spend an afternoon.
For me KoM was bad, cause everytime I wanted to see a monster fight, I got 10% fight and 90% humans trying to run away from the fight. Plus so much super dark it basically amounted to cg shaky cam in terms of being able to discern wtf was going in. I genuinely struggled to stay awake it was so uninteresting. Also, it'd be great if the environmental argument wasn't made solely by the 'bad guys'.
GvK didn't really have those issues. There were still human moments throughout the fights (which is fine) but they didn't detract from the showdowns. Easily my second or first favorite in this new monsterverse iteration. Great action, the human characters weren't grating, none of them overstayed their welcome.
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Kevin CristI make the devil hit his kneesand say the 'our father'Registered Userregular
Human Spoilers
I wanted to see the Godzilla fangirl and Kong fangirl do competitive cheering on.
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I saw the movie. It was good! @YaYa did a good job on this one.
I'd rank the recent zilla movies as:
Shin Godzilla
Godzilla vs Kong
Godzilla 2014
KotM
Spoilery talk:
The movie kinda drudged at the start but once they finally got to Hong Kong it was all gas. And I didn't feel the insane tonal whiplash from KotM, this movie was consistent in what it wanted to accomplish.
I appreciated that Godzilla wrecked Kong on the ocean, that Kong fought evenly with the help of the Zilla ax and his own cunning to avoid the breath attack (which was probably a one shot KO) and that Zilla won every fight except the solo battle against Mecha-Ghidorah. I know aesthetically it was Mecha-Godzilla, but it has Ghidorah's brain in it somehow, so it's more like Mecha-Ghidorah and it feels appropriate that the one fight Godzilla needs help on is the one versus Mecha-Godzilla/Ghidorah as this tracks with previous iterations.
I am left to wonder if Kong's ancestors built an actual fucking civilization in the hollow earth.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
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Andy JoeWe claim the land for the highlord!The AdirondacksRegistered Userregular
Godzilla vs. Kong
I was spoiled on Mechagodzilla's presence long ago, but I would like to believe that I would have figured out what was up as soon as an evil robotics company appeared.
I don't recall there being a Hollow Earth per se in the Showa movies, but it would have fit right in alongside Seatopia and the like.
So much talk about this matchup has revolved around the advantage of Godzilla's atomic breath, and it was appreciated that so much of "Round 2" revolved around Kong having to deal with it in various ways.
I liked the concept of making Mechagodzilla agile through rocket assists, makes for more dynamic fights than focusing on it as a platform for an arsenal of ranged weapons.
the hollow earth the most. Like normally all you have with these movies is the fights, but I felt like that sequence gave you something interesting that wasn’t just a fight and helped make the world feel fantastical enough for everything else to work
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
edited April 2021
This movie owns
Where King of the Monsters stumbled in how it treated its silly-ass Showa and Heisei-era shit, I feel like Godzilla vs Kong really commits to it and goes "y'know what, no, this is absurd nonsense, you know it, we know it, let's just roll with it"
And it didn't have the characterization and script problems that KotM had that frustrate me so bad every time I rewatch it
Things I liked:
The look of this movie rules. Each Monsterverse movie has sort of taken a different aesthetic tack, right? 2014 was a more grounded, awestruck perspective, KotM was all about big dramatic monster fights and iconic hero shots, very comic booky, and Skull Island had sort of a 60's sci-fi monster movie energy. But Godzilla vs Kong is just like, full of color and neon and sweeping camera moves, and its production design is even sillier than KotM's was, with the hovercrafts and all, which is exactly what it needed to be
And I think the plot stuff feeds into that silly, colorful aesthetic! When we get down to the Hollow Earth, and we see that Kong's people had built things, that they had tools, and those tools were made of Godzilla parts, and he has a fucking throne, I lost my mind. It was so, so perfect in its absurdity that it made me laugh and clap like a tiny child
The entire Hong Kong sequence is a barrage of colors and camera moves, choreographed with exceptional skill, such that we never lose track of what's going on and get to see all the glorious monster dust-ups in a way that even King of the Monsters didn't show. The weight was really palpable too, in a way that I think KotM didn't have. It felt like a halfway point between 2014's weighty thunderousness and KotM's comic book creature bashing
I am a total mark for Mechagodzilla, and so while I certainly had my suspicions, seeing it was so much fun. It was a bit thin around the waist, much less of a chonky boi than Big G and previous Mechagodzilla models, but the way he moved was fun, and the connection to the Ghidorah head was predictable but also extra awesome and silly with the neon wires and such coming out of the skull. The way he goes out was a straight up Mortal Kombat fatality too, that was metal as shit, concluding a string of monster movies that end with a truly satisfying and cathartic decapitation! Not sure how that ended up being a running thing, but here we are!
Some of the synth score was neat, but the real highlight for me were the pop song needle-drops that Kong got. Those never failed to make me laugh. Good shit, well-timed, lots of fun! No standout highlights like Bear McCreary's score, but good all the same
Godzilla getting so pissed he shot through to the core of the Earth is the funniest fucking thing, I thought for sure he was digging down to where Mechagodzilla was, but that was so much dumber and more metal and I couldn't help but love it even though it was indeed very convenient to the plot and didn't account for the whole "gravity inversion" thing that now seems like a neat sequence solely for the purpose of having a neat sequence
They account for Kong's strengths against Godzilla (smarts, tool use, significantly higher agility) and Godzilla's strengths against Kong (can live underwater, swim fast, has the atomic breath, and is devastating in unarmed close combat) and so the fights felt appropriately one-sided when Godzilla's strengths were in play, and more even when Kong had his sick fucking axe to counter the atomic breath. But that being said? I really like that we got a definitive answer to the question of "who wins in a fight," because I expected them to leave it as a draw and they very definitively did not. Correctly, Godzilla wins—but with respect
They sidelined the hell out of Kyle Chandler's character, Wolf Dad, and I'm glad because I do not like him or that character at all
The Bad Guys get fuckin' GOT, and they get got GOOD—with an absolute lack of ceremony or respect. Exactly how it should be
Oh, and I enjoy seeing Lance Reddick get paid
Things I did not like:
All of Millie Bobby Brown's subplot did nothing for me. She's a fine actor, and I like her friend (I swear I've seen him before) and Bernie is... almost a fun character? But they feel very perfunctory, just to get some on-the-ground info and perspective for the audience on Mechagodfzilla and the Apex plan. I thought for sure they'd do something big and important at the end to help save the day, but it ended up being, pour some liquor on a computer? Like the Mechagodzilla fist through the building didn't hurt it enough?? That was stupid nonsense, but not the fun kind, just the "oh I guess we have to have them do something and having them Hack The Gibson is somehow too unbelievable, so we'll just have them dump some water on it." Like c'mon, Wingard, you couldn't think of anything else for them to do?
The fact that Serizawa's son is involved with the Bad Guy's plan is so completely undersold and meaningless that I don't know why they named that character that. If he had a turn late in the game, that'd be something, or if they put more of a point on his relationship to his father or his motivations for going against his father's ideology, that'd be a character, but as it was he was a background guy with a name. I thought for sure when he got brain-fried he'd wake up at some point and do something, but nope! Just dead. His dad would be VERY disappointed in him
Alexander Skarsgard is a hot white dude who doesn't get much of consequence to do, but I did not hate his character like I hated Wolf Dad, so it's whatever
The denouement is very fun with the needle-drop on Kong, and I think that's appropriate, but I wanted more fanfare for Godzilla's exit from the film. He's got top billing! He should get a longer moment or a close-up before he's like "later punks" and swims away
Godzilla gets top billing, but he gets less screentime. On the one hand I don't mind, but on the other? I'd like to see more from Big G than just his being mega-pissed for most of the runtime. A scene of him like getting struck by lightning on an island somewhere before he goes to Hong Kong, like he's in his own personal Vegeta training montage, would be a great callback and give him just one scene on his own where he's not actively furious and smashing stuff. I dunno! Not a huge deal but something I thought about
I do not like seeing Lance Reddick get nothing to do, and he had nothing to do. He didn't even get a name! I think he got like one line? Two? I'm sure he had fun being on set but like, give Lance Reddick things to do!! He's your best actor in this movie!! That definitely feels like some deleted scene shit
All in all? Might be my favorite of these Monsterverse movies, or at least tied with Skull Island. I think 2014 has a few too many core issues for me to feel it's the best, though I really enjoy it and think it's excellently directed, and King of the Monsters is... well, my thoughts are well known at this point
This thing is incredibly silly and stupid as hell, and it fuckin' knows it and loves it and that makes me love it too. I had so much fun, and was never irritated once, which puts it solidly in the upper tier of Godzilla films, alongside favs like Astro-Monster and Ghidorah and Godzilla 2000
I almost hope they get to make more! But I'd also like to see another Japanese production, first
That ruled. This movie knows exactly what it is and runs with it all the way to the finish line.
Fun fights, a plot that's interesting even if none of the human characters are, and exactly the right amount of cheese.
Giving Kong the ability to communicate was a shock and while I wish he spoke a little more, I liked it.
Loved the Hollow Earth stuff, but shame there wasn't more.
Loved loved loved loved the silliness of Godzilla shooting a hole all the way to the hollow earth and then Godzilla and Kong screaming at each other through it. That might be one of the most gloriously dumb things ever put on film.
Called Ghidorah being a part of Mechagodzilla, and that Kong and Godzilla would have to team up against him.
I really wish we could have seen more of Hollow Earth. Hell, you could set a whole movie there. (Come'on, give me Kong: Hollow Earth). Was also hoping for some Toho cameos in there, but that costs $$$ so I wasn't expecting any.
The Millie Bobby Brown stuff really did not feel like it was necessary and was only included by MBB is a known star and so they had to put her in the movie doing something. I think there could have been better way to convey the how and why of Mechagodzilla to the audience.
I really didn't think they could do anything to drag down Serizawa's character any more, but giving him an (implied) son that does some decidedly anti-Serizawa stuff is one thing, but to not even have be relevant or even notable is ridiculous.
It's super weird how the Monsterverse wound up. 2014 was a more grounded, gritty take on things and pretty much every movie after that amped up the craziness. If we wind up not getting any more, I think they make a pretty alright four movie set, even if 2014 sticks out like a sore thumb and KotM isn't great.
Why on earth does the finale take place in Hong Kong and not, like, Tokyo? Godzilla doesn't hit Japan once and the only time we see it is when the male MUTO knocks out that nuclear power plant.
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Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
Why on earth does the finale take place in Hong Kong and not, like, Tokyo? Godzilla doesn't hit Japan once and the only time we see it is when the male MUTO knocks out that nuclear power plant.
This is a great observation and one I must always assume the most mercenary reason for
gotta appeal to that Chinese market somehow!
I mean it’s either that or they felt it would be mean to inflict the kind of truly awe-inspiring carnage on Tokyo they had planned, as an American production
Why on earth does the finale take place in Hong Kong and not, like, Tokyo? Godzilla doesn't hit Japan once and the only time we see it is when the male MUTO knocks out that nuclear power plant.
This is a great observation and one I must always assume the most mercenary reason for
gotta appeal to that Chinese market somehow!
I mean it’s either that or they felt it would be mean to inflict the kind of truly awe-inspiring carnage on Tokyo they had planned, as an American production
But I doubt that
It wouldn't surprise me if there's some sort of unwritten agreement that Godzilla doesn't attack Tokyo or other Japanese cities in the non-Japanese productions.
Hollow Earth was awesome and had very strong "The Outer Wilds" vibes with the dual gravity. I also kind of thought that after Skarsgaard blew up the HEAV there was going to be a post-credits nod to him getting the Ultraman power.
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
Rewatching King of the Monsters.
Fuck I'd forgotten how lame Wolf Dad is. Just an absolute chode.
I like Kyle Chandler generally but he's not well used in KotM, but gives us one of my favorite lines in GvK, "Godzilla is out there hurting people and we don't know why"
Posts
Polygon gives an openly enthusiastic review.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Yeah. I was expecting "middle of the road reviews I was gonna ignore anyway cause big monke punch giant lizard"
But the fact that the reception seems generally positive is a plus.
Did they get Bear McCreary back?
61 on Metacritic.
Just in case you were wondering
Godzilla (2014) - 62 MC, 76% RT
Kong: Skull Island - 62 MC, 78% RT
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 48 MC, 42% RT
And just for fun
Shin Godzilla - 67 MC, 86% RT
I think and hope this will be the movie that brings theaters back.
Tom Holkenberg
So probably gonna settle right in at G14 and Skull Island levels
Which... eh, at least they're back to competent
And the general conceit seems to be "its a movie about a giant lizard fighting a giant ape"
And it seems YMMV based on how much you wanted that and just that.
I don't even mind the design all that much.
Who doesn't?
Same. I kind of wish this was pushed back till this summer so I'd have a shot at a vaccine. Right now, I'll have to hope for a re-run or something.
EDIT: Might check online towards the end of the run. I saw Endgame a month or so late and there were only 3 or 4 folks in the giant theater.
It was very 'splodey.
NECA was my go to for Monsterverse figures, and they haven't got squat for Godzilla vs Kong.
https://playmatestoys.com/brands/godzilla-vs.-kong-movie/toys/basic-figures/
Just be careful about spoilers.
Steam: YOU FACE JARAXXUS| Twitch.tv: CainLoveless
I’ve remained unspoiled this long, I’m worried I’ll stumble at the finish line
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Non-spoiler impressions: I really liked it a lot! My only major complaint is that I wish it had been a little longer, in fact.
Now to get more into detail:
Things I Thought Could Have Been Better Explained
I've just learned that there are upcoming prequel novels set between Godzilla vs Kong: Godzilla Dominion and Kingdom Kong. Maybe some of these questions will be answered in those books (which I'm definitely going to get my hands on, along with the artbook).
Minor Nitpicks
Random Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Critics are being much more fair to this movie than they were the previous film, and unlike Godzilla: King of the Monsters it doesn't have to compete against multiple high profile movies, so here's hoping it does very well at the box office, too.
GvK didn't really have those issues. There were still human moments throughout the fights (which is fine) but they didn't detract from the showdowns. Easily my second or first favorite in this new monsterverse iteration. Great action, the human characters weren't grating, none of them overstayed their welcome.
Steam: YOU FACE JARAXXUS| Twitch.tv: CainLoveless
I'd rank the recent zilla movies as:
Shin Godzilla
Godzilla vs Kong
Godzilla 2014
KotM
Spoilery talk:
I appreciated that Godzilla wrecked Kong on the ocean, that Kong fought evenly with the help of the Zilla ax and his own cunning to avoid the breath attack (which was probably a one shot KO) and that Zilla won every fight except the solo battle against Mecha-Ghidorah. I know aesthetically it was Mecha-Godzilla, but it has Ghidorah's brain in it somehow, so it's more like Mecha-Ghidorah and it feels appropriate that the one fight Godzilla needs help on is the one versus Mecha-Godzilla/Ghidorah as this tracks with previous iterations.
I am left to wonder if Kong's ancestors built an actual fucking civilization in the hollow earth.
I don't recall there being a Hollow Earth per se in the Showa movies, but it would have fit right in alongside Seatopia and the like.
So much talk about this matchup has revolved around the advantage of Godzilla's atomic breath, and it was appreciated that so much of "Round 2" revolved around Kong having to deal with it in various ways.
I liked the concept of making Mechagodzilla agile through rocket assists, makes for more dynamic fights than focusing on it as a platform for an arsenal of ranged weapons.
Takeout: Check
Giant Ape: Check
Radioactive Dinosaur: Check
Getting the god damn date right: Check.
Let's do this!
Kong definitely ended up more as the main character in this one but they did definitively prove that Godzilla wins the fight in every circumstance
Where King of the Monsters stumbled in how it treated its silly-ass Showa and Heisei-era shit, I feel like Godzilla vs Kong really commits to it and goes "y'know what, no, this is absurd nonsense, you know it, we know it, let's just roll with it"
And it didn't have the characterization and script problems that KotM had that frustrate me so bad every time I rewatch it
Things I liked:
And I think the plot stuff feeds into that silly, colorful aesthetic! When we get down to the Hollow Earth, and we see that Kong's people had built things, that they had tools, and those tools were made of Godzilla parts, and he has a fucking throne, I lost my mind. It was so, so perfect in its absurdity that it made me laugh and clap like a tiny child
The entire Hong Kong sequence is a barrage of colors and camera moves, choreographed with exceptional skill, such that we never lose track of what's going on and get to see all the glorious monster dust-ups in a way that even King of the Monsters didn't show. The weight was really palpable too, in a way that I think KotM didn't have. It felt like a halfway point between 2014's weighty thunderousness and KotM's comic book creature bashing
I am a total mark for Mechagodzilla, and so while I certainly had my suspicions, seeing it was so much fun. It was a bit thin around the waist, much less of a chonky boi than Big G and previous Mechagodzilla models, but the way he moved was fun, and the connection to the Ghidorah head was predictable but also extra awesome and silly with the neon wires and such coming out of the skull. The way he goes out was a straight up Mortal Kombat fatality too, that was metal as shit, concluding a string of monster movies that end with a truly satisfying and cathartic decapitation! Not sure how that ended up being a running thing, but here we are!
Some of the synth score was neat, but the real highlight for me were the pop song needle-drops that Kong got. Those never failed to make me laugh. Good shit, well-timed, lots of fun! No standout highlights like Bear McCreary's score, but good all the same
Godzilla getting so pissed he shot through to the core of the Earth is the funniest fucking thing, I thought for sure he was digging down to where Mechagodzilla was, but that was so much dumber and more metal and I couldn't help but love it even though it was indeed very convenient to the plot and didn't account for the whole "gravity inversion" thing that now seems like a neat sequence solely for the purpose of having a neat sequence
They account for Kong's strengths against Godzilla (smarts, tool use, significantly higher agility) and Godzilla's strengths against Kong (can live underwater, swim fast, has the atomic breath, and is devastating in unarmed close combat) and so the fights felt appropriately one-sided when Godzilla's strengths were in play, and more even when Kong had his sick fucking axe to counter the atomic breath. But that being said? I really like that we got a definitive answer to the question of "who wins in a fight," because I expected them to leave it as a draw and they very definitively did not. Correctly, Godzilla wins—but with respect
They sidelined the hell out of Kyle Chandler's character, Wolf Dad, and I'm glad because I do not like him or that character at all
The Bad Guys get fuckin' GOT, and they get got GOOD—with an absolute lack of ceremony or respect. Exactly how it should be
Oh, and I enjoy seeing Lance Reddick get paid
Things I did not like:
The fact that Serizawa's son is involved with the Bad Guy's plan is so completely undersold and meaningless that I don't know why they named that character that. If he had a turn late in the game, that'd be something, or if they put more of a point on his relationship to his father or his motivations for going against his father's ideology, that'd be a character, but as it was he was a background guy with a name. I thought for sure when he got brain-fried he'd wake up at some point and do something, but nope! Just dead. His dad would be VERY disappointed in him
Alexander Skarsgard is a hot white dude who doesn't get much of consequence to do, but I did not hate his character like I hated Wolf Dad, so it's whatever
The denouement is very fun with the needle-drop on Kong, and I think that's appropriate, but I wanted more fanfare for Godzilla's exit from the film. He's got top billing! He should get a longer moment or a close-up before he's like "later punks" and swims away
Godzilla gets top billing, but he gets less screentime. On the one hand I don't mind, but on the other? I'd like to see more from Big G than just his being mega-pissed for most of the runtime. A scene of him like getting struck by lightning on an island somewhere before he goes to Hong Kong, like he's in his own personal Vegeta training montage, would be a great callback and give him just one scene on his own where he's not actively furious and smashing stuff. I dunno! Not a huge deal but something I thought about
I do not like seeing Lance Reddick get nothing to do, and he had nothing to do. He didn't even get a name! I think he got like one line? Two? I'm sure he had fun being on set but like, give Lance Reddick things to do!! He's your best actor in this movie!! That definitely feels like some deleted scene shit
All in all? Might be my favorite of these Monsterverse movies, or at least tied with Skull Island. I think 2014 has a few too many core issues for me to feel it's the best, though I really enjoy it and think it's excellently directed, and King of the Monsters is... well, my thoughts are well known at this point
This thing is incredibly silly and stupid as hell, and it fuckin' knows it and loves it and that makes me love it too. I had so much fun, and was never irritated once, which puts it solidly in the upper tier of Godzilla films, alongside favs like Astro-Monster and Ghidorah and Godzilla 2000
I almost hope they get to make more! But I'd also like to see another Japanese production, first
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Giving Kong the ability to communicate was a shock and while I wish he spoke a little more, I liked it.
Loved the Hollow Earth stuff, but shame there wasn't more.
Loved loved loved loved the silliness of Godzilla shooting a hole all the way to the hollow earth and then Godzilla and Kong screaming at each other through it. That might be one of the most gloriously dumb things ever put on film.
Called Ghidorah being a part of Mechagodzilla, and that Kong and Godzilla would have to team up against him.
I really wish we could have seen more of Hollow Earth. Hell, you could set a whole movie there. (Come'on, give me Kong: Hollow Earth). Was also hoping for some Toho cameos in there, but that costs $$$ so I wasn't expecting any.
The Millie Bobby Brown stuff really did not feel like it was necessary and was only included by MBB is a known star and so they had to put her in the movie doing something. I think there could have been better way to convey the how and why of Mechagodzilla to the audience.
I really didn't think they could do anything to drag down Serizawa's character any more, but giving him an (implied) son that does some decidedly anti-Serizawa stuff is one thing, but to not even have be relevant or even notable is ridiculous.
It's super weird how the Monsterverse wound up. 2014 was a more grounded, gritty take on things and pretty much every movie after that amped up the craziness. If we wind up not getting any more, I think they make a pretty alright four movie set, even if 2014 sticks out like a sore thumb and KotM isn't great.
This is a great observation and one I must always assume the most mercenary reason for
I mean it’s either that or they felt it would be mean to inflict the kind of truly awe-inspiring carnage on Tokyo they had planned, as an American production
But I doubt that
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Fuck I'd forgotten how lame Wolf Dad is. Just an absolute chode.
Edit, I'd forgotten about this scene, it is a highlight