Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O'Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, Stephen Moyer (uncredited), Eli Roth (uncredited)
Directed by: Michael Dougherty
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Giant monsters emerge from slumber around the world and Godzilla is all that stands in their way.

Review:

Tim: 2019 kind of feels like the year of the failed sequel. So many sequels under-performed or were critical disappointments, and unfortunately, you can add Godzilla: King of the Monsters to that list. I enjoyed 2014's franchise reboot and was looking forward to this expanded scope sequel. Unfortunately, this movie made $90 million less than the previous film and wasn't nearly as good. It's a bit perplexing because all the ingredients were here for a movie at least as good as the first one. Sadly, that wasn't the case.

When movies like this disappoint, it's usually either the director, studio interference, or both. Michael Dougherty deserves at least some of the blame here. The 2014 film was solid- it was a gritty, American version of the classic movie character. The visual effects were stunning. You take the world that film set up, and now you add iconic monsters like King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan. Having four giant creatures battling it out should have been incredible- it should have been mind-blowing. Instead, it's okay.

A big part of the problem is the script (of which Dougherty was involved). Godzilla movies have often suffered because the human characters were never as compelling as the monster battles. This goes back to the earliest roots of the franchise. This movie certainly tries to tell a compelling human drama. Unfortunately, it just falls flat. The story centers around a fractured family- a separated husband and wife, and their daughter who is caught in the middle. It feels like this was the right approach. Broken families create drama and tension, and it's a logical thing to base your human story on. The movie did well to cast Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, and Millie Bobby Brown in the three key roles. The problem was that their story wasn't all that interesting. Sure, it had a few solid moments here and there, but we didn't really know these characters and for all the time spent focusing on them, they weren't even close to being as interesting as Godzilla throwing it down with these other monsters. I thought the 2014 film did a much better job of establishing characters you cared about. Unfortunately, only supporting characters like Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins made the transition from this film. Chandler, Farmiga, and Brown put effort into their performances, but the story around them and the direction they got didn't help. The human story took a huge step back in this one, which undermines everything else in the movie. For a film that was probably too long at 2 hours, 12 minutes, not really caring about the characters is pretty much a death sentence. Dougherty mishandles this aspect of the film.

The supporting cast is good. I always like Bradley Whitford, although his character was too one-note. Charles Dance was fun to see, although his character's story never made a ton of sense to me. Thomas Middleditch was decent. I always love seeing David Strathairn, and O'Shea Jackson, Jr. continues to deliver solid work. As a whole, the supporting cast was fairly decent.

The giant monster battles are what really matter, though. I thought they were fine. I have less complaints than with the human stories. However, the 2014 version felt like it had these iconic, beautiful, frightening sequences. The HALO jump scene is especially memorable. That scene in the trailer was so compelling, it got me to go see the film in theaters. There wasn't anything to that level here. The visual effects aren't bad- it was stunning to see Mothra, Rodan, and especially King Ghidorah depicted here. Those characters have never looked better. The visuals were strong, but they weren't next-level and I think that hurt the film. It's hard to be too critical because this was one of the stronger aspects of the movie, but it also felt like a step back.

I wonder where this rebooted franchise goes from here. This movie was obviously a disappointment. Even though it's not a bad film (it's really pretty decent), it represents a sharp drop in quality. The plan was to build to a Godzilla vs. Kong film, which will almost certainly still happen. However, it's sad how quickly a franchise can turn from exciting to bland. This film might be decent, but it certainly didn't give me a reason to be very excited about future installments. That's a shame to squander goodwill like that.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Godzilla (2014), Skull Island