“It not only has some of the best giant monster action ever committed to screen, it also has a tight plot line that makes for a paranoid bureaucratic thriller. It delivers as an action horror film, but also as an indictment on government response and responsibility in the face of catastrophe.”
★ 1/2 out of 5
Cast: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe Director: Michael Dougherty Duration: 2 h 11 m
In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, humanity has learned little from its last confrontation with the ancient sea monster.
As behemoths destroy the planet, people war among themselves and argue over petty differences.
Even if the premise held promise (it doesn’t), this lacklustre reboot-sequel is completely undone by muddy CGI and paper-thin characterizations.
Since Godzilla destroyed San Francisco back in the 2014 film, the American military has been tracking him and other creatures lying dormant.
Against this backdrop, Dr. Emma (Vera Farmiga) and Mark (Kyle Chandler) Russell, who are now separated, wrestle with the grief of losing one child and stress over the difficulties in raising their other.
Meanwhile, eco-terrorists set into motion a disastrous set of events that unleash the so-called titans, including a three-headed King Ghidorah.
Faced with a global catastrophe, the people of Earth need to band together to survive.
However, in Godzilla, the collectivism required to stave off the end of the world is consistently at odds with the individualism of Hollywood storytelling.
The all-star cast does little to overcome the low stakes of the interpersonal dramas as the “human” moments fail to resonate in the shadow of giant monsters crushing literal cities.
But even as an action supercut of clashing beasts, Godzilla: King of the Monsters doesn’t really hit its mark.
Nauseating camera movements mix in with grey CGI to create a disorienting and unpleasant experience.
The monsters are muddy and, despite being more “photorealistic” than the monsters of previous incarnations, these creatures feel unpleasantly weightless. Even Mothra, who should have been a splash of colour, is little more than a formless white light against a blue-grey background.
Even worse, the big monster fights seem to have gone through the Eyes Wide Shut treatment.
Before releasing Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 classic starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, Warner Brothers used CGI to disguise the more explicit elements of an orgy scene. In the case of Godzilla, big fights are not only interrupted by pointless cutaway reactions, but large objects often fill the frame to hide the titan vs. titan battles.
Stylistically, they serve no purpose except maybe to obscure poorly rendered effects and a lack of budget.
As the movie progresses, it moves further away from the ecological and political questions that spurred Godzilla out of his slumber in the first place.
The franchise has been Hollywoodized and that means distancing itself as much as possible from antiwar or pro-environmental messages.
While the franchise doesn’t have to be smart to be enjoyable, Godzilla movies have normally been adept at capturing the anxieties of the moment.
This film does little of that, redirecting its attention instead to the lacking CGI spectacles.
If you’re really craving some big monster energy, you’d do better to watch Shin Godzilla, which won the equivalent of Japan’s Best Picture Oscar back in 2016, but never received a proper North American release.
It not only has some of the best giant monster action ever committed to screen, it also has a tight plot line that makes for a paranoid bureaucratic thriller.
It delivers as an action horror film, but also as an indictment on government response and responsibility in the face of catastrophe.
Basically, it does everything right that Godzilla: King of the Monsters gets wrong.
