Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Long Live the King

[StarkRavingMad]

Ghidorah's three heads having seperate, distinct personalities was a fantastic little touch.

Middle head being an enormously smug prick owned.

Absolutely loved that, too.

My personal favorite monster brawl moment was when Mothra used her web to trap two of Ghidorah's heads onto a building, only to leave the center head flailing around and visibly thinking, "Oh shit, Godzilla's coming! Godzilla's coming! I'm so screwed!" just before Godzilla smashes him through the building. Beautiful.

 

[Nut-Roaster the 2nd]

I'm a sucker for Mothra, so this movie just made me love her all the more. The fact that she was able to hold her own against and defeat Rodan just made me so damn happy. And yeah, she does die, but at least she went out in a more badass way against Ghidorah. She definitely earned her title as Queen of the Monsters. And the Stinger is fuckin awesome. 'Nuff said.

 

[ZooSmell]

Just got back.

As a long time and passionate Goji fan I was super excited for KotM and it did not disappoint. If you want a TLR its way better than Godzilla 2014 but not as good as Kong: Skull Island.

The humans were mostly good. The soy Dr. Colman (Thomas Middleditch) was bad and he makes the worst joke in the movie, but he's not in it a whole lot thankfully. Ken Watanabe steals the show as one of the best humans and *SPOILER* his death was one of the most emotional parts of the movie *SPOILER*, dude is just a good actor all round. The Stranger Things girl does a good job and is kind of like the straight man to every other character who is either a soldier or scientist. Lastly, and this is just a personal thing, I loved all the military stuff. I'm a mega sperg for military stuff and there's a few good action scenes focused on F-22's and some soldiering

But who gives a goddamn fuck about the humans, this is a Godzilla movie. Of course the big guy himself is awesome. They don't waste any time and Goji shows up about 30 mins in ready to fucking rock. Ghidorah has some of the most screen time out of all the monsters. His three heads all have a different personality and I honestly lol'ed every time the "leader" middle head would smack around the dumbass right head. Mothra and Rodan have the least screen time but make up for it by having some of the best monster fight action. *SPOILER* Big F in the chat for Mothra sacrificing herself to protect Goji in the final battle but its happened about like ten times already before in previous movies although at least this is the first time she did it for Goji *SPOILER*

Most of all though there's a significant number of references to Godzilla lore of the past. The Oxygen Destroyer from the OG 1954 Godzilla is there, and they even use Godzilla's and Mothra's classic theme songs! My personal favorite was in the final battle, *SPOILER* where Goji becomes so powered up with radiation that he starts to melt down and glow red hot like Burning Godzilla in Godzilla vs Destoroyah *SPOILER*

Overall, if you're a Godzilla fan there's a high chance you'll find something to like if not outright love it like me. It's certainly the best American made Godzilla movie so far. Even as just a causal movie goer the amazing and beautifully detailed CGI work and action will keep you hooked. Oh, and Aisha Hinds is thicc as fuck in military fatigues.

 

[The Great Chandler]

B A S E D
https://twitter.com/GodzillaMovie/status/1134551943542497281

 

[Megaroad]

Saw it. It's the best out of the American films but I'll take my Japanese movies over it any day.

Personally, I just get fatigued by nonstop cg action but that's just me. However I liked its respect to the source material.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

As of 6/2/19, the RT critical score is 39%, and the audience score is 87%. That is quite a gap, if I do say so myself.

While I am not at all the biggest fan of the YouTube reviewer/critic Grace Randolph, what she said about the critical reaction to this movie was perfect:

"If you went into this movie expecting Godzilla to monologue the most profound thing ever put to film, then that's on you."

I have no idea what critics expected with this movie. And, once again, I keep hearing all of these complaints about the human characters, but I wasn't annoyed by the humans in the slightest? I thought they were infinitely more interesting than the humans in the 2014 movie (a movie I enjoyed, btw, but recognize how it had some fatal flaws for many people). And I liked how a good chunk of the film involving the humans focused on just scientists in a room trying to figure out what to do ... You know ... Like they would in a legit TOHO GODZILLA FILM.

The only complaint I have heard about this movie that I think holds legitimacy is James Rolfe expressing his disappointment with how every monster fight was in a setting where it's raining and/or nighttime. While the action was truly fantastic, I do absolutely agree with James about how Godzilla vs. Kong absolutely needs to have a fight in the daylight. Plus, you know, even if James hated the movie, I wouldn't mind ... Because he never comes across as a pretentious asshole.

 

[The Nothingness]

Okay now that I'm back from my viewing of the movie, it's time for me to share my personal thoughts.

Spoiler: Pros and Cons

Pros

• More monster action is always a plus. Loved the creativity that went into each fight.
• The main family characters were much better than the 2014 ones and they had an actual arc.
• I loved all the callbacks to the previous Godzilla/Toho kaiju movies and the 2019 versions of Godzilla's theme, Mothra's theme, and the cover of the Blue Oyster Cult song in the mid-credits.
• The reveal that King Ghidorah is actually a space monster was a nice touch given he was able to regrow one of his heads. I didn't think they would go with the extraterrestrial origins but given this series features ancient, gigantic animals, it does not feel like it had jumped the shark.
• Not only do we get a tease for Godzilla vs. Kong but the post-credit scene could tease Mecha-King Ghidorah in the future.

Cons

• Much like an issue I had with Kong: Skull Island was too many human characters. It made it difficult to keep track of who was who. Plus it was at first confusing when the twin was revealed when Mothra came out of her cocoon.
• Having Sally Hawkins' character get eaten by King Ghidorah was such an unceremoniously exit for her. It reminded me of Mako's death in Pacific Rim: Uprising.
• As fun as it was to see monsters smashing each other throughout a city, I really wanted to see more monster devastation especially after King Ghidorah awakens the others. We see the clips of them on TV screens but never get a whole scene. To have Washington D.C. end up like it did would have been like the Godzilla movies of old where monsters would just wreck shit.
• While the Oxygen Destroyer was a nice callback, I felt it was just another "remember this" reference for the fans. My best friend pointed out in a podcast series he has done the significance of the Oxygen Destroyer in the original 1954 movie. Bascially to defeat a creature mutated by the most horrible weapon at the time (a nuclear bomb), another more horrifying weapon had to be created. So to have the military just say, "Oh yeah, we've developed this new WMD," out of the blue kind of lessens the weapon's impact (along with it only weakening Godzilla and not having an effect on King Ghidorah).
• Too much humor especially in parts where it was not needed. And it seemed the movie could not decide on which side character would be the comic relief so they just put in two of them.

I would definitely put this movie above Godzilla (2014) and probably on par on with Kong: Skull Island. I am disappointed to read about its lackluster opening. Looks like the RT critic score can still hold sway over how well a big budget movie does. Also since this cinematic universe is not ingrained into the general public like the MCU is, you may not get the massive audience that breaks box office records.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

Honestly, aside from Endgame, it is the most fun I've had in the theater all year.

 

[Odie Esty]

extremely happy with this movie. I watched just about every goji film earlier this year and the thing I really loved was seeing that godzilla ahd an actual character and underwent real development in the early movies. however the heisei and millenium eras had a lot of trouble deciding if he was hero, anti-hero, or villain, often in the same movie. KOTM didn't just have great fights and an ok human story, it felt like it continued the original godzilla's storyline, and that really made me fall in love with it.

 

[madethistocomment]

I did not expect to find myself crying over a giant moth, but here I am.

Mothra is best girl.

 

[BobsSpergers]

I enjoyed it, I really like Godzilla even though I'm almost completely unfamiliar with the old films. (Sidenote: how daunting would it be for a newbie to get into the old films? It seems like there's a hundred of them.) The only things I didn't care for were Bradley Whittaker(?) and the Verizon guy. They were comic relief characters that didn't work at all. Everyone else was fine. I also wish there was some daylight fight scenes. A good time was had.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

I enjoyed it, I really like Godzilla even though I'm almost completely unfamiliar with the old films. (Sidenote: how daunting would it be for a newbie to get into the old films? It seems like there's a hundred of them.)

It is daunting to get into it if you want to watch them all as there are, to date, 35 films.

However, James Rolfe made a decent video for beginners with his own recommendations:

 

[Muttnik]

Left-head Ghidorah is a good boy.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Sitting in the IMAX now with family. Little bro's pretty excited. Weird Skittles commercial with a Jamaican milking a giraffe played, what a way to get ready for Godzilla.

 

[cactus]

Sitting in the IMAX now with family. Little bro's pretty excited. Weird Skittles commercial with a Jamaican milking a giraffe played, what a way to get ready for Godzilla.

That commercial is on TV all the time, in fact, most of the commercials they play in theaters now are aired on TV.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

That commercial is on TV all the time, in fact, most of the commercials they play in theaters now are aired on TV.

I don't watch TV anymore lol.

Anyhow credits are playing, gonna edit when I get home but HELL. YEAH. Environmentalists BTFO'd and Mothra is one badass bae. Also Semper Fi to our fallen Kiwis caught in the Titan crosshairs, but our souls are bound to this place to shitpost beyond the grave.

EDIT NOW THAT I'M HOME:
Definitely soooooooooo much better than the first film, it's just bam, bam, BAM once it kicks off and it has a wicked soundtrack. Honestly, nice job starting off with a brief flashback to the first film showing off the best sequence from it then panning over to Godzilla kicking ass. Also nice job showing Mothra as the first Titan to get screentime in present time, it was intense and a good way to kickstart the plot (should we call it a plot?) and well-done set-ups to the Titans.

Gotta say, the human characters weren't bothersome this time around even though I can't remember over half of their names lmao, but the two deaths were practically foils to each other. Ken Watanabe's character goes off oddly peacefully in a radioactive, fiery pit as he says farewell to Godzilla (who's probably in a hallucinatory state lol), heard one of my brothers whimper over it. Then you got the villain, Emma (Emma, right? Guess she's the bad guy with the redemption arc) die from radioactive explosions after being hunted down by Ghidorah, her "creation", and spits at him "Long live the king". Oh yeah, there was that one chick who got eaten by Ghidorah, that was actually pretty cooleo scene ngl.

Also during the meltdown sequence (like hooooooly shit that was awesome), anyone else catch that "take that!" to Disney with Godzilla stepping on an advertisement for The Lion King? I'm assuming that's what it is since it had a lion on it, but maybe I'm looking at it too literally even though it's a total visual metaphor of Godzilla being the king of monsters. Hail to the king, baby.

Mothra got violent for once in her life LOL, stabbing Rodan to get him off of her was just super fucking awesome, I should've fistbumped my bro beside me like I did when Godzilla first launched his atomic breath in the first film.

Nice setup for Kong vs. Godzilla next year, really looking forward to seeing Kong challenge Godzilla for the throne.

Totally worth the price of admission, although watching it at night before bed might've been a teensy bit of a mistake 'cause it just pumped us up and who knows if anyone's going to get a good night's rest lol.

Also LMFAO at the "critics" who whined there's not as much human drama in this one. Bullshit, the whole movie's a human drama, it's just the Titans stole the show because they determine the fate of everything.

 

[Chin of Campbell]

Saw it on opening night, theater's power went out right as Mothra was about to emerge from her cocoon, so they had to reset the projector. I went to get more water and got stuck behind some tween girls arguing over pixie sticks, I hear Mothra's theme blaring from the next room and my heart sinks.

Loved the movie but missing my most anticipated part kind of ruined it for me. I'm looking forward to the Blu-Ray. Also really "happy" to hear that this isn't doing too hot. At least the Aladdin remake is doing well right guys?? Yay consumers!

Godzilla inadvertently blackpilled me.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Almost forgot to mention it in my previous post but--

Holy shit movie don't bait the shippers. Why are you crossing that line and baiting the shippers? Have you seen the shippers in the kaijuu fandom? It's the most fucking insane thing, like I can't believe people ship Godzilla/Mothra, like good God people, what is wrong with you? Why would the movie throw a bone to these people and imply they may be an "item", what the fuck? Good thing Watanabe (think it was him) corrects the dude and say "T_T Symbiotic relationships aren't uncommon in nature don't be silly T_T".

I should've seen the warning signs when the guy puts on a documentary on kaijuu reproduction for the Senate and hopes it's the footage with the censoring, although I thought it was funny, but I should've known it was going to lead up to some fucking awkward dialogue.

 

[Muttnik]

Almost forgot to mention it in my previous post but--

Holy shit movie don't bait the shippers. Why are you crossing that line and baiting the shippers? Have you seen the shippers in the kaijuu fandom? It's the most fucking insane thing, like I can't believe people ship Godzilla/Mothra, like good God people, what is wrong with you? Why would the movie throw a bone to these people and imply they may be an "item", what the fuck? Good thing Watanabe (think it was him) corrects the dude and say "T_T Symbiotic relationships aren't uncommon in nature don't be silly T_T".

I should've seen the warning signs when the guy puts on a documentary on kaijuu reproduction for the Senate and hopes it's the footage with the censoring, although I thought it was funny, but I should've known it was going to lead up to some fucking awkward dialogue.

Like, ZOMG ummm hello what's wrong with you? You can't see the love between a giant radioactive lizard and his moth-bride?

 

[StarkRavingMad]

Saw it on opening night, theater's power went out right as Mothra was about to emerge from her cocoon, so they had to reset the projector. I went to get more water and got stuck behind some tween girls arguing over pixie sticks, I hear Mothra's theme blaring from the next room and my heart sinks.

Loved the movie but missing my most anticipated part kind of ruined it for me. I'm looking forward to the Blu-Ray. Also really "happy" to hear that this isn't doing too hot. At least the Aladdin remake is doing well right guys?? Yay consumers!

Godzilla inadvertently blackpilled me.

Sadly, I think the 2014 movie burned the general audience. Lots of people thought the movie was boring. While I did enjoy the 2014 movie overall, I also have to admit that the next time I see it, I will probably fast forward though the entire second act. Killing off Bryan Cranston's character so early on was a fatal mistake. I was down with approaching the first Godzilla movie like Jaws, where Godzilla is built up and teased throughout ... But if you're going to do that, then you have GOT to have interesting humans to take up the screen time. They literally had the most interesting human in a Godzilla movie ever with Bryan Cranston's character ... And they the killed him off at the end of the first act. The hell, movie? lol.

So. People saw the 2014 Godzilla, and were disappointed. I'm thinking they were waiting to see what the critics said in response to this new movie before deciding to go check it out ... And we all know how the movie turned out for the critics.

I still do NOT understand the panning it has received. The main complaints with the 2014 movie were that there wasn't enough monster action, and that the humans were boring. This new movie FIXES those two issues, and somehow it's a significantly worse movie than the 2014 film, according to the critics? It makes no goddamn sense to me.

And I love how the general audience is like, "wE wAnT tO sEe SoMeThInG nEw FrOm HoLlYwOoD," and then another Disney remake makes about half a billion dollars in less than two weeks. Thanks, normies! Fuck you, too! Can't wait to read the headlines in a month or two about The Lion King remake making a billion dollars ...