Godzilla: King of the Monsters

[kajnrig]

1 minute ago, Dobber said:

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I found Vera’s character a hypocrite and utterly despicable. She’s takes the high ground when condemning  billions of people to die....just as long as it’s OTHER humans that die. She had the nerve to panic for her daughter when how many millions of other people/families suffered that fate due to her actions. She flat out leaves the father of her child behind to die a horrible death in Antarctica...in front of her daughter, who she had brain washed into being a willing participant. Her only redeeming factor,apparentl, is that she is woman so she gets a pass since Charles Dance’s character has the same goal but is viewed as just a bad guy.....but we are supposed to feel for her? Lol.

 

Yeah, she's as morally reprehensible as the Big Bad, and her redemption works only in that it helps Good Guy Godzuki win the fight; in light of all else her actions wrought upon the world, her self-sacrifice is but a flash in the pan. If she had survived, no doubt she would have been thrown in a jail cell for the rest of her life, redemption or no redemption, future cooperation or no future cooperation.

That said, she forms part of a completely unlikable and dysfunctional family, who themselves exist in a world populated by the seemingly inept. So like... one idiot amongst six billion, what are ya gonna do? I like that it took a complete noob to pry open jammed hangar doors that trained professionals were just completely flummoxed by. I like also that nobody thought to evacuate the "deck crew," I guess, either beforehand or immediately after the hangar doors are forced open when (and I like this the best) a giant Osprey with giant, deadly  twin propellers crashes into the hangar and by the grace of God doesn't obliterate a single person. And then Ice Cube Jr (and I like this the best best) says something like, "Yeah, that's the way we do it!"

It's some of the dumbest people doing the dumbest things, and if that isn't also part of Godzilla tradition I don't know what is.

[Dobber]

When the Osprey’s launched and their wings rotated whilst falling, I said to my friend “must be nice to like in a world where you can be utterly certain your tech is going to work!” In the real world 2 out of the 3 would’ve just dropped! Lol!

Chris

[kajnrig]

Board's not letting me add to the post, so I'll just say that both screenings I went to got rounds of enthusiastic applause. Despite all the dumb stuff, despite all the dumb human characters, despite tons of dumb issues that I thought for sure would turn off general audiences, it seems like people were really behind the movie, which made me feel the warms and fuzzies.

[Dobber]

Just now, kajnrig said:

Board's not letting me add to the post, so I'll just say that both screenings I went to got rounds of enthusiastic applause. Despite all the dumb stuff, despite all the dumb human characters, despite tons of dumb issues that I thought for sure would turn off general audiences, it seems like people were really behind the movie, which made me feel the warms and fuzzies.

That’s awesome! I really loved this movie. I hope the monster verse continues.....the Kong vs. Godzilla is coming next year I believe. Hope it is as good. Now my big question is will they do Mechagodzilla?

Chris

[Atheonyirh]

Jaegerzilla to get that sweet, sweet Pacific Rim crossover.

[badboy00z]

I like the bow down bitches scene at the end. lol

[M'Kyuun]

7 hours ago, kajnrig said:

 

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Yeah, she's as morally reprehensible as the Big Bad, and her redemption works only in that it helps Good Guy Godzuki win the fight; in light of all else her actions wrought upon the world, her self-sacrifice is but a flash in the pan. If she had survived, no doubt she would have been thrown in a jail cell for the rest of her life, redemption or no redemption, future cooperation or no future cooperation.

That said, she forms part of a completely unlikable and dysfunctional family, who themselves exist in a world populated by the seemingly inept. So like... one idiot amongst six billion, what are ya gonna do? I like that it took a complete noob to pry open jammed hangar doors that trained professionals were just completely flummoxed by. I like also that nobody thought to evacuate the "deck crew," I guess, either beforehand or immediately after the hangar doors are forced open when (and I like this the best) a giant Osprey with giant, deadly  twin propellers crashes into the hangar and by the grace of God doesn't obliterate a single person. And then Ice Cube Jr (and I like this the best best) says something like, "Yeah, that's the way we do it!"

It's some of the dumbest people doing the dumbest things, and if that isn't also part of Godzilla tradition I don't know what is.

 

Vera's character is indeed reprehensible, and all the other adjectives applied. But, unlike the majority of the cast, she wasn't just vanilla- one way or the other, you feel something about her and her actions that you seldom feel for the other characters. Well, other than incredulousness or annoyance. I think Dr. Serizawa was the most noble and likeable character in the movie, but then he was written that way, and portrayed perfectly by Ken Watanabe. His pivotal scene with Godzilla was a good moment for the character, and for the movie as a whole, IMHO. And yeah, human stupidity abounded in this film; fortunately the monster on monster scenes served as good reprieves when the dumb meter was offscale high.

7 hours ago, Dobber said:

When the Osprey’s launched and their wings rotated whilst falling, I said to my friend “must be nice to like in a world where you can be utterly certain your tech is going to work!” In the real world 2 out of the 3 would’ve just dropped! Lol!

Chris

Stories of the various failings of the Osprey at this point are so much negative history with a rather large and unfortunate body count. That said, there's just something captivating, almost otherworldly, about it. It's my childhood sci-fi become real, and I find it to be an amazingly lovely craft to behold aesthetically, but also for the achievements in technology that it represents.  But, reality being the master of all things, the truth is those Ospreys probably would have crashed to the ground in a midair release. Fortunately, movies still require a lot of suspension of disbelief, especially when Hollywood Hollywoods all over a film like this one. For those two+ hours, I'm willing to believe.

[renegadeleader1]

So I just rewatched i. and I have a question...

The scene at the begining where the Monarch guys are trying to subdue larva Mothra with tasers, those tasers are the M41A pulse rifle props from Aliens aren't they?

I also noticed they made a Ray Harryhausen tribute as one of the characters in the credits is "G-Unit Officer Harryhausen".

[eXis10z]

This movie was awesome! From the callbacks to the music to the monster fights! The human parts were lacking but seriously, all I want in a godzilla movie are epic monster fights and we got that! Just wished they didn't keep cutting from the fight scenes to show humans, they need extended monster battle scenes.

Edited June 3, 2019 by eXis10z

[mikeszekely]

So I'm hearing that, despite opening at #1, KotM is underperforming. I blame the 2014 film. I think a lot of people were disappointed with it (disclosure: myself included), killing a lot of interest casual fans had in seeing another (myself not included: Legendary had me at "King Ghidorah"). Hopefully word of mouth gets around and it has a good second weekend.

[D' only]

watched it last night, I enjoyed it very much. It feels like all the conversation were there only to move the plot and most of the time all the event waited for the dialog to finish before it happens. I would watch again, again and again! love it. 

[TangledThorns]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

So I'm hearing that, despite opening at #1, KotM is underperforming. I blame the 2014 film. I think a lot of people were disappointed with it (disclosure: myself included), killing a lot of interest casual fans had in seeing another (myself not included: Legendary had me at "King Ghidorah"). Hopefully word of mouth gets around and it has a good second weekend.

Yeah, the 2014 film and I think the trailers for KOTM didn't help as they seemed kinda pretentious. Ultimately it comes down to reviews and right now KOTM has a lower score than Aladdin on RT. I did not expect that *sad face*

[Dobber]

48 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

Yeah, the 2014 film and I think the trailers for KOTM didn't help as they seemed kinda pretentious. Ultimately it comes down to reviews and right now KOTM has a lower score than Aladdin on RT. I did not expect that *sad face*

Just shows why that site and critics in general are worthless. The AUDIENCE score is 86% vs the 38% critic score. Critics can really ruin a movie or give a boost to a piece of crap....like TLJ. Far too much credence is given to them or sites like RT that compiles their opinions. 

Chris

Edited June 3, 2019 by Dobber

[Dynaman]

Wife and I watched most of it, she got bored and wanted to leave.  I didn't care enough to see the end that I made her stay.  So we left about 90 minutes in.  So not exactly a ringing endorsement.

[easnoddy]

The acting was shallow and terrible.  Didn't care about stupid family, wished they'd all die.  Was embarrassed by the "tech" of Monarch, so stupid.  The monster fight scenes were good, but the overall scale was lacking, it didn't FEEL huge to me.  And when Ghidorah's heads were coming at the screen it felt like a bad 3D ride.

They may as well have made the bad guys Cobra and the good guys GIJoe.

Edited June 3, 2019 by easnoddy

[David Hingtgen]

Huh. I think I liked it more than the last one.  

[kajnrig]

15 hours ago, Dynaman said:

Wife and I watched most of it, she got bored and wanted to leave.  I didn't care enough to see the end that I made her stay.  So we left about 90 minutes in.  So not exactly a ringing endorsement.

10 hours ago, easnoddy said:

The acting was shallow and terrible.  Didn't care about stupid family, wished they'd all die.  Was embarrassed by the "tech" of Monarch, so stupid.  The monster fight scenes were good, but the overall scale was lacking, it didn't FEEL huge to me.  And when Ghidorah's heads were coming at the screen it felt like a bad 3D ride.

They may as well have made the bad guys Cobra and the good guys GIJoe.

This was more the reaction I was anticipating.

Y'all remember when the big bad was giving their big bad screed via a Skype chat and had stock footage queued up for B-roll?  That bit in particular but that entire scene in general had me squirming in my seat wanting to get away from the cringe. I'm sure everyone on the deck of the ship were also thinking the same thing when it started turning into a family court proceeding.

[Big s]

This is one of those films I agree with the critics recommendations. It’s a bad movie that appeals to die hard fans only. I can’t recommend to a non godzilla fan, but the fans will love it. Just like transformers fans will love anything transformers.

[mikeszekely]

54 minutes ago, Big s said:

This is one of those films I agree with the critics recommendations. It’s a bad movie that appeals to die hard fans only. I can’t recommend to a non godzilla fan, but the fans will love it. Just like transformers fans will love anything transformers.

Trust me, as a TF fan I can tell you we definitely don't like anything Transformers.

[tekering]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

as a TF fan I can tell you we definitely don't like anything Transformers.

It's true.  We're more critical than Star Trek fans.  

Godzilla fans are, by their nature, much more forgiving.  

[Tking22]

8 hours ago, Big s said:

This is one of those films I agree with the critics recommendations. It’s a bad movie that appeals to die hard fans only. I can’t recommend to a non godzilla fan, but the fans will love it. Just like transformers fans will love anything transformers.

Yikes yeah, as mentioned, Transformers fans are a fickle bunch, the movie was not without its fans, but generally looked down upon by many, myself included, outside bits of the first film and Bumblebee those films and designs were god awful, the films have almost zero redeeming qualities.

On the topic of KotM, I HAVE been recommending it to everyone I can, I've been telling folks it's no more a turn your brain off Summer blockbuster then any other film of the sort, Endgame, Shazam, any superhero stuff really. It's just Godzilla, so it's infinitely better :). I don't see how there's a line at Godzilla when it comes to big dumb blockbuster films, it's all fantasy and CG, anyone can get into it, it's really not anymore dumb then any of the recent superhero or other big budget action film nonsense.

[Dobber]

8 hours ago, Big s said:

This is one of those films I agree with the critics recommendations. It’s a bad movie that appeals to die hard fans only. I can’t recommend to a non godzilla fan, but the fans will love it. Just like transformers fans will love anything transformers.

Respectfully disagree. I’m not a Godzilla or Kaijū fan and loved this movie. I also HATE the Transformers movies. Sorry you didn’t like the movie though.

Chris

[Mazinger]

41 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

... it's no more a turn your brain off Summer blockbuster then any other film of the sort, Endgame, Shazam, any superhero stuff really. It's just Godzilla, so it's infinitely better :). I don't see how there's a line at Godzilla when it comes to big dumb blockbuster films, it's all fantasy and CG, anyone can get into it, it's really not anymore dumb then any of the recent superhero or other big budget action film nonsense.

^ This point nails it for me.

I feel like a lot of people went into this movie expecting real tense, satisfying, human drama, while that was what many of us faulted the 2014 movie for overreaching on.

It's as if people forget that 5 years (or months) after the fact, no one really sits there thinking about the dialog scenes between human characters in a Kaiju movie.

Sure I want an Oscar nominated, Godzilla based drama with all the gravitas of typical Oscar bait, but look how many, many, many Superhero movies we had to go through to get characters we actually cared about.  The sad reality is we'll never get that many G films in a given series. So if I can't have a heart wrenching story about stupid humans in my monster movie, at least let me have one damn honest attempt at seeing them fight.

It's also interesting that I think about 20% (my estimate from reading reviews at various places) of G fans are actually disappointed that the humans still had so much screen time.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Mazinger

[Mechinyun]

Me and my son are huge godzilla fans, for me, I could care less about any humans in the story.  When we watch godzilla movies at home, we pretty much just skip to the Kaiju scenes, I would not say any prior godzilla movie has had any better of actors or story.  So the fact that the human story in KOTM was a bit hammy.. no problemo, the human story felt typical hollywood summer style.  The kaiju action was A+, it had a bunch of "feel good" kaiju moments that moved me and really put a smile on my face, which is rare for me in any movie these days. That was worth the ticket price alone.  I also liked they showed where godzilla lives, that was a super cool part of the movie.  Also the music, the music made it, hearing the original themes play at the right times really kicked ass. Lots and lots of call backs and fan service that should really click if you are a big G fan.  If you are on the fence, just go see it!  If you liked pacific rim, this is better and this is way better than godzilla 2014. 

 

 

.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Mechinyun

[easnoddy]

I had higher expectations for this one, and the fight scenes were pretty good, but the acting was just SO bad.  Bad choice for a lead (although I really liked him in Hulu's Catch-22 series).  The Lannister "chaos for chaos sake" nonsense was not believable, even for my switched off brain.  I don't understand why the stupid Orca machine didn't have a headset and simply acted as a translator for its user.  Oh no, you pinch and swipe and its simple to control...wtf?  The girl was more believable than either of the actors who played her parents.

I expected Pacific Rim 2 to be terrible and was pleasantly surprised.  IMO that was a better movie than KotM.   I like the Bayformers TFs just like I like watching Jurassic dinos, they're cool and well done...so those movies were fun for me (except the Last Knight). 

This is a movie that could have been so much better.  All it would have taken would have been LESS humans.  I liked Shin Godzilla better in many ways (no kids, failure of bureaucracy, etc).  Its amazing that Marvel has shown us how you can make a serious movie aimed at kids that doesn't HAVE kids or families or anything.

I think it would have been better if 11 used her powers on the monsters.

Edited June 4, 2019 by easnoddy

[Mazinger]

29 minutes ago, easnoddy said:

I expected Pacific Rim 2 to be terrible and was pleasantly surprised.  IMO that was a better movie than KotM.

While I liked PR(1), I enjoyed PR2 a lot less. I don't mind it, but I doubt I'll watch it again.

Whereas I'm not sure how many times I'll have to watch KofM before I need to take a break from it.

Right now I'm putting that number at about 7 viewings.

[TangledThorns]

Finally saw it today and don't understand the hate for it. The monster design and action was spot on and honored the Japanese films, really enjoyed the Mothra scenes. The humans were fine too. The Orca element of the story was interesting too.

I think what hurt the film the most was the length of time since the first movie, Should have been made three years after the first Godzilla, not five.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to King Kong vs Godzilla.

West vs East

Mammal vs Lizard

Slavery vs Nukes

[anime52k8]

Basically, you're either an intelligent, cultured individual who appreciates tasteful adaptations of classic international cinema; or you're someone who didn't like this movie.

Edited June 8, 2019 by anime52k8

[Dynaman]

11 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

Basically, you're either an intelligent, cultured individual who appreciates tasteful adaptations of classic international cinema; or you're someone who didn't like this movie.

I think you have that backwards.

I didn't hate the movie, I just found it utterly forgettable.  EDIT - And I'm a guy that LOVES Godzilla vs the Smog Monster and that Godzilla on Monster Island debacle.  

Edited June 9, 2019 by Dynaman

[blackconvoy_D01]

15 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

Finally saw it today and don't understand the hate for it. The monster design and action was spot on and honored the Japanese films, really enjoyed the Mothra scenes. The humans were fine too. The Orca element of the story was interesting too.

I think what hurt the film the most was the length of time since the first movie, Should have been made three years after the first Godzilla, not five.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to King Kong vs Godzilla.

West vs East

Mammal vs Lizard

Slavery vs Nukes

Same; saw it last night and loved it. I dont understand the negativity on the film either. It tied in to the first, didnt force Kong onto the viewer in an over imposing way. The twist was somewhat predictable- but its Godzilla. Overall enjoyable scifi movie. They should have made it sooner- as mentioned above. Literally the only gripe.

[kalvasflam]

you know, I haven't seen this flick yet, but from what I've read, I get the feeling that they were rushing things too much.  I mean, they literally threw in everything, including the King, all at once.   I wish they did a Marvelesque build up.  They could've milked this movie for a whole universe.  As it stands, we'll have four movies.

[kajnrig]

 

[mikeszekely]

My mom really wanted to see this, and since my mom doesn't really have a social circle beyond me and my dad and my dad's health problems make sitting in a movie theater uncomfortable for him I wound up taking her and seeing it again.  My opinion still stands.  There's plenty of monster action, and the plot's easy to follow even if you've never seen a Godzilla but there's tons of little nods and easter eggs for the long time Godzilla fans.  It's biggest weakness is the human stuff, but that can be said of nearly every Godzilla in the last 50 years, and for all its flaws in that regard is still a major improvement over the 2014 film.  It definitely had some elements I didn't care for, but they basically boil down to "Hollywood gonna Hollywood."

14 hours ago, blackconvoy_D01 said:

I dont understand the negativity on the film either.

Frankly, I don't either.  I mean, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm not saying that anyone is wrong for theirs, but I genuinely don't understand what expectations you'd have to go in with to come away with a negative opinion.  As a summer popcorn flick the film is much more action-oriented than the previous film, and as a Godzilla film the filmmakers were clearly Godzilla fans themselves and made a movie that was as close to a Toho Godzilla as Hollywood was ever going to get.

[JetJockey]

I'm not an expert on Godzilla or big monster movies. I vaguely remember enjoying them when I was a kid. And because of that Godzilla and King Kong are pretty iconic. But I don't need to see them fight no more than I needed to see Batman fight Superman.

 

I did see the last American Godzilla movie and it was ok. Not really worth owning. But entertaining for the giant monster stuff and a bit scary at times. I thought Godzilla should have been stronger. For that reason, I'm not really looking forward to the next movie or series except for the visuals. I saw a picture of a flying dragon that looked really good.

[TangledThorns]

Best Godzilla film yet. There I said it

Mothra needs her own movie too!