Godzilla: King of the Monsters

[Head Gardener]

am going into this tonight trailer unseen but hopes are high, saw the last one at the weekend to get up to speed and it ended pretty flat so this one ought to rock



I googled a clip from it and it reminded me of this

[mothman]

Grauniad review absolutely slated it. It also said the first one was bad, that the 1998 version was unwatchable and Gareth Edwards did a lot better directing Rogue One (it makes no mention of the film basically being taken away from him) if that helps you calibrate the reviewer's tastes...

[PlanktonSideburns]

last one was good fun i thought, enjoyed it when he suddenly belched that lazer everywhere, also he was quite chubby and cute, that was good

[DukeDeMondo]

Empire didn't like it very much either. If you're at all interested in what Empire Magazine thinks of anything.

[St_Eddie]

Sha la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la
And Marie who waits for me

[St_Eddie]

Empire didn't like it very much either. If you're at all interested in what Empire Magazine thinks of anything.

The magazine that gave Attack of the Clones four stars (among countless other absurdly high scores for terrible movies)?  Nah, I couldn't give two figs as to what they think.

Having said that, this'll be shite, I reckon.

[magval]

They actually gave Clones five stars, originally.

[St_Eddie]

They actually gave Clones five stars, originally.

Fucking hell.

[Spiteface]

Godzilla fights a fucking 3-headed dragon.

There's no pleasing these tossers.

[DukeDeMondo]

They actually gave Clones five stars, originally.

Then editor (I don't think he still is, is he?) Chris Hewitt talks about that, briefly, in this interview.

"Attack Of The Clones. Five stars. Yeah. In fact it has been erased from existence: if you go on the Empire website you will not find a five star review of Attack Of The Clones. [...] You know, we get things wrong all the time but that one definitely stands out. It was on the verge of getting four stars and I lost my nerve at the last minute. It's not even a very well written review, it's dreadful. It's gonna haunt me to my dying day."

[kidsick5000]

It's 2/5 for me, and that's including the generosity of I ❤ Godzilla points.

tl/dr it fails to realise the failings of the first film in that, WE'RE NOT HERE FOR FAMILY DRAMA.
Some of which is so cliche you'll mouth what Kyle Chandler is going to say before he says it.
The cast is bloated and they also have waaaaaaaaay too many wisecrackers, to the point it feels like there could have been squabbles on set to see who got the final zinger in scenes.
Zhang Ziyi is suddenly twins for 5 minutes for - well I won't say no reason, but pretty sure the reason is cut from the film!

That said, there's a decent film in there. The monster fights are fun.
When the human's are trying figure out what's going on, that's fine - especially big G's first appearance.
Hopefully, Kong v Godzilla is still inevitable and not hinging on this film's success.
If it is, I hope they remember fun and take themselves less seriously.

PS. Charles Dance fucking rocks.

[Head Gardener]

it fails to realise the failings of the first film in that, WE'RE NOT HERE FOR FAMILY DRAMA.
The monster fights are fun.

absolutely, I thought there was too much close up on actor reactions when monster fights were in full effect too and my 14 year old thought it was all just appalling,
his 1/10 review is pretty damning - however I gave it 5/10 as overall it's pretty grim going

[a duncandisorderly]

I liked the emmerich one, so shoot me.

[St_Eddie]

I liked the emmerich one, so shoot me.

Gladly.

*bang*

[beanheadmcginty]

The only good moment in this is Ken Watanabe responding to the question "What time is it?" with the dad joke classic "Time you got a watch". Rest of it was shite.

[SavageHedgehog]

I liked the emmerich one, so shoot me.

I've got a soft spot for it too, oddly the only one of Emmerich's films I have a soft spot for. The campy tone is easier to take for me than the alternating melodrama and lame jokes he usually goes for.

Thought the 2014 one was kind of a tough sit. Was looking forward to this one but have heard a few off-putting things.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Then editor (I don't think he still is, is he?) Chris Hewitt talks about that, briefly, in this interview.

"Attack Of The Clones. Five stars. Yeah. In fact it has been erased from existence: if you go on the Empire website you will not find a five star review of Attack Of The Clones. [...] You know, we get things wrong all the time but that one definitely stands out. It was on the verge of getting four stars and I lost my nerve at the last minute. It's not even a very well written review, it's dreadful. It's gonna haunt me to my dying day."

It's now edited by Terri White, who's great. The magazine has really improved under her stewardship.

[Bad Ambassador]

I wasn't that impressed. The human characters are all pretty dull and cookie-cutter, as mentioned there's too much bad comedy and there's never a direct human stake to the destruction as there was in the 2014 film and others. Too much of the film is people in rooms arguing, cut to CGI devastation, cut to arguing and so forth with little emotional engagement. If the end of the world is this boring, something's seriously wrong.

I've seen people online say "but it's Godzilla fighting a three-headed dragon!" in response to any and all criticism. Bless.

All the divorce stuff reminded me of the old Godzilla vs Kramer vs Kramer joke.

[colacentral]

I wasn't that impressed. The human characters are all pretty dull and cookie-cutter, as mentioned there's too much bad comedy and there's never a direct human stake to the destruction as there was in the 2014 film and others. Too much of the film is people in rooms arguing, cut to CGI devastation, cut to arguing and so forth with little emotional engagement.

So like Japanese Godzilla then.

I was going to make the hour+ trip to see this in IMAX. Not worth the bother? I'm baffled that they could fuck this up, the easiest layup imaginable. Though I had my suspicions when I heard the old lazy "we just need to kill the head monster" trope in the trailers, a trope I detest, also recently featured in Game of Thrones.

[Bad Ambassador]

So like Japanese Godzilla then.

Not really. I watched the '54 original and Shin Godzilla recently and thought they were both great and very involving.

[cliggg]

Does the movie also suffer from "World Building"?

[cliggg]

Deleted

[colacentral]

Not really. I watched the '54 original and Shin Godzilla recently and thought they were both great and very involving.

Well the original is perhaps an exception, but the franchise as a whole consists of boring human side plots involving Japanese men and a single little boy sitting around talking about whatever the bad monster is while we wait to see Godzilla for five minutes at a time towards the end.

[kidsick5000]

Does the movie also suffer from "World Building"?

yes and no.
I feel it thinks the first film was way more memorable that it is.
So there are references to things that are given enough focus to wink at.
And there are plenty of monsters yet to be seen.
Possibly we'll see more in Kong v Godzilla – which will have to broach the difficult topic: Who do you root for?

[Replies From View]

which will have to broach the difficult topic: Who do you root for?

Difficult because it is hard to care?

[kidsick5000]

Difficult because it is hard to care?

It's much easier to care for the monsters.
In the KvG case, both are essentially the good guy.
How will it work out?

TBH it's like the Apes films. You have this film goal in sight Kong v Godzilla or a Planet of The Apes remake.
But they throw unnecessary sequels in the way and you can't help but resent it as hubris. Just one shit sequel and everything is screwed.
Look at Planet of The Apes - none of the films were bad really, but that third film should have been the remake of the original.
Now we have to wait to see if Disney will give it a go

[colacentral]

Why? The intention wasn't to ever remake the original. Why would you want that again?

Kong vs Godzilla will just involve some third bad monster being the villain so they can team up and be friends.

[Replies From View]

In the end though isn't it just loads of CGI buildings being smashed up by two massive monsters?  What's the appeal when you have already seen one of these?

[colacentral]

Aren't films just a mass of colours and sounds all colliding and doing things? Who wants to see that again?

[Replies From View]

I mean I can understand their appeal if they genuinely still take you by surprise.