Thursday, May 30, 2019

Godzilla's roar can't compensate for human bores in King of the Monsters

Godzilla versus King Ghidorah in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Image courtesy Warner Bros.
It's always fun to watch an audience pop during a movie, folks getting perfectly stoked by the machinations occurring on screen. Godzilla: King of the Monsters created several of these moments, with the lion's share coming from the appearances of Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra. (The Boston audience cheered vociferously at the sight of Fenway Park, because of course it did.) And the film often justified their excitement, offering some of the best monster battles ever shown on screen, as well as a surprising amount of emotion from its monsters. The filmmakers had a win with their monsters, yet the movie ultimately falls short because of an overabundance of the human element.

King of the Monsters picks up a few years after the events of the 2014 Godzilla flick, as the world copes with the realization that enormous monsters are real and savage. Scientist Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) are in China watching the birth of a new monster, Mothra, when terrorists led by Jonah Alan (Charles Dance) show up and take Emma, Madison, and a device that emits an alpha sound wave to control the monsters. As the terrorists travel the globe to wake dormant monsters (starting with King Ghidorah and Rodan), Emma's ex-husband Mark (Kyle Chandler) is recruited by Monarch heads Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivianne Graham (Sally Hawkins) to find his family and retrieve the device. They are joined by a collection of scientists and soldiers (Ziyi Zhang, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O'Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, and a crazed Bradley Whitford) in the pursuit. Meanwhile, Godzilla is back in action to fight these other titans for supremacy.

By far the highlight of King of the Monsters is the monsters themselves, especially how good they look. The design work for Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah is incredible, far richer than other recent monster flicks. They don't completely cross the uncanny valley, but they make it far enough to heighten some the danger depicted for the human characters on screen and to have a fair amount of personality expressed through their motions and facial expressions. Godzilla in particular comes with the added benefit of a consistent look of annoyance with the humans who pursue him, grumpily waking up from a satisfying nap with a glare that says “Fine, I'll go fight Ghidorah again. Lazy humans.” Cranky Godzilla is a treasure to behold and it effectively justifies a potential heel turn down in one of the ensuing sequels.
 
Godzilla, Ghidorah, and Mothra are by far the most interesting characters in King of the Monsters, and they receive precious little screen time for their efforts. The movie is more focused on the antics of the Russell family, Serizawa, Alan, and Whitford's increasing insanity. The humans in any of the Godzilla vs. monsters films are better served in the background, plotting to help Godzilla defeat whichever monster he's facing that day. The attention belongs to Godzilla though, the Shaft of the monster world who shows up just to wreck the bad guys' worlds. King of the Monsters puts the poor lizard in the corner. This movie just screams for monsters, its title literally promising a slew of beasts ready to run amok. Yet film's the heartbeat belongs to the humans, and it suffers for greatly because of it.

King of the Monsters greatest failing is its attempts to surround the monsters with vital themes. Writers Michael Dougherty (who also directs) and Zach Shields make their story about almost everything:environmentalism, animal rights, family drama, the danger of good intentions, nature versus science, the complexities of love, and the existence of what is effectively Atlantis are all in this movie. And this movie just can't handle that much, losing track of both its message and of its monsters. The original Japanese Godzilla used the monster to convey a devastating fear of nuclear destruction and the dangers humanity brings upon itself. The original isn't subtle about its message – it is about a giant lizard with atomic fire breath – but it is a clear, effective message buoyed by legitimate pathos. King of the Monsters is a bigger film and suffers in part because of its attempts to have more characters, more plot, more themes, and more monsters. To paraphrase one of America's greatest poets, more monsters, more problems.

Review: Two and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.
 
Rating: PG-13
Run time: 131 minutes
Genre: Action

tl;dr

What Worked: Monster battles, cranky Godzilla.

What Fell Short: Dearth of monster battles, the human interactions, the script in general.

What To Watch Instead: Godzilla (1954, 2014), Kong: Skull Island, Pacific Rim