Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

American movie studios have tried to create a franchise based on Godzilla.  While it might seem easy, the past two attempts have fallen short because the filmmakers miss what makes the Japanese kiaju formula work.  First, giant monster mayhem.  Second, a human story that ties into the giant monster mayhem that enhances the story, not just feel like an addition to get the audience's attention.

Dean Devlin's misguided Godzilla (1998) turned the atomic breath blasting behemoth into an irradiated Galapagos Island iguana, reducing the mythical beast to a rampaging lizard protecting its nest.  And, let's be honest, the human characters are just too bland and stupid to survive a giant monster attack.

Gareth Edwards' 2014 Godzilla returned the big guy's original design and powers, but was saddled with a plot involving a rather bland human character trying to rescue his family as the battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs reaches San Francisco.  Why he told them to wait for him in the city targeted for a massive attack, rather than racing out of danger and meeting him in, say, Portland, Oregon, is one indication of how boneheaded the character was written.  And Edwards' decision to shoot the battles between the monsters from a human perspective reduced the scenes of monster mayhem to a flurry of giant stomping feet.

Meanwhile, Toho rebooted Godzilla on their own with Shin Godzilla, which was not only a great monster movie, but (to my surprise) a taut political thriller.  It showed how American studios hadn't figured out how to write a compelling human story within a giant monster movie. Perhaps it's trying reach too broad an audience, or a lack of political agency, but Japanese scriptwriters continue to make their monsters more a commentary on regional events, rather than just add vanilla characters into the movie in the hopes of connecting to an audience.

What, their Godzilla films are still dealing with 

current events?  That's too hard.

Let's just write a bland protagonist and hope it works out.

Not willing to give up on a MonsterVerse, and the potential box office income, Legendary got things back on track with Kong: Skull Island, an insane, monster-heavy smackdown with a decent human subplot and some great actors playing their stereotypical characters to the hilt.  And the follow up, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, follows the same formula and delivers a rollicking monster mash featuring Toho Studio's heavy hitters.

The human storyline is pretty simple.  Paleobiologist Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel), is studying the Titans, giant monsters like Godzilla that once ruled the Earth, for Monarch, the government agency dealing with giant monsters.  She has perfected a device called the Orca, which emits frequencies that can aggravate or calm the creatures.  Using it on a Titan dubbed Mothra, she is able to calm it to a point that her daughter, Madison (Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things), can reach out and touch it.  Well, until a group of eco-terrorists lead by Alan Jonah (Charles Dance, Game of Thrones) attack the base, killing most of the personal and kidnapping Emma and Madison.

Once Monarch hears of the attack, they approach Emma's ex-husband, Mark (Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights), to help them track down the device and his estranged family.  But Jonah is able to release Monster Zero, a three-headed dragon (okay, we all know it's Ghidorah, but it's one of several nice homages to the original films), which becomes the alpha Titan and starts awakening the other monsters.

Doctor Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe, reprising his role from Edwards' Godzilla) believes only Godzilla can take down Ghidorah, and the rest of the movie involves the Monarch scientists trying their best to aid Godzilla, with Mark tagging along to help, giving his advice about pack mentality and alphas, with the hope of rescuing his ex and daughter.

And, as expected, mayhem ensues.  A lot of awesome monster mayhem.

I'm not kidding.

It's AWESOME!

I grew up watching the old Godzilla films, and I really enjoy watching actors in rubber monster suits battling amongst miniature cities.  But I have to admit, the CGI in this film is just amazing.  Ghidorah's heads look terrifying and the multiple epic battles scattered throughout the film were the best I've seen since the first Pacific Rim.  Director Michael Dougherty promised to focus more on the giant monster battles, and he does.  But he includes enough scenes to give us a human perspective to the Titan's battles to remind audiences of the scale of the ongoing mayhem, without keeping the battle to stomping monster feet.  Had Edwards' Godzilla film contained the sweeping camera panning from a human to the monster mayhem around them, I might have liked that film more.

Oh holy Hell.  This would have given me more 

intense nightmares as a kid.

The human story is compelling enough, with a few nice surprises.  Though a couple of scenes are obviously lifted from the "How to Write a Stereotypical Monster Movie for Idiots" book, the script by Dougherty and Zach Shields is engaging enough to keep one's interest, despite those missteps.  The acting is good, despite the limitations imposed by the script, and the family conflict plays out well, and even manages to generate some tension in a few moments.

It's obvious the filmmaker's have a deep love for the kaiju genre, as it contains plenty of Easter eggs that echo back to the Toho films for fans to geek out over.  I really like how Monarch scientist  Dr. Ilene Chen (Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) figures out Ghidorah's name name and origins, and I am intrigue how she and her twin sister might figure into Mothra's role in the next movie.  Also, the inclusion of an Oxygen Destroyer, though obvious fan service, still made me smile.  Oh, and did I mention the amazing monster mayhem?  Yep, think it did.

And while you might think the final credits, which set up a world with the Titan and the potential conflict between Kong and Godzilla (coming to theaters next year), wait until the end to find a potential spoiler for how that upcoming battle might end.  Just saying, stay until the end.

Yeah, it's that smile when you know the possibilities,

you just hope the next film delivers.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters isn't a perfect film.  The human story isn't as good as Shin Godzilla, but the monster mayhem is awesome and the plot is engaging enough to allow you to overlook the obvious missteps.  And damn, the film delivers on the monster mayhem.  It's going to make you salivating for the Godzilla vs. Kong film coming next year, because the buildup is so good.  To be honest, it's the best buildup since Marvel Studios launched the MCU.

Going to say it right now, if the Jaegers show up in Godzilla vs Kong,

I'll  be taken out of the theater on a stretcher.