Godzilla: King of the Monsters
by Michael Dougherty

Whenever you think of horror in a traditional sense, the king of the monsters typically doesn’t come to mind, but he should. Godzilla has been in our hearts and minds for decades upon decades as the OG kaiju and spawned a fabulous franchise that I absolutely adore. For the sake of everyone’s sanity, we’re going to forget that the giant iguana movie with Matthew Broderick from the 90s ever existed. Everyone good with that? Cool.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was everything I could hope for and more. The monsters, and there are quite a few of them, were rendered wonderfully and they looked so good. Mothra was beautiful, King Ghidorah was awesome, Rodan was bad ass, and my sweet squishy faced Godzilla was the bestest boy. Okay, I should probably not talk about the King like he’s one of my dogs, but let’s face it, he looked awesome in the film prior to this one and he looks just as great now. I have a special place in my heart for this titan so, needless to say, this film worked for me. The action sequences were epic, as to be expected, and the fact that Godzilla was not infallible was showcased multiple times. I loved that they showed that Godzilla needed the help of Mothra and the humans, it made him even more lovable.

There are quite a few negative editorials that I’ve seen floating around on the Internet. They criticize the story line, the dialogue, and the characters, but to that I say one thing and one thing only: you don’t go to a Godzilla movie for the witty banter or a redemption arc, you go to a Godzilla movie for the monsters, not the feels.

I will say that I agree with the critics in that the story ran away with itself a few times. What were probably meant to be quirky one liners often fell flat and I didn’t find myself amused by most of the dialogue. Though Bradley Whitford is typically entertaining and his delivery is almost always on point, I wasn’t too impressed by anyone’s performance in particular aside from the visual effects and CGI team. The family at the center of the film was generally unlikable and I really found myself hoping Ghidorah would trample them or swallow them all whole at multiple points. One family member for each of his heads, it would have been a nice touch.

There were a few titans made just for this film like Scylla and Behemoth and though they were visually menacing and overall amazing to watch trample cities on the big screen, I would have loved to see monsters like Gigan and Gamera. Kong is also brought up several times, but we never actually see the giant ape. I figure they’re probably saving him for next year’s Godzilla VS Kong, but I would have appreciated a cameo.

The end credits with the newspaper headlines are awesome and Blue Oyster Cult’s Godzilla is covered by Dethklok and Serj Tankian, a fitting ending to an entertaining monster mash. Make sure and stick around for the after credits scene! It sets up a new film nicely.

If you haven’t seen this awesome sequel then I would definitely recommend you head to a theater near you and give it a go. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love it, and if you’re not, you might love it anyway. If you hate it, I feel sorry for you not being able to have a good time. Long live the king.