★★★★
The crypto-zoological agency Monarch faces off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.
Classification: 12A
Epic blockbuster filmmaking is what director Michael Dougherty delivers in his sequel to the 2014 Godzilla reboot, a fine balance of monster action and human drama with a story that explores the consequences of how monstrous titans could live among us. While the characters are one dimensional in aspects, the clout of the actors and the direction of the set pieces keeps King of the Monsters captivating throughout. Where it would have been easy to sideline the human characters at several points for just Godzilla vs Ghidorah action, the large ensemble cast led by Kyle Chandler keep themselves crucial in the development of the conflict between the two kings.
Legendary and Warner Brothers commitment to building a “Monstersverse” continues as Dougherty and the screenwriters greatly expand on the lore and world-building. Not only with the additions of classic monsters such as King Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan but new creatures as well as references to the events of 2017’s Kong: Skull Island. This exposition never drags the pacing of the film and in fact, the additional history to Godzilla and Ghidorah makes the conflicts of the film feel far more apocalyptic. Lots of the cinematography depicting Ghiodrah does make him feel unstoppable at times and leads to very dire situations for the humans and Godzilla. The film doesn’t commit fully to the world ending nature of the plot at times as there are some logical inconstancies in the portrayal of the carnage.
The human characters feature a variety of new characters along with returning stars from 2014, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins and David David Strathairn. The central plot revolves around the Russell family; Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown, Dougherty weaves the MacGuffin into their family history and their conflicting beliefs on the titans are the driving catalyst of the events of the film. A lot of these characters can appear one note with most of the film relying on the actor's natural charisma to make them engaging, Dougherty makes attempts to add small layers to enhance their role in the story. Farmiga, Brown, Wantanabe along with others make their character take a step up from their archetype, not too much but enough to remove them from mediocrity. Godzilla: King of the Monsters has several big dramatic moments for its human characters, while not all may have the desired emotional hit, this effort by Dougherty makes the scenes more appreciated.
The action sequences are jaw-dropping, as mentioned before the sense of the scale of the creatures and the apocalyptic nature of the conflict allows Dougherty to deliver some breathtaking visuals. Of the four main monsters, each one inspires awe and terror in their powers and abilities from Rodan sweeping through the skies obliterating fighter jets to Mothra’s glowing aura encompassing everything around her. The fights between the monsters are entwined with the human drama well, with many scenes showcasing the characters perspective on the ground and their struggles to survive the havoc. Doughtery has the action reflect the symbolic relationship humanity has with the titans, how the actions of man have awakened the beasts and that the destruction before them is of their own making. These action sequences are strengthened along with the dramatic scenes by Bear McCreary’s epic score which utilises the classics and modern sounds of Godzilla films.
It’s great blockbuster filmmaking, it’s not perfect but Michael Dougherty takes a story that could easily fall apart and makes it interesting and captivating for fans of the franchise. From a production standpoint its very impressive from the cinematography, production design, musical score and especially special effects. The level of fidelity to the creatures is impressive with each design offering personality, especially with Ghidorah’s three heads.
There’s a real effort to give depth to the plot, to have the characters and creatures be part of a fully realised world wrestling with the realities of the conflict. Godzilla: King of the Monsters has these characters fight for their place in the new world, and those fights are both internal and external. It makes the future of Godzilla and co. very exciting and I can’t wait for the next chapter.
Bring On Kong.
Director: #MichaelDougherty
Cast: #KyleChandler, #VeraFarmiga, #MillieBobbyBrown, #BradleyWhitford, #SallyHawkins, #CharlesDance, #ThomasMiddleditch, #AishaHinds, #OSheaJacksonJr, #DavidStrathairn, #KenWatanabe, #ZhangZiyi
Release Date: May 29th 2019
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
Comments