Is Godzilla the "King of the Monsters?"

Godzilla has been a part of our pop culture landscape for over 60 years now, and the big guy has been re-interpreted, re-vamped and re-invented a number of times over the years, ever since he was introduced by the Toho company in the 1950s. The latest incarnation of the character stomps across the screen in director Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla, King of the Monsters. The film is the third entry in Legendary Entertainment’s “Monsterverse” series, following 2014’s Godzilla and 2017’s Kong: Skull Island. The movie also features appearances by some of the other fan favorites from the classic Toho monster universe, including Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah.

Millie Bobby Brown and Vera Farmiga

This time out, the organization known as Monarch, which has been cataloguing and studying the giant monsters known as Titans, must battle a new threat; Ghidorah, a three-headed dragon, who is awakened from a millennia long slumber by an eco-terrorist named Alan Jonah, played by Game of Thrones veteran Charles Dance. He’s enlisted the help of Dr. Emma Russell,  a rogue member of Monarch, who’s developed a system for communicating with the monsters called the Orca. Jonah plans to control a group of Titans (including Rodan) who will lay waste to the Earth, so the planet can be reborn and cleansed of the environmental damage caused by humans. The anti-nuclear message of the original Godzilla (aka Gojira) gets an additional “protect the environment/save the planet” element layered into the story this time around.

The Monarch team, with the help of Dr. Russell’s ex-husband Mark, must stop Jonah’s plan by enlisting the aid of Godzilla to stop Ghidorah’s rampage. Of course, this plotline allows for some cool monster battles featuring Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah. If you’re a long-time fan of these types of films, you can’t help but enjoy the modernized versions of these kaiju (giant monsters) squaring off against each other. The creatures have been updated with care and attention to detail (Mothra is particularly well-done) and the film is visually stunning. There’s also a monster-sized number of Easter eggs in the film for long-time fans, from character names to visual references and throwaway bits. If you’re a student of Godzilla lore, you’re going to have fun re-watching the film to catch everything you’ve missed.

Some critics have complained about the film’s weak story and under-developed human characters. I agree that the screenplay by director Dougherty and Zach Shields could have used one more re-write, and a bit of sharpening. The storyline (which effectively re-works some ideas used in the 2001 Japanese entry Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack) is interesting, it's just that some of the execution is uneven. It’s hard to fault the cast, which features Kyle Chandler, Aisha Hinds, Millie Bobby Brown, and Vera Farmiga. Ken Watanabe, David Straithairn and Sally Hawkins reprise their roles from 2014’s Godzilla, and Bradley Whitford is very funny as a Monarch scientist who’s essentially a stand-in for the audience.

I’m of two minds when I look at a movie like this. The ten year old Godzilla fan inside me is thrilled by the fact that we get to see these characters visualized in a way which couldn’t possibly have been achieved when we watched these films on a rainy Saturday afternoon growing up. I’m willing to forgive a bit of loopy plotting and uneven character development, as the film does work on it own terms as a giant monster thriller. But I still have genuine affection for the warmth and simple charms of films like Monster Zero (1965). There’s no denying that the big budget “modern blockbuster” style of moviemaking can be a bit cold at times, but we are living in a different cinematic world now. Godzilla, King of the Monsters is an enjoyable ride and should please fans of the Big G, but here’s hoping that the next entry in the series, Godzilla vs. Kong (2020), can inject a bit more of an old school “popcorn movie fun” element into the proceedings. Here’s a link to the trailer for the monster-athon Godzilla, King of the Monsters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFxN2oDKk0E.