The Godzilla franchise is something that grabbed my attention at a very young age and to this day it’s still a guilty pleasure. As with many, long running film series’, Godzilla has never had a solid track record of bringing outstanding films to the screen. It’s a series which has been filled with ups and downs and is also something that I would never say produced an amazing movie. The recent 2014 attempt by America to bring Godzilla to life may have featured a hug budget and big-name actors but it lacked one specific thing and that was Godzilla. The behemoth of a monster barely appeared throughout the course of the movie. Producers apparently took this to heart and promised not only more Godzilla for the sequel but also additional monsters.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is set five years after the initial appearance of Godzilla and the MUTO, and event which levelled San Francisco. Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) has been working on a means of communicating with the Titans and her theory is tested when one of the latest Titans to be discovered hatches from its egg. She manages to calm Mothra but ecoterrorist Alan Jonah (Charles Dance) soon takes her and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) to use the new technology in order to communicate with another discovery in the Antarctic. In hopes of stopping Jonah before he can awaken Monster Zero, Monarch approaches Russell’s ex-husband Mark (Kyle Chandler) to assist them. Reluctantly he agrees but their efforts are in vein as Ghidorah is revived and while it and Godzilla begin fighting the military launches a counter assault with a new weapon designed to kill them both. However, the plan fails when only Godzilla is seemingly killed and Jonah awakens yet another Titan, Rodan, as well as a number of others in hopes of devastating mankind.
One of the things that the American version of Godzilla has attempted to achieve is to present the concept in a way where it could be plausible. Godzilla and the other Titans as they are known are no longer the result of atomic testing but rather creatures who have long lived on the Earth but, until recently, have been living underground. This is true for the most part although the introduction of Ghidorah and Mothra are done in a slightly different way as far as their origins. Their presence is connected to ancient legends and it is revealed they both have come to Earth from space. This is also the origins according to the Japanese films although often it isn’t just space but there is also an alien presence connected to them making things a little more unbelievable. Aliens are quite often the culprits in the appearance of giant monsters on Earth aside from Godzilla but the America version seems to be determined to somehow connect their presence to mythology.
Godzilla: King of the Monster does neglect some things which may not be relevant, but as a sequel would still be important. While we do see clips of the destruction from the past movie and we understand five years have passed, what is not address is the long-term effects. How is the rebuilding process in San Francisco going, what happened to those who were displaced because of the monsters, how many lives were lost, and what precautions have been taken to avoid a similar disaster from happening in the future. The film does try and achieve a balance between the monsters and the human characters, but much like the Japanese films, the humans seem to do little more than make a series of bad decisions. In the five years that have lapsed it seems that they’ve only gotten as far as having an oversight committee question those in charge at Monarch. There is threat of the military taking action although one would think based on the “success” in the previous film, that might be something shelves in favor of an alternative. The military effort taken here comes in the form of the Oxygen Destroyer. This harkens back to the original Godzilla film as a similarly named weapon was used to kill the first Godzilla but here, it doesn’t work that way at all. The intent is to stop both Godzilla and Ghidorah with the end result being Godzilla seemingly killed and Ghidorah having its extraterrestrial origins uncovered.
This also connects to the Japanese version of the series. In its first appearance in Ghidorah; the Three-Headed Monster, the origin is that Ghidorah was a creature from space that came from Venus after having destroyed the entire planet and forcing survivors to flee to Earth. This Ghidorah is simply something that came from space without any far-fetched strings attached. The same is true of Mothra and much like the Japanese version, Mothra first appears as a larva before eventually cocooning herself and hatching as the colorful moth we all know. She too is from space in the film but again, that’s the extent of the background. There are no little fairies to get her to transform or act as ambassadors to explain her presence on Earth. Rodan meanwhile has more terrestrial origins and the giant Pteranodon lives in a volcano prior to being awakened by Ghidorah.
The three creatures also have some charges to their abilities. Ghidorah can regenerate its heads if severed and this happens rather quickly. The three heads also seem to act independently and while they may work together, they also seem at odds with each other. Mothra now has a sharp barb the end of her abdomen and has a much more insect like appearance. Rodan now has molten lava within its body and the super-sonic speeds it flies at are shown to be incredibly destructive. The movie mentions the discover of seventeen total Titans. Aside from Godzilla and the other three, we see the Muto, a giant mammoth creature, a spider-like titan whom I originally thought was Kumonga but instead looks a bit more like the Mother Longlegs seen in Skull Island. There hasn’t been anything officially announced that I’m aware of from Legendary Pictures concerning what additional Godzilla monsters they may have the rights to use. The most popular are presented in this film but I wouldn’t be surprised to see other familiar titans such as Anguirus show up at some point although personally, I think Biollante would be a better inclusion.
As with all the Godzilla films, the movie eventually pushes forward to a climatic showdown between Godzilla and Ghidorah to prove which of the two is the dominate titan. The city of choice this time is Boston which is more important since this is where the Russell family is from. As expected, there are the human characters putting themselves in dangerous situations, Madison in particular and of course the titans continuously destroy more and more of the city. The other monsters only briefly seen during the course of the movie converge on Boston as well where the battle between Godzilla and Ghidorah will eventually end with one of them being the undisputed king of the monsters. However, most of the extra titans don’t do much aside from simply arrive. The action is focused more of Godzilla, Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan. The film doesn’t go with a Destroy All Monsters of Final Wars approach with multiple conflicts.
A note for parents: Godzilla: King of the Monsters is rated PG-13 and does contain mild profanity although it’s nothing that kids probably haven’t already heard in the Avengers films. There are a few scenes which also may be a little frightening for younger views. My daughter was slightly scared of Ghidorah, but she soon got past that and was more interested in seeing the various battles between the titans.
The 4K release has the bonus material on the blu-ray although the commentary track is included on the 4K disc. The extra material includes:
- Monsters 101
- Evolution of the Titans
- Monarch in Action
- Millie Bobby Brown: Force of Nature
- Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the Fight
- Monsters Are Real
- Welcome to the Monsterverse
- Deleted Scenes
- Theatrical Trailers
- Audio Commentary with Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields, and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a drastic improvement over America’s first reimagining of the iconic franchise. Even Toho seemed to have taken note however as their most recent live action Godzilla, Shin Godzilla, went with a more serious approach and removed the often-campy element that has been a big part of the Japanese films. King of the Monsters serves as being a part of a bigger picture however. If you’ve watched Kong: Skull Island then you saw the connection to Monarch as well as the hint towards the monsters seen in this film. The next sequel will see Godzilla do battle against Kong, something last seen in 1962 when Japan did the same thing. It’s apparent that Godzilla as an American series will continue some time to come and with producers seeming to have listened to what the fans want (the opposite of a popular science fiction franchise these days), Godzilla could do very well in this most recent incarnation.
*This 4K release was provided by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment for review purposes.
Mike is the resident reviewer for Couponing to Disney and his own site Underland Online. He has a young daughter and is obsessed with Haunted Mansion and all things Disney. You can read Mike’s complete bio here.