Godzilla : King Of The Monsters

GODZILLA : KING OF THE MONSTERS

Director : Michael Dougherty

Year : 2019

Genre : Science Fiction

Rating : *****

Having greatly enjoyed both Gareth Edwards' 'Godzilla' (2014) and Jordan Vogt-Robert's 'Kong : Skull Island' (2017), I was incredibly excited to see the latest entry in Legendary Pictures burgeoning "Monsterverse". Having grown up with the classic Japanese creature features of the 60's and 70's, my expectations for 'Godzilla : King Of The Monsters' was (perhaps) unreasonably high and the prospect of seeing cinema's greatest reptile confronting some of his most famous adversaries on the big screen for the first time was almost too good to be true.

Now, having seen the movie, I can safely say that it is one of the most incomprehensible and poorly written blockbusters of recent years with character motivations and entire dialogue strands proving to be some of the very worst seen in 2019. However, it is also one of the most awe-inspiring, spectacular, beautiful and exhilarating experiences I have ever had in the theatre and it is very unlikely that another film will come along in the next 12, 24 or even 100 months that will be able to provide me with the same amount of pure unadulterated joy.

Taking place 5 years after the cataclysmic events of Edward's opus, 'Godzilla : King Of The Monsters' sees the titular titan once again, with the help of his stunningly beautiful winged ally Mothra, saving the world from the seemingly unfathomable wrath of bigger and even badder beasts including the vicious pteranodon Rodan and the simply incredible 3-headed dragon Ghidorah - all of whom have been awoken by a gang of twisted eco-terrorists who plan to use the monsters to wipe out humanity and bring balance to the dying Earth. 

Directed by Michael Doughtery, the helmsman of the terrific seasonal horror gems 'Trick 'r Treat' and 'Krampus' and featuring an A-list cast including Millie Bobby-Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Charles Dance and returning stars Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins, 'Godzilla : King Of The Monsters' boasts a human line-up almost as impressive as it's large roster of beasts. Unfortunately, unlike their CG-generated counterparts, the humans are barely given interesting to say or do. Farmiga and Chandler deliver good performances as a grieving couple driven by revenge but their wildly contrasting motivations are barely developed or explored while their on-screen daughter Brown is all but expendable in the overall narrative of the movie. Wasted too is 'Game Of Thrones' alumni Charles Dance who is undoubtedly sinister but unbearably shallow as the maniacal head of the eco-terrorist movement whose plans to revive the dormant creatures quickly oversteps the boundaries of unbelievability into pure stupidity. The only bright spot among the humans is the always reliable Watanabe who is gifted what is easily the most emotionally resonant scene in the entire movie and gives a performance that far outshines many of those given by his fellow cast members.

'Godzilla : King Of The Monsters' is undoubtedly a mess when it comes to both the script and the characterisations and I would be a fool to try and defend either element here. However, these problems are all but dust in the titanic wake of the adrenaline-pumping destruction which the film gleefully delivers. Using incredible computer graphics, outstanding cinematography and Earth-shattering sound design that literally shakes both the audience and the cinema, Dougherty and his team retire the restrained and somewhat controversial Spielberg-ian techniques utilised by Gareth Edwards and instead goes for broke to conjure up some of the most incredible fight scenes ever witnessed in monster movie history.


Whether it be a shot of the mighty Rodan emerging from his volcanic home or the majestic Mothra opening her hypnotically gorgeous wings for the first time, every moment of the creatures calamitous capers are filled with a tremendous sense of both immense scale and breathtaking awe. The visual highlight is of course the titular Godzilla who is granted some of the films most spectacular imagery (a much trailed shot of the lizard firing his atomic breath into the sky is a particularly awesome visual highlight) and unlike his Hollywood co-stars, he and his beastly brethren are gifted individual personalities and character traits; the fearsome Ghidorah alone is given a trio of quirks and idiosyncrasies, one for each of his electrically-charged heads.

Added to the considerable carnage is Bear McCreary's thunderous score which masterfully incorporates themes from previous entries in the classic 'Godzilla' series and the end result is a simply magnificent viewing experience whose immense power and epic beauty regularly bought this life-long creature feature fanatic to tears of pure cinematic ecstasy. It's far from perfect and if the mixed critical reception is a reflection of it's overall quality, 'Godzilla : King Of The Monsters' most definitely lacks many of the key elements of basic comprehensive storytelling. But in all honesty, I really couldn't care less. I acknowledge its problems and it is absolutely not for everyone but I loved every single ground-shaking second and I cannot wait to see the next entry in this most colossal and nostalgically-rich of franchises. Long live the King!