Quick Thoughts #2 - Legendary's Monsterverse Kinda Rocks!

Who knew that Japan would let Hollywood take another crack at Godzilla? I wasn’t totally clamoring for it back in the day, and this is coming from someone who thought 1998’s Godzilla was alright. Yeah, it really lacked the “GOD” part, but it was a fun monster movie at least. It even had a cool animated series.

Unlike what we got before, Legendary brought the might and power of the monster to the big screen in a cool way. I’ve seen both Godzilla films in theaters and would’ve seen GVK in theaters if COVID wasn’t a problem at the time. I held off on Kong: Skull Island though. While I like King Kong, I’m not as much a fan of the gorilla. So, here are some quick thoughts on Legendary’s Monsterverse movies. I just realized that I haven’t really talked about them here. I’m always been like that with Godzilla though, so it fits.

 

1. Godzilla (2014)

The 2014 movie revamped the monsters in an interesting way. Instead of being a byproduct of nuclear power, Godzilla (and other monsters) are now Titans, creatures from a bygone era. Here, we have humanity truly facing this phenomenon in a major way with two Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms (MUTOS) wrecking stuff. Then, another MUTO that’s been seen before by a shady government organization called MONARCH comes on the scene. The rest of the movie revolves around a few people trying to survive and maybe fight back.

I can honestly say that Legendary really knocked it out of the park on this one. Yeah, Godzilla ain’t on screen much, but you’d be used to that if you were an avid watcher of these movies. The G-Man don’t get paid much! Anyway, there was a lot I liked about the film back then. You really got to see the power on display with these beasts. You see them tear up so mutch stuff. The effects on display were wonderful, and Godzilla looked cool. Now, I will say that I wish things weren’t so dark with the fights and that they were a little longer.

Hmm... insert MCU joke here. Seriously though, that is a funny connection.

I did like most of the human characters. I know folk have itched and moaned about that, and I don’t get it. You can’t have these monsters fighting for two hours without seeing what that does to the people on the ground. Even Toho knows this. I liked Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Brian Cranston’s character. What I didn’t like too much was Aaron-Taylor Johnson’s character. He wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t much to him. You can say that about most of the characters though. Other than that and the lack of some more G-action, this was a good one.

 

2. Kong: Skull Island

Skull Island was released in 2017, but I didn’t see it until last year before GVK was released. Yeah, I got really behind on this one! There’s also the interesting plot point of it taking place during the Vietnam War, so it’s a bit of a prequel. In it, a group of scientists (the precursor to MONARCH) and soldiers go to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean. Of course, they run into issues as the island is the home of a gigantic ape called Kong. They also have to contend with other dangerous beasts on the island and try to survive.

This was a pretty fun movie. It just sucks that it took so long for me to see it. It all revolves around the big man himself, Kong. Unlike with Godzilla in the 2014 movie, we get Kong right in the center of this movie. When the crew makes it to the island, their first foe is Kong himself. Even though he starts off as a threat (heck’s, it’s his island), you get to see more there when he interacts with the crew. Everyone has a different view of him, ya know? He isn’t the only monster we get on the island which has a variety of threats that takes out most of the crew. Don’t get too attached to some folk. I was even surprised by the death of one dude.

The cast is good but has little to do other than die, survive, and dig into Kong’s origins a bit. Loki and Captain Marvel  (ha ha) were okay at best, but I did think that Samuel L. Jackson’s character and John C. Reilly’s character were good. In fact, Reilly as Hank Marlow is probably one of the better human characters from the Monsterverse. As for any negatives, the story isn’t that engaging. Plus, you only get so much out of the cast. Still, it’s a fun time around with Kong being the big star.

Best death scene ever.

3. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2018)

KOTM was a theater watch and an interesting on at that. It was in one of those ScreenX experiences which works well with giant Kaiju. In the sequel, a terrorist group gets ahold of a devices that can alter the behavior of the creatures, now called Titans. There are also a lot more out there than just Godzilla and a couple. The group frees the biggest Titan, Monster Zero (also known as King Ghidorah in other cultures) from its slumber. MONARCH, Godzilla (and another familiar Titan) are the only ones that can match Ghidorah and this terrorist group.

KOTM was a fine movie. I’ve see folk say that it’s one of the worst Godzilla movies, but those folk obviously haven’t seen Godzilla’s Revenge or most of Toho’s G-films. This one sits right in the middle for me. While the story isn’t that good, I did like it. I liked that it tried to center around this one family who lost their son during the MUTOs attack. We got one parent trying to save the world, one parent trying to “heal” (basically destroy) the world, and a child trapped in the middle. I did like some of the characters here like Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), Kyle Chandler’s character, and a couple of others.

Quick, Eleven! Get your Early Editon-like Dad and Ras al Ghul to fix this!

Of course, the real stars here were the monsters, and they were on good display.  The movie had a bit of an apocalyptic vibe to it and the monsters really brought that out. Godzilla’s look changed a little bit, but he was on form here. Mothra and Rodan also looked awesome on the big screen. The MVP here is King Ghidorah who looked awesome and pretty powerful. He really looked like he could give the G-Man and other monsters a run for their money. The fight scenes were good and the visuals were splendid. While it wasn’t the best on the story/human side, the monsters and action make this a watch.

This looks like something out of those End Time pamplets you get in the mail.

4. Godzilla vs. Kong

Finally, we got another remake of a sorts. Remember that this isn’t the first time Godzilla and King Kong have thrown down. In the movie, Godzilla starts to go on a killing spree with the other Titans and even attacks a company called APEX. A former engineer/conspiracy nut teams up with Madison (Bobbi Millie Brown) and try to investigate APEX and see why Godzilla’s gone a bit rogue. Meanwhile, APEX funds an expedition to find a way to Hollow Earth, an underground land where the Titans hale from. They take a much bigger Kong from Skull Island so he can lead them there. Of course, these two Titans cross paths because of these events, and a lotta fighting ensues. We even get the reveal of another classic Toho “monster”.

This was pretty fun overall. It’s Godzilla vs. King Kong, so you know it’s got to bring the goods. This was pretty much Kong’s movie here since we get to see where he and other monsters originated from. He also comes off as the underdog since… well, this is Godzilla we’re talking about here. It was also cool to see this Godzilla be a bit of an antagonist. The action was good and probably some of the best we’ve gotten in this franchise. I also liked some of the characters even if a couple of them came off as bland.

Now, I will say that the story was kinda all over the place. You had two plots that weren’t tied well together. It also didn’t help that the human characters were on the bland side for the most part. You had some interesting ones like Brian Tyree Henry’s character, but that was about it. The human villain even felt like a bit of an afterthought. Yeah, I want to see the two titans duke it out, but give me more than that. I will say that I was surprised by the appearance of one of the cooler Toho monsters (not exactly a monster, but it counts) in Mechagodzilla. Overall, this was a fun time, but the story could’ve been better and longer.

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Overall, Legendary’s Monsterverse has been pretty nice for far. Yeah, there have been some pitfalls in these movies, but they are all fun in their own way. We’re supposed to be getting another sequel featuring Kong and Godzilla (don’t know how that’ll pan out). Apple TV is also supposed to be creating a show around MONARCH, the organization that investigates the Titans, so that could be fun. Either way, I’m down for whatever happens next. Well, I’m outta here. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.