Broseph, in the multiple years you've been here, I don't think I've seen you once say that you were disappointed in a movie, or that it didn't sound like "what I want to see". Lol There's gotta be SOME standard that some movie hasn't met!
As far as this movie, I agree. Just want to see monsters fight
Also there’s just sometimes I can gauge fairly well for myself what I’ll at least enjoy somewhat or outright don’t wanna see think I won’t care for and won’t waste my time.
Like Terminator Genysis I never even bothered seeing it. I love the first 2 films classics. I saw Terminator 3 and Salvation in theaters. Definitely disappointments. Not what I wanted continuing on from T2. But I also don’t hate them. I can throw on T3 and enjoy some stuff about it. I can throw on Salvation and enjoy that one a bit more honestly. Genysis I was like yeah no I’m good. And now Dark Fate after the first trailer I am not feeling at all.
I am curious about that, because while the action looks fun in the trailers, some of it did feel like it was oddly not properly scaled. Like there are "cities" but not really.
So they cutaway a lot, like they are trying to save money? That was one of the things that really got on my nerves with the first one.
I don't know if they're doing to save money, because the stuff they cut to looked just as expensive, it was just human focused. The best quote I've seen to describe it is from Birth Movies Death's Evan Saathoff.
None of these complaints would matter if they nailed the fighting. Even if there’s not much of it, good monster action can waive away a ton of faults. This movie constantly comes close but never quite gets there. One of the big complaints about the 2014 Godzilla is how little Godzilla we see due to Gareth Edwards cutting away right when something good is about to happen. Amazingly enough, this film has the same problem, except it keeps doing it right into the big third act throwdown. There’s one shot that pans from Mothra to Rodan to Godzilla to a jeep. We follow the jeep. Stuff like that happens a lot.
I thought it was alright and I was entertained enough. It may not be a better movie than its predecessor, but certainly more interesting. Liked the human cast in this one too, especially Millie
So...one thing i’m trying to get a pulse on from reviews/ reactions is...is there too much monster action or not enough? I seem to be seeing conflicting opinions on this.
I just got back from the film and can confirm this. The human storyline is very much in line with the type you see in the Toho films, which is expositional nonsense and cringy melodrama. That's fine as long as the creature stuff is great. Here though, they for some reason kept cutting back to the humans when it showed the monsters clashing. Also, I really appreciated the way Gareth Edwards shot the first one now that I've seen this one. The monsters don't feel as epic or gigantic and I have to blame the directing for that one. Overall, it's a bit of a disappointment.
Despite the complaints people had about Edwards cutting away when Godzilla was about to fight in the first two acts he still did a great job directing. So many great shots and scenes in thst film. I'm excited for this sequel and am a fan of Dougherty but just from trailers I thonk the first film has the better direction. My showing starts in about 45 minutes so I'll find out soon enough.
I am curious about that, because while the action looks fun in the trailers, some of it did feel like it was oddly not properly scaled. Like there are "cities" but not really.
I’ve seen a couple of reviews say this too which is something I was worried about. Uprising had a similar issue, just some giant fights that lacked any kind of weight or scale. Just things going on because it looks cool. Shame.
At this point any faith I have in critics is destroyed. It's crazy how something like this can get low critic reviews for having "weak characters", but something like Last Jedi gets amazing reviews. Which movie had the protagonist disappear for practically the entire finale? Which movie sent it's characters on a pointless side quest? Which movie repeated a character's arc from the first film? Which movie introduced two of the most universally despised characters in recent cinema? And Godzilla has "weak characters"? There's definitely some Disney money trading hands. King of Monsters is a great movie. The characters admittedly aren't spectacular, but they're at least serviceable.
It felt like a toho movie to me. And I think that's definitely by design there were 2 moments that I thought were truly awful though one is the oh my God...zilla lol and the other is the scene where Emma says their plan on the screen from the trailers.
Everything else was ok to me with the humans. Some moments were even great.
I do agree some of the action was kind of muddy particularly in the arctic scene. And there could definitely be some better direction in a few scenes.
Every movie deserves exactly whatever RT score they get. The Tomatometer is not a valuation of how good the movie is. Godzilla King of the Monsters is not 44% good. A 90% fresh movie is not a better movie than a 60% film. The Tomatometer is a percentage of critics who recommend the film. That's it. Look, you can absolutely criticize critics for thinking their opinion is wrong, but all too often I see this "This movie doesn't deserve this percentage" and it's just not a valid criticism.
Every movie deserves exactly whatever RT score they get. The Tomatometer is not a valuation of how good the movie is. Godzilla King of the Monsters is not 44% good. A 90% fresh movie is not a better movie than a 60% film. The Tomatometer is a percentage of critics who recommend the film. That's it. Look, you can absolutely criticize critics for thinking their opinion is wrong, but all too often I see this "This movie doesn't deserve this percentage" and it's just not a valid criticism.
Of course it is a valid criticism. It is part of the reason (but not all the reason) RT is concerned about audience reviews/scores. If 90 percent of the public enjoys a movie only 40 percent of paid critics recommend people see it weakens the position of the critics...and it is pretty obvious to anyone paying attention that the studios have worked hard to cultivate a relationship with the critics so they can influence audiences.
So...one thing i’m trying to get a pulse on from reviews/ reactions is...is there too much monster action or not enough? I seem to be seeing conflicting opinions on this.
I think there's plenty, it just...wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be? Like, some shots were amazing, and then at other points, when they tried to include the humans on the action, it was muddy and hard to see what was going on at all, so I just kind of wanted to see more of the monster fights there were, if that makes sense.
So.....I desperately wanted to love this. I grew up with Godzilla movies, I have various figures including multiple Godzillas, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, and I was hyping for months over the trailers.
On the one hand, it is a pretty old-school Godzilla movie (with all, good and bad, that that implies). Monster mash in between a ridiculous convoluted "plot" and goofy and/or one-dimensional humans scurrying around.
Maybe I overhyped myself into expecting something more epic, or maybe it's the operatic trailers, but I was a bit underwhelmed. The vibe of global apocalyptic devastation we get from the trailers goes by too fleetingly and mostly offscreen and have an impact. That shot of a devastated Washington DC, for example, is a great visual shot in and of itself, but it goes by in two seconds and it's all we see of it. The rest of the movie is just following around the little gaggle of humans globe-trotting all over the place.
Honestly I preferred the tone and the direction of Gareth Edwards in 2014. Daughtery sacrificed that ground level realism and verisimilitude for more CGI spectacle, and I missed it not feeling as "real" and almost docudrama as 2014 did.
The only kinda "actor" moments are Vera Farmiga's video monologue, and
Serizawa's sacrifice
, although the latter lacked the effect it was meant to have because the character was so thinly-developed. Charles Dance got nothing to do, and I kind of LOL'ed at
how laughably throwaway Sally Hawkins was killed off. Also did Vera Farmiga die or not? I wasn't even clear on that.
It also kinda felt like shoehorning Godzilla, Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan into one movie was a little too much. Mothra was pretty underused. Rodan had a cool introduction, but after that he didn't get much to do besides kinda be Ghidorah's right-hand man.
Also I was super stoked to see Ghidorah, and even he felt kinda underwhelming. Maybe because again, the trailers give this vibe of global apocalypse and then the movie underwhelms with it. Or maybe I was just overhyping myself.
Godzilla's first appearance making his "threat display" outside the underwater base, him looking down at Kyle Chandler on the sub, and the scene between he and Serizawa were all pretty awesome moments.
More than any other Godzilla movie made in America, this was made with love for the character, the mythology, and respect for the franchise. Yeah, there is the odd bad patch of dialogue here and there, the human story is not the best work of cinema history, and all that. But the felt like a Godzilla film through and through. Great action, great Easter eggs and things worked in from Godzilla mythology, and it was just fun
I absolutely loved this movie!! It lived up to the hype and then some!! My son and I were literally jumping out our seats at the end!! Great movie!! Wow!! It truly was a love letter to the Godzilla fans!!
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
